AQA A-Level Psychology
Unit Code: 7182
How To Revise For A-level Psychology
This section provides revision resources for the new linear A-level psychology specification for the AQA exam board.
This specification started being taught from September 2015 onwards.
The resources are perfect for teachers and classroom learning, parents and students to aid in revision.
The specification unit code is 7181.
- You can find the AQA A level Psychology Specification here.
- If you’re studying GCSE Psychology, you can click the button below for resources:
When are the AS/A-level Psychology exams?
Due to Covid-19, the current exams for this year (2020) have been cancelled and we are awaiting new dates for 2021 which will be updated below.
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For the full linear A-level course, you will be studying all three exam papers.
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What topics will I be learning?
The topics you study depends very much on whether you are studying only the AS level for psychology or going for the full A-level.
If you are studying only the AS level, then you will study the following topics over two exam papers:
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Paper 1 will consist of:
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Paper 2 will consist of:
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If you are studying the full A-level, you will study the following topics over three exam papers:
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Paper 1 will consist of:
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Paper 2 will consist of:
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Paper 3 will require you to study Issues and debates as well the topics below:
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Below you will find all the resources you need for both AS and A-level exams (more is being added over time).
Chapter 1: Social Influence
- Types of conformity
- Explanations of conformity
- Variables affecting conformity
- Conformity to social roles
- Situational variables affecting obedience
- Agentic state and legitimacy of authority
- The Authoritarian Personality
- Resistance to social influence
- Minority Influence
- Social influence processes in social change
Chapter 2: Memory
- The multi-store model of memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968)
- The working memory model (Baddeley and Hitch 1974)
- Types of long-term memory
- Explanations for forgetting: Interference
- Explanations for forgetting: Retrieval failure
- Accuracy of eyewitness testimony: Misleading information
- Accuracy of eyewitness testimony: Anxiety
- Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: The cognitive interview
Chapter 3: Attachment
- Caregiver-infant interactions
- The development of attachment
- Animal studies of attachment
- Explanations of attachment: Learning Theory
- Explanations of attachment: Bowlby’s theory
- Ainsworth’s Strange Situation: Types of attachment
- Cultural variations in attachment
- Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation
- Romanian orphan studies: Effects of institutionalisation
- The influence of early attachment
Chapter 4: Psychopathology
- Definitions of abnormality
- Mental disorders
- The behavioural approach to explaining phobias
- The behavioural approach to treating phobias
- The cognitive approach to explaining depression
- The cognitive approach to treating depression
- The biological approach to explaining obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- The biological approach to treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Chapter 5: Approaches In Psychology (coming soon)
- The origins of psychology
- The behaviourist approach
- Social learning theory
- The cognitive approach
- The biological approach
- The psychodynamic approach
- Humanistic psychology
- Comparison of approaches
Chapter 6: Biopsychology (coming soon)
- The nervous system
- Neurons and synaptic transmission
- The endocrine system
- The fight-or-flight response
- Localisation of function
- Lateralisation of split-brain research
- Plasticity and functional recovery of the brain
- Ways of studying the brain
- Circadian rhythms
- Ultradian and infradian rhythms
- Endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers
Chapter 7: Research Methods (coming soon)
- The experimental method
- Control of variables
- Return to hypotheses and other things
- Experimental design
- Laboratory and field experiments
- Natural and quasi-experiments
- More problems with experiments
- Sampling
- Ethical issues
- Dealing with ethical issues
- Observational techniques
- Observational design
- Self-report techniques
- Self-report design
- Correlations
- Other research methods
- Mathematical skills
- Measures of central tendency and dispersion
- Display of quantitive data and data distributions
- Types of data
- Introduction to statistical testing
- The scientific process and peer review
- Psychology and the economy
- Content analysis
- Case studies
- Reliability
- Validity
- Features of science
- Probability
- Statistical tests
- Non-parametric tests of difference
- Tests of correlation
- Chi-Squared test
- Reporting investigations
Chapter 8: Issues and Debates In Psychology (coming soon)
- Gender in psychology: Gender bias
- Culture in psychology: Cultural bias
- Free will and determinism
- The nature-nurture debate
- Holism and reductionism
- Idiographic and nomothetic approaches to psychological investigation
- Ethical implications of research studies and theory
Unit 3: Aggression / Forensic Psychology / Addiction coming soon
- Aggression / Forensic Psychology / Addiction
Unit 3: Schizophrenia / Eating Behaviour / Stress coming soon
- Schizophrenia / Eating Behaviour / Stress
Unit 3: Relationships / Cognition and Development / Gender coming soon
- Relationships / Cognition and Development / Gender
Past Exam Papers & Mark Schemes
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Workbooks / Resources / Quizzes
- Coming soon
Past Exam Questions
Subject Overview
- Simply create an account and start learning right away.
- It’s completely free.
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New A-level Specification Fully Covered
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Past Exam Papers / Mark Schemes
Hi, I’m Shae and I’m the subject lead and I help format and maintain the content for the A-level psychology course.
Got a question? Drop a comment below or simply email me.
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Hi Shae,
I love the website, and think it’s very useful.
I wanted to point out a correction. In the list of topics for each exam papers, under the full A Level you have Issues and Debates listed under paper 2 but it should go under paper 3 as it is the only compulsory topic in that paper.
Well spotted Olja! I’ve corrected this, thank you! 🙂
Hi there I am just asking
I am currently in year 11 but due to the coronavirus outbreak school is closed and I decided to get a headstart for my A-levels. I was wondering if year 12 do As level then in year 13 A2?
And also is it possible for you to make an A level Business revision source for the WJEC Eduqas board as my new school is doing this.
Overall I would like to say thank you for making this revision source and I am very thankful for using this revision site
Hi Nathan,
It depends what your school is doing AS to A2 as each one is different.
For example, some schools do sit AS exams and then decide which students are able to go on to A2 based on their results. Other schools are simply going straight to A2 as the AS results do not count towards A2 grades anymore.
If you were studying AS and now you’re poised to take your A2 exams next year then yes, it would be wise to begin preparing for this given the huge amount of content there is for it.
We should have the whole subject covered before the end of this year extensively to help you with this.
We do plan to cover Business Studies too yes – but that may take a little while atm but I hope to begin getting something out before this year is out.
Shae
Ok thank you very much, Shae
Hey! Great website 🙂 Just wanted to ask how soon the ‘coming soon’ topics are?
Hi Maryam! We will finish the GCSE history topics we are working on this year and A-level Psychology should also be completed before the end of the year.
The plan is to then release Business next for both GCSE and A-level before moving on to other topics 🙂 – I think those will come next year.
Apologies it’s taking so long,
Shae
Can you also do Eduqas as it is WJEC in England
Hi Nathan – Yes I’ll add that to the list too.
-Shae
Thank you very much for putting a lot of effort into helping us students
Hi Shae
I like the website! I am a Head of dept for Psychology (24 years teaching it) and I have made some youtube videos geared up specifically for the AQA A level exam. I’ve made a number already & some for topics eg the Addiction topic, which students may find useful. They are mostly on what content to cover as there are many resources but it is difficult for new teachers/students to know how much detail to go into. Some others are specifically on exam technique ie how to answer specific applied Qs. I don’t know if they could be useful for your website or I can help with some content at all? Check out Mrs H Psychology on youtube & search under different playlists.
Hi Sue!
I would love to use your videos yes! I’ll send you an email on how we can possibly work together shortly!
-Shae