BPCG 175 Psychology for Living

By Prof. Swati Patra and Prof. Ritu Sharma | Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi.

Learners enrolled: 289

The Course Psychology for Living provides an understanding of the knowledge and applications of psychology for living an optimal life. It explains psychological constructs in the context of self and identity development. It describes various correlates of mental health and maladjustment. Further, it helps understand positive growth across lifespan, and learn about positive interventions for promoting psychological well-being.

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	16 weeks
Category :	Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit Points :	6
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	15 Jul 2025
End Date :	15 Nov 2025
Enrollment Ends :	15 Sep 2025
Exam Date :

Page Visits

Course layout

Number of Module	Name of the Module	Duration In Hour
01	Psychology and Mind-Body Relationship	01
02	Self and Identity Development	1.5
03	Components of Self	1.5
04	Attitude, Personality and Thinking	2.5
05	Emotions and Motivation	2.5
06	Problem Solving, Decision Making and Creativity	2.5
07	Self and Maladjustment	2.5
08	Mental Disorders	2.5
09	Correlates of Mental Health and Well-Being I	01
10	Correlates of Mental Health and Well-Being II	3.5
11	Self in a Changing World	01
12	Positive Growth in Childhood	01
13	Positive Youth Development	0.5
14	Successful Ageing	1.5
15	Promoting Growth and Wellness: Positive Interventions	1.5
16	Counselling and Psychotherapy	3.5
Total		30 Hours

Books and references

BOOKS AND REFERENCES

(Swayam Course on BPCG 175: Psychology for Living)

Baumgardner, S., & Crothers, M. (2015). Positive Psychology. Pearson.

Butcher, J.N., Hooley, J.M., & Mineka, S. (2014). Abnormal psychology, 16^th ed. Pearson.

Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2015). Personality and individual differences, 3^rd ed. The British Psychological Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Ciccarelli, S.K., & White, J.N. (2018). Psychology. (Adapted by Girishwar Misra). Pearson India Education Services.

Dalal, A.K., & Misra, G. (2011). New directions in health psychology (1^st ed.). New Delhi: Sage publication.

Edward, P., & Sarafino, T.W.S. (2016). Health psychology: Biopsychosocial interactions. 9^th ed.. Wiley.

Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam book.

Gladding, S.T., & Batra, P. (2018). Counseling: A comprehensive profession. 8^th ed. Pearson.Kirsh, S.J., Duffy, K.G., & Atwater, E. (2015). Psychology for living: Adjustment, growth and behavior today, 11^th ed. Pearson.

Kumar, U, Archana & Prakash, V. (2015). Positive Psychology: Applications in work, Health and Well-being. Pearsons India.

Maio, G.R., Haddock, G., & Verplanken, B. (2018). The psychology of attitudes and attitude change. Sage.

Mangal, S.K, & Mangal, S. (2015). Emotional intelligence: Managing emotions to win in life. Delhi: PHI Learning

Markus, H.R., & Kitayama, S. (2010). Cultures and selves: A cycle of mutual constitution. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(4), 420-430.

Masten, Ann & Barnes, Andrew. (2018). Resilience in Children: Developmental Perspectives. Children. 5, 98. 10.3390/children5070098.

Ozer, S. (2019). Towards a psychology of cultural globalization: A sense of self in a changing world. Psychology and Developing Societies, 31(1), 162-186. https://doi.org/10.1177/0971333618819279

Patra, S. (2023). Growing Up: A Practical Handbook on Holistic Development. New Delhi: Uppal publishers.

Patra, S. (2022) (Ed.). Adolescence in India: Issues, Challenges and Possibilities. Singapore: Springer

Ryan, P., & Coughlan, B.J. (2011). Ageing and older adult mental health: Issues and implications for practice. (Eds.) Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Saha, S. (2016). Contributions of positive youth development to the understanding of adolescent behavior. Alexis Institute Initiative: Alexis Foundation.

Sarason, I.G., & Sarason, B.R. (2002). Abnormal psychology: The problem of maladaptive behavior. New Delhi: Pearson Education Inc.

Snyder, C.R., Lopez, S.J., & Pedrotti, J.T. ( 2011). Positive psychology: The scientific and practical explorations of human strengths, 2^nd ed. Sage Publications.

Instructor bio

Prof. Swati Patra is Professor of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi. Having worked earlier in NCERT, she has 23 years of teaching, research and training experience. Her areas of academic and research interest are counseling, mental health, positive psychology, mindfulness, stress management, emotional intelligence, parenting, and child and adolescent development. Her professional activities include among other things course writing, course editing, research guidance and publication. She has 28 journal publications and 9 book chapters, and written numerous chapters in IGNOU course materials. Her recent books are ‘Adolescence in India: Issues, Challenges and Possibilities’ by Springer; and ‘Growing Up: A Practical Handbook on Holistic Development’, focusing on pertinent issues and challenges during the stages of childhood, adolescence and adulthood. She is the Programme Coordinator of M.A. in Psychology, P.G. Diploma in Mental Health and SWAYAM (MOOC) course on Counselling Psychology from IGNOU. She provides academic counseling through Interactive radio counseling (Gyanvani) and television (Gyandarshan) of IGNOU. She is a certified Happiness Coach from the Berkeley Institute of Well-being, California in association with Happiitude, India, and also a certified Mindfulness trainer from Happiitude.

Prof. Ritu Sharma is Professor of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi. Prof. Sharma is a Doctorate in Psychology from University of Delhi and NET qualified. She is presently a core committee member of “MANODARPAN” under the Ministry of Education, Government of India. She has worked on prestigious research projects of National importance at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. She has also taught Masters and Undergraduate courses at University in the United States of America (USA) and United Arab Emirates (UAE) as an International Teaching Assignment.

Prof. Sharma has worked in the industry as an HR: Training & Development and as a Counseling Psychologist, her areas of specialization are Organizational Behavior, Criminal Psychology, Indian Psychology, and Indigenous therapies. Prof. Ritu has contributed to E-learning by creating content and modules for E-Pgpathshala and eGyanKosh. Apart from this she has conducted trainings and workshops for Government employees working in banks, schools, armed forces and police under individual training sessions and training projects. She has been awarded the “Academic Excellence Award '' in the year 2022 at an IEEE conference ICCAKM held at Dubai, UAE. Along with her own research publications and presentations at National and International level, she has also been working as a book and journal reviewer for reputed national and international publishers. She is also working as Guest / Consultant/ Expert Panel member in interviews, research and other committees of reputed Government, National and International bodies.

Course certificate

Exam Registration URL: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled, and the certification exam fee needs to be paid.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

30 Marks will be allocated for Internal Assessment (Final Quiz- Mandatory) which will be available at the end of the course and 70 Marks will be allocated for end term proctored examination.

A minimum of 40% passing marks (i.e. at-least 12 marks in Internal Assessment (Final Quiz- Mandatory) & 28 Marks in external proctored examination) will be required for being eligible for SWAYAM Certificate.

SWAYAM Helpline / Support