Psychology Dept - Curriculum on a Page

Psychology Curriculum Details - 2026/2027 (Current)

YearTerm 1Term 2Term 3Term 4Term 5Term 6
12Social Influence - Types/explanations of conformity, obedience, resistance to social influence and the role of social influence processes in social change.
Studies - Asch, Zimbardo, Milgram.
Research methods - experimental methods, scientific processes, data handling and analysis
Attachment - Caregiver-infant interactions in humans, animal studies, types/explanations of attachment and the influence of early attachment on relationships.
Studies - Schaffer, Lorenz, Harlow, Bowlby.
Research methods - experimental methods, scientific processes, data handling and analysis
Psychopathology - Definitions of abnormality, the behavioural/emotional/cognitive characteristics of phobias, depression and OCD.
Studies - Beck, Ellis, Jahoda,
Research methods - experimental methods, scientific processes, data handling and analysis

Memory - The multi-store model of memory, long-term memory, working memory model, explanations for forgetting/accuracy of eyewitness testimony
Studies - Peterson and Peterson, Baddeley, Loftus and Palmer
Research methods - experimental methods, scientific processes, data handling and analysis
Approaches - Learning and comparison of the different approaches (behaviourist, cognitive, biological, psychodynamic)
Studies - Wundt, Pavlov, Skinner, Bandura, Maslow
Research methods - experimental methods, scientific processes, data handling and analysis

BioPsychology (Year 12) - the nervous and endocrine system, flight/fight response, ways of studying the brain and biological rhythms.
Research methods - experimental methods, scientific processes, data handling and analysis
13Relationships - the evolutionary explanation for partner preference, factors affecting attraction in romantic relationships, theories of romantic relationships, virtual relationships in social media and parasocial relationships.
Studies - Buss, Walster, Duck, Joinson, McKenna
Schizophrenia - classification and biological/psychological explanations for Schizophrenia, drug therapy (typical and atypical antipsychotics), cognitive behaviour therapy and family therapy. Interlinking it with the interactionist approach
Studies - Diathesis-Stress Model, Chadwick
Forensic Psychology - offender profiling, biological/psychological explanations of offending behaviour, dealing with offending behaviour
Biopsychology (Year 13) - function of the brain and hemispheric lateralisation, ways of studying the brain (fMRI, EEGs, ERPs), biological rhythms
Issues and debates - gender and cultural bias, free will and determinism, nature-nurture debate, holism and reductionism, idiographic and nomothetic approaches, ethical implications of research Revision term - going over Yr12 and 13 topics. Focusing on exam techniques for the longer mark questions. Study leave and exam period