England · AQASyllabus
Psychology syllabus, dot point by dot point
Every dot point in the England Psychologysyllabus, with a focused answer for each one. Click any dot point for a worked explainer, past exam questions, and links to related dot points. Written by Claude Opus 4.8, Anthropic's latest AI.
3.7 Brain and neuropsychology
Module overview →- What are the main structures of the brain and what do they do?The structure and function of the brain: the four lobes of the cerebral cortex, the cerebellum and the autonomic functions, and the role of the brainstem.8 min answer →
- How do psychologists study which parts of the brain do which jobs?Localisation of function and ways of studying the brain: language areas, the role of neuropsychology, Penfield's work, and scanning techniques such as CT, PET and fMRI.8 min answer →
- How do neurons carry and pass on messages in the body?Neurons and synaptic transmission: the structure of sensory, relay and motor neurons, the electrical impulse, and how neurotransmitters cross the synapse.8 min answer →
- How is the nervous system organised and what does each part do?The structure and function of the nervous system: the central and peripheral nervous systems, the autonomic nervous system, and the fight or flight response.8 min answer →
3.3 Development
Module overview →- How does the brain develop before birth and in early childhood?Early brain development: the development of the brain in the womb and early years, the role of nature and experience, and Willatts' study of the development of means-end behaviour in infants.8 min answer →
- How can psychology be applied to learning and education?The application of Piaget's theory to education, the effect of learning styles and Dweck's fixed and growth mindsets, and the role of praise and self-efficacy in learning.8 min answer →
- How does Piaget explain the stages of cognitive development?Piaget's stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational, plus key concepts such as schemas, conservation and egocentrism.9 min answer →
- How do nature and nurture interact to shape development?The nature-nurture debate in development: the influence of genes (nature) and environment (nurture), and how they interact to shape behaviour and abilities.8 min answer →
3.6 Language, thought and communication
Module overview →- Is non-verbal behaviour innate or learned?Explanations of non-verbal behaviour: the nature view that it is innate and the nurture view that it is learned, with evidence such as facial expressions in babies and cross-cultural studies.8 min answer →
- How does human language differ from animal communication?Differences between human language and animal communication, including features such as displacement, creativity and grammar, with examples such as Von Frisch's bee dance.8 min answer →
- How do we communicate without using words?Non-verbal communication: functions and types including body language, facial expressions, eye contact, personal space and the differences from verbal communication.8 min answer →
- Does language shape thought or does thought shape language?The relationship between language and thought: Piaget's view that thought comes before language and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that language shapes thought.8 min answer →
3.1 Memory
Module overview →- What factors affect the accuracy of memory and why do we forget?Factors affecting the accuracy of memory: interference, context and false memories, plus theories of forgetting including interference and retrieval failure.8 min answer →
- How is information encoded into memory and what helps us retrieve it later?Encoding and retrieval in memory: acoustic and semantic encoding, the reconstructive nature of memory (Bartlett's War of the Ghosts), and the effect of context and cues on retrieval.8 min answer →
- How does the multi-store model explain the flow of information through memory?The multi-store model of memory: sensory, short-term and long-term stores, their capacity, duration and encoding, and the roles of attention and rehearsal.8 min answer →
- What are the different types of long-term memory and how do they differ?Types of memory: episodic, semantic and procedural long-term memory, with everyday examples of each and how they are distinguished.8 min answer →
3.2 Perception
Module overview →- How do we perceive depth and distance using visual cues?Depth cues in perception: monocular cues (height in plane, relative size, occlusion, linear perspective) and binocular cues (retinal disparity, convergence).8 min answer →
- How do Gibson's and Gregory's theories explain perception differently?Theories of perception: Gibson's direct (bottom-up) theory and Gregory's constructivist (top-down) theory, including the role of inference, expectation and the environment.9 min answer →
- What is the difference between sensation and perception?The difference between sensation and perception: sensation as raw data from the senses and perception as the brain's interpretation of that data.7 min answer →
- Why do visual illusions trick the brain into seeing things wrongly?Visual illusions and their explanations: ambiguity, misinterpreted depth cues, fiction and size constancy, using examples such as the Muller-Lyer, the Ponzo, the Ames room and the rotating snakes.8 min answer →
3.4 Research methods
Module overview →- What ethical issues must psychologists consider in their research?Research ethics: the British Psychological Society guidelines including consent, deception, protection from harm, confidentiality and the right to withdraw, and how reliability and validity are assessed.8 min answer →
- How do psychologists design experiments and control variables?Experiments and variables: independent and dependent variables, the hypothesis, experimental designs, extraneous variables, and laboratory, field and natural experiments.9 min answer →
- How do psychologists select participants using sampling methods?Sampling methods: the target population and sample, random, opportunity, systematic and stratified sampling, and their strengths and weaknesses for representativeness.8 min answer →
- What types of data do psychologists collect and how are they described?Types of data: quantitative and qualitative data, primary and secondary data, the use of measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode) and ways of displaying data.8 min answer →
3.5 Social influence
Module overview →- Why do bystanders often fail to help in an emergency?Bystander behaviour: the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility, and the situational and personal factors that affect whether people help.8 min answer →
- Why do people conform to the behaviour of a group?Conformity: Asch's study of majority influence, the factors affecting conformity (group size, anonymity and task difficulty), and the reasons people conform.9 min answer →
- Why do people obey authority figures even when it causes harm?Obedience: Milgram's agency theory, the factors affecting obedience (proximity, location and uniform), and dispositional factors such as the authoritarian personality.9 min answer →
- What makes behaviour prosocial or antisocial?Prosocial and antisocial behaviour: defining each, the role of deindividuation, and how social factors and the presence of others influence helping and harming behaviour.8 min answer →