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Section 1: Introductory Topics
1.1 Social Influence
1.1.1 Types of Conformity and ExplanationsConformity is one of the most important topics in social influence and forms the foundation for understanding how groups shape individual behaviour. In this lesson, you will learn about the three types of conformity proposed by Kelman, the two explanations for conformity identified by Deutsch and...
1.1.2 Conformity to Social RolesIn everyday life, we occupy many different social roles — student, employee, parent, friend — and each comes with expectations about how we should behave. But how powerful are these expectations? Can simply being assigned a role transform the way an ordinary person acts, even to the point of crue...
1.1.3 ObedienceThis lesson covers the psychology of obedience -- why people follow direct orders from authority figures, sometimes even when those orders cause harm to others. You will learn about Milgram's landmark baseline study, the situational variables he investigated (proximity, location, and uniform), a...
1.1.4 Resistance to Social InfluenceNot everyone yields to social pressure. In Milgram's baseline obedience study, 35% of participants refused to deliver the maximum shock. In Asch's line-judging experiments, the most common response on any given trial was not to conform. So what allows some individuals to stand firm while others g...
1.1.5 Minority InfluenceIf conformity (majority influence) were the only social pressure, society would never change — new ideas would never gain traction and reform would be impossible. Minority influence explains how a small number of people, sometimes even a single individual, can shift the beliefs and behaviour of t...
1.1.6 Social Influence and Social ChangeThroughout this chapter on social influence, you have studied how individuals are affected by those around them — through conformity, obedience, and minority influence. This final lesson brings those processes together by asking a bigger question: how do entire societies change their attitudes an...
1.2 Memory
1.2.2 Types of Long-Term MemoryThe multi-store model describes long-term memory (LTM) as a single, unitary store — but this is one of its greatest weaknesses. When you think about everything stored in your LTM, from your memory of yesterday's breakfast to the ability to ride a bike to the meaning of the word "psychology," it s...
1.2.4 Forgetting: Interference and Retrieval FailureWhy do we forget? It is not simply that memories fade over time — psychologists have identified specific mechanisms that prevent us from accessing stored information. This lesson covers two major explanations for forgetting from long-term memory (LTM) required by the AQA specification: interferen...
1.2.5 Eyewitness Testimony: Misleading Information and AnxietyEyewitness testimony is one of the most influential forms of evidence in criminal trials, yet decades of psychological research have shown it can be surprisingly unreliable. This lesson examines two major factors that affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (EWT): misleading information (incl...
1.2.6 The Cognitive InterviewEyewitness testimony is unreliable enough that innocent people have been wrongly convicted on the basis of mistaken identification alone. If memory is so vulnerable to distortion, can anything be done to retrieve more accurate information from witnesses? This lesson examines the cognitive intervi...
1.3 Attachment
1.3.1 Caregiver-Infant InteractionsAttachment does not appear overnight. Before a baby forms a lasting emotional bond with a caregiver, weeks of subtle back-and-forth interaction lay the groundwork. In this lesson you will learn how psychologists describe these early interactions (reciprocity and interactional synchrony), how Scha...
1.3.2 Animal Studies of Attachment: Lorenz and HarlowBefore psychologists could study attachment in human infants under controlled conditions, researchers turned to non-human animals. Animal studies allow greater experimental control and the observation of behaviours across generations — something impractical with human participants. Two studies do...
1.3.4 Attachment Types: Ainsworth and Cultural VariationNot all attachments are the same. Some infants feel confident to explore the world using their caregiver as a safe base; others cling anxiously or seem indifferent when their caregiver leaves. Mary Ainsworth developed a standardised procedure — the Strange Situation — to observe and classify thes...
1.3.6 Influence of Early Attachment on RelationshipsBowlby's theory of attachment does not end at infancy. One of its most significant claims is that the bond formed between a baby and their primary caregiver casts a long shadow over every relationship that follows — from playground friendships to adult romance and even the way a person parents th...
1.4 Psychopathology
1.4.1 Definitions of AbnormalityPsychopathology is the study of psychological disorders — their causes, symptoms, and treatment. Before we can diagnose or treat any mental disorder, we need a way of deciding what counts as "abnormal" in the first place. This is more difficult than it sounds. AQA requires you to know four defini...
1.4.2 Mental Disorders: Phobias, Depression and OCDThe AQA specification requires you to know the behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics of three mental disorders: phobias, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This lesson works through each disorder in turn, explaining how each one affects the way a person acts, feels...
1.4.4 The Cognitive Approach to DepressionDepression is one of the most common mental health conditions, yet people with very similar life circumstances can differ dramatically in whether they develop it. The cognitive approach argues that the key lies not in what happens to us, but in how we think about what happens to us. In this lesso...
1.4.5 The Biological Approach to OCDObsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is one of the most clearly biological mental disorders in psychology. Unlike some conditions where psychological and social explanations dominate, OCD has strong links to genetics, brain chemistry, and neural circuitry. In this lesson you will learn how genes c...
Paper 1: Introductory topics in Psychology
4.1.1 Social influence
4.1.1.01 - Conformity: types, explanations and Asch's researchWhy do people sometimes copy a group in public yet privately disagree, while at other times the group changes what they genuinely believe? This lesson distinguishes compliance from internalisation, connects them to normative and informational social influence, and uses Asch's line studies to exam...
4.1.1.02 - Explanations for obedienceWhy might an ordinary person follow an authority figure's order even while feeling uneasy? You will connect agentic state and legitimacy of authority to Milgram's situational variables, then compare these explanations with the Authoritarian Personality. The evidence invites a careful judgement: s...
4.1.1.03 - Explanations of resistance to social influence, including social support and locus of controlResisting a majority or authority can become easier when another person models independence, but support is only part of the explanation. This lesson examines how social support changes conformity and obedience, how internal and external locus of control shape perceived agency, and what research...
4.1.1.04 - Minority influence including reference to consistency, commitment and flexibilitySmall groups sometimes shift a majority even when they lack status or numbers. You will explore how consistency makes a minority's position noticeable, how commitment signals confidence, and why flexibility can prevent the message from seeming rigid. Moscovici's colour-judgement study and researc...
4.1.2 Memory
4.1.2.01 - The multi-store model of memoryThe multi-store model treats memory as movement through distinct stores rather than as one undivided capacity. You will trace information from sensory registers to short-term and long-term memory, considering coding, capacity and duration at each stage and the role of attention and rehearsal. Evi...
4.1.2.02 - The working memory modelHolding a phone number, following spoken directions and imagining a route do not place identical demands on short-term memory. This lesson uses the working memory model to separate the central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and episodic buffer. You will use dual-task evidenc...
4.1.2.03 - Explanations for forgettingForgetting does not always mean a memory has disappeared. You will compare interference, where competing information disrupts recall, with retrieval failure, where the right cue is absent. Research on proactive and retroactive interference, context-dependent memory and state-dependent memory will...
4.1.2.04 - Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimonyEyewitnesses can be sincere and still be inaccurate because memory is reconstructed after an event. This lesson examines leading questions, post-event discussion and anxiety, using research to distinguish altered reporting from possible changes to memory itself. You will also study the cognitive...
4.1.3 Attachment
4.1.3.01 - Animal studies of attachmentAnimal studies let psychologists separate feeding from comfort and observe early bonding under controlled conditions, but their meaning depends on the species and procedure. You will compare Lorenz's work on imprinting with Harlow's studies of contact comfort and later social development. The les...
4.1.3.02 - Explanations of attachmentWhy does an infant become strongly attached to particular caregivers? You will compare learning theory's emphasis on association and reinforcement with Bowlby's evolutionary account of monotropy, social releasers and a sensitive period. Research evidence tests whether feeding is central and wheth...
4.1.3.03 - The Strange Situation, attachment types and cultural variationThe Strange Situation turns brief separations and reunions into a structured way of observing attachment behaviour. You will learn how proximity seeking, exploration, stranger anxiety and reunion responses support classifications of secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-resistant attachment. Cro...
4.1.3.04 - Maternal deprivation and institutionalisationEarly separation is not automatically deprivation, and deprivation is not the same as privation. This lesson clarifies Bowlby's maternal deprivation hypothesis, including the proposed critical period and effects on intellectual and emotional development, then tests it against research on institut...
4.1.3.05 - Early attachment and later relationshipsEarly attachment may shape expectations about trust, closeness and the self, but continuity across life is neither simple nor certain. You will apply the internal working model to childhood friendships, adult romantic relationships and later parenting, using longitudinal and correlational evidenc...
4.1.4 Clinical Psychology and Mental Health
4.1.4.01 - Definitions in the field of mental healthThere is no single test that cleanly separates mental health from disorder in every person and culture. This lesson compares deviation from ideal mental health, deviation from social and cultural norms, failure to function adequately and statistical infrequency. You will apply each definition to...
4.1.4.02 - The behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics of phobias, depression and OCDRecognising a disorder requires more than naming one visible behaviour. You will distinguish the behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics of phobias, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, then apply the categories to realistic descriptions without diagnosing from one sign alon...
4.1.4.03 - The behavioural approach to explaining and treating phobiasBehavioural psychologists explain phobias as fears that can be learned and maintained, which also suggests routes for treatment. You will use classical conditioning to explain acquisition and operant conditioning to explain avoidance, then compare systematic desensitisation with flooding. Evidenc...
4.1.4.04 - The cognitive approach to explaining and treating depressionThe cognitive approach asks how persistent patterns of interpretation can contribute to depression. You will compare Beck's negative triad and Ellis's ABC model, then follow how cognitive behaviour therapy identifies and challenges unhelpful beliefs. Research on effectiveness and relapse provides...
4.1.4.05 - The biological approach to explaining and treating OCDOCD can be investigated through inherited vulnerability, neural systems and the effects of medication, but no single gene or brain circuit explains every case. You will examine candidate genes, polygenic risk, serotonin and brain areas linked to worry and habit, then evaluate selective serotonin...
Section 2: Psychology in Context
2.1 Approaches in Psychology
2.1.1 Origins of Psychology: Wundt and IntrospectionBefore psychology existed as a discipline in its own right, questions about the mind belonged to philosophy. For centuries, thinkers such as Descartes debated whether the mind and body were separate entities, but nobody attempted to study mental processes using systematic, scientific methods. Thi...
2.1.2 The Behaviourist ApproachThe behaviourist approach is one of the most influential perspectives in the history of psychology. It argues that all behaviour is learned from the environment through conditioning, and that psychology should focus exclusively on what can be observed and measured. In this lesson you will learn t...
2.1.3 Social Learning TheorySocial learning theory (SLT) occupies a pivotal position in the AQA Approaches specification because it bridges the gap between traditional behaviourism and the cognitive approach. While behaviourists like Skinner argued that all learning could be explained through direct reinforcement, Albert Ba...
2.1.4 The Cognitive ApproachThe cognitive approach represents a fundamental shift in how psychologists study the mind. Emerging in the 1950s as a direct challenge to behaviourism — which dismissed internal mental processes as unscientific — cognitive psychologists argued that what goes on inside the mind not only matters, b...
2.1.5 The Biological ApproachWhy do some people develop depression while others do not? Why do we instinctively recoil from snakes or heights? The biological approach argues that the answers lie inside the body — in our genes, brain chemistry, and the evolutionary pressures that shaped our species over millions of years. Thi...
2.2 Biopsychology
2.2.3 The Endocrine System: Glands and HormonesThe nervous system is not the only communication network in your body. Running alongside it is the endocrine system, a slower but more widespread chemical messenger system that releases hormones into the bloodstream. Where the nervous system sends rapid, short-lived electrical signals along speci...
2.2.4 The Fight or Flight ResponseWhen our ancestors encountered a predator on the savanna, their bodies needed to react instantly — preparing them either to confront the threat or to run from it. This ancient survival mechanism, known as the fight or flight response, is still hard-wired into our biology today. In this lesson you...
2.2.5 Brain Localisation and Hemispheric LateralisationThis lesson explores the idea that specific regions of the brain are responsible for specific functions — a principle known as localisation. You will learn the locations and roles of the motor, somatosensory, visual, auditory, and language centres, with particular attention to Broca's and Wernick...
2.2.6 Brain Plasticity and Functional RecoveryThe brain was once thought to be a fixed organ — fully developed by early childhood and incapable of meaningful change thereafter. We now know this is wrong. The brain continues to modify its structure and function throughout life in response to experience, learning, and injury. This capacity is...
2.3 Research Methods
Paper 2: Psychology in context
4.2.1 Approaches in Psychology
4.2.2 Biopsychology
4.2.3 Research methods
4.2.3.1 Scientific processes
4.2.3.2 Data handling and analysis
4.2.3.3 Inferential testing
Section 3: Issues and Options
3.1 Issues and Debates
3.2 Relationships
3.3 Gender
3.5 Schizophrenia
3.6 Eating Behaviour
3.8 Aggression
3.9 Offending Behaviour
3.10 Addiction
Paper 3 Section A: Issues and debates (compulsory)
4.3.1 Issues and debates in Psychology
Paper 3 Section B: Option 1 (choose one topic)
4.3.2 Relationships
4.3.3 Gender
4.3.4 Cognition and development
Paper 3 Section C: Option 2 (choose one topic)
4.3.5 Schizophrenia
4.3.6 Eating behaviour
4.3.7 Stress
Paper 3 Section D: Option 3 (choose one topic)
4.3.8 Aggression
4.3.9 Forensic Psychology
4.3.10 Addiction