UPSC Mains 2025 Psychology Optional Paper I questions

28 questions from the Civil Services (Main) Examination 2025. Official UPSC paper (PDF) · All Psychology Optional PYQs

1. Why did behaviourists avoid the topics of thought and knowledge? Discuss.

   10 marks

2. Highlight the major factors that influence the psychological well-being of youth in the Indian setting.

   10 marks

3. Do attribution processes explain success and failure behaviour in social context? Answer this in the light of Weiner's model of attribution.

   10 marks

4. Critically evaluate the role of facial-affect programme and display rules in the expression of emotions by citing relevant examples.

   10 marks

5. IQ tests are too narrow in focus.' Evaluate the statement from the perspectives of Sternberg and Gardner's theories of intelligence.

   10 marks

6. Personality is all in our genes.' Evaluate the statement in the context of different personality theories.

   20 marks

7. When psychologists label their perspective 'humanistic', what does this term mean to you? What is its relevance in the modern era?

   15 marks

8. In what ways is probability sampling appropriate in the conduct of psychological research? Illustrate your answer with different techniques of probability sampling.

   15 marks

9. Discuss the role of biological, cognitive and learning influences on gender identity and gender typing by focusing on relevant theories and research studies.

   20 marks

10. Are quasi-experimental designs more advantageous than experimental designs? Discuss in the light of various methodological considerations.

    15 marks

11. Bring out the contributions of Binet and Wechsler in the measurement of intelligence. In what ways are Wechsler's approach and procedures more effective than Binet's approach and procedures? Discuss with examples.

    15 marks

12. Describe social cognitive theory and its applications to solve large scale societal problems.

    20 marks

13. Meditation alters consciousness.' Discuss this by explaining meditation and consciousness along with relevant research examples.

14. What is the Whorfian hypothesis of linguistic relativity? Evaluate with empirical evidences.

15. Do correlational studies contribute in understanding 'cause and effect' relationship in human behaviour? Discuss.

    10 marks

16. Explain how psychological and cultural factors affect perception.

    10 marks

17. Can amnesia patients recall emotional events? Explain your answer citing research evidence.

    10 marks

18. Discuss how the narrative approach to personality hinges on answering the question, 'Who am I?'.

    10 marks

19. Is jet-lag a genuine phenomena? Explain it in the light of Circadian rhythms.

    10 marks

20. How would you justify the use of factor analysis in psychological research? Answer with appropriate concepts and examples.

    20 marks

21. State the structure of language and explain its role in speech perception and comprehension.

    15 marks

22. What enables us to see the world in 3D despite our retinas capturing only 2D images? Explain.

    15 marks

23. Motivation is a complex process and cannot be explained by a single approach." Evaluate the statement with the help of arousal, drive and expectancy theories by citing relevant examples.

    20 marks

24. Distinguish between deductive and inductive reasoning and throw light on stumbling blocks of reasoning.

    15 marks

25. Reward and punishment sometimes fail to effectively change behaviour. Explain with relevant examples.

    15 marks

26. Why do human beings form attitudes and prejudices? Discuss the role of psychosocial factors in bringing the change in them, in the present Indian socio-cultural context.

    20 marks

27. Give two examples of the use of the availability heuristic in everyday life — one example when it would be appropriate and another example when it might not be. Explain why your examples are illustrative of availability heuristic.

    15 marks

28. Describe some major strategies for memory retention and explain each one with relevant examples.

    15 marks