Psychology Level 3

In the first unit, you’ll ask, ‘What is psychology?’, and take a look at the main approaches within the field. Next, you’ll delve into research methods, and discover what’s meant by terms such as ‘sampling’, ‘observation’, and ‘correlations’.

In unit two, you’ll take a closer look at stress and anxiety. You’ll consider the different phases of stress, such as the ‘alarm reaction’ and ‘resistance’, reasons why stress can occur such as difficult life events, and the different types of stress, such as occupational, and catastrophic. Next, you’ll discover the different approaches to dealing with stress, such as the biological and behavioural approach. Moving on, you’ll discover how our emotions are processed within the brain, and the James-Lange and Cannon-Bard theories of emotion.

Next, you’ll begin by looking at ‘bottom-up theory’, which suggests that we perceive our surroundings by beginning with small details. You’ll also consider Gibson’s theory, how we perceive depth and texture, and how our brains process linear perspective, deal with retinal disparity, and ocular convergence. Moving on, you’ll discover factors which can affect our perception, such as social and cultural preconceptions. You’ll delve into Gestalt theory, and principles such as continuity and closure. Lastly, you’ll take a detailed look at ‘top-down theory’, which suggests that we form our perception of the world by moving from the general to the specific.

In unit four, you’ll consider fascinating questions such as, ‘Why do we remember some things, but forget others?’, and study the levels of processing defined by Craik and Lockhart, from shallow to deep. Moving on, you’ll look at different types of memory, such as procedural and declarative, and the difference between short and long-term memories. You’ll consider Atkinson and Shiffrin’s ‘multi-store model’ of memory, and consider just how reliable our memories really are. Lastly, you’ll learn about Baddeley and Hitch’s ‘working memory model’, which describes the way in which memories are stored and processed by our brains.

In this unit, you’ll begin by considering Bloom’s Taxonomy, which denotes the three domains of learning: the cognitive domain, the affective domain, and the psychomotor domain. You’ll study operant conditioning, a method of learning which relies on rewards and punishment. Next, you’ll move on to social learning theory, and Albert Bandura’s criticisms of behaviourist theories.

Moving on, you’ll study the attachment phases of infancy, such as indiscriminate and discriminate attachment. You’ll also look at attachment types, such as anxious-avoidant and anxious-resistant. Next, you’ll consider John Bowlby’s maternal deprivation study, and the effect that a lack of maternal affection has upon a child as they grow. You’ll delve into Freud’s theories of psychosexual development, and the ways in which sociability develops in infants.

To begin, you’ll study different forms of discrimination, such as racism and homophobia, and understand the difference between discrimination and prejudice. You’ll examine what is meant by ‘stereotyping’, how it can lead to discriminatory behaviour, as well as the definition of ‘conformity’. You’ll take a look at minimal group theory, inter-group conflict theory, scapegoating theory, and authoritarian personality theory. Lastly, you’ll examine some ways in which prejudice can be tackled, such as education and social policy.

You’ll start by examining how social and societal pressure can influence conformity, and examine a study conducted by Milgram. Taking a look at obedience to authority, you’ll consider how far people will go when following orders, and learn about a famous experiment that took place to determine just that.