CUET Psychology Syllabus 2026 – Check Detailed Topics, Best Books & Courses Here

If you're planning to pursue Psychology after Class 12, then CUET UG 2026 is your gateway! The National Testing Agency (NTA) releases the CUET Psychology syllabus in PDF format. It covers important topics like Self and Personality, Attitude and Social Cognition, Psychological Disorders, and more. Psychology explores the human mind and behaviour and is offered at the Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) levels. According to the past year's trends, the CUET 2026 is expected to be held in the first or second week of May, and the application form will likely be available by March. This national-level exam opens doors to top central, state, private, and deemed universities across India.

CUET Psychology Syllabus 2026

The CUET Psychology syllabus outlines a variety of topics that help students explore human behavior, mental processes, and emotions. The syllabus itself is divided into different units that cover important psychological concepts, such as learning, memory, development, and personality. 

Each unit connects with one or more other units in order to help students obtain a complete and clearer understanding of the subject. This syllabus, whether a student is new to Psychology or has some previous Experience, is developed to help build the student's knowledge at each level. See the entire CUET UG Syllabus 2026 for Psychology listed below.

CUET Psychology Unit-Wise Syllabus 

The psychology syllabus for CUET UG 2026 has 9 different units, which are further divided into various chapters. The units are named as: 

• Unit I: Variations in Psychological Attributes
• Unit II: Self and Personality
• Unit III: Meeting Life Challenges
• Unit IV: Psychological Disorders
• Unit V: Therapeutic Approaches
• Unit VI: Attitude and Social Cognition
• Unit VII: Social Influence and Group Processes
• Unit VIII: Psychology and Life
• Unit IX: Developing Psychological Skills

Detailed CUET UG Psychology Syllabus 2026

To prepare well for CUET 2026, students aiming for a Psychology course must understand the Psychology syllabus thoroughly. It’s the first and most important step before starting full preparation. Along with the General CUET Syllabus 2026, going through the Psychology topics in detail will help you plan smartly. CUET 2026 is likely to be held between May and June in a computer-based format. This national-level exam opens doors to various undergraduate courses in central, state, private, and deemed universities across India.

Unit 1: Variations in Psychological Attributes

The unit aims at studying how people differ with respect to their various psychological attributes.

1. Individual differences in human functioning
2. Assessment of psychological attributes
3. Intelligence: Individual differences in intelligence
4. Theories of intelligence
5. Culture and Intelligence
6. Special abilities: Aptitude — nature, and measurement
7. Creativity
8. Emotional Intelligence

Unit 2: Self and Personality

This unit focuses on the study of self and personality in the context of different approaches in an effort to appraise the person, along with the assessment of personality.

1. Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, Self-Regulation
2. Culture and Self
3. Concept of Personality
4. Major approaches — Type and Trait, Psychodynamic, Humanistic, Behavioural, Cultural
5. Assessment of personality: Self-report measures, behavioural analysis, and projective measures

Unit 3: Meeting Life Challenges

This unit deals with the nature of stress and how responses to stress depend on an individual’s appraisal of stressors.

1. Nature
2. Types and Sources of Stress
3. Effects on Psychological Functioning and Health
4. Coping with stress
5. Promoting positive health and well-being

Unit 4: Psychological Disorders

This unit discusses the concepts of normality and abnormality and the major psychological disorders.

1. Concepts of abnormality and psychological disorders
2. Classification of disorders
3. Factors underlying abnormal behavior
4. Major psychological disorders – Anxiety, Somatic, Dissociative, Mood, Schizophrenic, Developmental, and Behavioural-Substance use related

Unit 5: Therapeutic Approaches

The unit discusses the goals, techniques, and effectiveness of different approaches to treating psychological disorders.

1. Nature and Process of Therapy: Therapeutic Relationship
2. Types of Therapies: Psychodynamic, Humanistic, Cognitive, Behavioural, and Biomedical
3. Alternative Therapies: Yoga, Meditation
4. Rehabilitation of Mentally Ill

Unit 6: Attitude and Social Cognition

This unit focuses on the formation and change of attitudes, cultural influences on attributional tendencies, and conditions influencing pro-social behavior.

1. Explaining social behavior: Impression formation and explaining the behavior of others through attributions
2. Social cognition
3. Schemas and stereotypes
4. Nature and Components of Attitudes
5. Attitude Formation and Change
6. Behavior in the presence of others
7. Pro-social behaviour
8. Prejudices and Discrimination
9. Strategies for Handling Prejudice

Unit 7: Social Influence and Group Processes

The unit deals with the concept of the group, its functions, and the dynamics of social influence on conformity, obedience, and compliance. Different conflict resolution strategies will also be discussed.

1. Conformity, Obedience, and Compliance
2. Cooperation and Competition
3. Nature and formation of groups
4. Types of Groups
5. Social Identity
6. Influence of the Group on Individual Behaviour
7. Inter-Group Conflicts
8. Conflict Resolution Strategies

Unit 8: Psychology and Life

The unit focuses on the application of psychological understanding to some important social issues

1. Human-Environment Relationship
2. Environmental Effects on Human Behaviour
3. Noise, Pollution, Crowding, Natural Disasters
4. Promoting Pro-Environmental Behaviour
5. Psychology and Social Concerns: Aggression, Violence and Peace, Discrimination and Poverty
6. Health
7. The Impact of Television on Behaviour

Unit 9: Developing Psychological Skills

The unit deals with some effective psychological and interpersonal skills for facilitating personal social development.

1. Effective Psychological Skills: Observational Skills, Interviewing Skills, Testing Skills
2. Counselling Skills: Empathy, Authenticity, Positive Regard
3. Communication Skills: Listening

Best Book for CUET UG Psychology Exam Preparation

After the successful completion of the Class 12th Board exams, all the students must have started their preparation for the upcoming CUET UG 2025 exam. All those who are willing to take admission to various Psychology courses can check the best prescribed Best CUET Preparation Books for Psychology exam preparation.  

Courses Offered Through CUET UG Psychology

CUET UG Psychology opens doors to a range of exciting courses for students passionate about understanding human behavior and mental processes. From B.A. (Hons.) From Psychology to Applied Psychology and Counselling, students can explore various undergraduate programs across top universities. These courses lay the foundation for careers in mental health, research, and education. Students can check the complete list of CUET UG Psychology courses in the table below.

• BA in Psychology
• Integrated BA in Psychology
• BSc in Psychology
• BSc Hons in Psychology
• BA Hons In Psychology
• BA Hons in Applied Psychology
• BA (Hons/Hons with Research) in Psychology
• BSc in Clinical Psychology
• BSc Hons in Clinical Psychology
• Undergraduate Programme in Social Science

Best Preparation Tips for CUET UG Psychology

• Understand the Syllabus – Go through the NCERT Psychology Class 11 & 12 books thoroughly, as most CUET UG questions are based on them.
• Make Short Notes – Prepare concise notes for important concepts, definitions, and psychologists’ names to revise quickly before the exam.
• Practice Previous Year Papers – Solve CUET PYQs and sample papers to understand the exam pattern and the type of questions asked.
• Focus on Key Topics – Pay extra attention to topics like intelligence, learning, memory, personality, and research methods, as they carry high weightage.
• Time Management – Practice mock tests in a time-bound manner to improve accuracy and speed.
• Seek Expert Guidance – Joining a good offline or CUET UG Online Coaching can help you get expert strategies, doubt-solving, and structured practice for scoring better