Psychology - AS/A2 AQA Spec A
Why choose Psychology?
Psychology is a fascinating subject and is proving to be extremely popular across the country. By studying psychology you will gain a deep understanding of what motivates humans to behave, to learn, to think, to hate, to love - this knowledge will be of enormous benefit to you throughout life.
What can I expect to learn?
You will study a range of topics from various areas of psychology including: memory - how it works, are eye witnesses reliable? attachment - short and long term effects of early childhood; stress-related illnesses and how to cope; abnormality - what is abnormality; social influence - why do people conform? why do people obey even unreasonable commands? how to perform psychological investigations.
At A2 you will study some areas of psychology in greater depth, increasing your psychological knowledge and understanding, for example: social psychology (eg prejudice, attraction and aggression); physiological psychology (eg brain research, sleep and dreams); individual differences (eg schizophrenia, depression and therapies); developmental psychology (eg development of morals and personality); perspectives (eg debates and approaches to psychology).
In addition you will carry out one full psychological investigation.
Which subjects combine well with Psychology ?
Psychology can be taken with any other subject but is often taken with English, history, geography, biology, sociology, law, government and politics or business studies.
Where does this lead? What can I do next?
A Level Psychology combines well with biological sciences and social sciences and would be well worth considering for any kind of career where understanding behaviour is helpful. This would include medicine, teaching, social work, business and management, the uniformed services and various therapies.
What background or achievements do I need?
You do not need to have studied psychology at GCSE level to take this course. You should be able to demonstrate knowledge, understanding and skills equivalent to those required to gain at least a grade C in GCSE English and Mathematics. You will be engaged in many active learning experiences so enthusiasm and the ability to think critically are definitely an advantage.
"Everything that irritates us about others can lead to an understanding of ourselves."
Carl Gustav Jung
