A Level Psychology

The A Level Psychology course covers a broad range of subjects, including social and cognitive psychology, child development, and the psychology that lies behind atypical behaviour. You'll gain an understanding of why people develop differently and of the causes of conditions such as autism and anxiety disorders.

As you study the A Level Psychology course you will gain an understanding of the main issues that arise from various psychological methods, and look at the ways in which psychology can be applied.

You will learn to conduct effective research and how to interpret the results, how to use statistics effectively and deal with ethical issues.

As you discover how others think, you'll also be gaining an insight into your own psyche and behavioural traits, which is a valuable asset in both your personal and working life.

This course prepares students for the AQA Psychology A Level syllabus B (2185) for examinations in Summer 2016. This will be the final examination for this specification. For more information on A level specification reforms please speak to our course advisors.

There are four units in the A Level Pyschology course.

AS Units

• Unit 1 - Introducing Psychology
• Unit 2 - Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and Individual Differences

A2 Units

• Unit 3 - Child Development and Applied Options
• Unit 4 - Approaches, Debates and Methods in Psychology

Unit 1 - Introducing Psychology

a) Approaches

• Key Approaches in Psychology
• Biopsychology - Physiological Psychology and The Genetic Basis of Behaviour

b) Gender Development

• Gender Development - Concepts and Explaining Gender Development

c) Research Methods

• Methods of Research - Planning Research, Experimental Methods and Non-experimental Methods
• Representing Data and Descriptive Statistics - Representing Data and Descriptive Data
• Ethics

Unit 2 - Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and Individual Differences

a)Social Psychology

• Social Influences
• Social Cognition

b) Cognitive Psychology

• Remembering and Forgetting
• Perceptual Processes

c) Individual Differences

• Anxiety Disorders
• Autism

Unit 3 - Child Development and Applied Options

a) Child Development

• Social Development - Early relationships and Later Relationships
• Cognitive Development - Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development and Alternative Approaches to Children's Cognition
• Moral development - Piaget and Kohlberg and Alternatives to Piaget and Kohlberg

b) Applied Options

• Cognition and Law - Recognising and Rembering Faces and Recalling Events
• Schizophrenia and Mood Disorders - Mood Disorders
• Stress and Stress Management - Stress and Illness and Stress Management

Unit 4 - Approaches, Debates and Methods in Psychology

a) Approaches in Psychology

• Biological, Behaviourist, Social Learning, Cognitive, Psychodynamic and Humanistic Approaches - Biological Approach, Behaviourist Approach, Social Learning Theory, Cognitive Approach, Psychodynamic Approach, Humanistic Approach, and Comparison of Approaches

b) Debates in Psychology

• Debates in Psychology

c) Methods in Psychology

• Inferential Statistics - Statistical Inference and Statistical Tests
• Issues in Research

This course will prepare you to sit the A Level Psychology exams.

An A Level in Psychology can lead to university studies and a career in psychology, plus a wide variety of careers that involve personal interaction or communication, such as marketing, health care and personnel management. If you want to enter or progress in employment, you'll find your A Level Psychology will demonstrate to employers that you have the ability to commit to learning, and have acquired good reasoning and analytical skills and an understanding of people - essential in practically every walk of life.

You don't need any previous experience or qualifications to enrol in our A Level Psychology course. That's because we believe in making home study - and a rewarding future - as accessible as possible.