AICE Psychology as Level

What is AICE Psychology AS Level?

Consists of 2 papers to completed, one is related to case studies and applying their methodolgical strengths and weaknesses. The second paper involves research methods.

Paper 1 is about approaches, issues, and debates. This paper is mainly on the 12 case studies you will talk about in your class. For 2026-2030, the case studies are biological (Dement and Kleitman, Hassett Et Al, and Holzel et al), cognitive (Andrade, Baron-Cohen, and Pozzulo), Learning (Bandura, Fagen, and Saavedra and Silvermen), and Social (Piliavin, Milgrim and Perry et al). For each core study, you should know the psychology being investigated, background of the study, aim(s) of the study, procedure (research method used, sample size, demographics if known, sampling technique is known, experimental design, controls question types, research technique of data collection and measured and manipulated variables). Additionally, the ethical issues to the study (there will never be a study with all ethics being followed), results of the study including the main quantitative findings, qualitative finding and how they are or could be represented and interpreted, the conclusion(s) the psychologist(s) drew or that could be drawn from the study, along with the strengths and weaknesses of all elements of the study. You should be able to describe and evaluate methodology used and consider how the study relates to psychological issues and debates.

Psychology being Investigated Quizlet: https://quizlet.com/1213823727/aice-psychology-all-12-case-studies-psychology-being-investigated-flash-cards/?funnelUUID=f6a99b57-65c0-49c8-a366-ea306fe272ef

Sample Sizes: https://quizlet.com/1213825833/aice-psychology-all-12-case-studies-samples-flash-cards/?new

The rest of the information will likely be videos on my YouTube (if there's not one, I'll try my best to post some). If you are ever confused on a concept, feel free to email me (catherinechu211@gmail.com)

The Issues and Debates that could potentially be in some/all of the studies are:

-              Application of psychology to everyday life

-              Individual vs Situational explanations

-              Nature vs Nurture

-              The use of children in psychological research

-              The use of animals in psychological research

Another thing you should consider is knowing the main assumptions of each category (biological, cognitive, learning and social), and which one of the assumptions relates with the case study + evidence to support. This can be an easy 2- or 4-mark question that you could get asked about!

Paper 2 is about research methods. This paper is mainly on methodology such as knowing about human and animal ethics. This doesn’t involve as much case study knowledge compared to the first paper; however, it’s important to have some background on it such as the aim or types of data (quantitative, qualitative) as well as the benefits and negatives on these types of datas/sample methods. The last question of paper 2 is to plan a study such as experiments and self-reports. Here’s a picture from the Cambridge Syllabus on what you should include in this plan a study question: