Psychology
SUBJECT overview
Studying Psychology has become a very valuable tool in the world we currently live in with mental health being more acceptable in society and more people wanting to seek help to overcome mental health issues. With much more media material nowadays on mindfulness and improving your mental state readily available, the psychology course has been designed to allow for our young minds to understand treatments available and causes around mental health. Learners will be given opportunities to extend their literacy and numeracy skills by studying research methodology and mathematical testing within this discipline. The scientific status of psychology has now fully been enveloped within the new specification and learners will get to see how it transpires within the real world.
Rationale for sequencing
Teaching the social and cognitive topics first allows for a vast amount of methodology, key concepts and statistical tests to be learnt which are required throughout the rest of the course. It is followed by the biological approach, with autism as a key issue as learners are required to study this topic in more detail in Child Psychology in year 13. In addition anorexia nervosa is the key issue taught for the learning approach, which is further expanded on in Clinical psychology in year 13. In year 13 the last two topics (Clinical and Child) are covered which allow learners to enhance their critical use of the skills acquired at AS especially in the biological and learning approaches.
Unit overview - social psychology
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Topic 1: Social Psychology |
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Skills |
Apply knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, processes, techniques and procedures: ● in a theoretical context ● in a practical context ● when handling qualitative data ● when handling quantitative data Write in a structured manner for explanation-based questions and to complete extended answers. Analyse, interpret and evaluate social psychological information, ideas and evidence, including in relation to issues, to make judgements and reaching conclusions about social psychology issues such as group violence. Design and conduct a practical using the survey method and interpret findings. Complete mathematical tests such as standard deviation and measures of central tendency. |
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Knowledge |
1.1.1 Theories of obedience, including agency theory and social impact theory. 1.1.2 Research into obedience, including Milgram’s research into obedience and three of his variation studies: Rundown Office Block (Experiment 10), Telephonic instructions (Experiment 7), Ordinary man gives orders (Experiment 13) as they demonstrate situational factors that encourage dissent. 1.1.3 Factors affecting obedience and dissent/resistance to obedience, including individual differences (personality and gender), situation and culture. 1.1.4 Explanations and research into prejudice, including social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner) and realistic conflict theory (Sherif, 1966). 1.1.5 Factors affecting prejudice (and discrimination), including individual differences (personality), situation and culture. 1.2 Methodology including self-report data, survey method, sampling techniques, qualitative and quantitative data ethical guidelines. 1.3.1 Describe and evaluate a classic study (Sherif) 1.3.2 Describe and evaluate one contemporary study (Reicher and Haslam) 1.4 One key question of relevance to today’s society, discussed as a contemporary issue for society rather than an academic argument. 1.5 Design and conduct a questionnaire to gather both qualitative and quantitative data to look for a difference in the data. |
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Rationale |
Social psychology is about aspects of human behaviour that involve the individual’s relationship to other persons, groups and society, including cultural influences on behaviour which allows learners to develop a key understanding of human interactions and relationships within society. This topic enables learners to practise answering application-based questions which is crucial in all exam papers especially Paper 3 which is synoptic based. Students will be able to appreciate how society makes decisions and how these decisions affect individuals and groups of people on a day-to-day basis. This topic encourages learners to note down individual differences and understand how developmental psychology must be considered when learning about obedience, prejudice, personality and cultural influences on social behaviour. |
unit overview - cognitive psychology
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Topic 2: Cognitive Psychology |
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Skills |
Apply knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, processes, techniques and procedures: ● in a theoretical context ● in a practical context ● when handling quantitative data Write in a structured manner for explanation based questions and to complete extended answers. Analyse, interpret and evaluate cognitive psychological information, ideas and evidence, including in relation to issues, to making judgements and reach conclusions about cognitive psychology issues such as memory loss and dyslexia. Design and conduct a practical using the experimental method and interpret findings. Complete mathematical/statistical tests such as Mann Whitney and Wilcoxon and be able to interpret the critical values tables in relation to answering explanation based questions. Draw, label and interpret bar charts and histograms. |
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Knowledge |
2.1.1 The working memory model (Baddeley and Hitch 1974). 2.1.2 The multi-store model of memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968), including short- and long-term memory and ideas about information processing, encoding, storage and retrieval, capacity and duration. 2.1.3 Explanation of long-term memory – episodic and semantic memory (Tulving, 1972). 2.1.4 Reconstructive memory (Bartlett, 1932), including schema theory. 2.1.5 Individual differences in memory and how memory can be affected by schemas or is autobiographical in nature. 2.1.6 Developmental psychology in memory on how Dyslexia affects children's memory span and working memory which can affect their learning. 2.2. Methodology including designing and conducting experiments, describing and evaluating all key terms on research methods, decision making and calculating inferential statistical tests such as Mann Whitney and Wilcoxon tests. 2.2.12 Case study of brain-damaged patients, including Henry Molaison (HM) and the use of qualitative data, including strengths and weaknesses of the case study. 2.3.1 Describe and evaluate the classic study on Baddeley 2.3.2 Describe and evaluate one contemporary study on Sebastian and Hernandez Gil 2.4 Discuss one key question of relevance to today’s society, discussed as a contemporary issue for society rather than an academic argument. 2.5 Design and conduct a laboratory experiment to gather quantitative data and include descriptive statistics as analysis and a non-parametric test of difference. |
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Rationale |
Cognitive psychology is about the role of cognition and cognitive processes in human behaviour which allows learners to understand how and why we learn. It is about learning about processes which include perception, memory, selective attention, language and problem solving, students will be able to use these memory techniques to help inform their own revision skills and completion of work processes. The cognitive topic area draws on the likeness of cognitive processing to computer processing which enables learners to identify how we process information which again will aid everyday classroom and home work. Individual differences and developmental psychology must be considered when learning about memory differences and memory deficits and how this develops as the brain ages so that learners are fully aware of why only certain individuals may struggle with memory issues. This topic allows learners to enhance their application to scenario based questions especially as case studies of brain damaged patients are studied throughout. |
unit overview - biological psychology
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Topic 3: Biological Psychology |
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Skills |
Apply knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, processes, techniques and procedures: ● in a theoretical context ● in a practical context ● when handling quantitative data and qualitative Analyse, interpret and evaluate biological psychology information, ideas and evidence, including in relation to issues, to making judgements and reach conclusions about biological psychology issues such as aggression and autism. Write in a structured manner for explanation based questions and to complete extended answers. Design and conduct a practical using the correlational method and interpret findings. Complete mathematical/statistical tests such as Spearman’s rank test and be able to interpret the critical values tables in relation to answering explanation based questions. Draw, label and interpret scatter graphs. |
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Knowledge |
3.1.1 The central nervous system (CNS) and neurotransmitters in human behaviour, including the structure and role of the neuron, the function of neurotransmitters and synaptic transmission 3.1.2 The effect of recreational drugs on the transmission process in the central nervous system. 3.1.3 The structure of the brain, different brain areas (e.g. pre-frontal cortex) and brain functioning as an explanation of aggression as a human behaviour. 3.1.4 The role of evolution and natural selection to explain human behaviour, including aggression. 3.1.5 Biological explanation of aggression as an alternative to Freud’s psychodynamic explanation, referring to the different parts of the personality (id, ego, superego), the importance of the unconscious, and catharsis. 3.1.6 The role of hormones (e.g. testosterone) to explain human behaviour such as aggression. 3.1.7 Individual differences and how damage to the brain may affect people differently in case studies and through Freud’s personality explanations. 3.2 Methodology including the use of correlational research in psychological studies. In addition to describe and evaluate the use of brain scans such as fMRI, CT and PET scans. 3.2.3 Describe and evaluate one twin study (Gottesman and Shields) and one adoption study (Heston) 3.3.1 Describe and evaluate the classic study of Raine 3.3.3 Describe and evaluate one contemporary study called Brendgen 3.4 Discuss one key question of relevance to today’s society, discussed as a contemporary issue for society rather than as an academic argument. 3.5 Design and conduct a practical investigation into aggression |
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Rationale |
Biological psychology is about the mechanisms within our body and how they affect our behaviour, specifically focusing on aggression and how to control this type of response, which will enable students to understand their own types of behaviour responses and how to cope with them. Individual differences and developmental psychology must be considered when learning about issues such as aggression caused by an accident and how the function of structures of the brain can be affected by the environment. This will prepare learners for a more thorough understanding of the nature vs nurture debate. Learners will also be able to gain scientific understanding of neurons and neurotransmitter functioning in the brain, which will enable them to understand why revision techniques such as interleaving and spacing are important when studying for examinations. This topic is the most scientific, which gives learners a clear picture of how psychology is considered to be a science. This will aid them when having to discuss the ‘Issue and Debate’ of ‘How psychology is seen to be a science’ in Paper 3. |
Unit overview - learning psychology
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Topic 3: Learning Psychology |
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Skills |
Apply knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, processes, techniques and procedures: ● in a theoretical context ● in a practical context ● when handling quantitative data and qualitative Analyse, interpret and evaluate behavioural psychology information, ideas and evidence, including in relation to issues, to make judgements and reach conclusions about the learning approach in psychological issues such as phobias and anorexia. Write in a structured manner for explanation-based questions and to complete extended answers. Design and conduct a practical using the observational method and interpret findings. Complete mathematical/statistical tests such as the Chi-Squared test and be able to interpret the critical values tables in relation to answering explanation based questions. |
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Knowledge |
4.1.1 The main features of classical conditioning, including: unconditioned stimulus (UCS); unconditioned response (UCR); conditioned stimulus (CS); neutral stimulus (NS); conditioned response (CR); extinction, spontaneous recovery and stimulus generalisation. 4.1.2 Pavlov (1927) experiment with salivation in dogs. 4.1.3 The main features of operant conditioning, including: types of reinforcement and punishment (positive and negative). 4.1.4 Properties of reinforcement, including primary and secondary reinforcement and schedules of reinforcement. 4.1.5 Behaviour modification including ‘shaping’ behaviour. 4.1.6 The main features of social learning theory, including observation, imitation, modelling and vicarious reinforcement. 4.1.7 Social learning ‘stages’ of attention, retention, reproduction and motivation (reinforcement). 4.1.8 Bandura (1961, 1963 and 1965) original Bobo doll experiments. 4.1.10 How learning theories explain the acquisition and maintenance of phobias. 4.1.11 Treatments for phobias based on theories of learning, including systematic desensitisation and flooding. 4.2.1 Methodology including the use of observational research methods in psychology, including the gathering of both qualitative and quantitative data (including tallying, event and time sampling) and the use of content analysis. 4.2.2 The practical and ethical use of animals in the lab 4.2.4 The scientific status of psychology 4.3.1 Describe and evaluate the classic study of Watson and Rayner’s Little Albert 4.3.2 Describe and evaluate one contemporary study of Becker 4.4 Discuss a key question of relevance to today’s society, discussed as a contemporary issue for society rather than as an academic argument. 4.5 Conduct an observation that relates to an aspect of learned behaviour, such as politeness and helping behaviour, and collect both qualitative and quantitative data. |
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Rationale |
Learning theories are about learning from the environment and the effects of conditioning, reinforcement, punishment, the role of reward and social learning in the organism, which allow learners to understand and grasp concepts of their own learning. Individual differences and developmental psychology must be considered when learning about the effect of rewards and punishment on individuals and how children develop through the different ways of learning, including social learning. This will encourage individual learning styles to be better within the classroom and at home. Learners will be able to explore aspects of social media that may cause damage to young people. In addition, learners will be able to use conditioning techniques to learn new concepts and form new ideas about why phobias and detrimental mental health disorders may be acquired but, more importantly, how we can treat these. This topic allows for the most application to the real world as social media is a strong influence in all learners’ lives. |
Knowledge organisers
A knowledge organiser is an important document that lists the important facts that learners should know by the end of a unit of work. It is important that learners can recall these facts easily, so that when they are answering challenging questions in their assessments and GCSE and A-Level exams, they are not wasting precious time in exams focusing on remembering simple facts, but making complex arguments and calculations.
We encourage all pupils to use them by doing the following:
- Quiz themselves at home, using the read, write, cover, check method.
- Practise spelling key vocabulary
- Further researching people, events and processes most relevant to the unit.