Psychology

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT: Miss J Vinall EXAMINATION BOARD: AQA SPECIFICATION CODE: 7182 ENTRY REQUIREMENTS: GCSE Mathematics and Biology Grade 6

The mind is something intangible that exists within our brain; an unseen process of enzymes, chemicals and electric currents. But why is it that some people suffer from mental illness? What factors affect the reliability of our memory? How does our brain prepare us for fight-or-flight? How do virtual relationships differ from face-toface relationships? Psychology looks at questions like these and more. It’s a fascinating science with cutting edge research that has real world applications that you are bound to find interesting.

COURSE CONTENT AND ASSESSMENT The course consists of three papers.

Introductory Topics in Psychology: looks at social influence (e.g. conformity, obedience), memory (e.g. models of memory, factors affecting eyewitness testimony), attachment (e.g. Romanian orphan studies), and psychopathology (e.g. explanations and treatments for depression and OCD).

Psychology in Context: covers approaches such as behaviourism and cognitive. The biological approach also looks at topics such as the nervous and endocrine systems, biological rhythms and brain plasticity.

Issues and Options in Psychology: discusses various issues such the determinism reductionism, and cultural or gender bias. We also look at three applied options: relationships, schizophrenia and forensic psychology. Knowledge and understanding of psychological research methods, including statistical analysis of data, is an important part of the course and research method skills are assessed in all three papers. All students attend a day long workshop at Freemen’s on “Psychology and the Brain” run by Dr Guy Sutton who is a lecturer in neuroscience at the University of Nottingham.

COURSE ASSESSMENT Each paper is worth 33.3% of the overall A Level and consists of a variety of questions. Multiple choice, short answer and extended writing questions. Students have no choice in the questions.

WHO SHOULD STUDY THE SUBJECT? Students who are interested in understanding why people behave the way they do will enjoy the course. Psychology is a science and so the course looks at what scientific research has discovered about behaviour and not simply what people think is the cause of behaviour. Scientific research methods form an important part of the course and mathematical skills now represent 10% of the final assessment and so students should be comfortable with data analysis.

Nationally, Psychology is the 3 rd most popular A Level and the 4 th most popular degree subject. A significant number of students at Freemen’s who study Psychology at A Level go on to study it at university. Psychology graduates are considered very favourably by employers because of the skills they acquire and a degree in Psychology is excellent for a range of careers, including law, business and management, teaching and the caring professions.

STAFFING Each class has two teachers, Miss Vinall and Mrs Wright.