Psychology spec Essay

We don’t aim to profit from education – we want you to. If you are an existing customer then we thank you for your support. If you are thinking of moving to AQA then we look forward to welcoming you. 1. 2 Why choose Psychology? The revised specification will provide students with a sound understanding of the various methods and approaches in psychology at an introductory level. Knowledge of methods and approaches will be illustrated through various topic areas representing the core areas of social, cognitive, developmental, biological and individual differences. The topic areas have been chosen because of their importance and prominence within the core area and their relevance to everyday life. The specification requires candidates to nderstand ethical issues that must be considered when conducting research in psychology. New content has been introduced, while less popular topics have been removed. Unit 1 of this specification can be delivered as a Short Course. GCSE psychology is no longer tiered; therefore the question papers have been designed to be accessible to candidates of all abilities. . 3 How do I start using this specification? Already using the existing AQA Psychology specification? Register to receive further information, such as mark schemes, past question papers, details of teacher support meetings, etc, at http://www. qa. org. uk/rn/askaqa. php Information will be available electronically or in print, for your convenience. Tell us that you intend to enter candidates. Then we can make sure that you receive all the material you need for the examinations. You can let us know by completing the appropriate Intention to Enter and Estimated Entry forms. We will send copies to your Exams Officer and they are also available on our website (http://www. aqa. org. uk/admin/p_entries. php). Not using the AQA specification currently? Almost all centres in England and Wales use AQA or have used AQA in the past and are approved AQA centres. A small minority are not. If your centre is new to AQA, please contact our centre approval team at centreapproval@aqa. org. uk 1. 4 How can I find out more? Teacher Support You have 24-hour access to useful information and answers to the most commonly-asked questions at Details of the full range of current Teacher Support and CPD courses are available on our web site at http://web. aqa. org. uk/qual/cpd/index. php If the answer to your question is not available, you can submit a query for our team. Our target response time is one day. There is also a link to our fast and convenient online ooking system for all of our courses at http://coursesandevents. aqa. org. k/training 2 Specification at a Glance (Short Course) 4181 Unit 1: aking Sense of other people (41801) Written Paper – 1 hour 30 mins 80 marks – 100% Candidates answer all questions (Full Course) 4182 Other People 80 marks – Unit 2: Understanding Other people (41802) plus For assessments and subject awards after June 2013 there is a requirement that 100% of the assessment is terminal. 3 Subject Content Students should have experience of designing and conducti ng informal classroom research using a variety of methods. They will be expected to analyse data collected in investigations at a descriptive level and draw conclusions based on research findings. They will be required to draw on these experiences to answer questions in the examination for these units. In the delivery of these units, it is expected that teachers will seek out contemporary examples of theories and research to develop their candidates’ understanding of the subject content. 3. 1 Unit 1 Making Sense of Other People Memory Processes of encoding, storage and retrieval. The multi-store, reconstructive and levels of processing explanations of memory. Description and evaluation of studies to investigate explanations of memory. Explanations and studies of forgetting including interference, context and brain damage (retrograde and anterograde amnesia). Eyewitness testimony. description and evaluation ot studies ot tactors which attect the reliability eyewitnesses’ accounts of people and incidents, including the research by Loftus (1974), Bruce and Young (1998). Contemporary practical applications derived from the explanations of memory and forgetting and their benefits and drawbacks.