GCSE Psychology · OCR
OCR GCSE Psychology revision
Every topic of the OCR GCSE Psychology (J203) specification in order, with notes and practice questions. Subtopics marked free have their notes and questions on this site.
Topic 1: Criminal psychology
Criminal psychology explores why people commit crimes, and how society responds.
We will study how crime is defined and measured, and biological and psychological explanations of offending.
Then we look at offender profiling, and ways of dealing with offenders and reducing reoffending.
- 1.1Defining crime and measuring crime: official statistics, victim surveys and self-reportFree 76 questions
- 1.2Biological explanations of offending: Lombroso, genetics and brain differences46 questions
- 1.3Psychological explanations of offending: Eysenck's personality theory and social learning46 questions
- 1.4Offender profiling: top-down and bottom-up approaches and case studies38 questions
- 1.5Dealing with offending: prison, restorative justice, anger management and recidivism51 questions
Topic 2: Development
Development is about how children grow and learn, from the earliest brain development to the bonds they form with carers.
We will study theories of learning, like Piaget's stages and Dweck's mindset theory, and how the brain develops.
Then we look at attachment, including Bowlby's theory and Ainsworth's Strange Situation, and the effects of deprivation and day care.
- 2.1Development and learningFree 22 questions
- 2.2Early brain development and the effects of early experience48 questions
- 2.3Attachment: Bowlby's theory and Ainsworth's Strange Situation90 questions
- 2.4Deprivation, privation and the effects of day care45 questions
Topic 3: Psychological problems
There are 5 parts: we start with psychological problems, and finish with phobias and OCD.
- 3.1Psychological problems21 questions
- 3.2Schizophrenia: symptoms, explanations and treatments30 questions
- 3.3Depression: symptoms, causes and treatments43 questions
- 3.4Addiction: explanations, risk factors and treatments40 questions
- 3.5Phobias and OCD: symptoms, explanations and treatments54 questions
Topic 4: Social influence
There are 2 parts: we start with social influence, and finish with crowd behaviour, deindividuation, prosocial and antisocial behaviour, and the bystander effect.
- 4.1Social influenceFree 33 questions
- 4.2Crowd behaviour, deindividuation, prosocial and antisocial behaviour, and the bystander effect34 questions
Topic 5: Memory
There are 4 parts: we start with memory, and finish with eyewitness testimony and the cognitive interview.
- 5.1MemoryFree 29 questions
- 5.2Forgetting: interference, retrieval failure and decay44 questions
- 5.3Improving memory: mnemonics and revision techniques36 questions
- 5.4Eyewitness testimony and the cognitive interview36 questions
Topic 6: Sleep and dreaming
Sleep and dreaming explores why we sleep, what happens in our brains at night, and why we dream.
We will study the stages of sleep and E E G evidence, circadian rhythms and the body clock.
Then we look at the functions of sleep, sleep deprivation, sleep disorders and their treatments, and theories of dreaming.
- 6.1The stages of sleep, the sleep cycle and EEG evidenceFree 50 questions
- 6.2Circadian rhythms, the body clock and zeitgebers (Siffre and Aschoff and Wever)42 questions
- 6.3Functions of sleep, sleep across the lifespan and the effects of sleep deprivation40 questions
- 6.4Sleep disorders: insomnia, sleepwalking, narcolepsy and sleep apnoea, and their treatments63 questions
- 6.5Theories of dreaming: Freud's wish fulfilment and activation-synthesis, and research into dreams51 questions
Topic 7: Research methods
There are 4 parts: we start with research design, and finish with maths skills.
- 7.1Research designFree 20 questions
- 7.2Planning, carrying out and writing up a practical investigation (hypotheses, sampling, controls, pilot study)42 questions
- 7.3Data, analysis and ethics71 questions
- 7.4Maths skills: graphs, percentages, ratios, fractions, probability and significant figures83 questions