Psychology is defined as 'the scientific study of mind and behaviour' and so would suit students who are interested in looking at why humans act and think the way they do. The topics covered are instantly applicable to everyday situations, giving pupils an insight into their own thinking and behaviour, as well as having wider reaching applications. This real-world application gives students of psychology an advantage in many domains. Year 12 topics give students a broad insight into how Psychology works: • Social Influence: How we are influenced and motivated by the world around us, including conformity, social change and obedience. • Attachment: Looking at the development of children and the factors which affect and explain the formation of inter-personal attachments. • Memory: Studying cognitive processes which explain the storage and retrieval of memories, including explanations of forgetting. • Psychopathology: Studying how we define abnormality, specific disorders and different approaches to explaining and treating them. • Approaches: How different schools of thought in psychology try to explain behaviour from a certain viewpoint and with a certain set of techniques. • Research Methods: Understanding how to use a scientific and objective approach to gather data and study psychological phenomena. This includes mathematical skills and statistics, with pupils carrying out their own research at the end of Year 12. In Year 13 we look at additional research methods, biopsychology and options in psychology. These include studying schizophrenia, relationships and aggression in more detail and with a focus on theory and research. Year 13 also look at some of the key debates in psychology and how these are present across the field.