CBSE Board Psychology Syllabus for Class 11

Foundations of Psychology (90 Periods)
Unit I: Introduction to Psychology 08 Marks (16 Periods)
The unit seeks to help understanding and appreciating psychology as a discipline, its
applications and relationships with other sciences through appropriate and interesting examples
and analysis of everyday experiences.
Nature of psychology; Basic concepts: Person, States of Consciousness: Sleep and Wakefulness
and altered States of Consciousness, Behaviour and Experience: Similarities and variations in
psychological attributes; Evolution of the discipline of psychology; Developments in psychology in
India; Psychology and other disciplines; Linkages across psychological processes. Emerging
perspectives: evolutionary, cultural and positive psychologies.
Unit II: Methods of Psychology 09 Marks (20 Periods)
The objective of this unit is to familiarize with the methods of studying and understanding
Qualitative method, psychological questions and issues.
Goals of psychological enquiry; Some important methods: Observation, Naturalistic, Experimental;
Correlational study; Interview, Case study; Psychological tools: Tests, Questionnaires and gadgets;
Qualitative Methods, Quantitative Analysis of data: Concepts and computation of the Measures of
Central Tendency: Graphical Presentation of Data: Bar, Histogram, Polygon; Ethical issues in the study
of psychological processes.
Class XI (Theory)
One Theory Paper 3 Hours
Unitwise weightage Marks : 70
Units Marks
Foundations of Psychology
I. Introduction to Psychology 08
II. Methods of Psychology 09
III. The Bases of Human Behaviour 08
IV. Human Development 07
V. Sensory and Perceptual Processes 08
VI. Learning 08
VII. Human Memory 08
VIII Language and thought 07
IX. Motivation and Emotion 07
Practicals (Projects, experiments, small studies) 30
Unit III: The Bases of Human Behaviour 08 Marks (20 Periods)
This unit focuses on the role of biological and socio-cultural factors in the shaping of
human behaviour and experience.
Evolutionary perspective on human behaviour; Biological and cultural roots; Nervous system
and endocrine system: Structure and relationship of with behaviour and experience; Brain and behaviour,
Role of Neurotransmitters in behaviour. Sleep and weakfulness. Genetic bases of behaviour; Culture
and human behaviour: Socialization, Enculturation and Acculturation; Globalization; Diversity and pluralism
in the Indian context.
Unit IV: Human Development 07 Marks (16 Periods)
This unit deals with variations in development and the developmental tasks across the life
span.
Meaning of development; Factors influencing development; Contexts of development; Overview
of developmental stages: Prenatal development, Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence (particularly issues
of identity, health, social participation and moral development), Adulthood and Old age.
Unit V: Sensory and Perceptual Processes 8 Marks (20 Periods)
This unit aims at understanding how various sensory stimuli are received, attended to and
given meaning.
Knowing the world; Nature of stimuli; Nature and functioning of sense modalities; Sensory
Adaptation; Attention : Nature and determinants; Selective and sustained attention; Principles of
perceptual organization; Role of perceiver , characteristics in perception; Pattern recognition; Perceptual
phenomena : After images; Space Perception, Perceptual constancy, Illusions, Person perception;
Socio-cultural influences on perception.
Unit VI : Learning 8 Marks (20 Periods)
This unit focuses on how human beings acquire new behaviour and how changes in
behaviour take place.
Nature of learning and learning curve: Paradigms of learnings: Classical and Operant Conditioning,
Observational Learning, Cognitive learning, Verbal learning, Concept learning, skill-learning; Factors
facilitating learning; Transfer of learning: Types and Applications, Learning styles: Learning disabilities;
Some Applications of learning principles.
Unit VII : Human Memory 8 Marks (20 Periods)
This unit deals with how information is received, stored, retrieved and lost. It will also
discuss how memory can be improved.
Nature of memory; Information Processing Approach; Levels of processing; Memory systems -
Sensory memory, Short-term memory, Long -term memory; Knowledge representation and organisation
in memory; Memory as a constructive process; memory and emotions; prospective memory; Nature
and causes of forgetting; Enhancing memory; Brain and memory.
Unit VIII : Language and Thought 07 Marks (20Periods)
This unit deals with thinking and related processes like reasoning, problem-solving, decision
making and creative thinking and relationship between thought and language.
Building blocks of thinking: Thought and language: Nature and interrrelationship; Stages of cognitive
development: Introduction to the ideas of Piaget and Vygotsky, Development of language and language
use; Reasoning: Problem-solving; Decision making; Creative thinking: Nature, process and development.
Unit IX: Motivation and Emotion 07 Marks (18 Periods)
This unit focuses on why human beings behave as they do. It also deals with how people
experience positive and negative events and respond to them.
Human existence and nature of motivation; Biological needs; Social and psychological motives:
Achievement, Affiliation and Power, Maslow's hierarchy of needs; Emerging concepts: Competence,
Self efficacy and Intrinsic Motivation; Nature of emotions; Physiological, cognitive and cultural bases
of emotions; Expression of emotions; Positive emotions: Happiness, Optimism, Empathy and Gratitude;
Development of positive emotions; Managing negative emotions such as anger and fear.
Practicals (Projects, experiments, small studies, etc.)30 Marks(60 Periods)
The students shall be required to undertake one project and conduct one experiments. The
project would involve the use of different methods of enquiry and related skills. Practicals would
involve conducting experiments and undertaking small studies, exercises, related to the topics covered
in the course (e.g. Human development, Learning, Memory, Motivation, Perception, Attention and
Thinking).
(i) Practical (Experiments) file 05 Marks
(ii) Project File 05 Marks
(iii) Viva Voce (Project and experiments) 05 Marks
(iv) One experiment : (05 for conduct and 10 for reporting) 15 Marks