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What is Psychology?
• Brainstorm everything you know (or think!) about what Psychology is
• Think about…
• What is it the study of?
• What are psychologists interested in?
• What are similar subjects?
What is Psychology?
• It is ‘the scientific study of brain, behaviour and experience’• Psychologists are interested in finding out about many different aspects of human and non-human behaviour, for example :• How can we improve our memory?• Does day-care make children more sociable?• Does watching violent TV affect levels of violence on
the streets?
How do Psychologists find out about behaviour?
• They carry out scientific research. These are carefully designed research studies which test predictions.•Usually these are well conducted but as we go through the different topics you will see that some behaviours are very difficult to study scientifically (can you think of some examples?)
What do Psychologists do?
‘Psychology, like all other sciences, can be misapplied. But, rightly used psychology can make an
immense contribution to human happiness’ (Rex and Margaret Knight 1959)
• Psychologists carry out research, apply psychological knowledge to their day-to-day work or teach the subject in schools and universities.• There are many occupations which use applied psychology
Applied Psychology
•Clinical psychologists – work in hospital, health centres and mental health services and provide a range of therapies for the treatment of psychological disorders.
• Educational psychologists – work in schools colleges, children’s homes and nurseries where they assess, diagnose and treat educational, emotional and behavioural problems. They also provide advice to parents and teachers on how to support children and young people.
Applied Psychology
• Forensic/criminal psychologists work in the criminal justice system and may work in prisons, rehabilitation centres or for the probation service•Health psychologists usually work in hospitals focusing on the causes of health and illness. They are concerned with health promotion and apply psychological principles to improve people’s health and well-being (e.g. Smoking cessation programmes, weight loss programmes)
Applied Psychology
•Occupational psychologists provide advice and guidance on work-related issues such as working conditions, matching the person to the job, vocational guidance and training needs.
In the UK any one who wishes to practice as a psychologist has to be ‘chartered’ through the British Psychological Society. This is the only professional body for psychologists in the UK and ensures they are adequately qualified to be working in their field.
AQA A Level Course: Brand new for 2015
Topics:Social Influence Memory AttachmentPsychopathology
3 papers sat at the end of year 2. Exams are 30 minutes longer than the AS exams, require more detail, numeracy and contain some additional content.
Topics:Research Methods Bio Psychology (with additional content) Inferential Statistics
Three Option Topics: e.g. GenderSchizophrenia Forensic Psychology
Issues and debates Items in red are Year 2 topics
What will the exams look like?
• At A Level all exams are 2 hours long and contain multiple choice, short answer and extended writing questions worth up to 16 marks
• But in order to fully understand the requirements of the exam we need to know how you are being assessed. These are called Assessment Objectives (AO’s) which assess the skills that you need to demonstrate in Psychology
•We will have a look at these now…Handbook!
Skills skills skills!!!
• These are the skills we are going to use to structure our lessons
• The higher the skills you demonstrate on the ladder, the more likely you are to achieve the top grades
! But how what do these mean and how do they fit in with Psychology? Remember
Understand
Apply
Analyse
Evaluate
Create
• One way in which I will support the development of these skills is regular assessments… this could be in the form of homework or even a “test” in class
There will be regular tests in lessons!
• Another way is by developing your ability to self mark and peer mark – I will support you with this don’t worry!• Reading around the subject will help you understanding and
remember the content• Discussions in lessons with peers with help you realise whether
you understand – and identify gaps in your knowledge• Pre reading and consolidation are essential• As there are no external exams until 2017 there will be college
based exams and mock exams
Year 1 overview
Social Approach - Social Influence including conformity and obedience
Cognitive Approach – Memory and Forgetting
Developmental Approach - Attachment in childhood
Other Approaches in psychology – including the Learning approach (behaviourism) and the Biological approach
Research Methods – The methods used by psychologists
Psychopathology – The psychology of abnormality
Internal exam (similar to a mock)Biopsychology and start of Year 2
Homework…
• See Blog
