Psychology

Psychology will appeal to you if you are interested in people and why they behave in the way they do. You should enjoy debating alternative explanations; if you require definite answers, psychology is not for you. You are not expected to have any prior knowledge of psychology but a good standard of English and mathematics is important.

What will you study and learn?

You will learn about different explanations for human behaviour and the various methods used by psychologists to study behaviour and attitudes. You will be encouraged to reflect on your experiences in the light of psychological theory and to apply psychological knowledge to the world around you. You will learn how psychologists design investigations, collect and interpret data, and how psychological theory and research findings are applied in various contexts including the law, health, child care and education and social policy. Psychology teaches you to think independently and critically.

Course content and examinations

Psychology students will follow the AQA specification. In Year 12 students will focus on the following topic areas:

• approaches in psychology: the different theoretical views on human behaviour;
• research methods used to study human behaviour, for example, observations and experiments;
• social psychology: the study of how behaviour is affected by the presence and behaviour of other people around us;
• cognitive psychology: the study of internal mental process such as memory and perception;
• biological psychology: the influence of genes, biological structures and neurochemistry on human behaviour

In Year 13 students studying A-level psychology will focus on the following topic areas:

• the psychology of gender;
• atypical psychology, including explanations and treatments for schizophrenia and mood disorders;
• forensic psychology, including explanations for offending behaviour and the role of psychologists in treating offending behaviour;
• perspectives and debates in psychology, including issues like the influence of nature and nurture on behaviour and the role of free will;
• research methods and statistics.

Where could the subject take you?

Psychology combines well with a wide variety of A-level subjects and is useful for many career paths. It may be studied in higher education as a subject in its own right or combined with other subjects. It is possible to specialise in clinical, child, occupational, educational or criminal psychology, but knowledge of psychology is also useful for a variety of careers, especially those which involve working with people such as teaching, health, business and management.