Specifications that use this resource:

GCSE to A-level progression

AQA GCSE Psychology represents a good basis from which to study the A-level course. The content, skills and methods presented in the GCSE course are developed in both breadth and depth through the A-level specification. A number of topics, such as 'Memory', 'Aggression', 'Social Influence', 'Gender' and 'Research Methods' are found in both courses. The A-level course includes a wider range of mathematical skills, a more detailed involvement of biological ideas, a more comprehensive and critical study of the different approaches in Psychology and a wider range of contemporary implications and applications of psychological theory and research. The significance of scientific method to Psychology is critically considered and practical experience of a range of research methods is expected.

*The areas covered below are presented in order of appearance in the new A-level Psychology specification. They contain examples of where topic areas of the specification appear in the GCSE specification (4180) and both the new specification 7181 and 7182, and the current Psychology specifications A and B question papers.

Social influence

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7181/1 and 7182/1: Section A. PSYA2: May 2013: Section B: Questions 5-8. PSYB2: May 2013: Section A: Questions 03-05

Introduced in GCSE Unit 2: Understanding Other People

Examples: Unit 2: Understanding other people: June 2013: Section B: Questions 2(b) and 2(d)

The work on conformity and obedience in the GCSE course is developed within the A-level course to include different types of conformity, informational and normative social influence, and a wide range of factors affecting both kinds of behaviour. Explanations for resistance to social influence, eg disobedience, are considered. Minority influence is also studied and the factors that affect it. As an application, the role of social influence processes in producing social change is examined. There is no study of social loafing or bystander intervention, which are found in the GCSE course.

Memory

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7181/1 and 7182/1: Section B. PSYA1: May 2013: Section A: Questions 1 and 2, 4 and 5. PSYB2: May 2013: Section B: Questions 11,13 and 14

Introduced in GCSE Unit 1: Making Sense of Other People

Examples: Unit 1. Making sense of other people: June 2013: Section A

The study of models of memory in the GCSE topic is developed to include more detail of the multi-store model, the working memory model and different types of long term memory. Interference and retrieval failure as explanations for forgetting are also explored in more detail. Factors affecting the reliability of eye-witness testimony are also developed further with the inclusion of the use of the cognitive interview to improve accuracy. There is no study of the levels of processing explanation.

Attachment

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7181/1 and 7182/1: Section C. PSYA1: May 2013: Section B: Questions 6-8. PSYB3. June 2013: Section A: Questions 1, 2 and 4

There is no specific study of attachment in the GCSE course

The A-level topic involves a detailed study of the development of attachments in both humans and non-human animals. There is an emphasis on the key research work and theories of attachment associated with Bowlby, Schaffer, Lorenz, Harlow and Ainsworth. Bowlby's theories of monotropy and maternal deprivation are critically examined including reference to supportive and non-supportive studies. Cultural variations in infant attachment are examined. The course also deals with the implications of early attachment, and an internal working model, on adult relationships.

Psychopathology

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7181/2: Section B and 7182/1: Section D. PSYA2: May 2013: Section C: Questions 9, 10 and 13. PSYA4: June 2013: Section A: Questions 02, 06 and 08. PSYB2: January 2013: Section C: Questions 23-25 and 27. PSYB3: June 2013: Section B: Questions 18-20

There is no specific study of psychopathology in the GCSE course.

Some behavioural therapies for treating phobias, systematic desensitisation and flooding, are studied in GCSE Unit 2: Understanding Other People in the Learning section.

Phobias, depression and OCD are used, in the A-level course, as examples through which to explore Psychopathology. Definitions of abnormality are studied. Behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics are identified. Different psychological approaches are used to provide explanations and therapies. The behavioural approach is used to illustrate explanations and therapies for phobias, the cognitive approach to illustrate depression and the biological approach to illustrate OCD.

Approaches in psychology

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7181/2: Section A and 7182/2: Section A. PSYA2: May 2013: Section C: Question 12. PSYB1: May 2013: Section A: Questions 1(c), (d) and (e). PSYB3: June 2013: Section A: Option A and Option B

Introduced in GCSE Unit 1: Making Sense of Other People and GCSE Unit 2: Understanding Other People.

Examples: Making sense of other people: June 2013: Section A: Question 1(b). Unit 2: Understanding other people: June 2013: Section A, Section C: Questions 3(d) and 3(e), Section D

The A-level topic involves a detailed study of the psychological approaches: biological, learning, cognitive, psychodynamic and humanistic. The approaches are critically compared and contrasted and underpin topic options in A-level Paper 3.

In the GCSE course, explanations and therapies which derive from the approaches are dealt with in many topics, for example, principles of classical and operant conditioning (Unit 2: Learning), biological methods for reducing aggression (Unit 2: Aggression) and a psychodynamic explanation for gender development (Unit 2: Sex and gender).

Biopsychology

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7181/2: Section A and 7182/2: Section B. PSYA3: June 2013: Question 01. PSYB1: May 2013: Section A: Questions 1(a) and (b)

There is no specific study of biopsychology in the GCSE course.

Examples: Unit 1: Making sense of other people: June 2013: Section C: Questions 3(c) (i) and (ii)

The A-level topic deals with the nervous system, involving the structure and function of neurons, and the endocrine system with application to, for example, the fight or flight response. The topic also involves the study of localisation of function in the brain, plasticity and the ways in which it has been studied, including 'split brain' research. Biological rhythms, circadian, infradian and ultradian, are studied and compared referring to some influences upon the sleep/wake cycle.

There is no specific study of biopsychology in the GCSE course but there are references in an explanation for antisocial personality disorder (Unit 1: Development of Personality), explanations for gender development (Unit 2: Sex and gender) and explanations for, and ways of reducing, aggression (Unit 2: Aggression).

Research methods

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7181/2 and 7182/2: Section C. PSYA1: May 2013: Section A: Question 3(a)-(d), Section B: Questions 9(a)-(c). PSYA2: May 2013: Section A: Question 3. PSYA4: June 2013: Section C. PSYB1: May 2013: Section C. PSYB4: June 2013: Section C

GCSE Unit 1: Making Sense of Other People and GCSE Unit 2: Understanding Other People: Research Methods

Examples: Unit 1: Making sense of other people: June 2013: Section E; Unit 2: Understanding other people: June 2013: Section E

A detailed and critical study of investigational work in Psychology forms a large part of the course and assessment for both GCSE and A-level. In the A-level course, the different methods of investigation, experiments, observations, self-report methods etc are dealt with in more depth. Familiar features of these methods, such as aim, hypothesis, sampling etc are re-visited.

Additional features such as the use of pilot studies, demand characteristics, reliability and validity and ways of assessing them, the features of the scientific method and the structure of a scientific report are all studied in detail. Ethical issues are explored. The role of peer review in the scientific process is outlined. Data handling and analysis is also developed from the GCSE course to include reference to primary and secondary data and meta-analysis, correlation coefficients, distribution curves, levels of measurement, coding in content analysis and thematic analysis.

GCSE work on descriptive statistics, inferential testing involving statistical tests and factors affecting their choice, the use of statistical tables, probability and significance, critical values and type I and II errors are covered in the course. Throughout the course practical research should be undertaken and is encouraged as a means of consolidating learning. The mathematical skills required in the specification will be identified and practiced specifically in this topic and more broadly in the rest of the course.

Issues and debates in psychology

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7182/3: Section A. PSYB4: June 2013: Section B: Questions 10 and 11

There is no specific study of issues and debates in the GCSE course.

The A-level topic considers various 'debates' that are relevant to explaining behaviour: nature-nurture, free will and determinism, holism and reductionism, idiographic and nomothetic approaches to investigation. Examples from other topics are used to illustrate these debates and so offer a synoptic element to study and assessment. Issues linked to the study of Psychology are also critically considered, universality and bias associated with gender and culture, socially sensitivity and ethical implications of research and theory.

Options 1 - 3

Option 1

Relationships

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7182/3: Section B: Questions 07-11. PSYA3: June 2013: Question 04.

There is no specific topic on relationships in the GCSE course.

Evolutionary explanations for partner preferences are studied. Romantic relationships are explored in terms of the factors affecting attraction, theories of relationships and a model for their breakdown. Virtual and parasocial relationships are also considered through features of them and explanations for them.

Option 1

Gender

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: Unit 3: Section B: Questions 12-16. PSYA3: June 2013: Question 08. PSYB1: May 2013: Section B

GCSE: Unit 2: Understanding Other People in Sex and Gender

Examples: Unit 2: Understanding other people: June 2013: Section C

The concepts of sex and gender, outlined in the GCSE course, are developed further to include androgyny and its measurement, and the role of hormones and chromosomes including atypical patterns of the latter. Cognitive, psychodynamic and social learning explanations for gender development are studied in more detail, including Kohlberg's theory. Biological and social explanations for atypical gender development are also considered.

Option 1

Cognition and development

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7182/3: Section B: Questions 17-21. PSYA3: June 2013: Question 11. PSYB3: June 2013: Section A: Questions 05-08

There is no specific study of cognitive development in the GCSE course.

The A-level topic deals with the theories and explanations of cognitive development associated with Piaget, Vygotsky and Baillargeon. There is a detailed study of the research work upon which these theories are based. The development of social cognition is explored through the work of Selman, the role of theory of mind, and its link to autism, and the significance of the mirror neuron system.

Option 2

Schizophrenia

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7182/3: Section C: Questions 22-24. PSYA4: June 2013: Section A: Question 01. PSYB3: June 2013: Section B: Question 21

There is no specific study of schizophrenia in the GCSE course.

The positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia are outlined. The diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia are considered with reference to reliability and validity. Biological and psychological explanations for schizophrenia are explored. Drugs, cognitive behaviour and family therapies are studied. The importance of an interactionist approach in explaining and treating schizophrenia is considered. The diathesis-stress model is outlined as an example of an interactionist explanation.

Option 2

Eating behaviour

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7182/3: Section C: Questions 25-28. PSYA3: June 2013: Question 08

There is no specific study of eating behaviour in the GCSE course.

The A-level topic involves the study of evolutionary and social explanations for food preferences, and the biological mechanisms involved in the control of eating behaviour. It also deals with explanations for anorexia nervosa: biological, family systems, social learning and cognitive. Biological and psychological explanations for obesity are considered along with explanations for the success and failure of dieting.

Option 2

Stress

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7182/3: Section C: Questions 29-32. PSYA2: May 2013: Section A: Questions 1 and 4. PSYB3: June 2013: Section B: Questions 22-24

There is no specific topic on stress in the GCSE course.

Stress is studied with reference to possible causes, ways of measuring it and the physiological systems involved. Individual differences in stress are considered involving different personality types and hardiness. The role of stress in illness is explored. Ways of managing and coping with stress are examined, including drug therapy, stress inoculation therapy, biofeedback and different types of social support. Gender differences in coping with stress are considered.

Option 3

Aggression

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7182/3: Section D: Questions 33-35. PSYA3: June 2013: Questions 06 and 07

GCSE: Unit 2: Understanding Other People in Aggression

Examples: Unit 2: Making sense of other people: June 2013: Section D

The A-level topic involves a study of biological, social and ethological explanations for aggression in more detail including the development of material from GCSE such as the frustration-aggression hypothesis, the role of social learning and deindividuation (Unit 2: Social Influence). The topic also deals with institutional aggression in the context of prisons and the influence of media, including computer games. The topic does not deal with ways of reducing aggression based on these explanations.

Option 3

Forensic psychology

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7182/3: Section D: Questions 36-39. PSYB3: June 2013: Section B: Questions 28-30

There is no specific study of forensic psychology in the GCSE course.

The A-level topic deals with ways of measuring crime and the problems in defining it. There is a critical study of biological, personality, cognitive and psychodynamic explanations for offending behaviour. The top-down and bottom-up approaches to offender profiling are examined. There is a comparative study of responses to offending behaviour including custodial sentencing, behavioural modification, anger management and restorative justice.

Option 3

Addiction

A-level Topic

GCSE Topic

Commentary

Examples: Specimen Assessment Material: 7182/3: Section D: Questions 40-42. PSYA4: June 2013: Section B: Questions 12 and 13. PSYB3: June 2013: Section B: Question 27

There is no specific study of addiction in the GCSE course.

The topic deals with addiction to substances, with nicotine as an example, and patterns of behaviour, with gambling as an example. Biological, personality, social and cognitive explanations are investigated. Biological, behavioural and cognitive therapies are studied.

The GCSE course involves some aspects of the topic, for example, the use of aversion therapy to change unwanted behaviour (Unit 2: Learning) and the existence of anti-social personality disorder (Unit 1: Development of Personality).