A-level Psychology₇₁₈₂

Students will be expected to:

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of psychological concepts, theories, research studies, research methods and ethical issues in relation to the specified Paper 1 content
• apply psychological knowledge and understanding of the specified Paper 1 content in a range of contexts
• analyse, interpret and evaluate psychological concepts, theories, research studies and research methods in relation to the specified Paper 1 content
• evaluate therapies and treatments including in terms of their appropriateness and effectiveness.

Knowledge and understanding of research methods, practical research skills and mathematical skills (see Annex: Mathematical requirements and exemplifications ) will be assessed in Paper 1. These skills should be developed through study of the specification content and through ethical practical research activities, involving:

• designing research
• conducting research
• analysing and interpreting data.

In carrying out practical research activities, students will manage associated risks and use information and communication technology (ICT).

3.1.1 Social influence

• Types of conformity: internalisation, identification and compliance. Explanations for conformity: informational social influence and normative social influence, and variables affecting conformity including group size, unanimity and task difficulty as investigated by Asch.
• Conformity to social roles as investigated by Zimbardo.
• Explanations for obedience: agentic state and legitimacy of authority, and situational variables affecting obedience including proximity and location, as investigated by Milgram, and uniform. Dispositional explanation for obedience: the Authoritarian Personality.
• Explanations of resistance to social influence, including social support and locus of control.
• Minority influence including reference to consistency, commitment and flexibility.
• The role of social influence processes in social change.

3.1.2 Memory

• The multi-store model of memory: sensory register, short-term memory and long-term memory. Features of each store: coding, capacity and duration.
• Types of long-term memory: episodic, semantic, procedural.
• The working memory model: central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad and episodic buffer. Features of the model: coding and capacity.
• Explanations for forgetting: proactive and retroactive interference and retrieval failure due to absence of cues.
• Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: misleading information, including leading questions and post-event discussion; anxiety.
• Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony, including the use of the cognitive interview.

3.1.3 Attachment

• Caregiver-infant interactions in humans: reciprocity and interactional synchrony. Stages of attachment identified by Schaffer. Multiple attachments and the role of the father.
• Animal studies of attachment: Lorenz and Harlow.
• Explanations of attachment: learning theory and Bowlby’s monotropic theory. The concepts of a critical period and an internal working model.
• Ainsworth’s ‘Strange Situation’. Types of attachment: secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant. Cultural variations in attachment, including van Ijzendoorn.
• Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation. Romanian orphan studies: effects of institutionalisation.
• The influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships, including the role of an internal working model.

3.1.4 Psychopathology

• Definitions of abnormality, including deviation from social norms, failure to function adequately, statistical infrequency and deviation from ideal mental health.
• The behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics of phobias, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
• The behavioural approach to explaining and treating phobias: the two-process model, including classical and operant conditioning; systematic desensitisation, including relaxation and use of hierarchy; flooding.
• The cognitive approach to explaining and treating depression: Beck’s negative triad and Ellis’s ABC model; cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), including challenging irrational thoughts.
• The biological approach to explaining and treating OCD: genetic and neural explanations; drug therapy.