Psychology
Ridgeway Academy - Hertfordshire
01707351350
Herns Lane, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 2AF
Course summary

The course will appeal to students who: • Are interested in all aspects of people’s behaviour and thoughts, including the underlying motivations behind our behaviour, such as biological influences. • Enjoy science, as part of the course you will learn about the scientific methods psychologists use to observe, measure and analyse behaviour and mental processes. • Maybe looking for a career in the psychology field including Clinical Psychologists, Occupational Psychologists, Forensic Psychologists, Research Psychologists, Educational Psychologists, Health Psychologists, Sports Psychologists, • • • • • • • • • • Counselling Psychologists, Consumer Psychologists, • Would like to develop research skills and scientific enquiry. Throughout the two-year course, candidates will develop a broad knowledge and understanding of the core areas of psychology. The main aim is to understand the causes of behaviour, to look at how psychologists study the subject and how psychology can help change or adapt behaviour. A range of topic-based options is also studied, which bring together explanations from different approaches and engage students in issues and debates in psychology. Paper 1 (Introductory topics in psychology) will cover: • Memory, including models of memory, explanations of forgetting and eyewitness testimony. • Attachment, including attachment research, issues with attachment following deprivation and institutionalisation and the effect on later relationships. • Social psychology, conformity, obedience and independent behaviour. • Psychopathology, including definitions of abnormality; characteristics and explanations of phobias, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder; related therapies. Paper 2 (Psychology in Context) will cover: • Approaches in Psychology, including the learning, cognitive, biological, psychodynamic and humanistic approaches. • Biological psychology, includes the nervous and endocrine system, localisation of function in the brain, ways of studying the brain and biological rhythms. • Research methods, including types of experiments, scientific processes and techniques of data handling and analysis, and inferential statistics. Paper 3 (Issues and options in psychology) will cover: • A compulsory content – Issues and debates in psychology • Optional content, where one topic is chosen from each option block • Option 1 – Relationships, gender and cognition and development • Option 2 – Schizophrenia, eating behaviour and stress • Option 3 – Aggression, forensic psychology and addiction

Entry requirements

9-5 in Biology (triple) or 9-5 in both Combined Sciences 9-5 in Psychology (if taken) 9-5 in Maths and English Lang or English Lit

How you'll be assessed

Assessment will take place at the end of the two-year course and will cover the knowledge and understanding, application of knowledge and the scientific investigation of Psychology. This will be through formal examinations consisting of multiple choice questions, short structured questions and longer extended writing questions.

School Info

About Education Provider

RegionEast of England
Local AuthorityHertfordshire
Ofsted RatingRequires improvement
Gender TypeCo-Educational
AddressHerns Lane, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 2AF