Scotland Β· SQASyllabus
Psychology syllabus, dot point by dot point
Every dot point in the Scotland 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.
Individual Behaviour
Module overview β- What is depression, what explains it, and how is it treated?Depression: the nature, symptoms and diagnosis of depression, biological and psychological explanations of its causes, biological and psychological treatments, and the supporting research evidence and methods.13 min answer β
- How do we store, hold and retrieve information in memory?Memory: the structure and processes of memory, models and explanations of memory, theories of forgetting, and the research evidence and methods used to study memory.13 min answer β
- Why do we sleep and dream, and what happens when sleep goes wrong?Sleep, dreams and sleep disorders: the nature and stages of sleep, theories and explanations of why we sleep and dream, sleep disorders, and the research evidence and methods used to study sleep.13 min answer β
- What is stress, what causes it, and how can it be managed?Stress: the nature and physiology of stress, sources and causes of stress, the effects of stress on health, methods of coping with and managing stress, and the supporting research evidence and methods.13 min answer β
Research
Module overview β- How do psychologists analyse and present the data they collect?Analysing and presenting data: qualitative and quantitative data, descriptive statistics including measures of central tendency and dispersion, methods of presenting data, and drawing conclusions from research findings.12 min answer β
- How do psychologists design studies to investigate behaviour?Research methods and the experiment: the main research methods used in psychology, the experimental method, hypotheses and variables, experimental designs, and the strengths and weaknesses of each method.13 min answer β
- How do psychologists sample participants, act ethically, and make studies trustworthy?Sampling, ethics, reliability and validity: methods of sampling participants, the ethical issues and guidelines in psychological research, and the concepts of reliability and validity used to judge a study's quality.13 min answer β
- What is the Higher Psychology assignment and how is it assessed?The Higher Psychology assignment: an overview of the researched report worth 40 marks, including the research question, the use of research methods, the analysis of findings, and the conclusions and evaluation.11 min answer β
Social Behaviour
Module overview β- What causes aggressive behaviour?Aggression: the nature of aggression, biological, psychological and social explanations of aggressive behaviour, factors that increase aggression, and the research evidence and methods used to study it.13 min answer β
- Why do people conform to groups and obey authority?Conformity and obedience: the nature of conformity and obedience, explanations of why people conform and obey, factors that affect them, and the key research evidence and methods used to study social influence.13 min answer β
- Why are people prejudiced, and how can prejudice be reduced?Prejudice: the nature of prejudice and discrimination, explanations of why prejudice develops, methods of reducing prejudice, and the research evidence and methods used to study it.13 min answer β
- Why do we form, maintain and end relationships?Social relationships: the nature of social relationships, explanations of why relationships form, are maintained and break down, factors affecting attraction, and the research evidence and methods used to study relationships.13 min answer β