AS Psychology at JCGThe Study of Behaviour and Experience

2011-2012

Miss F Hutchings

Mr A Moss

AS Course ContentStudents will be taught 15 core studies as they fall into one of five

approaches:

• Physiological Psychology– Sleep, Split-Brains, hippocampi of taxi drivers.

• Developmental Psychology– Cognitive development, Aggression, Phobias

• Cognitive Psychology– Theory of Mind, Memory, Teaching communication through symbols

to a Chimpanzee,

• Social Psychology– Obedience, Tyranny, Altruism

• Psychology of Individual Differences– MPD, fruit machine gambling, Being Sane in Insane places

Developmental Psychology

• Developmental Psychology is interested in discovering the psychological processes of development.  The core studies in this section all focus on how children develop.  It is worth noting that developmental psychologists also study adulthood too.

Bandura

Cognitive Psychology

• Cognitive psychologists focus on our mental processes or cognitions.  These mental processes that cognitive psychologists focus on include memory, perception, thinking and language.

• The main concern of cognitive psychology is how information received from our senses is processed by the brain and how this processing directs how we behave.

• Cognitive processes are examples of hypothetical constructs.  That is, we cannot directly see processes such as thinking but we can infer what a person is thinking based on how they act

Loftus

Social psychology

• Social Psychology is interested in studying individuals in a social context, such as family, friends, institutions, and wider society.  Social behaviour may involve activity within a group or between groups.

• One of the debates in social psychology is whether an individual's behaviour is a result of their personality or their social context.  

Milgram

Psychology of individual differences

• Psychology often makes generalisations about people.  Depending upon your point of view this can be seen as a great strength of Psychology or a weakness or probably both.

• It is important that we recognise that there are as many differences between people as there are similarities

• There has been a tendency in Psychology to ignore the experiences of people from different cultures. 

Rosenhan

Physiological Psychology

• Physiological Psychology focuses on the relationship between our biological makeup and our behaviour and experiences.  

• This area of Psychology looks at the structure of our nervous system (including our brains) and the action of chemicals that can have an effect on our behaviour.  

• Some physiological psychologists argue that behaviour and experiences can be explained in terms of brain structure and chemicals.  This argument has lead to such psychologists making great discoveries, for example, in the affect of drugs on mood and behaviour.

• Other psychologists take the view that we cannot explain complex human behaviour and experience just in terms of brain structure and chemicals. 

Maguire

AS Psychology Assessment

• Two mandatory units, which are externally assessed and form 50% of the corresponding four-unit A-Level in Psychology.

Psychological investigations (30%) January 2012• Students will study and conduct four investigations. • They will be assessed in a 1 hour examination.

Core studies (70%) May 2012• Students will study 15 core studies, which are classics in Psychology or studies that raise interesting debates and issues in Psychology. • They will be assessed in a 2 hour examination.

Off Island VisitsUniversity of Exeter and

London Conferences

On IslandDurrell and Brain Day

Every year since 2007 we have been fortunate to have had the service of Dr Guy Sutton who has excited and thrilled the students with an informative day of workshops, lectures and even dissections on the brain.

The annual visit to Durrell to observe the primates is a highlight for many students.

Year on Year Average A2 Points

6.3

7.558.57

8.05

9.36 9.14

5.76

0123456789

10

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Year

UC

AS

Po

ints

Why Psychology?

A fresh start to learning a subject

Supports several other subjects

It is regarded as a ‘Science’ by most universities

It is interesting!

Why Psychology at JCG?

Off-Island visits to UK

Guest Speakers

Additional Qualifications from Jersey Autism