Psychology

 

Staff

Mrs D Morrell   Head of Department

Dr K Grossman 

 

Department Statement

Psychology AS is offered to students in year 12 subject to obtaining the necessary entry requirements. Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behaviour and the course that students follow comprises a broad introduction to the major areas of psychological study. There is a big emphasis now on the “How Science Works” aspect of the course and the focus is very much on relating theory to understanding everyday examples of behaviour. The aims of the department are to enable students to acquire the knowledge,skills and understanding to successfully pass the course and have the opportunity to continue to A2. At A2 the course builds on the material covered at AS and also gives the opportunity to study more topics in depth. Psychology is a very popular subject at A Level and many of our students continue to study it at university.

 

Course Details by Year

(click links below to jump to the relevant section)

Year 7 | Year 8 | Year 9 | Year 10 | Year 11 | Year 12 | Year 13

 

Departmental News

Each year the department organizes events for students, sometimes in conjunction with other depts. For example last year a joint psychology and sociology debate was held. Also during the year students will have the opportunity to take part in trips to a conference and also to a local university to experience degree level psychology. Where possible, visiting speakers are invited in to broaden the learning experience.

 

How Parents Can Help

Parents and other family members are a valuable resource for students of psychology. From the first early lessons of the AS course,students will be required to design and conduct simple psychological investigations and will need to ask family members to act as participants. Parents can also help with revision by testing students on their knowledge of theory and research. Parents can also be particularly useful to students when studying the developmental topics as their experiences of child rearing can be very useful to help students relate theory to practice.

 

Year 12 Course Overview

Students follow the AQA (A) specification leading to the AS award after one year.
The course consists of two modules with the following content:
Module 1-September to December (exam in January):

Cognitive psychology
• Nature of memory-research into short term and long term memory
• Duration, capacity and encoding in memory
• The multistore model of memory
• The working memory model
• Eyewitness testimony including effects of anxiety and age
• The cognitive interview
• Strategies for memory improvement

Developmental Psychology
• Explanations of attachment-learning and evolutionary theories
• Types of attachment
• Cross cultural variations in attachment
• Disruption of attachment
• Failure to form attachment
• Research into the effects of day care

Research Methods
• Understanding experimental and non experimental methods
• Experimental design,variables and hypotheses
• Validity,reliability,ethical issues
• Qualitative and quantitative data analysis

Module 2 –January to May (exam in May):

Biological psychology-Stress
• Body’s response to stress
• Stress related illness-the immune system
• Life changes and daily hassles
• Workplace stress
• Personality and stress
• Coping strategies and stress management

Individual Differences- Abnormality
• Definitions of abnormality
• Approaches to abnormality-biological, psychodynamic,behavioural,cognitive
• Treating abnormality-biological therapies
• Psychological therapies including CBT

 

Year 13 Course Overview

Students follow AQA (A) specification  and complete two modules of study:

Module 3 Topics in psychology  (Exam in January)
• Social psychological and biological explanations of aggression
• Aggression as an adaptive response
• Biological rhthyms,sleep states and sleep disorders
• Biological influences on gender
• Psychological explanations of gender development
• Social contexts of gender role

Module 4  Psychopathology, Psychology in Action ,Psychological research and scientific method.-(Exam in June)
• Diagnosis, explanations and treatments of schizophrenia
• Addictive behaviour
• Applying scientific method, designing investigations and data analysis