Basic Psychology Syllabus - BBA (TU)

Course Objective

To enable the students to understand basic processes and structures underlying human behavior as a basis for managing people in an organizational setting.

Course Description

This course contain introduction, perception, social thought and behavior, motivation and emotion, learning, memory and forgetting, thinking and problem solving, human intelligence, personality.

Course Details

Unit 1: Introduction  : LH 6

Understanding Psychology – concepts, goals of psychology, major perspectives in psychology (behavioral, cognitive, biological, evolutionary, developmental, psychodynamics, and social and cultural). Psychology 2000 – trends for new Applications of psychology in everyday life.

Research methods in Psychology

1. Observation – naturalistic observation, case studies, survey
2. Correlation method
3. Experimental method

Unit 2: Perception, Social Thought and Behavior : LH 6

• Concepts, factors influencing Perceptual organization. Constancies and Illusions;
• Person perception – Concept, Kelly’s attribution theory, Impression Formation; Perceptual error and biases

·    Social behavior

1. Persuasion, ii) attitudes, iii) prejudices and techniques to reduce it
   • Social influences- i) conformity, ii) compliance, iii) obedience (Milgram’s experiment)

Unit 3: Motivation and Emotion  : LH 6

• Motivation - concept, motivational cycle, types of motives – primary and Motivational theories – drive theory, arousal theory, expectancy theory, goal-setting theory, and equity theory.
• Emotion – concept, types of emotions, external constraints on emotion – organizational influences and cultural Gender and emotion.

Emotional labor – felt emotion vs. displayed emotion.

Organization behavior applications of emotion – ability and selection, decision-making, creativity, interpersonal conflict, deviant workplace behaviors, Implications of emotion for managers.

Unit 4: Learning : LH 6

Concept and Importance

• Models of learning-behavioral models (classical and operant conditioning), cognitive model (social/observational learning).
• Application of learning theories
• Shaping behavior - positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment
• Schedule of reinforcement
• Behavior modification

Unit 5: Memory and Forgetting : LH 7

• Memory – concept, memory process (encoding, storage, retrieval)
• Memory system – sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin model)
• Contemporary approaches to memory – working memory, long-term memory modules: declarative memory (semantic memory and episodic memory,) and procedural memory,

Improving memory

• Forgetting – concept, causes of forgetting – i) decay, ii) inhibition (proactive and retroactive), iii) memory dysfunctions – Alzheimer’s disease, amnesia – retrograde amnesia and anterograde

Unit 6: Thinking and Problem Solving : LH 6

·    Thinking

• Thinking – concept, elements of thought – mental images and concepts
• Creativity – concept ,stages of creative thinking
• Reasoning – algorithms and heuristics
• Problem solving – concept, stages in problem solving, methods of problem solving, factors affecting problem solving - functional fixedness and mental set
• Decision-making – Concept, common biases and errors in problem solving - i) over- confidence, ii) anchoring bias, iii) availability bias, iv) confirmation bias, v) representative bias, vi) escalation of commitment, vii) hindsight bias.

Unit 7: Human Intelligence : LH 6

• Intelligence-Concept , major approaches of intelligence - Two-factor theory, Group factor theory, Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence, Sternberg’s Triarchic theory, Cattle’s Fluid and Crystallized Variation in intellectual ability – mental retardation and intellectually gifted. Role of heredity and environment.
• Emotional intelligence: Concept, Goleman’s dimensions of emotional Emotional intelligence in work place. Applications of emotional intelligence .

Unit 8: Personality  : LH 5

Concept, determinants – heredity, environment and situation. Personality traits -MBTI and Big Five Models, personality attributes influencing organization behavior. Measurement of personality-objective method (MMPI), and projective methods (RT and TAT),Personality and Behavior in Work Setting

Text books

1. Baron, R.A. Psychology. Fifth Edition. Prentice-Hall of India.
2. Feldman, R. S. Understanding Psychology. Tenth edition. Tata McGraw-Hill.

References

1. Ciccarelli, Saundra K. and Meyer Glene E.(2013). Psychology. South Asian Edition, Pearson Education.
2. Robbins, S.P. (Latest edition).Essential of Organizational Behavior. Prentice Hall of India.