A Level Psychology Course Edexcel

About Course

This International A Level Psychology Course with Edexcel will help you develop an essential knowledge and understanding of different areas of psychology and how they relate to each other.

Learners will develop and demonstrate a deep appreciation of the skills in using scientific methods, knowledge and understanding of scientific methods. You will also gain an interest in and enthusiasm for psychology, including developing an interest in further international study and careers associated with psychology.

Course Content

Unit 1 – Social influence
To begin, you’ll learn about the various types of conformity and the explanations for it. It will introduce you to social role conformity and explanations for obedience, along with those for resistance to social influence. You’ll also look at the role of social influence in social change and minority influence.

Unit 2 – Memory
Next, you’ll explore the multi-store model of memory and the different types of long-term memory. You’ll learn about the working memory model and its different features, along with explanations for forgetting. Additionally, you’ll study factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and what factors improve accuracy.

Unit 3 – Attachment
In this unit, you’ll look at some key psychologists who have studied the area of attachment. You’ll study caregiver and infant interactions and relationships, the different stages of attachment that humans go through during their lives and explain how this can vary between cultures. You’ll also evaluate the role of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships, including the role of an internal working model.

Unit 4 – Psychopathology
Put simply, psychopathology is the study of mental disorders, which is what you’ll be exploring in this unit. You’ll explore the behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics of phobias, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), as well as the behavioural approach to explaining and treating such conditions. Also, you’ll evaluate the cognitive and biological approaches to explaining and treating disorders such as depression.

Unit 5 – Approaches in psychology
Next, you’ll explore different learning approaches in psychology, including theories such as classical conditioning as described by Pavlov. You’ll study social learning theory, including imitation, identification, modelling and vicarious reinforcement. Moving on, you’ll delve into the psychodynamic approach, the role of the unconscious and the structure of personality, as well as humanistic psychological concepts such as free will and self-actualisation.

Unit 6 – Biopsychology
Moving on, you’ll look at the divisions of the central nervous system, the function of neurons and the process of synaptic transmission. You’ll also examine how the endocrine system works, including glands and hormones, along with the ‘fight or flight’ response and the role of adrenaline. Moving on, you’ll look at the different centres of the brain and what each of them is responsible for, how the brain recovers after trauma, what medical scanning techniques can tell us about the brain and its functions and more.

Unit 7 – Relationships
In the eighth unit, you’ll look at evolutionary explanations for partner preferences, including the relationship between sexual selection and human reproductive behaviour. You’ll also examine the factors that affect romantic attraction and relevant psychological concepts such as filter theory. You’ll also discuss virtual relationships in social media, along with parasocial relationships and the absorption-addiction model.

Unit 8 – Aggression
In the ninth unit, you’ll study aggression, including the bodily systems involved when this emotion is triggered inside the brain. You’ll examine ethnological explanations of aggression, including innate releasing mechanisms and fixed action patterns and the aspects of human aggression that can be explained by evolutionary traits. Moving on, you’ll look at aggression from a social psychological perspective, the role that institutions can play, along with the effects of outside influences such as computer games.

Unit 9 – Schizophrenia
In unit ten, you’ll take an in-depth look at schizophrenia. You’ll examine some of the classic symptoms associated with the disorder, such as hallucinations and delusions, along with some of the possible biological causes for the condition such as genetics. You’ll discover some of the typical drug therapies prescribed to sufferers, along with other treatments such as CBT. Finally, you’ll study the importance of an interactionist approach when managing schizophrenia and the diathesis-stress model.

A Level Psychology Course Edexcel

About Course

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