AS/A Level Psychology
Start Date
Mon Sep 13 2021
Day / Time
Weekdays
Duration
1 year
Campus
Baltic Campus
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behaviour. Psychology is a
multifaceted discipline and includes many sub-fields of study such areas as
human development, sports, health, clinical, social behaviour and cognitive
processes.
Psychology is really a very new science, with most
advances happening over the past 150 years or so. However, it is fast becoming
one of the most popular subject choices! Due to the subject being so vast there
is something for everyone and anyone to enjoy. Within A-level Psychology at
Gateshead College we cover the following sub-fields; social, cognitive,
biological, learning, clinical and criminal Psychology.
It can lead to an array of careers from being a psychologist (clinical, health, sport etc.) to social work, police force, human resources and teaching.
On this course, you will cover a broad range of topics and explore the different theories and thinking of psychology.
Year 1 - AS Level
Social psychology
You'll study obedience, prejudice and discrimination:
- Agency theory
- Social Impact theory
- Social Identity theory
- Realistic conflict theory
- Cognitive psychology
You'll study memory including the case study of patient HM and investigate disorders such as dyslexia and dementia. Some of the memory models you'll cover include:
- Working memory model
- Multi-store memory
- Reconstructive memory
- Biological psychology
During this unit, you'll look at the mechanisms within our body and learn how they affect our behaviour, specifically focusing on aggression.
- Brain structure, neurotransmission and hormone theories of aggression
- Evolutionary theories of aggression
- Freud's psychodynamic theory of aggression
Learning Theories
Learning theories are about learning from the environment and the effects of conditioning, reinforcement, punishment, the role of reward and social learning on the organism.
Year 2 - A Level
Clinical Psychology
Clinical psychology is about explaining and treating mental health issues and the different ways of treating them, including counselling and drug treatments. Individual differences and developmental psychology must be considered when learning about links between personality factors and mental disorders and genetic influences (nature) or environnemental influences (nurture) within different explanations for mental health disorders
The disorders you'll study include:
- Schizophrenia
- Depression
- Anorexia
- Obsessive compulsive disorder
There are 3 optional modules, we'll cover the one module the class find the most interesting.
- Criminological psychology
- Child psychology
- Health psychology
- Psychological skills
You'll develop an understanding of how to use theories and evidence from many areas of psychology and apply them to issues to present an argument or research a topic.
Your knowledge and skills will be assessed in a variety of different ways:
- Frequent topic tests
- Mock assessments
- Practical assessments
- Written exams; two exams at the end of year 1 and three exams at the end of year two
You'll spend a year studying each level, so a year at AS Level and a year at A Level.
Psychology is a solid foundation for many degrees. Our students have progressed onto Russell Group universities, some of the best universities in the UK, to study:
- Bio-Medical science
- Criminology
- Nursing
- Mathematics
- Medicine
- Social Work
- Primary Teaching
- Psychology
- Drama
This course is free to those aged under 19 years old.
Most people aged 19
years and over can qualify for free or reduced price course fees and there are
grants and bursaries you can apply for to help cover the costs of coming to
college, depending on your circumstances.
If you already have a full level 3 qualification and are aged 19 years over, you can apply for an Advanced Learning Loan or pay the fee upfront in full and qualify for a 10% discount.
You can get more information at our enrolment events, by calling 0191 490 2246 or email us at start@gateshead.ac.uk
Whatever support you need, we’re here for you and will make sure you get the most out of your time at college.
We have expert teams in place to look after every single one of our students.
Our specialist teams can help with:
- Learning difficulties
- Physical and sensory disabilities
- Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADHD, Aspergers or other specific learning difficulties
- Mental health and well being
- Exam access arrangements
- Money, finance and bursary advice
- Careers advice, job and university applications
See here for more information (link to learning support), pop into one of our
enrolment events, call us on
0191 426 4329.
Careers:
- Psychologists
you could
earn: