What does the Edexcel Foundations in Psychology content cover?

The foundations content covers social psychology (obedience, including Milgram and agency theory, and prejudice through social identity theory and realistic conflict theory), cognitive psychology (the multi-store and working memory models, reconstructive memory and forgetting) and research methods (experimental and non-experimental methods, sampling, design, descriptive and inferential statistics). It is assessed mainly on Paper 1.

Which studies do I need for Edexcel social and cognitive psychology?

For social psychology you need Milgram's obedience study and Sherif's Robbers Cave study, plus a classic study. For cognitive psychology you need Baddeley's coding studies and a classic study, with Bartlett's War of the Ghosts for reconstructive memory. Each topic has a named classic study set by Edexcel.

How are research methods examined in Edexcel Psychology?

Research methods run through every topic and are examined across the papers. You must choose appropriate methods, design valid studies, handle data with descriptive statistics, and select and justify an inferential test (Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon, Spearman or chi-square) from the level of measurement and whether the design is related or unrelated.

What is the difference between social identity theory and realistic conflict theory?

Social identity theory (Tajfel) explains prejudice through social categorisation, identification and comparison that favour the in-group, and needs no real competition. Realistic conflict theory (Sherif) explains prejudice as the result of competition over scarce resources, reduced by cooperation on superordinate goals.

How is the Foundations content assessed?

It is assessed mainly on Paper 1 (Foundations in Psychology) with a mix of short-answer, application and extended questions across social, cognitive, biological and learning psychology, plus research methods woven throughout. You must describe, apply and evaluate theories and studies.

EnglandPsychology

Edexcel A-Level Psychology: Foundations in Psychology (social, cognitive and research methods)

A complete Edexcel A-Level Psychology guide to the foundations content: social psychology (obedience and prejudice), cognitive psychology (memory and forgetting) and research methods, with the named studies and how the topics are examined on Paper 1.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.814 min read9PS0Updated 2026-06-02

Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed

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What the Foundations content demands
Social and cognitive psychology
Research methods
Check your knowledge

What the Foundations content demands

The Foundations in Psychology content introduces the social, cognitive and methodological core of the course. Social psychology asks why ordinary people obey and hold prejudiced attitudes; cognitive psychology asks how memory is structured and why it fails; and research methods provide the tools to test all of it. Edexcel examines these on Paper 1 and rewards precise knowledge of named studies, the ability to apply them, and confident research-methods skills.

This guide covers each dot point in order, then the exam patterns, with matching dot-point pages for practice.

Social psychology explains obedience through Milgram's study and agency theory, and prejudice through social identity theory (Tajfel) and realistic conflict theory (Sherif's Robbers Cave), weighing individual against situational causes. Cognitive psychology explains memory through the multi-store model and the working memory model, the reconstructive nature of memory (Bartlett), and forgetting through decay, interference and retrieval failure.

Research methods

Research methods cover experimental and non-experimental methods, sampling (random, stratified, volunteer, opportunity), experimental design (independent groups, repeated measures, matched pairs), descriptive statistics and the chosen inferential tests (Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon, Spearman, chi-square), selected from the level of measurement and design.

Check your knowledge

Explain how agency theory accounts for Milgram's findings. (4 marks)
Distinguish between social identity theory and realistic conflict theory. (4 marks)
Describe the working memory model. (4 marks)
Name and justify an inferential test for ordinal data from an independent-groups design. (3 marks)

Sources & how we know this

Pearson Edexcel A-Level Psychology (9PS0) specification — Pearson Edexcel (2015)