Psychology

Course summary

Psychology is the study of the mind and behaviour, in particular how and why people behave in certain ways. It can provide theories and suggestions, as well as practical ways of explaining, understanding, and solutions for behaviour. If you are interested in human behaviour and why we are all different but also share similarities, then A Level Psychology is for you. Psychology is a scientific subject and is often studied by students who want to pursue medical or science based careers. In addition to this, math and English skills are acquired throughout the course and therefore the variety of skills you will gain makes this a very attractive subject for university applications. The AQA specification gives pupils the opportunity to learn about a broad range of the areas of Psychology. Over the course of the two years you will study the following topic areas:  Approaches in Psychology (different ways of explaining behaviour)  Psychological disorders such as depression, OCD, phobias, and schizophrenia  Memory  Attachment (how babies form relationships with their carers)  Social influence (for example why people obey or how social change occurs)  Research methods including statistics  Gender development (what is gender and how it is influenced  Forensic Psychology (criminal and offender behaviour)  Biopsychology (looking at how biological factors can explain behaviour such as brain structure)  Issues and debates in Psychology (for example, the nature/nurture debate)