How to study Psychology Part 3

Hello everyone! I want to thank friends and aspirants who followed the blog and gave suggestions for putting up more content. It was requested that I put up some answers of Paper 2 of Psychology that I wrote in Civil Services Mains Examination 2013. Well, I have compiled some answers. But these are not exactly the same that I wrote. But definitely, they are roughly similar to what I wrote. I have provided the structure of answers that I wrote with the possible source in parenthesis at the end. Friends, one can add in this structure to make the answers even better. I hope these answers will not be the end but only the beginning of more amazing answers that you all will write in the coming examination. I will furnish answers for some more questions of  paper 2 in subsequent post.


I am also considering putting FAQ for preparing Paper 2 of Psychology in subsequent posts. Please be kind to point out any flaws and suggest more content to be put here. This is a humble effort to help you all and hence it will be futile without your suggestions.


All the best for coming Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2014.

PSYCHOLOGY QUESTION PAPER ANSWERS CSE 2013

Q1

1.1

How will you ensure that a newly constructed personnel selection test measures that it purports to measure and predicts what it intends to predict? Explain.

Structure: The sought quality of test is called Validity of test. Face Validity. Criterion Validity through comparison with tests for similar purpose.  If new construct is to be tested then there is also a need of Construct Validity which can be done through Multi Trait Multi Method Matrix. (refer A K Singh’s Statistics book )

 

1.2

Reflect on the major issues and contradictions related to the understanding of well-being. Discuss with reference to current social trends.

Structure:  Well being defn; perspectives like Hedonic View, Eudaimonic View. Hedonic view contradicts the Eudaimonic view (explain it), Common misconceptions prevalent in society about well being like rich are happy, well being reduces with age, factors that affect well being purpose in life, personality factors Type A, B Hardy Personality, marriage (refer Baron, Mukul Pathak sir notes)

 

  

1.3

How would you identify gifted children? Explain with examples.

Structure: gifted children defn, parent and significant others, teacher referral. However these are not very reliable and need to be supported by Psychometric tests. Deviation IQ based measure, multiple intelligence based measure of giftedness. (Mukul Pathak sir notes)

 

 

1.4

Discuss the steps that can be taken to improve the quality of group decision-making.

Structure: grp decision making can be improved using Brainstorming, allowing for Performance Matching, avoiding Groupthink. Depending upon the nature of group, participative decision making can be resorted to where there is bidirectional flow of ideas. Other methods like NGT etc. (Social Psychology Baron, Mukul Pathak sir notes)

 

 

1.5

India rates very high on carbon emission. What use can be made of psychological knowledge to reduce the level of carbon emission in India?

Structure: principle of learning in that addressing the antecedent and consequent determinants of behaviour that affect carbon emission levels.  Theory of reasoned action and planned behaviour. Public commitment and invoking hypocrisy. (Social Psychology Baron Attitude Change, Mukul Pathak sir notes)

 

 

Q2

2.1

What is your understanding of organizational politics? Discuss how it impacts decision-making processes in bureaucratic organizations.

Structure: Organizational politics defn, bureaucratic organizations are characterized by hierarchy and top down communication. Power is concentrated in the higher positions with the lower rungs following the instructions. There is limited participation in decision making nor is there any autonomy in practice. Besides there are many positions not significant different in job design and authority enjoyed by them. This breeds a lot of power struggle. There is tendency to move up the hierarchy as power is concentrated there. Hence power struggle. Subordinates distort flow of communication in the organization to suit their personalized needs of affection. This affects the quality of decisions taken. Also, constant power struggle leads to poor flow of ideas and reduces the efficacy of techniques like brainstorming while making decisions. For instance, being conscious of power rivalry members in such a session may not freely contribute.

 

However, organizational politics aids decision making positively too. If the organizational power is vested as per principles of merit aligned with organizational values and goals then decision making is facilitated as leader can get participative in decision making with subordinates' moral high owing to perceived distributive and procedural justice.

 

(Applied Psycho Swain, Social Psychology Baron)

 

 

2.2

Discuss the psychological implications of the ‘glass ceiling’ effect from the perspective of an administrator.

Glass ceiling what? Administrator's concern : prejudice and discrimination in organization, reduces employee productivity and organizational efficiency. It may lead to loss of workforce and eats into competitiveness of org. It also signals a deficiency in leadership models and organizational culture. Highlights the need of gender sensitivity training. Also it's an opportunity to look at the institutional barriers leading to Leaking Pipeline phenomenon. As an administrator, it is time to focus on creating enabling environment ensure women employees are adequately represented at higher rungs and have support structures like women groups looking after their interests.

 

(Swain Applied Psychology, Social Psychology Baron)

 

 

2.3

Reflecting on the status of education in India, state whether it can help in reducing the gap which has been experienced due to social inequality.

Status of education in India: gaps in physical infrastructure and learning outcomes.
Privately governed schools are at a distinct advantage vis a vis government schools. They have better infrastructure and learning outcomes than the government schools. Teacher student ratio is closer to that mandated by Right to Education Act. However they also suffer from problems like undue focus on rote learning, lack of creativity, and insufficient counselling opportunities are a few to cite.

 
Government schools not only have shortage of teachers but also teaching learning materials and toilets and classrooms. Poor teaching strategies have led to insufficient capabilities in 3Rs in children of classes as high as fifth.

 

Besides there are problems in learning outcomes owing to unfavourable teacher's expectations towards students as discussed in Pygmalion effect( Rosenthal and Jacobson). Unfavourable expectations of for instance a higher caste teacher towards a lower caste student leads to student's dismal performance.

 

However there are many bright spots also catching attention in Indian education sector that may lead to filling gaps. Recently passed RTE makes the admission of disadvantaged children in schools mandatory based on affirmative action. This is a potent weapon to reduce inequality in benefits of education. Programmes like Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan, Special schemes for education of girls, model schools like Navodaya, KVs aim to reduce inequality.

 

Distance learning and e-learning has helped in filling up infrastructural deficit and teacher shortage. Smart classes based on Intelligent Tutoring System have allowed for better conceptual understanding in a diverse classroom. Aakash tablets and e-learning programmes are making learning universal.

 

All said and done, teachers remain an integral part of teaching learning experience. Hence there is also emphasis on training them to teach well in a diverse classroom of today’s India. Focus in  training is to teach how to nurture multiple intelligence and vary teaching style to  match learning styles.

 

(Applied Psycho Swain, Social Psychology Baron)

 

 

 

 

Q5
5.1

Discuss how the psychological training given to sports persons can be useful for administrators with reference to maintaining team spirit and group morale.

Sports psycho aims at building teams and making them function effectively with right team spirit and morale. Administration also requires group of persons working together to meet a deadline or look after certain work led by a leader. Principles of sports psycho can be of immense applicability here.
Administration requires ppl to function based on their skills and knowledge and coordinate with each other. Without this coordination actions turn wayward and haphazard. There is a need for pep talks for team members to keep them motivated throughout the task at hand. Principles used in sports teams to manage stress and frustration in failure can be applied here as well as the negative affect generated is the same. Team morale is built up by making teams achieve specific, measurable, action oriented, and realistic goals together as a team. This can be directly applied to build team morale in administrative settings.(Examples can be cited) Making super ordinate goals helps in diffusing petty intragroup skirmishes and fosters ‘team chemistry '.

 

(Applied Psycho Swain)