PsychologyQ&A by dot point

The criminal psychology core studies: the classic study Cooper and Mackie (1986) on video games and aggression in children, and the contemporary study Heaven (1996) on personality and self-reported delinquency.

The criminal personality (Eysenck's extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism) and the self-fulfilling prophecy: how a label can change behaviour so that the prediction comes true.

The aims of punishment (deterrence, retribution, incapacitation and rehabilitation), how custodial and non-custodial sentences are used, and the psychological evidence on whether punishment reduces reoffending.

Applications of criminal psychology: ways of reducing and preventing crime, including the role of token economy programmes, anger management and restorative justice, and how these link to the theories of crime.

Theories of criminal and anti-social behaviour: the biological explanation (brain structure, genetics and inherited traits) and the social learning explanation (observation, imitation, modelling, vicarious reinforcement and identification).

The development core studies: the classic study Piaget (1952) on the conservation of number, and the contemporary study Blackwell et al. (2007) on mindset and mathematics achievement.

Applications of developmental psychology to education: how Piaget's stage theory and Dweck's mindset theory inform teaching methods, including readiness, discovery learning, praise and intervention programmes.

Dweck's mindset theory: fixed and growth mindsets, the effect of praise (for effort versus ability) on motivation and achievement, and the role of learning and effort in development.

The nature-nurture debate in development, early brain development and the role of maturation, and how genetic and environmental factors interact to shape cognitive and behavioural development.

Piaget's theory of cognitive development: schemas, assimilation and accommodation, and the four stages (sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational) with conservation, egocentrism and object permanence.

The memory core studies: the classic study Wilson et al. (2008) on a patient with severe amnesia (Clive Wearing), and the contemporary study Braun et al. (2002) on how misleading advertising can create false memories.

Factors affecting the accuracy of memory: interference, context and cues, false memories and the effect of leading information, plus amnesia (anterograde and retrograde) and the unreliability of eyewitness testimony.

The features and functions of sleep (the stages of sleep, circadian rhythms and the restoration and evolutionary theories) and theories of dreaming, including Freud's psychoanalytic theory and the activation-synthesis theory.

Sleep disorders (insomnia and narcolepsy) and treatments such as sleep hygiene, plus the sleep and dreaming core studies: the classic study Freud (1918) on the Wolf Man and the contemporary study Williams et al. (1992) on dreaming.

The structure of memory: the multi-store model (sensory, short-term and long-term memory, with encoding, capacity and duration) and the theory of reconstructive memory (memory as an active, fallible process).

Addiction: clinical characteristics, the biological explanation (genes and the role of dopamine) and the psychological explanation (learning through reinforcement), and treatments including drug therapy and behavioural approaches such as aversion therapy.

The psychological problems core studies: the classic study Caspi et al. (2003) on the 5-HTT gene and the influence of life stress on depression, and the contemporary study Tandoc et al. (2015) on Facebook use, envy and depression.

Defining mental health and abnormality, the increasing incidence of mental health problems, the effects of mental health problems on individuals and society, and changing attitudes towards mental health.

Depression: clinical characteristics, the biological explanation (genes and neurotransmitters such as serotonin) and the psychological explanation (cognitive, negative thinking), and treatments including antidepressants and cognitive behavioural therapy.

The effects of mental health problems on individuals (relationships, work, physical health) and on society (the economy and healthcare), the role of stigma, and ways of supporting mental health and reducing its impact.

Types of data (quantitative and qualitative; primary and secondary) and descriptive statistics: measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode), the range, percentages and ratios, and ways of presenting data (tables, bar charts and scatter graphs).

Ethical issues and guidelines in psychological research: informed consent, deception, the right to withdraw, protection from harm, confidentiality and debriefing, and how researchers deal with these issues.

Non-experimental methods: observations, self-report (questionnaires and interviews), case studies and correlations, plus the concepts of reliability and validity used to evaluate all research.

Planning research: aims and hypotheses (directional and non-directional, the null hypothesis), experimental methods (laboratory, field and natural experiments), and experimental designs (independent measures, repeated measures and matched pairs).

Sampling methods (random, opportunity, systematic, stratified) and variables: independent and dependent variables, operationalisation, extraneous and confounding variables, and controls.

Applications of social influence: how social influence research is used to promote pro-social behaviour and independent behaviour, including how people resist conformity and obedience and the value of dissent and social support.

Collective and crowd behaviour: deindividuation, the effect of being in a crowd on behaviour, social loafing, and explanations of why crowds can behave in pro-social or anti-social ways.

Conformity and obedience: the difference between them, the main types and reasons for conformity (normative and informational influence), and explanations of obedience to authority.

The social influence core studies: the classic study Bickman (1974) on the social power of a uniform (a situational factor in obedience), and the contemporary study NatCen (2011) on the 2011 English riots (dispositional and situational factors).

Factors affecting conformity and obedience: situational factors (group size, anonymity, task difficulty, presence of an ally, locus of authority) and dispositional factors (personality, including locus of control).