AS Psychology at JCG
The Study of Behaviour and Experience
Miss F Hutchings (HoS)
Mrs F Williams
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Assessment
Year 12 June 2015:
AS Unit G541: Psychological Investigations
30% of the total AS GCE marks 1 h written paper
60 marks
AS Unit G542: Core Studies
70% of the total AS GCE marks 2 h written paper
120 marks
A2 Unit G544: Approaches and Research Methods in Psychology 25% of
the total Advanced GCE marks, 1.5 h written paper
80 marks
Year 13 June 2016: A2 Unit G543: Options in Applied Psychology
25% of the total Advanced GCE marks, 2 h written paper
100 marks
AS Course Content
Students will be taught 15 core studies as they fall into one of five
approaches:
•
Physiological Psychology
– Sleep, Split-Brains, hippocampi of taxi drivers.
•
Developmental Psychology
– Cognitive development, Aggression, Phobias
•
Cognitive Psychology
– Theory of Mind, Memory, Teaching communication through symbols to a
Chimpanzee,
•
Social Psychology
– Obedience, Tyranny, Altruism
•
Psychology of Individual Differences
– MPD, fruit machine gambling, Being Sane in Insane places
Developmental
Psychology
Developmental Psychology is interested in
discovering the psychological processes of
development. The core studies in this section
all focus on how children develop. It is worth
noting that developmental psychologists also
study adulthood too.
Bandura
Cognitive
Psychology
• Cognitive psychologists focus on our mental processes or
cognitions. These mental processes that cognitive psychologists
focus on include memory, perception, thinking and language.
• The main concern of cognitive psychology is how information
received from our senses is processed by the brain and how this
processing directs how we behave.
• Cognitive processes are examples of hypothetical
constructs. That is, we cannot directly see processes such as
thinking but we can infer what a person is thinking based on
how they act
Loftus & Palmer
Social psychology
• Social Psychology is interested in studying individuals
in a social context, such as family, friends, institutions,
and wider society. Social behaviour may involve
activity within a group or between groups.
• One of the debates in social psychology is whether an
individual's behaviour is a result of their personality or
their social context.
Milgram
Psychology of
Individual Differences
• Psychology often makes generalisations about
people. Depending upon your point of view this can
be seen as a great strength of Psychology or a weakness
or probably both.
• It is important that we recognise that there are as many
differences between people as there are similarities
• There has been a tendency in Psychology to ignore the
experiences of people from different cultures.
Rosenhan
Physiological
Psychology
• Physiological Psychology focuses on the relationship
between our biological makeup and our behaviour and
experiences.
• This area of Psychology looks at the structure of our
nervous system (including our brains) and the action of
chemicals that can have an effect on our behaviour.
• Some physiological psychologists argue that behaviour and
experiences can be explained in terms of brain structure
and chemicals. For example, in the affect of drugs on
mood and behaviour.
A Level Psychology
Two AS classes in Year 12
Two A2 classes in Year 13
All A Level classes have five hours of
classwork and five hours of
homework per week.
A Level Psychology teachers are
Miss Hutchings and Mrs Williams.
Students who follow the course at
Beaulieu, DLS or VCJ will also
cover the OCR specification.
Off Island Visits
University of Exeter, University of Plymouth
and London Conferences
On Island
Durrell Observation, Brain Day
& SPELL Training
Every year since 2007 we have been fortunate to have
had the service of Dr Guy Sutton who has excited
and thrilled the students with an informative day of
workshops, lectures and even dissections on the
brain.
The annual visit to Durrell to observe the primates is a
highlight for many students.
All students are provided with an opportunity to
complete the nationally recognised SPELL Autism
Introduction qualification.
Stretch and Challenge
•
•
•
•
Psychology Academy: Fortnightly
lunchtime sessions designed to stretch
and challenge beyond the specification.
2012/13 speakers included:
Peter Mac (CBT)
Ethnocentrism (Mr Mao)
Investigative Psychology (Prof David
Canter)
Judy Benest (Counselling)
Psychology Clinic:
Weekly lunchtime support sessions to
support students in all aspects of the A
Level course
Inquiring Minds Lecture Series:
• Investigative Psychology (Prof David
Canter)
• Statistics and Phobias (Prof Andy Field)
A2 Psychology
Forensic Psychology
Clinical and Health Psychology
AS Psychology at JCG
The Study of Behaviour and Experience
Miss F Hutchings (HoS)
Mrs F Williams