Sixth Form Options Booklet

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K E Chakraborty Head of Psychology kchakraborty@mtsn.org.uk

What is Psychology A Level?

Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behaviour.It is a fascinating and rigorous A level which deals with questions such as: What makes us remember? How do we learn? Following brain damage how well can a person perform? Why do people obey? One of the ways it is a truly unique and valuable subject is that you will learn a great deal about the brain, including its regions and functions, and about predominant mental illnesses in society such as depression and anxiety.

Course outline Unit One: Introductory Topics in Psychology

Social Influence: why people conform, why people obey and the effects of these processes on social change.

Memory: including memory models and eyewitness testimony.

Attachment: including early social development, explanations of attachment and cultural variations of child-rearing.

Psychopathology: different approaches to treating depression, phobias and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Unit 2: Psychology in Context

Approaches in Psychology: different ways of understanding behaviour, including Learning, Cognitive, Biological, Psychodynamic and Humanistic approaches.

Biopsychology: how understanding human biology helps to understand behaviour.

Research Methods: a comprehensive focus on how psychologists construct studies, gather data and analyse results.

Unit 3: Issues and Options in Psychology

Issues and Debates in Psychology: the kinds of debates that psychologists have with each other including, Gender, Free Will and Determinism, Nature and Nurture, Holism and Reductionism, Idiographic and Nomothetic investigating and Ethics.

Cognition and Development: focuses on infant intellectual stages of development and how this can help us to understand autism.