EuraStudy
RevisionRevision / N11UK · A-Levels
Psychology
A-Level Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behaviour, set against the Department for Education GCE AS and A level subject content and delivered here through the AQA 7182 specification. It runs from the introductory topics of social influence, memory, attachment and psychopathology, through the approaches, biopsychology and research methods that give the discipline its scientific spine, to the issues and debates and the optional applied topics; throughout, description of theory and evidence (AO1) is weighted equally against the application of ideas to novel scenarios (AO2) and the sustained evaluation of studies, models and methods (AO3), with a compulsory strand of research-methods and data-handling mathematics.
0/94 Texts17 Chapters~306 min total
AQA 7182 3.1.1DfE GCE Psychology - social influenceDfE GCE Psychology - conformity to social rolesDfE GCE Psychology - obedienceDfE GCE Psychology - explanations for obedienceDfE GCE Psychology - resistance to social influence+104 moreFoundationStandardAdvanced
Table of contents · 17 ChaptersT·17
- Conformity: types, explanations and Asch's researchText L·01 · Recommended start5 min
- Conformity to social roles: the Stanford prison experimentText L·023 min
- Obedience: Milgram and the situational variablesText L·033 min
- Explanations for obedience: agentic state, legitimacy and the Authoritarian PersonalityText L·044 min
- Resistance to social influence: social support and locus of controlText L·054 min
- Minority influence and social changeText L·064 min
- The multi-store model and the features of the storesText L·074 min
- Types of long-term memoryText L·083 min
- The working memory modelText L·093 min
- Explanations for forgetting: interference and retrieval failureText L·103 min
- Eyewitness testimony: misleading information and anxietyText L·113 min
- Improving eyewitness testimony: the cognitive interviewText L·123 min
- Caregiver-infant interactions and the stages of attachmentText L·133 min
- Animal studies of attachment: Lorenz and HarlowText L·143 min
- Explanations of attachment: learning theory and Bowlby's monotropic theoryText L·154 min
- The Strange Situation, attachment types and cultural variationsText L·164 min
- Maternal deprivation and institutionalisationText L·173 min
- The influence of early attachment on later relationshipsText L·183 min
- Definitions of abnormalityText L·193 min
- Characteristics of phobias, depression and OCDText L·203 min
- The behavioural approach to phobias: the two-process model and its treatmentsText L·213 min
- The cognitive approach to depression: Beck, Ellis and CBTText L·224 min
- The biological approach to OCD: explanation and treatmentText L·233 min
- Origins of Psychology: Wundt, introspection and the emergence of a scienceText L·243 min
- The behaviourist approach: classical and operant conditioningText L·253 min
- Social learning theoryText L·263 min
- The cognitive approach and cognitive neuroscienceText L·273 min
- The biological approachText L·283 min
- The psychodynamic and humanistic approaches, and comparisonText L·294 min
- The divisions of the nervous system and types of neuronText L·303 min
- Synaptic transmissionText L·313 min
- The endocrine system and the fight-or-flight responseText L·323 min
- Localisation and lateralisation of brain functionText L·333 min
- Plasticity, functional recovery and ways of studying the brainText L·343 min
- Biological rhythmsText L·353 min
- Experimental design: variables, hypotheses and designsText L·364 min
- Non-experimental methods, sampling and pilot studiesText L·374 min
- Control, reliability, validity and ethicsText L·383 min
- Features of science and peer reviewText L·393 min
- Descriptive statistics and the normal distributionText L·404 min
- Inferential statistics: probability, significance and choosing a testText L·414 min
- Computing inferential tests: the sign test, chi-squared and Spearman's rhoText L·426 min
- Gender bias: androcentrism, alpha and beta biasText L·433 min
- Culture bias: ethnocentrism and cultural relativismText L·443 min
- Free will and determinismText L·453 min
- The nature-nurture debate and interactionismText L·463 min
- Holism and reductionism; levels of explanationText L·473 min
- Idiographic and nomothetic approaches; ethical implications and social sensitivityText L·484 min
- Evolutionary explanations for partner preferencesText L·493 min
- Factors affecting attraction: self-disclosure, physical attractiveness and filter theoryText L·503 min
- Economic theories: social exchange and equityText L·513 min
- Rusbult's investment model and Duck's phase model of breakdownText L·524 min
- Virtual and parasocial relationshipsText L·533 min
- Sex, gender, sex-role stereotypes and androgynyText L·543 min
- The role of chromosomes and hormones and atypical sex chromosome patternsText L·553 min
- Cognitive explanations: Kohlberg and gender schema theoryText L·564 min
- The psychodynamic explanation of gender developmentText L·573 min
- Social learning, culture and media, and atypical gender developmentText L·583 min
- Piaget's theory: schemas and the mechanisms of developmentText L·593 min
- Piaget's stages: object permanence, conservation and egocentrismText L·603 min
- Vygotsky's theory: the zone of proximal development and scaffoldingText L·613 min
- Baillargeon and early infant abilitiesText L·623 min
- The development of social cognition: Selman, theory of mind and mirror neuronsText L·634 min
- Classification and symptoms of schizophreniaText L·643 min
- Reliability and validity of diagnosisText L·653 min
- Biological explanations: genetics and the dopamine hypothesisText L·663 min
- Psychological explanations: family dysfunction and cognitionText L·673 min
- Biological and psychological therapiesText L·683 min
- The interactionist approach and the diathesis-stress modelText L·693 min
- Explanations for food preference: evolution and learningText L·703 min
- Neural and hormonal control of eatingText L·713 min
- Biological explanations for anorexia nervosaText L·723 min
- Psychological explanations for anorexia nervosaText L·733 min
- Explanations for obesity: restraint, disinhibition and the boundary modelText L·743 min
- The physiology of stress: GAS, the HPA axis and the SAM pathwayText L·753 min
- Stress and illness: the immune and cardiovascular systemsText L·763 min
- Sources of stress: life changes, daily hassles and the workplaceText L·773 min
- Measuring stress and individual differencesText L·783 min
- Managing and coping with stressText L·793 min
- Neural and hormonal mechanisms in aggressionText L·803 min
- Genetic factors in aggression, including the MAOA geneText L·813 min
- Ethological and evolutionary explanationsText L·823 min
- Social psychological explanations: frustration-aggression, SLT and de-individuationText L·833 min
- Institutional aggression and media influencesText L·843 min
- Describing addiction and its risk factorsText L·903 min
- Explanations for nicotine addictionText L·913 min
- Explanations for gambling addictionText L·923 min
- Reducing addiction: drug, behavioural and cognitive therapiesText L·933 min
- Models of behaviour change: the theory of planned behaviour and the stages of changeText L·944 min
- Paper 1 - Introductory topics in Psychology (AQA 7182/1)
- 2 hours, 96 marks, one third (33.3%) of the A-Level. Four compulsory sections of 24 marks each: Social influence, Memory, Attachment and Psychopathology. Each section mixes multiple-choice and short-answer questions with application ('apply your knowledge') items and at least one extended-writing question, including the discuss/evaluate essays that can be worth up to 16 marks.
- Paper 2 - Psychology in context (AQA 7182/2)
- 2 hours, 96 marks, one third (33.3%) of the A-Level. Section A Approaches in Psychology (24 marks), Section B Biopsychology (24 marks) and Section C Research methods (48 marks). The Research methods section carries the bulk of the compulsory mathematical content - calculating and interpreting descriptive statistics, selecting and computing inferential tests, and reasoning about probability and significance.
- Paper 3 - Issues and options in Psychology (AQA 7182/3)
- 2 hours, 96 marks, one third (33.3%) of the A-Level. Section A is the compulsory Issues and debates in Psychology (24 marks). Students then answer one topic from each of three option blocks (24 marks each): Section B - Relationships, Gender or Cognition and development; Section C - Schizophrenia, Eating behaviour or Stress; Section D - Aggression, Forensic psychology or Addiction. Each option is examined through description, application and extended evaluation, again up to 16-mark essays.
- Assessment objectives, the mathematical requirement and grading
- The three papers together weight the marks across the assessment objectives with a strong evaluation demand: AO1 is knowledge and understanding, AO2 is the application of that knowledge to novel contexts and to data, and AO3 is the analysis, interpretation and evaluation of theories, studies and methods - AO3 carries the largest single share and drives the extended-writing essays. At least 10% of the total marks across the qualification assess mathematical skills at least at the standard of higher-tier GCSE (Level 2), overwhelmingly through research methods. The full A-Level is linear, with all three papers sat at the end of the course, and is graded A*-E (U below E).