Psychology (GCE A Level)

Why study Psychology?

A Level Psychology is a challenging but fascinating subject, regarded as the science of behaviour and the mind. Whilst at A Level, Psychology is mostly about the study of human beings, a career in Psychology can involve the study of people and of animals.

Although you will not have studied this subject before you will need many of the skills developed by more traditional academic disciplines throughout your school career. For example, Biological Psychology requires us to learn about the effects of some hormones on the body, so a good grade in Science G.C.S.E. would be essential. Also, as the assessment is a combination of multiple-choice, short answer and extended writing questions, then being good at English is essential too.

Mathematical skills and the ability to engage in reasoned debate are vital because of the requirements to analyse and evaluate numerical data, competing psychological theories and to discuss the ethics of using animals and humans for psychological research. At least 25-30% of the exam will assess Research Methods and at least 10% of the marks will assess the use of mathematical skills.

Enthusiasm and an enquiring mind are extremely important too! As part of the course you will experience the opportunity to participate in presentations, group work and your own small scale psychological research.

Paper 1:

Social Influence - conformity; obedience; minority influence.

Memory - models of memory and forgetting, eyewitness testimony and the cognitive interview.

Attachment – Caregiver interactions, including animal studies; the influence of early attachments on adult relationships.

Paper 2:

Psychopathology - defining abnormality; phobias; depression; OCD – explanations and treatments.

Approaches with Biopsych – Learning; Cognitive; biological approaches, Psychodynamic and Humanistic.

Biopsych - divisions of the nervous system; structure and function of neurons function of endocrine system; fight or flight response.

Research Methods – Experimental method; observational techniques; self-report techniques; correlations.

Scientific processes – aims and hypotheses; sampling; experimental and observational designs; questionnaire construction; variables; control; demand characteristics; ethics. Data handling and analysis – quantitative and qualitative data; descriptive statistics; presentation of data; distributions. Inferential tests. Reliability and validity.

Inferential testing – introduction to statistical testing, including the sign test.

Paper 3:

Issues and Debates – compulsory topic of: gender and culture; free will and determinism; nature-nurture debate; holism and reductionism; idiographic and nomothetic approaches; ethical implications.

3 topics, one from each Option Group (*indicates likely option)

Option 1: Option 2: Option 3:

Relationships* Schizophrenia* Aggression

Gender eating Forensic *

Cognition and development Stress Addiction

All exams—no course work component on the course.