Below are links to A level psychology revision notes organised by module and topic.

The AQA psychology A level assessment consists of 3 exam papers (2 for AS). These are:

• Introductory topics
• Psychology in context
• Issues and options in psychology

Note: AS level topics are in bold, whereas A level topics are not. The entire issues and options in psychology module is for A level only, not AS.

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Introductory topics

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Social influence

• Conformity (majority influence)
  • Types of conformity
    • Compliance
    • Identification
    • Internalisation
  • Solomon Asch: Conformity experiments
  • Variables affecting conformity
    • Unanimity
    • Group size
    • Difficulty
    • Other variables
  • Explanations of conformity
    • Informational social influence
    • Normative social influence
  • Conformity to social roles
    • Philip Zimbardo: Prison study
• Obedience
  • Stanley Milgram: Obedience experiments
  • Variables affecting obedience
    • Proximity
    • Location
    • Uniforms
  • Explanations of obedience
    • Agentic state
    • Legitimacy of authority
    • Dispositional explanation of obedience
• Explanations of resistance to social influence
  • Social support
  • Locus of control
  • Other explanations
• Social change
  • Minority influence
    • Variables affecting minority influence
      • Consistency and commitment
      • Flexibility

Memory

• The multi-store model
  • Storage structures
    • Sensory register
    • Short-term memory
    • Long-term memory
• The working memory model
  • Components
    • Central executive
    • Phonological loop
    • Visuo-spatial sketchpad
    • Episodic buffer
• Types of long-term memory
  • Episodic
  • Semantic
  • Procedural
• Explanations of forgetting
  • Interference
  • Absence of cues
• Eyewitness testimony
  • Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
    • Misleading information
    • Anxiety
  • Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
    • The cognitive interview

Attachment

• Caregiver-infant attachment
  • Features of caregiver-infant interactions
    • Reciprocity
    • Interactional synchrony 
  • Rudolph Schaffer: Stages of attachment
    • Pre-attachment
    • Indiscriminate attachment
    • Specific attachment
    • Multiple attachments
  • The role of the father
• Animal studies of attachment
  • Konrad Lorenz: Imprinting
  • Harry Harlow: Food vs. comfort
• Explanations of attachment
  • Learning theory
  • John Bowlby: Monotropic theory
    • Critical period
    • Internal working model
• Types of attachment
  • Mary Ainsworth: Strange situation
    • Secure
    • Insecure-avoidant
    • Insecure-resistant
  • Van Ijzendoorn: Cultural variations in attachment
• Effects of attachment
  • John Bowlby: Maternal deprivation
  • Institutionalisation
    • Romanian orphan studies
  • The influence of early attachment in later life

Psychopathology

• Definitions of abnormality
  • Deviation from social norms
  • Failure to function adequately
  • Statistical infrequency
  • Deviation from ideal mental health
• Phobias
  • Characteristics of phobias
  • Behaviourist approach to phobias
    • Behaviourist explanations of phobias
      • The two-process model
    • Behaviourist treatment of phobias
      • Systematic desensitisation
      • Flooding
• Depression
  • Characteristics of depression
  • Cognitive approach to depression
    • Cognitive explanations of depression
      • Beck’s negative triad
      • Ellis’ ABC model
    • Cognitive treatment of depression
      • Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
  • Characteristics of OCD
  • Biological approach to OCD
    • Biological explanations of OCD
      • Genetic explanations
      • Neural explanations
    • Biological treatment of OCD

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Psychology in context

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Approaches in psychology

• Origins of psychology
  • Wilhelm Wundt: Introspection
  • The emergence of psychology as a science
• Learning approaches
  • Behaviourist approaches
    • Ivan Pavlov: Classical conditioning
    • B.F. Skinner: Operant conditioning
  • Social learning theory
    • Albert Bandura: Bobo the doll experiment
    • Mediating processes
• The cognitive approach
  • Schema
  • Theoretical models
  • Cognitive neuroscience
• The biological approach
  • Genetics
    • Genotype and phenotype
    • Twin studies
    • Evolution
  • Biological structures
  • Neurochemistry
• The psychodynamic approach
  • Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalytic theory
    • The role of the unconscious
    • Structure of personality (id, ego, superego)
    • Defence mechanisms
    • Psychosexual stages
• Humanistic psychology
  • Free will
  • Self-actualisation
    • Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
    • Carl Rogers:
      • Conditions of worth
      • Congruence between self-image and ideal self
      • Counselling psychology

Biopsychology

• The nervous system
  • Divisions of the nervous system
    • Central nervous system
      • Brain
      • Spinal cord
    • Peripheral nervous system
      • Somatic
      • Autonomic
        • Sympathetic
        • Parasympathetic
  • Neurons
    • Synaptic transmission
    • Types of neurons
      • Sensory
      • Motor
      • Relay
• The endocrine system
  • Glands
  • Hormones
    • Adrenaline (fight or flight)
      
• The brain
  • Areas of the brain
    • Hemispheric lateralisation
      • Split-brain patients
    •  Localisation of function
      • Motor cortex
      • Somatosensory cortex
      • Visual cortex
      • Auditory cortex
      • Language centres
        • Broca’s area
        • Wernicke’s area
  • Neuroplasticity
    • Functional recovery after trauma
  • Ways of studying the brain
    • fMRI
    • Electroencephalogram and ERPs
    • Post-mortem
• Biological rhythms
  • Circadian
  • Infradian
  • Ultradian

Research methods

• Types of study
  • Experimental method
    • Experiment design
      • Independent groups, repeated measures, matched pairs
    • Types of experiment
      • Laboratory vs. field experiment
      • Natural and quasi experiments
  • Observational techniques
    • Observation design
      • Behavioural categories
      • Event and time sampling
    • Types of observation
      • Naturalistic vs. controlled
      • Covert vs. overt
      • Participant vs. non-participant
  • Self-report techniques
    • Types of self-report
      • Questionnaires
      • Interviews
        
  • Case studies
• Scientific processes
  • Study features (aim, hypothesis, etc.) and design
    • Sampling (population, sampling methods, etc.)
    • Variables (independent, extraneous, etc.)
    • Pilot study
  • Study reporting
    • Features of report (abstract, introduction, method, results, etc.)
    • Peer review
  • Study evaluation
    • Ethics
    • Reliability
    • Validity
    • Control of extraneous variables (demand characteristics etc.)
  • Implications of psychological research for the economy
  • Features of science (objectivity, replicability, falsifiability)
• Data handling and analysis
  • Types of data
    • Quantitative vs. qualitative
    • Primary vs. secondary
      • Meta-analysis
  • Descriptive statistics
    • Measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode)
    • Measures of dispersion (range, standard deviation)
      
    • Percentages and percentage change
    • Normal and skewed distributions
    • Correlation
  • Presentation of data (graphs, charts, tables, etc.)
    
  • Inferential testing
    • Probability and significance
    • Types of statistical test
      • Sign test

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Issues and options in psychology

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Issues and debates in psychology

• Gender and culture in psychology
  • Gender bias
  • Cultural bias
• Ethical issues
  • Socially sensitive research
• Free will vs. determinism
  • Free will
  • Determinism
    • Hard vs. soft determinism
    • Biological determinism
    • Environmental determinism
    • Psychic determinism
• Nature vs. nurture
  • Nature (heredity)
  • Nurture (environment)
  • Interactionism
• Holism vs. reductionism
  • Reductionism
  • Holism
• Idiographic vs. nomothetic
  • Nomothetic approach
  • Idiographic approach

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Option 1

Relationships

• Evolutionary explanations of relationships
  • Anisogamy
  • Human reproductive behaviour
• Factors affecting attraction
  • Self-disclosure
  • Physical attractiveness
  • Filter theory
• Theories of romantic relationships
  • Social exchange theory
  • Equity theory
  • Rusbult’s investment model
  • Duck’s phase model of relationship breakdown
• Virtual relationships
  • Self-disclosure in virtual relationships
  • Absence of gating
• Parasocial relationships
  • Absorption-addiction model
  • Attachment theory explanation

Gender

• Sex and gender
  • Sex-role stereotypes
  • Androgyny
    • Bem sex-role inventory
• Biological influences on gender development
  • Chromosomes
    • Atypical sex chromosome patterns
      • Klinefelter’s syndrome
      • Turner’s syndrome
  • Hormones
    • Testosterone
    • Estrogen
    • Oxytocin
• Cognitive explanations of gender development
  • Kohlberg’s theory of gender constancy
  • Gender schema theory
• Psychodynamic explanations of gender development
  • Oedipus complex
  • Electra complex
• Social learning theory explanations of gender development
  • The role of the media
  • The role of culture
• Atypical gender development (gender dysphoria)
  • Biological explanations of gender dysphoria
  • Social explanations of gender dysphoria

Cognition and development

• Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
  • Schema and cognitive development
    • Equilibration and adaptation
      • Equilibrium
      • Disequilibrium
  • Stages of development
    • Sensorimotor
    • Pre-operational
    • Concrete operational
    • Formal operational
• Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
  • Zone of proximal development
  • Scaffolding
• Baillargeon’s explanation of infant abilities
  • Innate/early physical understanding
  • Violation of expectation research
• Development of social cognition
  • Selman’s levels of perspective-taking
  • Theory of mind
    • Sally-Anne study
    • Explanation of autism
  • Mirror neurons

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Option 2

Schizophrenia

• Classification of schizophrenia
  • Positive symptoms
    • Hallucinations
    • Delusions
  • Negative symptoms
    • Speech poverty
    • Avolition
  • Diagnosis of schizophrenia
    • Reliability of schizophrenia diagnosis
    • Validity of schizophrenia diagnosis
• Biological approach to schizophrenia
  • Biological explanations
    • Genetic explanations of schizophrenia
    • Neural correlates
    • The dopamine hypothesis
  • Biological treatments: Drug therapy
• Psychological approaches to schizophrenia
  • Psychological explanations
    • Family dysfunction
    • Cognitive explanations of schizophrenia
  • Psychological treatments
    • Cognitive behavioural therapy
    • Family therapy
    • Token economies
• Interactionist approach to schizophrenia
  • Diathesis-stress model
  • Interactionist treatments

Eating behaviour

• Explanations of food preferences
  • Evolutionary explanations of food preferences
    • Neophobia
    • Taste aversion
  • The role of learning in food preferences
    • Social influences
    • Cultural influences
• Neural and hormonal mechanisms involved in control of eating
  • Neural: Hypothalamus
  • Hormones
    • Ghrelin
    • Leptin
• Explanations of anorexia nervosa
  • Biological explanations of anorexia
    • Genetic explanations of anorexia
    • Neural explanations of anorexia
  • Psychological explanations of anorexia
    • Family systems theory
    • Social learning theory
    • Cognitive explanations
• Explanations of obesity
  • Biological explanations of obesity
    • Genetic explanations of obesity
    • Neural explanations of obesity
  • Psychological explanations of obesity
    • Boundary model
    • Restraint theory
    • Explanations of the success and failure of dieting

Stress

• Physiology of stress
  • General adaptation syndrome
  • The sympathomedullary pathway
  • The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system
    • Cortisol
• The role of stress in illness
  • Immunosuppression
  • Cardiovascular disorders
• Sources of stress
  • Life changes
  • Daily hassles
  • Workplace stress
• Measuring stress
  • Self-report measures
    • Social readjustment ratings scale
    • Hassles and uplifts scale
  • Physiological measures (skin conductance)
• Individual differences in stress
  • Personality types (A, B, and C)
  • Hardiness
  • Gender differences in coping with stress
• Managing and coping with stress
  • Drug therapy
  • Stress inoculation therapy
  • Biofeedback
  • Social support

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Option 3

Aggression

• Biological mechanisms of aggression
  • Neural mechanisms
    • Limbic system
    • Serotonin
  • Hormones: Testosterone
  • Genetics
    • Twin studies
    • The MAOA gene
• Ethological explanations of aggression
  • Innate releasing mechanisms
  • Fixed action patterns
• Evolutionary explanations of aggression
• Social psychological explanations of aggression
  • Frustration-aggression hypothesis
  • Social learning theory
  • De-individuation
• Institutional aggression
  • Dispositional explanations of institutional aggression
  • Situational explanations of institutional aggression
• Media influences on aggression
  • Desensitisation
  • Disinhibition
  • Cognitive priming

Forensic psychology

• Offender profiling
  • Top-down approach
    • Organised offender profile
    • Disorganised offender profile
  • Bottom-up approach
    • Investigative psychology
    • Geographical profiling
• Biological explanations of offending behaviour
  • Atavistic form
  • Genetic explanations
  • Neural explanations
• Psychological explanations of offending behaviour
  • Eysenck’s theory of criminal personality
  • Cognitive explanations
    • Level of moral reasoning
    • Cognitive distortions
      • Hostile attribution bias
      • Minimalisation
  • Differential association theory
  • Psychodynamic explanations
• Dealing with offending behaviour
  • Custodial sentencing
  • Behaviour modification
  • Anger management
  • Restorative justice

Addiction

• Describing addiction
  • Physical and psychological dependence
  • Tolerance
  • Withdrawal syndrome
• Risk factors for addiction
  • Genetic vulnerability
  • Stress
  • Personality
  • Family influence
  • Peer influence
• Explanations of nicotine addiction
  • Neurochemical explanations of nicotine addiction
  • Learning theory explanations of nicotine addiction
• Explanations of gambling addiction
  • Learning theory explanations of gambling addiction
  • Cognitive explanations of gambling addiction
• Reducing addiction
  • Drug therapy
  • Behavioural interventions
    • Aversion therapy
    • Covert sensitisation
  • Cognitive behavioural therapy
  • Theories of behavioural change
    • Application of the planned behaviour theory
    • Application of Prochaska’s six-stage model