Who is the course for?

Psychology is the scientific study of human behaviour, thinking, emotions and feelings. The course will suit students who have a genuine interest in why people behave the way they do, and who question their understanding of their world as well as evaluating the work of other psychologists. Students should have GCSE maths at least to a grade C, preferable at least a C in science and have a higher than average GCSE score of 5.5

The first year of the course will provide students with an introduction to the theories and methods of psychology. The five main approaches studied are social, cognitive, psychodynamic, biological and learning.

In the second year students will be able to develop their understanding of psychology through a selection of a choice of applications including Criminology, Child, Health and Sport psychology. In the second year students will also develop a holistic understanding of psychology, from considering conflicting and complementary explanations of clinical issues and major issues and debates.

Content outline

AS Unit 1: Social and Cognitive Psychology

This unit is designed to introduce the social approach and cognitive approach to psychology through the development of key content areas.

The unit is divided into two parts.

1. Social Psychology: obedience and prejudice
2. Cognitive Psychology: memory and forgetting.

AS Unit 2: Understanding the Individual

This unit is designed to introduce three approaches in psychology the Psychodynamic Approach, the Biological Approach, the Learning Approach.

This unit aims to develop understanding of psychological issues of development, individual difference and biology through the study of these approaches.

A2 Unit 3: Applications of Psychology

The aim of this unit is to investigate how psychology can be applied to the real world. Each of the five applications within this unit is related to vocational contexts in which a psychology graduate (with the appropriate training) may operate. In this sense, the unit is intended to further contextualise and make real the understanding of approaches. There is a focus on evaluation, assessment, application and comment as well as on knowledge.

We will select two of the following five applications: criminological psychology, child psychology, health psychology: substance misuse, sport psychology

A2 Unit 4: How Psychology Works

This unit focuses on the debates between approaches within contemporary psychology.

In the clinical psychology section of the unit, students will study aspects of clinical psychology, which include how different approaches in psychology explain and treat mental health issues. In the issues and debates section, students will be asked to draw on other areas of the specification in order to understand conceptual and methodological issues.