Psychology NCERT Class 12 PDF: What’s Inside the Book

The Psychology NCERT Class 12 PDF is the official Class 12 Psychology textbook — a 7-chapter volume that runs from intelligence and personality to stress, psychological disorders and social behaviour. Every chapter file is in the download table on this page, straight from ncert.nic.in.

This page also tells you what is actually inside the book: per-chapter counts of activities, indexed figures and exercise questions, measured from the textbook itself. If you are choosing what to revise tonight, those numbers matter more than the download link.

Download the official NCERT chapter PDFs

These are NCERT’s own files, hosted on ncert.nic.in and free to download without a login.

Each row links the official PDF of one chapter. The first chapter’s file at https://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/lepy101.pdf is a good one to open first — it confirms the official layout and page numbering that the whole set follows.

• Official source — every file is served from ncert.nic.in, NCERT’s own domain.
• Free to download — no login or payment is required.
• Chapter-wise files — one PDF per chapter, so you can download only what you need.

Class 12 NCERT Psychology Book PDF Download: The Book, Measured

The whole volume, counted from the textbook’s own pages:

• 7 chapters in the official textbook
• 7 verified chapter PDFs, all from ncert.nic.in
• 131 printed pages across the seven chapters
• 16 verified numbered figures indexed from the textbook
• 17 activities across the seven chapters
• 88 exercise questions in total

The study-page status for each chapter — Available, Drafting, or Not yet built — is rendered in the chapter-pages section below.

What is inside each chapter of the Psychology NCERT Class 12 book

The directory above counts what the OCR verified in the textbook. A “section” is one of NCERT’s own numbered headings, a “figure” is a numbered figure indexed from the book, and a “question” is an end-of-chapter exercise.

One honest note: the OCR recorded no numbered syllabus sections for this book, so the section column reads 0 for every chapter — the topic lists in the chapter notes below are the real section titles, taken from the OCR.

Chapter 1: Variations in Psychological Attributes (pp. 1-22)

Chapter 1 is where the paper’s language is set — it explains individual differences in human functioning, how assessment of psychological attributes works, and the main theories of intelligence (multiple intelligences, the triarchic theory and the PASS model) — so read it first, because the later chapters assume it.

1. Individual Differences In Human Functioning
2. Assessment Of Psychological Attributes
3. Some Domains of Psychological Attributes
4. Assessment Methods
5. Discovering the Attributes of Intelligent Persons
6. Theories Of Intelligence
7. Theory of Multiple Intelligences
8. Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
9. On the ‘Practical’ Track
10. Planning, Attention-arousal, and Simultaneous-successive (PASS) Model of Intelligence

Across 22 pages it carries 1 activity, 3 indexed figures and 14 questions; two of its figures — the normal curve showing the distribution of IQ scores in the population (Fig. 1.2, p. 11) and an item from Raven’s Progressive Matrices test (Fig. 1.3, p. 14) — are the ones to recognise by name.

Chapter 2: Self and Personality (pp. 23-49)

Chapter 2 turns from intelligence to identity: it examines the self and how culture and self shape each other, then moves into personality through type approaches and trait approaches, including Allport’s trait theory and Cattell’s factors.

1. Concept Of Self
2. Cognitive And Behavioural Aspects Of Self
3. Culture And Self
4. Concept Of Personality
5. Major Approaches To The Study Of Personality
6. Personality-related Terms
7. Type Approaches
8. Trait Approaches
9. Allport’s Trait Theory
10. Cattell: Personality Factors

This is the most figure-heavy chapter in the book — 5 of the 16 indexed figures, including the structure of personality in Freudian theory (Fig. 2.2, p. 34), the Rorschach inkblot (Fig. 2.4, p. 44) and a TAT card (Fig. 2.5, p. 45) — with 2 activities and 17 questions across 27 pages.

Chapter 3: Meeting Life Challenges (pp. 50-68)

Chapter 3 is the practical chapter: it defines stress, separates the types and sources of stress, lists the stress symptoms to recognise, and explains the general adaptation syndrome and the relation of stress to illness.

1. Nature, Types And Sources Of Stress
2. Nature of Stress
3. Signs and Symptoms of Stress
4. Activity 3.1
5. Types of Stress
6. Physical and Environmental Stress
7. Psychological Stress
8. Social Stress
9. Sources of Stress
10. Life Events

The chapter spans 19 pages with 4 activities, 4 indexed figures and 18 questions — the heaviest exercise load in the book — and its figures include the psychological meaning of stress (Fig. 3.1) and the general adaptation syndrome (Fig. 3.3).

Chapter 4: Psychological Disorders (pp. 69-88)

Chapter 4 covers the clinical core of the paper: what makes behaviour abnormal, how the classification of disorders is organised, and the features of the major psychological disorders.

1. Concepts Of Abnormality And Psychological Disorders
2. Historical Background
3. Classification Of Psychological Disorders
4. Factors Underlying Abnormal Behaviour
5. Major Psychological Disorders
6. Anxiety Disorders
7. Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
8. Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders
9. Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
10. Dissociative Disorders

The chapter spans 20 pages with 5 activities, 0 indexed figures and 17 questions — the heaviest activity load in the book, so its lack of diagrams is not a sign of a light chapter.

Chapter 5: Therapeutic Approaches (pp. 89-103)

Chapter 5 explains how psychological problems are treated: the nature and process of psychotherapy, the therapeutic relationship between client and therapist, the main types of therapies, and the techniques of behaviour therapy and cognitive therapy.

1. Nature And Process Of Psychotherapy
2. Therapeutic Relationship
3. Type Of Therapies
4. Steps in the Formulation of a Client’s Problem
5. Activity
6. Behaviour Therapy
7. Method of Treatment
8. Behavioural Techniques
9. Relaxation Procedures
10. Cognitive Therapy

At 15 pages, with 3 activities, 0 indexed figures and 9 questions, this chapter has the lightest question load in the book — useful when time is short, but the therapy names and techniques still need to be learned.

Chapter 6: Attitude and Social Cognition (pp. 104-119)

Chapter 6 moves to social psychology: it explains social behaviour, what attitudes are and how they are structured, and the processes of attitude formation and attitude change.

1. Explaining Social Behaviour
2. Nature And Components Of Attitudes
3. Attitude Formation And Change
4. Attitude Formation
5. Process of Attitude Formation
6. Factors that Influence Attitude Formation
7. Attitude Change
8. Process of Attitude Change
9. Factors that Influence Attitude Change
10. Telling a Lie for Twenty Dollars

Across 16 pages the chapter runs 0 activities, 3 indexed figures and 7 questions; two of its figures — “Rational and Emotional Appeals” (Fig. 6.2) and “Face-to-face Interaction versus Media Transmission. Which one works better? Why?” (Fig. 6.3) — illustrate the attitude-change discussion.

Chapter 7: Social Influence and Group Processes (pp. 120-131)

The final chapter is about the psychology of being with others: how groups form, the stages of group formation, the types of groups psychologists distinguish, and how ingroup and outgroup boundaries — studied through the minimal group paradigm — shape behaviour.

1. Nature And Formation Of Groups
2. Group Formation
3. Stages of Group Formation
4. Identifying Stages of Group Formation
5. Type Of Groups
6. Primary and Secondary Groups
7. Formal and Informal Groups
8. Ingroup and Outgroup
9. Ingroup and Outgroup Distinctions
10. The Minimal Group Paradigm Experiments

It is the shortest chapter in the book — 12 pages with 2 activities, 1 indexed figure and 6 questions — and the lightest exercise load, so it is a quick finish.

Study pages for each chapter

Each chapter of this book gets its own in-depth study page as it is published. The block below shows the current status of all seven; you can also browse the other Class 12 textbooks from the Class 12 NCERT books hub.

How to use this Psychology NCERT Class 12 PDF

This book reads best in the order its chapters build on each other, not by page count. A workable order for a first pass:

1. Start with Chapter 1 (Variations in Psychological Attributes) — it sets up assessment and intelligence, the tools every later chapter assumes.
2. Move to Chapter 2 (Self and Personality) — personality theories use the same assessment ideas.
3. Work through Chapter 3 (Meeting Life Challenges) and Chapter 4 (Psychological Disorders) together — stress is the bridge into disorder.
4. Follow with Chapter 5 (Therapeutic Approaches) — the natural continuation of Chapter 4.
5. Finish with Chapters 6 and 7 (Attitude and Social Cognition; Social Influence and Group Processes) — the social half of the paper.

If you prefer to plan by theme, the seven chapters fall into three stages:

Three mistakes cost students time in this book:

Do not assume a chapter with no figures is safe to skip: Chapter 4 has 0 indexed figures but 5 activities and 17 questions, so the absence of diagrams is not a measure of the revision it needs. One caution: textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official syllabus on cbse.gov.in.

Related NCERT resources

This listing is maintained for the 2026-27 academic session using the NCERT textbook information available to us. NCERT remains the authority for confirming the latest edition.

• Class 12 NCERT books hub — the Class 12 section of this site’s NCERT textbook directory.
• NCERT books directory — the root of the directory, organised by class and subject.

Sources and data verification

• The counts on this page come from the NCERT Class 12 Psychology textbook editions this directory indexes.
• The dataset covers chapter structure, indexed figures, activities and end-of-chapter questions; it does not cover every in-text item, activity table or unnumbered diagram.
• This listing is maintained for the current session using the NCERT information available to us.
• NCERT settles textbooks, editions and PDFs; CBSE settles curriculum, syllabus and examinations.

Reference: NCERT Class 12 Psychology textbook, official edition on ncert.nic.in. Figure captions and section titles quoted from the textbook; page references are to the official PDF.

Frequently asked questions about the Class 12 NCERT Psychology book

How many chapters are in the Class 12 NCERT Psychology book?

Seven chapters, from Variations in Psychological Attributes (Chapter 1) to Social Influence and Group Processes (Chapter 7), across 131 printed pages. The download table at the top of this page links all seven chapter PDFs.

Is the Class 12 Psychology NCERT PDF free and official?

Yes. Every file in the table is NCERT’s own PDF, hosted on ncert.nic.in, and free to download without a login. The chapter files use the same layout and page numbering as the printed edition.

Which chapter of Class 12 Psychology covers stress?

Chapter 3, Meeting Life Challenges (pp. 50-68), covers the nature, types and sources of stress, stress symptoms, the general adaptation syndrome, and the relation of stress to illness. It carries the book’s heaviest exercise load, with 18 questions.

Which chapter covers personality theories in Class 12 Psychology NCERT?

Chapter 2, Self and Personality (pp. 23-49), covers type and trait approaches, including Allport’s trait theory and Cattell’s personality factors, alongside the concept of self and the influence of culture.

Where are the official chapter-wise PDFs of this book hosted?

On NCERT’s own website, ncert.nic.in, as one file per chapter. The first chapter, for example, is at ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/lepy101.pdf, and the download table above links the rest.