Psychology syllabus, dot point by dot point

Describe infancy and adolescence as periods of rapid development and changes in brain structure and function, with reference to myelination, synaptic pruning and development of the forebrain; Explain neural plasticity with reference to brain development (e.g. deprived versus enriched environments, sensitive and critical periods) and brain damage

Discuss cognitive, sociocultural and information processing theories (i.e. processing speed, cognitive strategies and metacognition) of cognitive development

Discuss cognitive, sociocultural and information processing theories (i.e. processing speed, cognitive strategies and metacognition) of cognitive development

Describe the psychometric approach to intelligence (i.e. intelligence quotient, or IQ); Describe common methods by which intelligence is measured with reference to IQ tests and scales, including Stanford-Binet scale and Wechsler's intelligence scales for adults (WAIS-IV) and children (WISC-V); Discuss the degree to which intelligence tests are valid and reliable

Discuss the significance of common uses of the psychometric approach to intelligence compared to the information processing approach, Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence, Gardner's multiple intelligences and Goleman's emotional intelligence (EQ)

Discriminate between adaptive and maladaptive behaviour; Discuss concepts of normality, including sociocultural, functional, historical, situational, medical and statistical approaches; Describe the concept of psychological disorder; Compare diagnostic manuals in common use, including the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition-TR, 2022) and the International Classification of Diseases (11th revision, 2022), discussing the uses that different professions make of these manuals; Discuss the reliability and validity of diagnosis

Describe the structure of the human nervous system, with reference to the central (i.e. brain and spinal cord) and peripheral (i.e. somatic and autonomic) nervous systems; Describe the role of the spinal cord in the human nervous system, with reference to monosynaptic and polysynaptic spinal reflexes; Explain the interaction of the primary motor cortex, cerebellum and basal ganglia in coordinating voluntary movement; Explain the importance of the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex for the experience of emotion

Describe how brain function can be viewed as both localised and distributed, with some functions being identified with specific areas in the cerebral cortex, including the frontal, occipital, parietal and temporal lobes, and some functions being distributed across large or multiple brain regions; Explain that Broca's area, Wernicke's area, and Geschwind's territory have specific roles in language processing

Describe neurotransmission, with reference to action potentials and synaptic transmission; Contrast excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters, e.g. glutamate (Glu) and gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA); Describe the physical and psychological function of acetylcholine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin; Explain the impact of interference in neurotransmitter function, with reference to Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, considering causes, symptoms and treatments

Appreciate how plasticity assists in the recovery from brain injury

Describe the processes of seeing and hearing, with reference to reception by accessory structures, transduction by sensory receptors and receptive fields, transmission to the CNS via the optic/acoustic nerves, preliminary processing in the thalamus, and organisation and interpretation by the primary visual/auditory cortex; Explain psychological aspects of sensation and perception including loudness, pitch and timbre; Describe the effect of cultural influences on visual (de Bruine, Vredeveldt & van Koppen 2018) and auditory (Patel & Demorest 2013) perception

Explain psychological aspects of sensation and perception including perceptual set with respect to past experience, context, motivation and emotional state, and visual perception principles, e.g. Gestalt principles, depth cues, and visual constancies

Compare three models of memory, specifically the multi-store model of memory, including sensory, short-term and long-term memory; the working memory model, including the central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and episodic buffer; the levels of processing (LOP) model of memory, including the role of encoding in long-term memory; State the duration and capacity of sensory memory (including iconic and echoic), and short-term and long-term memory; Describe the role of the hippocampus, the neo-cortex and the amygdala in forming and storing explicit memories; Describe the role of the cerebellum in forming implicit memories

Describe how information is stored in long-term memory with reference to implicit (i.e. procedural, priming, classical conditioning) and explicit (i.e. episodic and semantic) memory; Contrast recall, recognition and relearning; Describe problems with memory such as encoding failure, retrieval failure and interference effects; Discuss strategies to improve memory, including spacing, interleaving, chunking, elaborative and maintenance rehearsal, and the method of loci; Interpret data about the context-dependency of memory from a modified experiment following Grant et al. (1998)

Compare classical conditioning, operant conditioning and social learning theory, and discuss the underlying theories of behaviourism and social and cognitive psychology; for classical conditioning, describe learned fear responses, with reference to the 'Little Albert' experiment

Explain the difference between primary (i.e. family) and secondary (e.g. media, schooling) socialisation; Describe gender and compare social learning, cognitive developmental and biological theories of gender role formation

Describe group social influence, with reference to compliance, identification and internalisation; Explain how obedience, conformity and social norms (as described by Cialdini et al. 2006) lead to behaviour change; Describe the findings of historical social psychological research, with reference to Asch's (1955) research on conformity and Milgram's (1963) research on obedience

Describe the effect of status, roles and power on social behaviour; Describe the findings of historical social psychological research, with reference to Haney, Banks and Zimbardo's (1973) research on status, roles and power

Interpret the findings of Latané and Darley's (1969) study of bystander intervention; Describe social factors that influence prosocial behaviour, with reference to the reciprocity principle and social responsibility; Describe personal characteristics that influence prosocial behaviour, with reference to empathy, mood, competence and altruism; Make predictions using the general aggression model (GAM), with respect to single and multiple episodes; Explain how media can influence aggression, with reference to advertising, video games and social media

Describe social and cognitive factors that influence individual behaviour, including groupthink, diffusion of responsibility, audience inhibition, social influence and cost-benefit analysis

Describe biological and cultural explanations of attraction, with reference to Buss et al. (1990); Describe social and cognitive origins of attraction, including proximity, reciprocity, similarity and self-disclosure; Determine stages in relationship dissolution, with reference to Rollie & Duck's phase model, i.e. intrapsychic, dyadic, social, grave-dressing and resurrection phases

Describe the structure of attitudes using the tri-component model; Describe implicit and explicit attitudes; Describe how discrepancies between attitudes, cognitions and behaviours can lead to discomfort and a drive to reduce it, as described in cognitive dissonance theory

Describe attributions, and recognise how they are used to explain behaviour, with reference to situational and dispositional attributions, and the fundamental attribution error; Describe self-serving and confirmation biases; Describe stereotypes and identify their advantages and disadvantages; Interpret data about the relationship between stereotype priming and behaviour from a modification of experiment 2 in Bargh, Chen & Burrows' (1996) study

Explain social identity theory with reference to social categorisation, social identification and social comparison; Describe the formation of prejudice in terms of: scapegoating, direct experience and personal prejudice, group prejudice, and the prejudiced personality; Contrast prejudice and discrimination

Explain how membership, influence, integration and fulfilment of needs, and shared emotional connection lead to a sense of community; Describe the concept of culture in the psychological context, with reference to behaviours, beliefs and values, and to individualist and collectivist cultures; Discriminate between multiculturalism and pluralism, on the basis of the absence or presence of a dominant culture

Describe the psychological challenges of immigration and acculturation, including culture shock, assimilation and marginalisation; Explain how cultural diversity can be a source of conflict, with reference to prejudice expressed as implicit and explicit racism; Describe ways to reduce prejudice, with reference to intergroup contact that is sustained, with superordinate goals, mutual interdependence and equality of status