AQA A-level Psychology: Revision Made Easy - Jean-Marc Lawton 2017
Social influence
Variables affecting conformity
Obedience and the work of Milgram
Situational variables affecting obedience
The dispositional explanation of the authoritarian personality (AP)
Explanations of resistance to social influence
The role of social influence processes in social change
Memory
The working memory model (WMM)
Types of long-term memory (LTM)
Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (EWT)
Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (EWT)
Attachment
Caregiver—infant interactions in humans
Stages of attachment development
Ainsworth’s ’Strange Situation’
Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis (MDH) (1951)
The influence of early attachment on childhood and adult relationships
Psychopathology
Definitions of abnormality: deviation from social norms
Definitions of abnormality: failure to function adequately
Definitions of abnormality: deviation from ideal mental health
Definitions of abnormality: statistical infrequency
Characteristics of phobias, depression and OCD
The behavioural approach to explaining and treating phobias
The cognitive approach to explaining and treating depression
The biological approach to explaining and treating OCD
Approaches
The origins of psychology and the cognitive approach
Biopsychology
The nervous system and neurons
The influence of biochemistry on behaviour
Localisation of function in the brain
Split brain surgery and plasticity and functional recovery of the brain after trauma
Research methods
Experimental method and design
Non-experimental methods and design
Aims, hypotheses, operationalisation of variables, demand characteristics and pilot studies
Observational design and questionnaire and interview construction
Reporting psychological investigations
Quantitative and qualitative data
Presentation and display of quantitative data; distributions
Issues and debates
Gender and culture in psychology
Idiographic and nomothetic approaches to psychological investigation
Ethical implications of research studies and theory
Relationships
The evolutionary explanation for partner preferences
Factors affecting attraction in romantic relationships
Theories of romantic relationships
Virtual relationships in social media
Gender
The role of chromosomes and hormones
Cognitive explanations for gender development
Psychodynamic explanation for gender development
Social learning theory as applied to gender development
Cognition and development
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
Baillargeon’s explanation of early infant abilities
The development of social cognition
The role of the mirror neuron system in social cognition
Schizophrenia
Classification of schizophrenia
Biological explanations for schizophrenia
Psychological explanations for schizophrenia
Therapies for the treatment of schizophrenia
The importance of the interactionist approach in explaining and treating schizophrenia
Eating behaviour
Explanations for food preferences
Neural and hormonal mechanisms involved in the control of eating behaviour
Explanations for anorexia nervosa
Stress
Sources and physiological measures of stress
Individual differences in stress
Managing and coping with stress
Aggression
Neural and hormonal mechanisms in aggression
The ethological and evolutionary explanations for aggression
Social psychological explanations for human aggression
Institutional aggression in the context of prisons
Media influences on aggression
Forensic psychology
Biological explanations for offending behaviour
Psychological explanations for offending behaviour
Dealing with offending behaviour
Addiction
Describing addiction and risk factors in the development of addiction
Explanations for nicotine addiction
Explanations for gambling addiction
The application of theories of behaviour change to addictive behaviour
Revision and exam skills
Question practice: selection questions
Question practice: short-answer questions
Question practice: application questions
Question practice: research methods questions