Edexcel A-Level Psychology
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Paper 1 - Foundations in psychology
Social psychology
1.1.1 - Agency and social impact theoriesWhy might someone follow an instruction they believe is wrong? Agency theory explains obedience through a change in perceived responsibility, while social impact theory explains how the people around us influence our behaviour. These accounts make different predictions and need to be judged again...
1.1.2 - Milgram and situational dissentMilgram investigated how far people would follow an authority's instructions when those instructions appeared to harm someone else. The original obedience experiment and three specified variations let us examine how institutional context, the authority's presence and the source of an order can en...
1.1.3, 1.1.6, 1.1.7 - Obedience, personality and culturePeople facing similar instructions do not all respond alike. The factors in 1.1.3 include personality, gender, situation and culture; 1.1.6 develops individual differences, while 1.1.7 asks how environmental experience can shape gender and cultural influences. We will use evidence to explain vari...
1.1.4 - Social identity and realistic conflictPeople can favour members of their own group before they have met them. They can also become hostile when two groups compete for something they both need. Social identity theory and realistic conflict theory explain these patterns through different mechanisms. This lesson develops each explanatio...
1.1.5, 1.1.6, 1.1.7 - Prejudice and discriminationTwo people can encounter the same group and respond differently. The same person can also behave differently when their surroundings change. Explaining prejudice requires attention to personality, the immediate situation and the cultural environment in which attitudes develop. This lesson disting...
1.3.1 - Sherif’s Robbers Cave studyCan changing the relationship between groups change the way their members treat one another? Sherif and colleagues’ summer-camp study followed the formation of groups, the growth of conflict and attempts to reduce it. Learn what the three stages show, and how the method limits the conclusions we...
1.3.2 - Burger’s partial replicationBurger asked whether adults in a later generation would still obey an authority in a situation modelled on Milgram’s research. The study balanced comparability with safeguards that limited exposure to distress. Learn what its 150-volt endpoint measured, what the findings showed and why a partial...
1.4.1, 1.4.2 - Reducing prejudice in societyHow can social psychology reduce prejudice? For 1.4.1, consider this as a practical question facing communities today; for 1.4.2, use psychological explanations and research to develop an answer. Learn to connect a proposed intervention to the mechanism it changes, while recognising that attitude...
1.5.1, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.2.4, 1.2.5, 1.2.6, 1.2.7 - Social questionnaire investigationPlan an ethical questionnaire investigation of a difference in in-group favouritism, gathering both numerical answers and participants’ reasons. Apply questionnaire and interview decisions (1.2.1–1.2.2), an alternate hypothesis (1.2.3), sampling (1.2.4), quantitative and thematic analysis (1.2.5–...
1.6 - Issues in social psychologySocial psychology raises questions about how research is conducted, what its explanations leave out and how its findings affect people. Use obedience and prejudice evidence to reason through the eleven issues and debates in 1.6. The aim is to develop justified conclusions, rather than attach a ge...
Cognitive psychology
2.1.1 - The working memory modelKeeping information in mind often means doing something with it: following instructions, understanding a sentence or planning a route. This lesson explains how Baddeley and Hitch’s working memory model accounts for that temporary mental work, and how psychologists use interference between tasks t...
2.1.2 - The multi-store modelA glance at a sign may vanish from memory, a telephone number may last while you repeat it, and a familiar address may remain available for years. This lesson uses Atkinson and Shiffrin’s multi-store model to explain those differences through information processing, then examines the evidence and...
2.1.3 - Episodic and semantic memoryKnowing where a city is and remembering a visit to it are both long-term memories, but they make different information available. This lesson explains Tulving’s distinction between episodic and semantic memory, shows how the two work together, and examines evidence that they can be affected diffe...
2.1.4, 2.1.5 - Reconstructive memory and schemasRemembering an event involves more than replaying a recording. People select information, interpret it using what they already know, and reconstruct a recollection later. This lesson explains Bartlett’s account, the evidence behind it, and how processing speed, schemas and personal experience con...
2.1.6, 2.3.4 - Digit span across developmentLearn how a digit-span task measures one aspect of verbal memory, and how Sebastián and Hernández-Gil’s Spanish study informs developmental explanations. Distinguish its observed age differences from claims about an individual’s development or the cause of a cultural difference.
2.3.1 - Baddeley’s acoustic and semantic studyLearn how Baddeley’s 1966b experiments investigated coding in long-term memory. Follow why the researcher changed the procedure across three experiments, what the results justify, and why this classic study is distinct from both the 1966a short-term-memory study and the later working memory model.
2.2.13 - Henry Molaison and memory evidenceLearn how the intensive study of Henry Molaison, historically called H.M., helped distinguish memory abilities. Examine qualitative and quantitative evidence, the strengths and limitations of a brain-damaged-patient case study, and the ethical responsibilities created by profound memory impairment.
2.4.1, 2.4.2 - Memory support for dementiaConsider the contemporary key question: how can psychologists’ understanding of memory help people living with dementia? Apply memory models, different memory types and reconstructive processes to everyday support, then judge the evidence, practical constraints and social consequences.
2.5.1, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.2.4, 2.2.5, 2.2.6, 2.2.7, 2.2.8, 2.2.9, 2.2.10, 2.2.11, 2.2.12 - Cognitive laboratory investigationPlan and conduct an ethical laboratory investigation of acoustic similarity and immediate word recall. Apply experimental decisions, present quantitative results, use a suitable non-parametric difference test and write a report. The worked dataset is synthetic: completing this lesson does not est...
2.6 - Issues in cognitive psychologyUse cognitive models and evidence to reason about the eleven specified issues and debates. Examine what controlled memory research can establish, how explanations develop, and how applying memory knowledge can help society while raising questions about culture, autonomy and sensitive information.
Biological psychology
3.1.1 - Neurons and synaptic transmissionReading a message, remembering a face and stopping an angry response all depend on communication between nerve cells. This lesson explains the central nervous system, how a neuron carries an electrical signal, and how chemical messengers pass information across a synapse. You will see why changin...
3.1.2 - Recreational drugs at the synapseRecreational drugs can change how messages pass between neurons in the central nervous system. This lesson explains receptor activation, receptor blockade and altered neurotransmitter removal, using nicotine, ketamine and cocaine as examples. Following the affected stage of transmission helps exp...
3.1.3, 3.1.7 - Brain structure and aggressionBrain functioning can help explain why a person finds it difficult to regulate a response to provocation. This lesson uses 3.1.3 to connect brain structures with aggression, and the brain-injury element of 3.1.7 to examine why patients can have different outcomes. The aim is to build an evidence-...
3.1.4, 3.1.6, 3.1.8 - Evolution, hormones and aggressionEvolutionary explanations ask why capacities for particular behaviours could have persisted across generations; hormonal explanations ask how chemical signals influence a developing and functioning person. This lesson connects natural selection and aggression in 3.1.4, hormonal influences in 3.1....
3.1.5, 3.1.7 - Freud and biological explanationsThe same aggressive act can be explained through unconscious conflict or through the functioning of biological systems. This lesson uses 3.1.5 to explain Freud's personality model, unconscious processes and catharsis alongside biological alternatives. The personality-development element of 3.1.7...
3.2.3 - Brain scans, twins and adoptionBiological psychologists need evidence that connects the body with behaviour. This lesson explains what CAT, PET and fMRI scans measure, then uses Gottesman and Shields’ twin research and Tienari’s adoption research to show how researchers investigate genetic and environmental contributions. The...
3.3.1 - Raine’s PET studyRaine, Buchsbaum and LaCasse’s 1997 study investigated brain functioning in people charged with murder or manslaughter who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. You will learn how its PET comparison was carried out, what the regional findings showed, and why evidence of biological differences...
3.3.3 - Brendgen’s twin studyBrendgen and colleagues’ 2005 study compared genetic and environmental contributions to physical and social aggression in six-year-old twins. It also investigated why the two forms were related. You will learn how aggression was measured, what the twin models found, and why those estimates descri...
3.4.1, 3.4.2 - Aggression and social responsibilityThe key question is: What are the implications for society if aggression has biological causes? Point 3.4.1 asks us to consider this contemporary social issue; 3.4.2 requires us to use biological concepts and research to develop the discussion. We will examine support, prevention, responsibility...
3.5.1, 3.2.1, 3.2.2 - Biological correlation investigationThis lesson applies 3.2.1’s correlational method and 3.2.2’s analysis to the ethical practical required by 3.5.1. You will plan an investigation of age and attitudes to drug use, analyse explicitly synthetic example data using a scatter diagram and Spearman’s rho, and write an abstract and discus...
3.6 - Issues in biological psychologyBiological psychology makes aspects of the body measurable, but the interpretation and use of those measurements raise important questions. This lesson applies all eleven Topic 3 issue and debate strands to aggression, brain scanning and inherited vulnerability. You will develop reasoned comparis...
Learning theories
4.1.1, 4.1.2 - Classical conditioning and PavlovA sound can come to produce a response that it did not originally produce. Classical conditioning in 4.1.1 explains how this happens and how the response can weaken, return or spread to similar stimuli; Pavlov’s dog experiments in 4.1.2 provide evidence for these processes.
4.1.3, 4.1.4, 4.1.5 - Operant conditioning and shapingConsequences can change how likely a behaviour is to happen again. Operant conditioning in 4.1.3 distinguishes reinforcement from punishment; 4.1.4 explains the properties and timing of reinforcement; 4.1.5 applies these ideas to behaviour modification and shaping.
4.1.6, 4.1.7, 4.1.8 - Social learning and Bobo dollsPeople can learn a behaviour by watching someone else before trying it themselves. Social learning theory in 4.1.6 and its four processes in 4.1.7 explain this route; Bandura, Ross and Ross’s 1961 and 1963 Bobo-doll experiments in 4.1.8 test imitation of live and filmed models.
4.1.9, 4.1.12, 4.1.13 - Vicarious reinforcement and developmentNot copying an action does not necessarily mean that a person failed to learn it. Bandura’s 1965 experiment in 4.1.9 separates learning from performance; 4.1.12 and 4.1.13 use reinforcement histories and observed models to explain individual differences and development.
4.1.10 - How phobias develop and persistLearning theories can explain how a harmless cue comes to trigger fear and why avoidance may persist long after the original frightening event. This lesson connects classical, operant and social-learning accounts of phobia acquisition and maintenance, then considers the evidence and limits of tho...
4.1.11, 4.3.4 - Phobia treatments and CapafónsA learned fear can change through new experiences. This lesson explains systematic desensitisation and flooding, then examines what Capafóns and colleagues' fear-of-flying study actually shows about treatment effectiveness.
4.3.1 - Watson and Rayner’s Little AlbertWatson and Rayner tried to show that an infant could learn an emotional response through conditioning. Their 1920 report provides influential evidence about learned fear, but its chronology, varied responses and ethical problems limit the conclusions it supports.
4.2.2, 4.2.4 - Animal research and scientific learningAnimal experiments helped researchers test learning under controlled conditions. This lesson considers when those findings can inform human behaviour, how animal welfare constrains research, and what makes a learning investigation scientific.
4.4.1, 4.4.2 - Fear-of-flying programmesWould it be a good idea for airline companies to offer treatment programmes for fear of flying? Answering this social question requires learning theory and evidence, but also attention to passengers' choices, access, treatment quality and airlines' commercial interests.
4.5.1, 4.2.1, 4.2.3 - Learned-behaviour observationThe learning practical investigates an aspect of learned behaviour using observation. This lesson models one safe observation collecting both numerical tallies and descriptive notes, then shows how to analyse and report them without treating an association as proof of learning or causation.
4.6 - Issues in learning theoriesLearning theories explain change through experience, but their methods and applications raise questions about evidence, human freedom and social power. This lesson uses conditioning, social learning, animal research and therapy to develop the eleven required issue and debate strands.
Paper 2 - Applications of psychology
Clinical psychology
5.1.1 - Defining mental disorderAn unusual experience does not automatically indicate a mental disorder. You will use deviance, dysfunction, distress and danger to understand why clinicians investigate some patterns of experience and behaviour, and why a definition needs context as well as observable features.
5.1.2, 5.1.5 - Classification and diagnosisClassification provides a shared language for mental health, while diagnosis applies that language to a particular person's assessed pattern. For 5.1.2 you will compare DSM and ICD and examine reliability and validity; for 5.1.5 you will consider how culture and individual experience can affect d...
5.1.3 - Schizophrenia symptomsSchizophrenia can involve changes in perception, beliefs, thinking and everyday functioning. You will distinguish the four features named in 5.1.3—thought insertion, hallucinations, delusions and disordered thinking—and understand why individual experiences and a professional diagnosis are differ...
5.1.3, 5.1.6 - Biological accounts of schizophreniaBiological explanations ask how differences in brain signalling and inherited vulnerability can contribute to schizophrenia. For 5.1.3 you will examine neurotransmitter and genetic accounts; for 5.1.6 you will connect those accounts to development and experience, weighing what the evidence can es...
5.1.3, 5.1.5 - Non-biological schizophrenia accountThe selected non-biological account explains schizophrenia through difficulties in cognitive processing, especially monitoring the source of one's own experiences. For 5.1.3 you will connect the proposed mechanism to symptoms and evidence; for 5.1.5 you will consider how culture and experience ca...
5.1.4 - Schizophrenia treatmentsLearn how antipsychotic medication and cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis work, what counts as evidence that they help, and why effective care considers symptoms, daily life and the person's preferences.
5.1.3 - Unipolar depression explanationsLearn the features of unipolar depression and how biological vulnerability and Beck's cognitive model explain its development and persistence. Compare what their evidence supports without treating either account as a complete explanation for every person.
5.1.4 - Treatments for unipolar depressionLearn how SSRI medication and cognitive behavioural therapy can treat unipolar depression, how their effectiveness is investigated, and why treatment choices involve benefit, harm, access and informed preferences.
5.3.1 - Rosenhan’s diagnostic studyLearn what Rosenhan reported about pseudopatients and psychiatric diagnosis in 1973, how expectations could shape judgements, and why methodological, ethical and later credibility concerns limit the conclusions.
5.3.2 - Carlsson’s network reviewLearn how Carlsson and colleagues reviewed evidence about interacting neurotransmitter systems in schizophrenia, why they proposed network explanations, and what their treatment suggestions and methodological limits actually establish.
5.3.3 - Kroenke’s PHQ-8 studyA population survey needs a brief, consistent way to measure depression without treating a questionnaire as a complete clinical assessment. Kroenke and colleagues compared two ways of scoring the PHQ-8 and asked whether they described similar levels of depression and everyday impairment.
5.2.1, 5.2.2, 5.2.3, 5.2.4, 5.2.5 - Clinical research and practiceClinical research must produce useful evidence while respecting people who may be vulnerable or dependent on services. This lesson connects practitioner standards (5.2.1), research designs and data sources (5.2.2), case studies and interviews (5.2.3–5.2.4), and quantitative and qualitative analys...
5.4.1, 5.4.2, 5.5.1 - Mental-health reporting investigationHow do societies define mental disorder, and what can reporting reveal about those definitions? The key question (5.4.1–5.4.2) connects clinical ideas to social decisions; the practical (5.5.1) uses ethical summative content analysis of at least two sources to compare attitudes towards mental hea...
5.6 - Issues in clinical psychologyClinical psychology must explain difficulties, assess evidence and use knowledge responsibly in people's lives. Its issues and debates concern how research and diagnosis work, what explanations leave out, whose experiences are represented, and how treatments can both help and exercise power.
Criminological psychology
6.1.1, 6.1.9, 6.1.10 - Biological explanations of crimeBiological explanations ask how brain functioning, chromosomes and personality can contribute to offending. You will learn the proposed mechanisms, examine what their evidence supports, and explain why an individual’s development cannot be predicted from one biological characteristic.
6.1.2, 6.1.9, 6.1.10 - Social explanations of crimeSocial explanations consider how other people’s expectations, responses and examples can shape offending. You will learn how labelling and social learning may influence development, why individuals respond differently, and how to evaluate the evidence without treating any social group as inherent...
6.1.3, 6.1.4 - Cognitive interviewing and formulationPsychologists need reliable information before they can explain an individual’s offending. You will learn cognitive and ethical interviewing, then use offence analysis to build a testable formulation of the function of behaviour rather than assuming that one label explains the person.
6.1.5, 6.3.4 - Anger management and HowellsAnger management is the selected cognitive-behavioural treatment for offenders in this course. You will learn how it aims to change angry responses, examine Howells and colleagues’ actual findings, and judge when the treatment fits the function of an individual’s offending.
6.1.6 - Diet as offender treatmentImproved diet is the selected biological offender treatment in this course. You will learn the proposed nutritional mechanism, study Gesch and colleagues’ controlled trial, and distinguish evidence for a particular supplement programme from a claim that nutrition explains all crime.
6.1.7, 6.3.1 - Eyewitness memory and LoftusAn eyewitness can sincerely report something that did not happen. This lesson explains how attention and later information affect testimony, distinguishes both Loftus and Palmer experiments, and evaluates what their evidence means for real investigations.
6.1.8 - Jury decision-makingJurors interpret evidence while bringing prior experiences and expectations into the courtroom. This lesson explains how defendant characteristics and pre-trial publicity may influence decisions, examines relevant research, and considers how far the findings support practical safeguards.
6.2.1, 6.2.2, 6.2.3, 6.2.4, 6.2.5 - Methods in criminological researchCriminological researchers need methods that investigate eyewitnesses and offending without compromising people's welfare or a fair trial. This lesson applies experimental, sampling, quantitative and qualitative methods to those problems and explains how research and professional ethics constrain...
6.4.1, 6.4.2 - Can eyewitness testimony be trusted?Eyewitness testimony can help identify events and people, but an inaccurate account can harm both the accused and victims. This lesson uses criminological research to answer the contemporary question of when testimony deserves trust and how its collection can protect justice.
6.5.1 - Criminological practical investigationThis practical investigates whether a cognitive-interview procedure improves recall of a harmless event. You will learn to plan ethical recruitment and data collection, analyse illustrative quantitative data, and write a justified report; the examples do not mean that you have personally carried...
6.6 - Issues in criminological psychologyCriminological psychology raises questions about scientific evidence, explanations of offending and the power to influence people's lives. This lesson connects the eleven topic debates to eyewitnesses, juries and rehabilitation, using specific reasoning rather than treating debate labels as autom...
Child psychology
7.1.1 - Bowlby’s attachment theoryLearn how Bowlby explained attachment as a system that protects a developing child, how early relationships may shape later expectations, and why evidence supports some parts of this account more strongly than others.
7.1.2, 7.1.8 - Ainsworth and attachment typesLearn how Ainsworth observed attachment through exploration, separation and reunion, what the three original attachment classifications mean, and how sensitivity, temperament and cultural context qualify the interpretation.
7.1.3, 7.1.9 - Deprivation and separationLearn how separation differs from deprivation, what research suggests about short-term distress and longer-term development, and how continuity and responsive care may reduce negative effects.
7.1.4, 7.1.9 - Privation and recoveryLearn what failure to establish an attachment means, how institutional and adoption research investigates later recovery, and why timing, outcome measures and research design qualify claims about reversibility.
7.1.5, 7.1.8, 7.1.9 - Day care and child developmentLearn how day-care experiences may relate to cognitive, social and emotional development, how care quality and individual differences matter, and how research can support balanced conclusions without blaming families or overstating causation.
7.1.6, 7.3.1 - Cross-cultural attachment meta-analysisAttachment research asks whether infants organise relationships with caregivers in similar ways across the world. The classic meta-analysis by van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) lets us examine both similarities and differences, while separating a country's average from the varied families wit...
7.1.7, 7.1.9 - Autism explanations and supportAutism involves differences in development that can affect communication, interaction, routines and sensory experience. This lesson explains a genetic account and a cognitive theory-of-mind account, then considers how evidence can guide support that respects an individual child's needs and streng...
7.3.4 - Li’s child-care timing studyLi and colleagues (2013) investigated whether the timing of high-quality child care mattered for cognitive, language and preacademic development. Following children across infancy and preschool allowed them to compare care histories, while statistical matching addressed some of the family differe...
7.2.1, 7.2.2, 7.2.3, 7.2.4, 7.2.5 - Researching children ethicallyResearch with children must produce interpretable evidence while respecting their rights and changing capacities. This lesson applies observation, questionnaires, interviews, cultural and developmental comparisons, and quantitative and qualitative analysis to child psychology. Numerical examples...
7.4.1, 7.4.2, 7.5.1 - Day-care decisions and investigationWhat should parents consider when choosing day care? Answering this key question requires attention to relationships, learning opportunities, individual needs and practical access. An ethical parent-report investigation can examine experiences of care while making clear what those reports can and...
7.6 - Issues in child psychologyChild psychology raises questions about how evidence is gathered, how development is explained and how findings are used. This lesson connects the eleven specified issue and debate strands to attachment, care, privation and autism, while showing why an evidence-based conclusion must respect indiv...
Health psychology
8.1.1 - Addiction, dependence and withdrawalUnderstand the different meanings of addiction, tolerance, physical dependence, psychological dependence and withdrawal, and use them to explain patterns of alcohol, heroin and nicotine use without treating every drug user as addicted.
8.1.2 - Biological addiction explanationsExplain how alcohol, heroin and nicotine act in the nervous system and can support repeated drug taking, then evaluate what reward and adaptation mechanisms explain about addiction and what they leave unanswered.
8.1.3, 8.1.6, 8.1.7 - Learning and individual addiction riskUse conditioning and social learning to explain alcohol, heroin and nicotine use, then consider how personality, biological differences, development and cultural environments alter risk. Distinguish plausible mechanisms from evidence that a particular influence caused drug misuse.
8.1.4 - Alcohol addiction treatmentsExplain aversion therapy and cognitive-behavioural relapse prevention for alcohol addiction, compare their mechanisms, and judge effectiveness using treatment evidence and ethical and practical considerations. These are curriculum accounts, not instructions for personal treatment.
8.1.4 - Heroin and nicotine treatmentsExplain methadone substitution and contingency management for heroin addiction, and nicotine replacement and behavioural support for nicotine addiction. Evaluate how their mechanisms, evidence and limitations can support recovery. This lesson shares official code 8.1.4 with the alcohol-treatment...
8.1.5 - Anti-drug campaign strategiesFRANK provides a concrete example of how a drug campaign tries to change knowledge, expectations and decisions. This lesson explains its audience and communication methods, the psychology behind them, and the evidence needed to judge effectiveness.
8.3.1 - Olds and Milner’s reinforcement studyOlds and Milner’s 1954 study investigated whether electrical brain stimulation could reinforce a rat’s behaviour. Its method and findings show how evidence for brain reward mechanisms was obtained, while leaving important limits on explanations of human addiction.
8.3.2 - Mundt’s adolescent alcohol studyMundt, Mercken and Zakletskaia’s 2012 study investigated why adolescents and their friends can have similar alcohol-use patterns. It used longitudinal friendship networks to distinguish choosing similar friends from changing behaviour to resemble friends.
8.2.1, 8.2.2, 8.2.3, 8.2.4 - Methods in drug researchDrug research combines evidence from animals, human studies and different cultures. This lesson applies research design, ethics, quantitative analysis and qualitative interpretation to health questions, building on the course’s shared methods and statistics lessons.
8.4.1, 8.4.2, 8.5.1 - Smoking cessation and investigationHow can smoking cessation be encouraged? This lesson connects biological and learning explanations with communication, accessible support and evaluation. It also teaches a safe content-analysis investigation of alcohol and nicotine reporting, including quantitative analysis and a complete researc...
8.6 - Issues in health psychologyHealth psychology raises questions about the evidence used to explain drug misuse and the decisions made from it. This lesson examines ethical and practical research issues, competing explanations, science, culture, development of knowledge and its use within society.
Across all papers - Psychological skills
Research design and evidence
9.1.1, 9.1.4, 1.2.3, 2.2.3, 2.2.4, D.1.15, D.1.16 - Data, aims and hypothesesPsychological research turns a question about behaviour into evidence that can support or challenge a prediction. Learn how to distinguish types and sources of data, define measurable variables and write hypotheses whose meaning is clear before the results are known.
9.1.2, 1.2.4, 6.2.2, D.1.5 - Sampling and generalisationPsychologists usually study a sample rather than everyone their conclusions concern. Learn to recruit by four methods, calculate a proportional stratified sample and judge how selection affects generalisation beyond the people who took part.
9.1.3, 9.1.6, 9.1.9, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.5, 2.2.6, 2.2.7, 2.2.8, 2.2.10 - Experiments, designs and controlsAn experiment can test whether changing one variable affects another, provided competing explanations are controlled. Learn to choose a setting and participant design, define the variables precisely and judge how controls improve the conclusions a study can support.
9.1.5, 1.2.1, 1.2.2 - Questionnaires and interviewsSelf-report methods let psychologists ask people about thoughts, feelings and behaviour that may be difficult to observe directly. Learn to write useful questions, choose an interview structure and reduce the ways wording, expectations and social pressure can distort the answers.
9.1.7, 9.1.8, 4.2.1, 7.2.1 - Observation and content analysisObservation records behaviour, while content analysis examines material such as written accounts or media. Learn to define what counts, choose when to record it, produce qualitative and quantitative evidence and judge the consistency and ethics of the method.
9.1.8, 3.2.1, 3.2.3, 5.2.2, 7.2.3, 8.2.3 - Correlations and comparative designsLearn how psychologists investigate relationships, development and variation when they cannot manipulate people's lives. Compare correlations, studies across time and cultures, family comparisons and meta-analysis, and decide what their evidence can support.
9.1.8, 2.2.13, 5.2.3, 5.2.4 - Case studies and biological methodsLearn what detailed cases, clinical interviews, brain scans and animal experiments can reveal about behaviour. Choose a method that fits the question and distinguish rich description, biological measurement and experimental evidence from claims they cannot establish.
9.1.12, 2.2.9, 4.2.4, 6.2.3 - Reliability, validity and credibilityLearn to judge the consistency, meaning and trustworthiness of psychological evidence. Diagnose a specific problem, explain which conclusion it weakens and choose an improvement that addresses it, without treating every limitation as the same kind of validity issue.
9.1.15, 9.1.16, 1.2.7, 4.2.2 - Human and animal research ethicsLearn to turn ethical principles into research decisions that protect people and animals. Use consent, risk assessment and harm–benefit reasoning to judge a proposal, while distinguishing the historical references prescribed by 9PS0 from current professional guidance and regulation.
9.1.13, 9.1.14, 1.2.6 - Qualitative analysis and research reportsLearn to turn qualitative responses into a reasoned account through thematic analysis or grounded theory. Then learn how a scientific report makes methods, findings and interpretations open to scrutiny, and what peer review can and cannot establish.
Data and statistical decisions
9.1.10, 1.2.5, 2.2.11, D.0.1, D.0.2, D.0.3, D.1.1, D.1.2, D.1.6, D.1.9 - Describing and checking dataLearn to summarise psychological scores, compare groups fairly and check whether a numerical result makes sense. The descriptive-statistics codes cover central tendency; the D-skills develop decimals, standard form, fractions, ratios, percentages, estimation and appropriate precision.
9.1.10, 1.2.5, 2.2.11, D.1.6, D.1.11, D.1.14 - Spread and distributionsLearn why an average needs a measure of spread, how to calculate the sample standard deviation with Pearson's supplied formula, and how normal and skewed distributions affect interpretation. These skills connect descriptive statistics in social and cognitive research with the mathematical require...
9.1.10, 2.2.11, 3.2.1, D.1.3, D.1.7, D.3.1, D.3.2 - Tables, charts and correlationsLearn to turn raw observations into frequency tables, bar charts, histograms and scatter diagrams, and to interpret each display accurately. The descriptive-statistics and mathematical codes cover constructing and translating displays; the biological-method code adds co-variables, correlation pat...
9.1.11, 2.2.12, 3.2.2, 4.2.3, D.1.4, D.1.10, D.1.12, D.1.13, D.2.1 - Choosing tests and significanceLearn to choose the four prescribed non-parametric tests from a study's question, design and measurement, then make a justified significance decision. The topic codes connect experimental, correlational and categorical analyses; the D-skills cover measurement levels, probability, table use and st...
9.1.11, 2.2.12, D.1.8, D.1.13, D.2.2 - Mann–Whitney U decisionsLearn how to compare two independent groups using ranked scores, calculate Mann–Whitney U and make a justified significance decision from the supplied Pearson tables.
9.1.11, 2.2.12, D.1.8, D.1.13, D.2.2 - Wilcoxon signed-rank decisionsLearn how to analyse paired scores with Wilcoxon, exclude unchanged pairs, rank tied differences and use the correct N and critical value to interpret the result.
9.1.11, 3.2.2, D.1.8, D.1.13, D.2.2 - Spearman’s rank decisionsLearn to rank paired co-variable scores, calculate Spearman’s rho and distinguish a correlation’s direction and strength from its significance and causal meaning.
9.1.11, 4.2.3, D.1.8, D.1.13, D.2.2, D.2.3 - Chi-squared decisionsLearn to compare categorical frequencies with chi-squared, calculate expected counts and degrees of freedom, and interpret the result using the supplied Pearson table.
Paper 3 - Psychological skills
Synoptic studies and debates
9.2.1, 9.2.2, 9.2.3 - Comparing classic and unseen studiesA study tells us more when we compare what it tested, how it collected evidence and how far its conclusion can reach. You will connect the five compulsory classic studies, judge their methods and debates, and use those connections to understand a new study without inventing missing details.
9.3.1, 9.3.2 - Ethical and practical research issuesResearch choices affect both the people or animals involved and the strength of the resulting evidence. You will compare ethical and practical constraints across core psychology, explain genuine trade-offs, and design feasible improvements that protect welfare while keeping a research question an...
9.3.3, 9.3.4 - Reductionism and competing explanationsThe same behaviour can be explained through brain processes, learning, thinking and social relationships. You will understand what reducing an explanation to one level achieves, compare the mechanisms and predictions of different themes, and judge when combining levels adds explanatory value.
9.3.5 - Is psychology a science?Psychology investigates behaviour and mental processes that are influenced by both people and their circumstances. You will examine empirical evidence, testable predictions, controlled methods and replication, then judge how core studies support scientific claims and where their conclusions remai...
9.3.6 - Culture and gender in researchPsychological research asks questions about people, but its participants, measures and explanations always come from particular settings. This lesson shows how culture and gender can influence research, how to judge claims about groups, and how better evidence can support fairer applications. Its...
9.3.7 - Nature and nurtureBehaviour depends on biological processes and on experiences, but identifying their contributions takes careful reasoning. This lesson explains nature, nurture and interaction, compares evidence from the compulsory core topics, and shows why an inherited influence is neither an inevitable outcome...
9.3.8 - How psychological knowledge changesPsychological understanding develops when explanations face new evidence, methods improve and society changes what research and treatment can responsibly do. This lesson compares historical and contemporary work from the compulsory core, showing how to judge progress without assuming that every n...
9.3.9, 9.3.10, 9.3.11 - Social control and sensitive knowledgePsychological knowledge can help people, influence behaviour and affect how groups are treated. This lesson examines its use in social control and society, then considers socially sensitive findings and the responsibilities involved in applying them. The evidence comes from the compulsory core to...