Psychology

The intention of A-Level Psychology is to help broaden students’ understanding of the world around them. Psychological research affects our daily lives, it is engrained into everyday experiences such as the way we shop, the way we learn and the way we interact with others. On the whole, Psychology gives students both real-world skills and develops their academic writing. Psychology aims to foster an environment of acceptance, tolerance and empathy. Units such as Psychopathology and Schizophrenia emphasise the difficulties that people may face when suffering with mental health disorders.

Psychology gives students both real-world skills and develops their academic writing. Students will be able to use specialist terminology to be able to effectively critique theories and research. They will be able to use their knowledge of research methods to suggest improvements and understand issues in research. Students at all levels are taught skills to allow them to conduct and understand the rationale and processes of Psychological research. These skills include creating hypotheses, collecting qualitative or quantitative data via numerous methods and performing statistical analysis on the data.
What will students gain from studying Psychology?

• Develop their analytical and evaluative skills
• Develop their understanding of human behaviour
• Understand the impact that psychological research can have on our daily lives

Students start with topics from paper 2. They initially study the Approaches unit and simultaneously begin Research Methods. Approaches is the main focus for the first half term whilst Research Methods is intended to run throughout the year. Despite being a paper 2 topic, approaches gives students a strong foundation for the rest of the course. It helps them to understand that there are different perspectives to explaining human behaviour. They will be able to critically analyse the six main approaches and make comparisons between them. Students will then be able to link the approaches throughout the course as we study further topics.
Students will then study the following topics:

1. Memory
2. Attachment
3. Psychopathology
4. Social Influence
5. Biopsychology
6. Issues and Debates
7. Forensic
8. Gender
9. Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is taught as the final unit as it is significantly shorter than other units.
Issues and Debates key terminology is embedded throughout the course before beginning the unit.

Half Term 1

Approaches and Research Methods

Half Term 2

Memory and Research Methods

Half Term 3

Attachment and Research Methods

Half Term 4

Psychopathology and Research Methods

Half Term 5

Social Influence and Research Methods

Half Term 6

Biopsychology and Issues and Debates

Half Term 1

Issues and Debates

Half Term 2

Forensic and Gender

Half Term 3

Gender and Schizophrenia

Half Term 4

Revision