Think Tank: Higher Psychology at Elgin Academy

The days of Elgin Academy students only being able to take Higher Psychology at college are now over. Our very own RMPS teacher, Mrs Hamilton, is going to be running Higher Psychology classes starting in the new school year. The course will be available to fifth and sixth year pupils. We asked Mrs Hamilton for all of the information you need to know about this course.

We wanted to know why she feels people should take this course. She stated that “psychology is fascinating” and she thinks that anyone who is interested in human behaviour, biology, and what makes human beings act and behave the way that they do should “definitely consider studying Higher Psychology.” 

Mrs Hamilton informed us that Psychology is useful when it comes to applying to jobs since you’re dealing with different people from all walks of life. It also opens up “loads of avenues into jobs from working with police to education. It is very valuable to have studied it in many jobs.” 

Higher Psychology can acquire you with a wide variety of important skills, such as evaluation and the analysis of theories, ideas, and studies. A topic that will be covered is ‘Sleep and Dreams’. This topic raises many questions: “What’s the purpose of sleep, why is it really important? How does it affect us if we don’t have enough sleep? What impact does sleep have not just on your physical health but your mental health as well?” 

Another topic is ‘Relationships’. It delves into the question of why we form friendships and why we are drawn to people similar to ourselves. Linking to this, another area of study is ‘Conformity and Obedience’ where you will investigate why human beings want to conform, and want to be liked. The fourth topic is ‘Memory’ in which you will encounter questions such as “How does the brain work?” and “Is our memory actually reliable?”. 

“Every one of those topics is relative to every single person as we are all impacted by all of these. Having that understanding can not only give us information that is beneficial, but can also be practically good for us as well.” She also mentions that psychology can “help us improve our own health by knowing, for example, how sleep impacts us and how we can improve our memory.”

We gathered information on how to get into the course. Mrs Hamilton says that “it ties in really well with RMPS as there are a few overlaps. There is also quite a bit of literacy involved so it fits in with English because you have to write up some of the studies that will be carried out.” As we are not currently offering National 5 Psychology, the current entry would be through National 5 Psychology at college, or National 5 RMPS with an A or B pass. For students looking to crash this at higher, she suggests students having English, RMPS or History and to have also come from a science background - ideally Biology or Chemistry. 

As for careers, psychology can help you get into many fields. Any career involving people can benefit from having someone with a psychology background. A few specific jobs Mrs Hamilton mentioned were: Criminology, the police force, forensics, sports psychology, sports counselling, counselling on its own, HR, education, social work, medicine, and nursing. “It’s huge. It can take you into so many different avenues, it’s a worthwhile course to take.”

Mrs Hamilton personally loves all aspects of psychology. “I’ve loved it since I started studying at university. If you’re really passionate about it it isn’t like hard work having to study because you really enjoy it, so you’re just learning about something you’re interested in.”

She went on to say that it’s fascinating to have the ability to apply it to your own situation and that she “loves to learn about people.” 

Finally, we asked her for a fact that people may not know about psychology, “That it’s a science. Perhaps they don’t actually realise that it’s a science. It looks at the biology of the brain, and chemicals within your body that affect your behaviour.”