At Budehaven we offer Level Psychology based on the AQA specification. This is an exciting and often new subject that many students have chosen as part of widening their understanding of the world. Within psychology students study a wide range of topics which help them to gain an understanding of the human condition and why people act in the ways they do. From considering the “hows” of the holocaust to the strange obsession with celebrities or the problem caused by neurochemical imbalance, our psychology course has a lot to offer the curious mind! The course is broken down into 3 units, each with separate topics. Unit 1 Topic 1: Social influence – For our societies to work we have to have rules and people need to obey them. But rules are not always just and sometimes this needs challenging. In social influence, we consider why people conform & obey as we as how people disobey and how minorities can bring about changes. The anti-single-use plastics campaign has recently swept through the country, making people think more about their plastic consumption, but how did they do it? Not many people were concerned to start with but somehow once again a minority group has brought about a big change in our society. This is something we seek to understand. Topic 2: Memory – Human memory is not like a video recording or a book. Our memory is fallible and can be corrupted more easily than most things! By studying this we can find out what causes us to struggle and also come up with ways to help our accuracy of recall not just in everyday life but also in police interviews. Topic 3: Attachment – How we grow up affects us, with the relationship to the people who care for us being a major factor. In this topic, we look at how we form those first crucial relationships and how we then go on to affect us in later life. Considering the question does our first attachment affect all our other relationships? Topic 4: Psychopathology – The study of illness of the mind. This topic serves as an introduction to the world of mental health problems. We consider the classification of disorders such as phobias, OCD, and depression as well as theories behind their cause and treatment methods that come out of those theories. Unit 2 Topic 1: Approaches in psychology – if there is something more than disagreeing with each other psychologist then I’m not quite sure what it is! In this area we got a chance to learn about the different points of view in psychology, enabling us to consider areas we have learned and areas we are yet to cover in more depth by considering the fundamental beliefs of each group with psychology. We also get a chance to cover Freud and his strange theories! Topic 2: Biological psychology – Allows us to look at the physical system involved in the processes of perceiving the world and where specific thought processes are located. It also helps us to understand why some people hate getting up early while others are up from dawn. Why some people suffer from annual depression and why women’s menstrual cycle can synchronize & what happens when you live without any indication of time. Topic 3: Research methods – a double-weighted unit, in which students learn about how research is conducted and are supported to carry out their mini-research studies. Students will learn this both within the other topics and also with a series of focused booster sessions designed to strengthen the depth of student knowledge. Unit 3 Topic 1: Issue and debates – Psychology is done all over the world these days but for many years it has been mainly American psychologists and participants who were involved in it. Put simply are Americans the same as everyone else? Do they think the same? Act the same? Raise their children the same? It not should we try to apply American research to the rest of the world? This is an issue of cultural bias, one of the issues we look at. Nature vs. nurture, are criminals born or raised? If raised then how can we stop them from being raised this way, if born, should we blame them or should we stop them from being born? This is an example of a debate we face in psychology, with serious implications either way. Topic 2: Relationships – What does he see in hers? Why did they pick each other in the first place, what is the basis for their mutual attraction? Why is she still with him? What is that keeps people in bad relationships? Why do people become obsessed with celebrities and why do people act differently online than in the real world? All Questions were answered on this topic. Topic 3: Schizophrenia – This is one of the most misunderstood mental health problems yet is it any wonder when the experts keep on changing the definition? Misrepresent in the news stories and media as dangerous, they are more likely to suffer at their own hands than to cause harm to others. This is our chance to go deeper into an area of mental health that has such a powerful effect on people who live with schizophrenia. Topic 4: Forensic psychology – Ever wonder about how psychological profiling works? Why do people become criminals in the first place? Is it their bringing? Is it their genes? Or something else? And what can we do about it? Can people change by going to prison or are prisons making things by treating them in inhuman ways? All questions covered in this area.