Course Content

Module 1: Research Methods

This module is covered in both year 12 and 13 and will give you the theoretical understanding to plan, conduct, analyse and evaluate psychological research across a range of experimental and non-experimental methodologies and techniques.

You will need to be familiar with the four main techniques for collecting/analysing data. These are:

• self-report (questionnaires / interviews)

• experiment

• observation

• correlation

As part of this module you will learn about; planning and conducting research, data recording, analysis and presentation, report writing and science in psychology. You will also carry out your own small scale practical activities and reflect on their experiences.

Module 2: Core Studies

This module is covered in year 12. It introduces you to some of the central areas of investigation in psychology. These include twenty pieces of research.

Freud: phobia in a 5 year old boy
Baron-Cohen: autism in adults
Gould: biases IQ testing in 1900s USA
Hancock: language differences between psychopaths and non-psychopaths
Bandura: learning of aggression in children
Chaney: using a funhaler to manage asthma in children
Kohlberg: moral development in adolescents
Lee: cultural differences in lying and truth telling
Milgram: obedience to authority figures
Bocciaro: disobedience and whistle-blowing
Piliavin: helping behaviour on the New York subway
Levine: cross-cultural altruism
Loftus & Palmer: eyewitness testimony
Grant: context dependent memory in exam situations
Moray: auditory attention
Simons & Chabris: visual inattention
Sperry: brain lateralisation and the function of the corpus callosum
Casey: delay of gratification
Blakemore & Cooper: impact of early visual experience in kittens
Maguire: the role of the hippocampus in London taxi driver's brains

Module 3: Applied Psychology

This module is covered in year 13. It introduces you to three applied areas of psychology.

Mental Health

Historical views of mental illness
Definitions of abnormality and how mental illness is diagnosed
Characteristics of schizophrenia, depression and phobias
Biological explanations, and treatments, of mental illness
Alternatives to the medical model: behaviourist and humanistic explanations, and treatments, of phobias and depression.

Criminal Psychology

What makes a criminal?
The collection and processing of forensic evidence
Collection of evidence through police interviews
Psychology and the courtroom
Crime prevention
Effect of imprisonment

Child Development

Intelligence
Pre-adult brain development
Perceptual development in infants
Cognitive development and education
Development of attachment
Impact of advertising on children

Assessments

You will have regular assessments throughout the two year course. This is to help you develop the skills necessary to achieve a top grade, and to monitor your progress. Your overall grade is based on three examinations at the end of your second year.

Page updated

Report abuse