You will be introduced to six core areas of psychology during Year 1 and then cover these in greater depth for A level. The areas of study are: Social Psychology: You will research into the influence of others on your everyday behaviour. Topics include why you conform to others and those in positions of authority and how your personality influences obedience. Cognitive Psychology: involves investigating how the human memory works. This includes learning about why we forget and factors that affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies. Developmental Psychology: looks into changes that take place over our life time, especially childhood. You will learn about how early attachments impact on your later relationships. Approaches in Psychology: this topic gives you an insight into the different perspectives used in psychology. You will debate whether our behaviour is made up from our social environment or whether it is the result of our biological makeup or cognitive processing. You will evaluate Pavlov's pivotal research and Bandura's theory of learning through vicarious reinforcement. This topic also covers Biopsychology, which involves the scientific study of the brain, where you will study the different regions of the brain and the roles they play in our behaviour. Psychopathology: involves defining and treating abnormalities. This topic identifies the different ways of diagnosing and treating OCD, depression and phobias. Research Methods: you will review the variety of scientific methods and techniques used in Psychological research, such as experimental designs and sampling techniques. You will handle and analyse data and become equipped with the necessary skills to conduct your own psychological research.