Psychology A-Level at The Swan
Psychology is the study of people, the mind and behaviour. It is a popular subject with students because it has a big impact on all areas of life, such as education, health, the economy, industry and crime. If you are interested in finding out why people behave the way they do or how the brain works then psychology could be for you. There are a fascinating range of topics such as:
The reliability of our memories
What factors influence obedience to authority? Would you do anything that an authority figure tells you to do?
Do watching aggressive acts cause us to act more aggressively ourselves?
Can chimpanzees learn sign language?
What happens to our brains when we dream?
What is going on inside the minds of gambling addicts?
Taking an A-Level in Psychology will give you a good grounding in the subject and will help to decide whether you would like to become a professional psychologist. These people may work in research, in the healthcare system (as therapists or clinical psychologists), in business (as occupational psychologists) or in the Prison system (as forensic psychologists). Psychology is also useful in many other careers because it develops a number of transferable skills which are useful in many jobs and professions.
6 Psychology GCSE OR 6/6 in Combined Science GCSE and 5 Maths GCSE
AQA Psychology (7182)
AQA Psychology covers the range of Psychological Approaches including social learning theory, cognitive approaches, biological approaches, psychodynamic approaches and humanistic approaches to understanding human behaviour, designed to give an overview of the key elements of Psychology for further study. This includes related issues, debates and perspectives within each topic and an understanding of Biopsychology. In addition, students will have an understanding of the Psychological Research Methods available to psychologists, including self reports, experiments, observations and correlational analysis. In addition students are able to study Psychology in context, such as Social influence, Memory, Attachment and Psychopathology in Year 12 and three applied psychology options in Year 13, for example Forensic Psychology and Schizophrenia.
Paper 1: Introductory topics in Psychology- 2 hours, 96 marks, 33.3% of the overall course
Paper 2: Psychology in Context – 2 hours, 96 marks, 33.3% of the overall course
Paper 3: Issues and Options in Psychology – 2 hours, 96 marks, 33.3% of the overall course