9/17/2014 Pathak Sir Psychology Test Questions - Mains - UPSC 2013

http://forumias.com/discussion/5461/pathak-sir-psychology-test-questions 1/2
Pathak sir's first psychology test questions.
Test - I - 2014
Cognitive Psychology
1.
a. What evidence suggests that schemas help us remember our experiences? Can they also lead to distortion
in what we remember? 10
b. Give an account of Sternbergs theory of intelligence. In what ways it is different from psychometric
approach to intelligence. 10
c. What do you understand by the term Linguistic Productivity? How does it make our language different
from animal language? 10
d. Illustrate with example the relationship between learning, motivation and performance. 10
e. How does feature integration theory explain our visual perception? 10
2.
A. Critically evaluate the role of contiguity, frequency and intensity in classical conditioning. Identify and
explain the factors that have posed fundamental challenge to the principle of contiguity. 25
B. What are availability of representativeness heuristics? How do we use them in estimating the probability of
events? 25
3.
A. Critically evaluate the efficacy of punishment as an instrument of behavior change. Is it correct to consider
negative reinforcement a kind of punishment? 25
B. Discuss the basic principles of programmed learning and evaluate its utility in creative solutions finding in
the light of recent developments in this field. 25
4.
A. Highlight the salient features of Chomskys theory of language development and discuss how it has
seriously challenged the Skinnerian idea of language development. 25
B. Compare and contrast Piaget and Vygotskys approaches to cognitive development and evaluate their
significance in the field of education. 25
5.
a. How does our ability to form and manipulate relational representation facilitate problem solving? Discuss
with relevant examples. 10
b. What is consolidation theory? What evidence suggests that it needs to be modified? 10
c. How does Sperlings research suggest the existence of a temporary visual store. 10
d. What is framing? How does it influence decision making? 10
e. Dichotic listening task research has produced considerable information to improve our understanding of
attention. Discuss. 10
9/17/2014 Pathak Sir Psychology Test Questions - Mains - UPSC 2013
http://forumias.com/discussion/5461/pathak-sir-psychology-test-questions 2/2
6.
A. What is clustering? Why did its discovery pose a challenge to associative analysis of memory? 20
B. What is Central Executive? What is the potential danger in postulating such a concept? 20
C. What evidence points to the existence of phonological loop? 10
7.
A. Discuss the factors that contributed to the birth of cognitive revolution and does it represent an
improvement over behaviorism. 25
B. Individual computers can become very like individual humans but group of computers will have a different
culture from group of humans in interaction. Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer. 25
8.
A. Intelligence increases with age but IQ remains constant. Discuss. 10
B. Critically evaluate the role of endogenous and exogenous factors in shaping perceptual organization. 20
C. What is prototype model of category formation? How is it different from exemplar model? Explain. 20