Psychology helps you to understand yourself and other people by learning about aspects of human behaviour that will help in daily life, including interactions with others, learning and memory performance, an individual’s ability to cope with pressure and help develop an understanding of the causes of psychological disorders. Year 12: • Approaches in psychology – the key approaches to explain the human mind and behaviour. • Research methods – including data interpretation, design of research and ethical issues. • Social influence – the reasons for social influence including conformity, obedience to authority and minority influence. • Memory – how the short-term and long-term memory function, why we forget and the impact of memory on eyewitness testimony. • Attachment – the critical period to which attachment has an impact on adult mental health and relationships. • Psychopathology – understanding abnormal behaviour and mental disorders including depression, OCD and phobias. Issues and debates in psychology – how much are we influenced by nature and nurture, does psychology explain universal behaviour or is it culturally relative are some of the topics in this unit. Year 13: • Biopsychology – the structure of the body’s nervous system including the brain, responses to stress, hormonal influences and synaptic transmission. • Addiction– the explanations of risk and support in reducing addiction to gambling and smoking with a focus on drug treatment and behavioural therapy. • Schizophrenia– the classification and characteristics displayed and how to explain schizophrenia and support individuals with the disorder through cognitive and biological intervention. • Cognition and development– Piaget, Vygotsky and Baillargeon’s theories of how human cognition develops from infancy.