Psychology is the study of mind and behaviour. Due to psychological investigations many behaviours have been explained allowing us to apply theories in many practical contexts, including areas such as eye–witness testimony and children services. The units are designed to give students a broad understanding of psychology, with the chance of choosing more specialised options as the course progresses. Psychology is a fully recognised university subject and this course provides students with the foundations needed for a career focusing on understanding human behaviour and the influences behind it.
During Year 1, students will study the following 2 units:
In this unit, you will be introduced to some basic ideas from different approaches in psychology. You will develop an understanding of how psychological approaches research and concepts can explain gender, aggression and consumer behaviour. In this unit, you will investigate the various ways in which psychologists explain human interactions and you will gain a clear insight into how and why some behaviour occurs. This unit is assessed by an external examination.
In this unit, you will learn about the importance of research in psychological inquiry and about the types of research that take place. You will gain an understanding of the research process and the key methods used extensively by researchers to test theories and provide information about the ways in which people think and behave. You learn how to plan a pilot study exploring a current psychological topic, using qualitative and quantitative methods, and taking account of issues, such as ethics, that researchers need to consider when conducting research on human individuals. You will conduct your planned pilot study, selecting and applying knowledge gained in this unit to a chosen area, drawing on key psychological approaches. You will gather and analyse your research findings in order to present them to an audience. Finally, you will reflect on your own learning of the research process as well as drawing on feedback from others and consider implications on practice and provision and your own future professional development. This unit is assessed by this internal assignment.
How is stress linked to illness? Why do people become addicted to behaviours or substances? Which factors influence whether people engage in healthy or unhealthy behaviours? These are the questions addressed by health psychologists, who are interested in how psychological and physiological factors affect health and ill health. Health psychology explores the motivation behind healthy and unhealthy behaviours, and the factors that might persuade individuals to finally change a behaviour or to follow the advice given by medical professionals. This unit is assessed by an external exam.
In this unit, you will explore psychological approaches to criminal behaviour and learn how offender profiles are created using different techniques. You will examine different psychological methods for modifying and punishing criminal behaviour, and investigate their effectiveness. This will include their impact on both the rate of reoffending and on the individual and society. This unit is assessed by an internal assignment.
Option 1: Relationships, Gender, Cognition and development
Option 2: Schizophrenia, Eating Behaviour, Stress
Option 3: Aggression, Forensic, Addiction
In A Level Psychology you will build upon your Year 1 studies. You will learn new content for Approaches, where 2 new approaches of psychology will be considered and Biopsychology becomes a separate unit from Approaches. In the Biopsychology unit you will build on the biopsychology studies you investigate as part of Approaches and will explore how genes, neural structure and chemicals can influence behaviour. More content will be added to the Research Methods unit, where you will practice how to use statistical tests to analyse data. A new compulsory unit is also introduced which is Issues and Debates. This will allow you to explore the issues surrounding psychological research and the arguments based around Psychology as a Science. Finally, you will get to pick 3 options, one from option 1, one from option 2 and one from option 3.
Paper 1: Introductory Topics in Psychology (Units 1 – 4)
Time: 2 hours Weighting: 33.3. % of A level
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