You will also have to study and evaluate how psychologists do research.

Throughout the course, you will study the following specific units:

• Research methods – This unit looks at examining the methods used in psychology to study behaviour. You will have an opportunity to carry out some research on people yourself. This includes experiments, observations and self-reports methods. You will learn how psychologists analyse data and conduct statistical tests on data which you collect.

• Psychological themes through core studies – You will study 20 pieces of ground breaking research in psychology. You will consider questions such as; can someone alter your memory? Do you understand what someone else is thinking? Why are some children aggressive? How does your brain structure affect your behaviour? You will also think about the major debates in psychology such as the nature/nurture debate; the extent to which psychology can be considered a science; should we conduct unethical research and how useful is psychology in the real world. There are opportunities for you to apply your knowledge to real examples of behaviour and devise strategies to improve behaviour.

• Applied Psychology – You will learn about how psychology is used in the real world. Crime psychology studies why people turn to crime, how psychology is used in the courtroom, and how criminals can be rehabilitated. Health and clinical psychology examines dysfunctional behaviours, mental illnesses and how they can be treated. Child psychology studies how children learn cognitive and social skills, how the brain matures and considers how behaviours such as risk taking change over childhood and adolescence. In this unit you have to think more widely about psychology and in particular consider some of the wider debates and issues. For example, does identifying the cause of behaviour mean that sometimes we are not personally responsible for how we behave?