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Psychology (XPS01)
9 sections available · 42 chapters available
Free Psychology (XPS01) revision notes for Pearson Edexcel International AS Level students. Each chapter covers a key topic with worked examples and practice prompts you can take straight into the thinka app.
Social and cognitive psychology
Biological psychology, learning theories and development
Unit 1 Topic A: Social psychology
Obedience: agency theory and social power theory
Milgram (1963) and variation studies
Conformity: types, explanations and Asch
Minority influence and factors affecting social influence
Classic study: Moscovici et al. (1969)
Contemporary studies: Burger (2009); Yi Huang et al. (2014) or Haun et al. (2014)
Self-report methods, sampling and BPS ethics
Applications of psychology
Topic E: Developmental psychology
Topic F: Criminological psychology
Topic G: Health psychology
Unit 1 Topic B: Cognitive psychology
Multi-store model of memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968)
Working memory model (Baddeley and Hitch, 1974)
Reconstructive memory and schema theory (Bartlett, 1932)
Brain-damaged patients and memory: the case of HM
Classic study: Bartlett (1932) War of the Ghosts
Contemporary studies: Schmolck et al. (2002); Darling et al. (2007) or Sacchi et al. (2007)
Experiments and experimental design
Unit 2 Topic C: Biological psychology
CNS, neurons, neurotransmitters and synaptic transmission
Brain structure and aggression
Hormones and genes in aggression
Circadian sleep-wake cycle: pacemakers and zeitgebers
Infradian rhythms, SAD and light therapy
Classic study: Raine et al. (1997)
Contemporary studies: Brendgen et al. (2005); McDermott (2008) or Hoefelmann et al. (2006)
Correlations, brain scanning and twin studies
Clinical psychology and psychological skills
Topic H: Clinical psychology
Topic I: Psychological skills
Unit 2 Topic D: Learning theories and development
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning and Skinner (1948)
Social learning theory
Psychodynamic approach to personality development
Therapies: systematic desensitisation and psychoanalysis
Classic study: Watson and Rayner (1920) Little Albert
Contemporary studies: Capafons et al. (1998); Prot (2014) or Bastian et al. (2011)
Observations, content analysis, case studies and animal ethics
Research methods and statistics (Lists A and B)
Hypotheses, variables and control
Descriptive statistics, tables and graphs (List A)
Distributions, levels of measurement and probability
Inferential testing: Wilcoxon, Spearman and chi-squared (List B)
Qualitative data and thematic analysis
Evaluating studies: validity, reliability, generalisability, objectivity
Practical investigations across Topics A-D
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