Psychology
If we were to summarize what psychology is, we could say that it is the study of thinking
and behaviour. But what does that actually mean? Well, one essential question that we
must ask is why do I think and behave the way that I do, and why do you think and behave
the way that you do? A possible answer is that it’s ‘just the way I am’; I was born this way
and that’s it. But what would have happened if I had been adopted at birth and raised on a
remote island? Would I be the same person then? Of course, the society and culture in
which I am brought up has a profound impact on me as well. Psychology attempts to look
at this and other questions to firstly decided how people think and behave in certain
situations, and then to try and explain why they do this.
Studying psychology will help you to answer the questions above, and to understand how
humans behave, and why they behave in this manner. It is useful for anyone who wishes
to study psychology at university, but is also useful in other career choices such as
research, business and law.
Potential careers using psychology include not only being a therapist, but there are many
other applications as well such as; forensic psychologist, occupational psychologist,
educational psychologist and sport psychologist. Your tutor will be able to give you advice
and guidance in all these areas
AS specification for WJEC exam board
Unit 1 – Approaches in psychology
We will study the four major schools of psychology, namely, behaviourist, psychodynamic,
cognitive and biological. For each we will investigate how they explain human
thought and behaviour, and then see how each has been applied to a psycho-therapy
Unit 2 – Research studies and research methods
We will study 10 famous pieces of research conducted in psychology. These will include
investigation into areas such as obedience to authority, conformity, stress and illness, child
development and memory.
A2 specification
Unit 3 – Research methods
We will look at the major research methods used in psychology. This will enable us to
conduct several small psychological investigations of our own, helping us to confirm or
refute research that has gone before. Although there is some statistical analysis, it is
important to stress that you don’t need to be ‘good at maths’ to do this part of the course.
All calculations are very simple and straightforward.
Unit 4 – Applications
Forensic psychology
This unit will investigate why people become criminals, how we are able to profile
criminals, how we can improve the accuracy of eye-witness testimony, factors that
influence the decisions of juries, and the effectiveness of various punishments to crimes
Biological rhythms and sleep
Here we will investigate the various biological rhythms which make up human behaviour,
and then at sleep in particular, investigating what the functions of sleep really are.
Psycho-pathology
This unit is concerned with investigating depression and schizophrenia, looking at both
environmental and biological causes, and various treatments which can be employed to
alleviate the suffering of those individuals concerned.
Reading list
All necessary reading material will be provided by the tutor. This is done because there is
no single text book that is adequate for the course. Should the student wish for further
reading then the tutor will give them recommendations based on the specific area that they
are interested in.