AQA A-level Psychology Year 13 revision

Topic 1: Issues and debates in psychology

It builds on what you learned at AS in Approaches in psychology, and takes it further.

There are 7 parts: we start with issues and debates, and finish with ethical implications of research.

1. 1.1Issues and debatesFree 15 questions
2. 1.2Gender bias in psychology23 questions
3. 1.3Culture bias in psychology25 questions
4. 1.4Free will and determinism24 questions
5. 1.5The nature–nurture debate28 questions
6. 1.6Holism and reductionism; idiographic and nomothetic approaches26 questions
7. 1.7Ethical implications of research: socially sensitive research23 questions

Topic 2: Relationships

It builds on what you learned at AS in Attachment, and takes it further.

There are 7 parts: we start with relationships, and finish with parasocial relationships.

1. 2.1Relationships13 questions
2. 2.2Evolutionary explanations for partner preferences33 questions
3. 2.3Factors affecting attraction: self-disclosure, physical attractiveness and filter theory23 questions
4. 2.4Theories of romantic relationships: social exchange, equity and Rusbult's investment model66 questions
5. 2.5Duck's phase model of relationship breakdown66 questions
6. 2.6Virtual relationships in social media19 questions
7. 2.7Parasocial relationships20 questions

Topic 3: Gender

This topic explains how we develop a sense of our gender, and why gender roles differ between people and cultures.

We will cover sex and gender, androgyny, chromosomes and hormones, and atypical sex chromosome patterns.

Then we compare cognitive, psychodynamic and social learning explanations, the role of culture and media, and explanations of gender dysphoria.

1. 3.1Sex and gender, sex-role stereotypes and androgyny (Bem Sex Role Inventory)Free 30 questions
2. 3.2Role of chromosomes and hormones in sex and gender (testosterone, oestrogen, oxytocin)36 questions
3. 3.3Atypical sex chromosome patterns: Klinefelter's and Turner's syndromes29 questions
4. 3.4Cognitive explanations: Kohlberg's theory and gender schema theory26 questions
5. 3.5Freud's psychodynamic explanation of gender development29 questions
6. 3.6Social learning theory and gender development26 questions
7. 3.7Influence of culture and media on gender roles30 questions
8. 3.8Gender dysphoria: biological and social explanations34 questions

Topic 4: Cognition and development

This topic looks at how children's thinking develops, and how they come to understand other people.

We will compare Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner, test Piaget's claims with Baillargeon's research, and apply the theories to education.

Then we study social cognition: Selman's levels of perspective-taking, theory of mind and autism, and the mirror neuron system.

1. 4.1Piaget's theory of cognitive development: stages and schema, assimilation, accommodationFree 33 questions
2. 4.2Vygotsky's theory (zone of proximal development) and Bruner's scaffolding26 questions
3. 4.3Baillargeon's research on early infant abilities and evaluation of Piaget27 questions
4. 4.4Applications of Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner to education30 questions
5. 4.5Development of social cognition: Selman's levels of perspective-taking and the role of social experience22 questions
6. 4.6Theory of mind and Baron-Cohen's Sally-Anne test25 questions
7. 4.7Theory of mind and autism: Baron-Cohen's extreme male brain theory20 questions
8. 4.8The mirror neuron system and its role in social cognition19 questions

Topic 5: Schizophrenia

It builds on what you learned at AS in Psychopathology, and takes it further.

There are 7 parts: we start with schizophrenia, and finish with the interactionist approach to schizophrenia and the diathesis-stress model.

1. 5.1Schizophrenia17 questions
2. 5.2Schizophrenia: classification, symptoms, reliability and validity of diagnosis36 questions
3. 5.3Biological explanations for schizophrenia: genetics, dopamine and neural correlates21 questions
4. 5.4Psychological explanations for schizophrenia: family dysfunction and cognitive explanations28 questions
5. 5.5Drug therapy for schizophrenia: typical and atypical antipsychotics30 questions
6. 5.6Psychological therapies for schizophrenia: CBT, family therapy and token economies21 questions
7. 5.7The interactionist approach to schizophrenia and the diathesis-stress model61 questions

Topic 6: Eating behaviour

This topic explains why we like the foods we do, and what goes wrong in dieting, anorexia and obesity.

We will look at evolutionary and learned food preferences, attitudes to food, and the brain areas and hormones that control hunger.

Then we explore why diets fail, and compare psychological and biological explanations of anorexia nervosa and obesity.

1. 6.1Explanations for food preferences: evolutionary and learned (social, cultural, conditioning)Free 22 questions
2. 6.2Attitudes to food: cultural influences, mood and health concerns20 questions
3. 6.3Neural and hormonal mechanisms of eating: hypothalamus, leptin and ghrelin34 questions
4. 6.4Success and failure of dieting: restraint theory, ironic processes and disinhibition31 questions
5. 6.5Psychological explanations for anorexia nervosa: family systems, social learning, cognitive38 questions
6. 6.6Biological explanations for anorexia nervosa: genetic and neural24 questions
7. 6.7Biological explanations for obesity: genetic, neural and hormonal34 questions
8. 6.8Psychological explanations for obesity: restrained eating, emotional eating, learned behaviour29 questions

Topic 7: Stress

This topic looks at what stress does to the body, what causes it, how we can measure it, and how to manage it.

We will cover the SAM and HPA pathways, the General Adaptation Syndrome, and the links between stress, the immune system and heart disease.

Then we look at life changes, hassles and workplace stress, personality and gender differences, and drug, biofeedback and psychological treatments.

1. 7.1The physiology of stress: sympathomedullary pathway, HPA axis and General Adaptation SyndromeFree 42 questions
2. 7.2Stress-related illness: the immune system and cardiovascular disorders29 questions
3. 7.3Sources of stress: life changes and daily hassles38 questions
4. 7.4Workplace stress: workload and control (Marmot)32 questions
5. 7.5Measuring stress: self-report (SRRS, hassles scale) and physiological measures25 questions
6. 7.6Individual differences in stress: Type A/B/C personality, hardiness and gender differences39 questions
7. 7.7Managing stress: drug therapy (benzodiazepines, beta-blockers) and biofeedback34 questions
8. 7.8Managing stress: stress inoculation training, hardiness training, social support and gender differences in coping33 questions

Topic 8: Aggression

This topic asks why people are aggressive, using biological, social and institutional explanations.

We will cover the brain, hormones and genes, ethological and evolutionary explanations, frustration, social learning and deindividuation.

Then we look at aggression in prisons and the military, and whether violent media and video games make people more aggressive.

1. 8.1Neural and hormonal mechanisms in aggression: limbic system, serotonin, testosterone, cortisolFree 35 questions
2. 8.2Genetic factors in aggression: twin and adoption studies, MAOA gene24 questions
3. 8.3Ethological explanations: innate releasing mechanisms and fixed action patterns21 questions
4. 8.4Evolutionary explanations: sexual jealousy, bullying and group display28 questions
5. 8.5Social psychological explanations: frustration-aggression hypothesis and social learning theory30 questions
6. 8.6Deindividuation and the role of anonymity in aggression30 questions
7. 8.7Institutional aggression: importation and deprivation models, and aggression in the military70 questions
8. 8.8Media influences: violent media, video games, desensitisation and cognitive priming29 questions

Topic 9: Forensic psychology

Forensic psychology applies psychology to crime, from catching offenders to explaining and dealing with offending.

We will compare top down and bottom up offender profiling, then biological and psychological explanations of offending.

Finally we evaluate ways of dealing with offenders, including custody, token economies, anger management and restorative justice.

1. 9.1Offender profiling: top-down approach and the FBI typologiesFree 24 questions
2. 9.2Offender profiling: bottom-up approach, investigative psychology and geographical profiling28 questions
3. 9.3Biological explanations of offending: atavistic form, genetics and neural explanations21 questions
4. 9.4Psychological explanations: Eysenck's theory and cognitive distortions (hostile attribution, minimalisation)35 questions
5. 9.5Differential association theory and psychodynamic explanations of offending23 questions
6. 9.6Dealing with offending: aims of custody, effects of imprisonment and recidivism34 questions
7. 9.7Behaviour modification in custody (token economy) and anger management programmes31 questions
8. 9.8Restorative justice programmes27 questions

Topic 10: Addiction

This topic explains how addiction develops, why it's so hard to stop, and how it can be treated.

We will define dependence, tolerance and withdrawal, look at risk factors, and explain nicotine and gambling addiction.

Then we evaluate drug and behavioural therapies, the theory of planned behaviour, and Prochaska's stages of change.

1. 10.1Describing addiction: physical and psychological dependence, tolerance and withdrawalFree 33 questions
2. 10.2Risk factors in the development of addiction: genetic vulnerability, stress, personality, family and peers25 questions
3. 10.3Explanations for nicotine addiction: brain neurochemistry and learning theory25 questions
4. 10.4Explanations for gambling addiction: learning theory and cognitive bias26 questions
5. 10.5Reducing addiction: drug therapy and behavioural interventions (aversion therapy, covert sensitisation)39 questions
6. 10.6Cognitive approaches to reducing addiction: the theory of planned behaviour28 questions
7. 10.7Prochaska's six-stage model of behaviour change and relapse63 questions

Topic 11: Research methods: inferential statistics

It builds on what you learned at AS in Research methods: data handling and analysis, and takes it further.

There are 6 parts: we start with inferential statistics and science, and finish with maths skills for psychology.

1. 11.1Inferential statistics and science48 questions
2. 11.2Choosing and justifying statistical tests (level of data, design, parametric assumptions)76 questions
3. 11.3Calculating non-parametric tests: sign test, Wilcoxon, Mann-Whitney, chi-square, Spearman's rho68 questions
4. 11.4Calculating parametric tests: related and unrelated t-tests and Pearson's r24 questions
5. 11.5Significance levels, critical values, one- and two-tailed tests and Type I/II errors63 questions
6. 11.6Maths skills for psychology: ratios, percentages, decimals, standard form, significant figures and estimation64 questions

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