Exam Board: AQA
Course Outline
Psychology the scientific study of human behaviour. It will teach you to think independently, challenge concepts and apply theories to contemporary contexts. The course will give you an insight into why we obey authority, what makes us forget, how we form bonds with our parents/guardians and much more. The skills you learn in Psychology will compliment any other A-level subject. It teaches you to recall details, interpret data, produce thorough analysis of studies and critically evaluate how effective psychological theories are at explaining behaviour.
Why Study Psychology?
Psychology is the science of behaviour and experience. Studying behaviour involves focusing on what people (and other animals) actually do. Behaviour includes thinking, remembering and forgetting, growing up, being kind or aggressive, obeying or disobeying orders, being a parent, etc. In studying experience, psychologists are interested in what it is like to be the person exhibiting the behaviour: how it feels to be them and why they behave as they do.
In one way you are already a psychologist as you have opinions about why some people behave as they do. You might, for instance, think that football fans behave as they do because they do not care about the feelings of others. Such ‘common sense’ kinds of theories are very widespread. But psychologists go beyond the common- sense approach in that they are concerned to examine closely the evidence on which such theories are based. They consider alternative explanations and conduct research to test the theories. To this end they employ a range of research methods, ranging from tightly controlled laboratory experiments to observation studies, to the construction of detailed case studies.
A range of methods is needed because psychologists are interested in a great many issues and some are more amenable to one method of study than to another. For instance, one cannot purposely damage someone’s brain to see which part of the brain controls which function (that would be an experiment), but one can study very closely people who have received accidental brain damage (a case study).
Assessment and Examinations
There is no coursework; this course is 100% examination.
There are 3 exams. Each exam is 1/3 of the final grade:
- Paper 1: Social influence, Memory, Attachment and Psychopathology
- Paper 2: Approaches in psychology, Biopsychology and Research methods
- Paper 3: Issues and debates in psychology and three optional topics.
AQA Psychology A-Level Module
AQA has made amendments to the Psychology course this year, in an attempt to bring it up-to-date, using modern research studies and current issues as its basis. Below is an overview of what you can expect over the next two years of A-Level study.
Future Prospects
Psychology is one of the fastest growing subjects at both A Level and at degree level. If you choose to study Psychology at university you will find a large number of courses to choose from, some of them covering the traditional areas of the subject and some with a narrower focus. After graduation many avenues are open, both in specialist areas of Psychology and in the wider market place. Clinical, educational, counselling, occupational and health psychology are just some of the specialist fields into which Psychology graduates may go. Others go into advertising, marketing, sales, market research, personnel, general management, the media – Psychology graduates turn up everywhere!