AQA A-Level Psychology 7182

Complete Specification — A/A* Revision Notes

Current specification: Built for the refreshed AQA 7182 course first assessed at A level in 2027.

Course Map

Paper 1 — Introductory Topics in Psychology

• Social influence
• Memory
• Attachment
• Clinical Psychology and Mental Health

Paper 2 — Psychology in Context

• Approaches in Psychology
• Biopsychology
• Research methods

Paper 3 — Issues and Options in Psychology

• Issues and debates
• Relationships / Gender / Cognition and development
• Schizophrenia / Eating behaviour / Stress
• Aggression / Forensic Psychology / Addiction

This file includes all Paper 3 options.

1 Social Influence

Conformity

Compliance

Public agreement without private acceptance. Usually temporary.

Identification

Conformity because membership of a group/role is valued. Public and private change may occur while group identity remains salient.

Internalisation

Deep public and private acceptance that persists after group pressure disappears.

Normative Social Influence

Conform to:

• gain approval;
• avoid rejection.

Most powerful where:

• group matters;
• response is public;
• need for belonging is high.

Informational Social Influence

Conform because others are believed to be correct.

Most likely where:

• situation is ambiguous;
• task is difficult;
• others appear expert;
• crisis creates uncertainty.

Asch — Variables Affecting Conformity

Know:

• group size;
• unanimity;
• task difficulty.

AO3:

• controlled causal evidence;
• artificial task;
• cultural and historical context;
• individual variation;
• demand characteristics.

Conformity to Social Roles — Zimbardo

Prison simulation:

• random role assignment;
• guard/prisoner behaviour;
• escalating role-consistent behaviour;
• study ended early.

AO3:

• severe ethical concerns;
• researcher involvement;
• demand-characteristic explanations;
• guards differed considerably;
• questions over dispositional vs situational causation.

Obedience — Milgram

Know:

• teacher/learner;
• shock generator;
• experimenter prods;
• behavioural tension;
• maximum-voltage measure.

Situational variables

• proximity;
• location;
• uniform.

Agentic state

Person sees self as an agent carrying out authority's wishes and displaces personal responsibility.

Legitimacy of authority

People accept authority as having socially recognised right to command.

Authoritarian personality

Rigid, conventional, submissive to authority and hostile toward lower-status groups.

AO3:

• correlational evidence cannot establish authoritarianism causes obedience;
• situational variables often have stronger immediate effects;
• authoritarianism may explain only subset of obedient participants.

Resistance

Social support

Dissent:

• breaks unanimity;
• models resistance;
• lowers perceived cost of dissent.

Locus of control

Internal: outcomes linked to own actions.

External: outcomes linked to luck/fate/powerful others.

Internality may support resistance, but effects vary by situation.

Minority Influence

Effective minorities show:

• consistency;
• commitment;
• flexibility.

Process: minority creates conflict → majority scrutinises message → deeper processing → conversion.

Social Change

• minority consistency;
• deeper processing;
• augmentation;
• snowball effect;
• social cryptomnesia.

2 Memory

Multi-Store Model

Stores:

• sensory register;
• STM;
• LTM.

Dimensions:

• coding;
• capacity;
• duration.

STM generally:

• acoustic coding;
• limited capacity;
• short duration.

LTM generally:

• semantic coding;
• very large capacity/duration.

Processes: attention → STM → rehearsal → LTM → retrieval.

AO3:

• supporting coding/capacity studies;
• unitary STM/LTM oversimplified;
• maintenance rehearsal not only route to durable learning.

Types of LTM

Episodic

Personal events with time/place context.

Semantic

Facts/general knowledge.

Procedural

Skills and action sequences.

Evidence from neurological dissociations supports separable systems.

Working Memory Model

• central executive;
• phonological loop;
• visuo-spatial sketchpad;
• episodic buffer.

Phonological loop:

• phonological store;
• articulatory process.

AO3:

• dual-task evidence;
• neuropsychological cases;
• central executive remains difficult to specify/test.

Forgetting

Interference

Proactive: old disrupts new.
Retroactive: new disrupts old.

Similarity increases interference.

Retrieval Failure

Memory available but inaccessible because cues absent.

Encoding specificity: retrieval best when cues overlap encoding.

• context-dependent;
• state-dependent.

Eyewitness Testimony

Misleading information

Leading questions can alter reports.

Loftus & Palmer: verb manipulation affected speed estimate and later recall.

Post-event discussion

Co-witness information can contaminate memory through conformity/source-monitoring error.

Anxiety

Can enhance or impair depending on arousal, realism and attentional narrowing.

Cognitive interview

• report everything;
• context reinstatement;
• reverse order;
• change perspective.

Enhanced version adds communication/social strategies.

AO3:

• increases quantity;
• some techniques more effective;
• training/time costs;
• may increase incorrect information.

3 Attachment

Caregiver–Infant Interaction

Reciprocity: mutual turn-taking response.
Interactional synchrony: coordinated timing/form of behaviours.

Evaluation:

• observer reliability;
• infant behaviour difficult to interpret;
• may describe correlation rather than attachment cause.

Development of Attachment

Stages:

• asocial;
• indiscriminate;
• specific;
• multiple.

Role of Father

Father may be:

• primary attachment;
• secondary attachment;
• play-focused attachment figure.

Caregiving sensitivity matters more than gender alone.

Animal Studies

Lorenz

Imprinting; sensitive period.

Harlow

Contact comfort more important than feeding wire surrogate.

AO3:

• important challenge to learning theory;
• animal-human generalisation;
• ethical harm.

Learning Theory

Classical conditioning: caregiver associated with food.

Operant: caregiver removal of discomfort reinforces attachment behaviour.

AO3:

• food not sufficient;
• Harlow evidence;
• may explain some learned interactions, not complete attachment bond.

Bowlby's Theory

• attachment adaptive;
• monotropy;
• social releasers;
• sensitive/critical period;
• internal working model;
• continuity hypothesis.

AO3:

• internal working model evidence;
• multiple attachments challenge simple monotropy;
• avoid deterministic interpretation.

Strange Situation

Measures:

• separation anxiety;
• stranger anxiety;
• reunion;
• exploration.

Types:

• secure;
• insecure-avoidant;
• insecure-resistant.

Evaluation:

• reliability;
• culture;
• temperament;
• imposed-etic risk.

Cultural Variation

Compare within-culture and between-culture variation.

Meta-analysis: strength = large combined sample; limitations = heterogeneous procedures, urban bias, cultural meaning of behaviour.

Maternal Deprivation

Prolonged separation from attachment figure during sensitive period proposed to cause emotional/intellectual harm.

Distinguish:

• deprivation = loss/disruption;
• privation = attachment never formed.

Romanian Orphans

Institutional deprivation:

• attachment disturbance;
• cognitive effects;
• disinhibited attachment.

Earlier adoption often predicts stronger recovery.

Shows both risk and plasticity.

4 Clinical Psychology and Mental Health

Definitions of Abnormality

Statistical infrequency

Rare relative to population.

Weakness: rare can be desirable; threshold arbitrary.

Deviation from social norms

Violates explicit/implicit cultural expectations.

Weakness: culture/time-dependent; can be used for social control.

Failure to function adequately

Difficulty coping with everyday life.

Possible indicators:

• distress;
• maladaptiveness;
• observer discomfort;
• irrationality.

Deviation from ideal mental health

Positive criteria for healthy functioning.

Strength: holistic.

Weakness: unrealistically demanding and culturally specific.

Phobias

Behavioural:

• avoidance;
• panic;
• endurance.

Emotional:

• fear/anxiety.

Cognitive:

• irrational beliefs;
• selective attention.

Two-process model

Acquisition: classical conditioning.

Maintenance: negative reinforcement of avoidance.

Systematic desensitisation

• hierarchy;
• relaxation;
• gradual exposure;
• reciprocal inhibition/counterconditioning.

Flooding

Immediate prolonged exposure without escape.

Evaluation: fast/cost-effective but distress/dropout can be higher.

Depression

Behavioural: withdrawal, reduced activity.

Emotional: sadness, anger.

Cognitive: negative beliefs, poor concentration.

Beck

• faulty processing;
• negative self-schema;
• negative triad: self/world/future.

Ellis ABC

A activating event
B irrational belief
C consequence

CBT

Identify/challenge dysfunctional beliefs and test alternatives behaviourally.

AO3: effective for many; needs engagement; relapse possible; combined biological treatments can be useful.

OCD

Behavioural: compulsions/avoidance.

Emotional: anxiety/distress.

Cognitive: obsessions/intrusions.

Biological explanation

• polygenic vulnerability;
• serotonin;
• neural circuits.

Evaluation: family/twin evidence; correlation ≠ causation; heterogeneous disorder.

Drug therapy

SSRIs; sometimes combined with psychological therapy.

Evaluate: symptom reduction, side effects, publication bias, mechanism uncertainty.

5 Approaches in Psychology

Origins

Wundt: controlled introspection and psychology as independent science.

Behaviourist

Pavlov: classical conditioning.

Skinner: operant conditioning:

• positive reinforcement;
• negative reinforcement;
• punishment.

Strength: objective experimental method.

Limitations: environmental determinism; animal generalisation; ignores mediational processes.

Social Learning Theory

Bandura:

• observation;
• imitation;
• identification;
• vicarious reinforcement;
• attention;
• retention;
• motor reproduction;
• motivation.

Cognitive

• internal mental processes;
• schemas;
• inference;
• theoretical/computer models;
• cognitive neuroscience.

Biological

• genes;
• neurochemistry;
• brain structures;
• evolutionary processes.

Methods: twin/family, imaging, drug studies.

Psychodynamic

• unconscious;
• id, ego, superego;
• defence mechanisms;
• psychosexual development.

Critique: falsifiability and case-study bias.

Humanistic

• free will;
• personal growth;
• self-actualisation;
• congruence;
• conditions of worth.

Critique: holistic and positive but difficult to test empirically.

Comparing Approaches

Use:

• nature/nurture;
• determinism/free will;
• reductionism/holism;
• scientific status;
• applications.

6 Biopsychology

Nervous System

CNS: brain + spinal cord.

PNS: somatic + autonomic.

Autonomic: sympathetic + parasympathetic.

Neurons

• sensory;
• relay;
• motor.

Structure: dendrites, soma, axon, myelin, terminals.

Synapse

1. action potential arrives;
2. neurotransmitter released;
3. crosses cleft;
4. binds receptor;
5. excitatory/inhibitory response;
6. breakdown/reuptake.

Endocrine System

Hormones released into blood.

Fight-or-flight: hypothalamus → sympathetic activation → adrenal medulla → adrenaline.

Localisation

• motor cortex;
• somatosensory cortex;
• visual cortex;
• auditory cortex;
• Broca;
• Wernicke.

AO3: localisation supported by lesions/imaging; many behaviours rely on distributed networks.

Lateralisation and Split-Brain

Sperry-style research: hemispheric specialisation after corpus callosum severed.

Avoid simplistic "left-brain/right-brain personality" claims.

Plasticity and Functional Recovery

Mechanisms:

• neural reorganisation;
• axonal sprouting;
• homologous-area recruitment.

Factors:

• age;
• rehabilitation;
• severity.

Biological Rhythms

Circadian: ~24 hours.

Infradian: longer than 24h.

Ultradian: shorter than 24h.

Endogenous pacemaker: SCN.

Exogenous zeitgeber: light/social cues.

7 Research Methods

Experiments

• laboratory;
• field;
• natural;
• quasi.

Design:

• independent groups;
• repeated measures;
• matched pairs.

Operationalise IV/DV.

Extraneous variable: could influence DV.

Confounding: varies systematically with IV and threatens causal inference.

Sampling

• random;
• systematic;
• stratified;
• opportunity;
• volunteer.

Observations

• naturalistic/controlled;
• participant/non-participant;
• overt/covert.

Behavioural categories: objective, observable, sufficiently precise.

Self-report

Questionnaire/interview. Open vs closed. Structured vs unstructured interview.

Correlation

Measures association: [ -1\le r\le+1 ]

Does not establish cause.

Case Study

Rich idiographic data; low control/generalisation.

Content Analysis

Systematic coding of communication/material.

Reliability

• test-retest;
• inter-rater/observer;
• internal consistency where appropriate.

Validity

• internal;
• ecological;
• temporal;
• face;
• concurrent.

Ethics

• consent;
• deception;
• right to withdraw;
• protection;
• privacy/confidentiality;
• debrief.

Data

• primary/secondary;
• quantitative/qualitative;
• nominal/ordinal/interval.

Descriptive statistics:

• mean;
• median;
• mode;
• range;
• standard deviation;
• percentages.

Normal distribution: symmetrical.

Skew: positive/negative.

Inferential Statistics

Select based on:

1. difference vs association;
2. related vs unrelated;
3. level of measurement.

Tests:

• sign test;
• Spearman;
• Pearson;
• Wilcoxon;
• Mann–Whitney;
• related/unrelated t;
• chi-square.

Significance: typically compare calculated and critical values.

Type I: reject true null.

Type II: fail to reject false null.

Scientific Process

• hypothesis;
• theory;
• falsifiability;
• replication;
• peer review;
• objectivity;
• reporting.

8 Issues and Debates

Gender Bias

Alpha: exaggerates sex/gender differences.

Beta: minimises differences.

Androcentrism: male experience treated as standard.

Culture Bias

Ethnocentrism vs cultural relativism. Emic vs etic.

Free Will / Determinism

• hard;
• soft;
• biological;
• environmental;
• psychic.

Nature / Nurture

Interactionism: genes and environment jointly influence behaviour.

Reductionism / Holism

Reductionism increases testability but may omit emergent social/cognitive context.

Idiographic / Nomothetic

Idiographic = individual depth. Nomothetic = general laws.

Social Sensitivity / Ethics

Consider:

• group stigma;
• policy;
• public interpretation;
• research questions;
• participant consequences.

9 Relationships

Evolutionary explanations: sexual selection, anisogamy, inter/intrasexual selection.

Attraction:

• self-disclosure;
• physical attractiveness;
• matching hypothesis;
• filter theory.

Relationship theories:

• social exchange;
• equity;
• Rusbult investment;
• Duck's phase model.

Virtual relationships: reduced cues/hyperpersonal model.

Parasocial:

• entertainment-social;
• intense-personal;
• borderline-pathological;
• absorption-addiction;
• attachment explanations.

10 Gender

• sex vs gender;
• androgyny;
• BSRI;
• chromosomes and hormones;
• atypical sex chromosome patterns where specified;
• Kohlberg gender identity/stability/constancy;
• gender schema theory;
• social learning;
• psychodynamic explanation;
• culture/media influence;
• explanations of gender dysphoria/incongruence.

AO3: avoid biologically/socially deterministic overclaims; use cultural and methodological evidence.

11 Cognition and Development

Piaget:

• schemas;
• assimilation;
• accommodation;
• equilibration;
• stages.

Tasks:

• object permanence;
• conservation;
• class inclusion.

Vygotsky:

• social learning;
• ZPD;
• scaffolding.

Baillargeon: violation-of-expectation and early object knowledge.

Theory of mind: false-belief tasks.

Autism: theory-of-mind research is one explanatory framework, not a complete description of autistic experience.

Mirror neurons: proposed role in imitation/empathy; evidence contested.

12 Schizophrenia

Diagnosis: positive symptoms:

• hallucinations;
• delusions.

Negative:

• avolition;
• speech poverty.

Issues:

• reliability;
• validity;
• symptom overlap;
• comorbidity;
• culture/gender bias.

Biological:

• polygenic;
• dopamine;
• neural correlates.

Psychological:

• family dysfunction;
• expressed emotion;
• cognitive processing.

Treatments:

• typical/atypical antipsychotics;
• CBT;
• family therapy;
• token economy.

Interactionist: diathesis-stress.

13 Eating Behaviour

• evolutionary and learning influences on food preference;
• neural/hormonal mechanisms of eating;
• biological and psychological obesity explanations;
• biological and psychological explanations of anorexia nervosa;
• social/cultural influences;
• evaluation of multifactorial models and treatment implications.

14 Stress

Physiology:

• SAM pathway;
• HPA axis;
• cortisol.

Stress and illness: immune/cardiovascular links.

Sources:

• life changes;
• daily hassles;
• workplace stress.

Individual differences:

• Type A;
• hardiness.

Management:

• drugs;
• stress inoculation;
• biofeedback;
• social support.

15 Aggression

Biological:

• neural;
• serotonin;
• testosterone;
• genetics.

Ethological/evolutionary.

Social:

• social learning;
• deindividuation.

Institutional aggression:

• dispositional;
• situational.

Media:

• games;
• desensitisation;
• disinhibition;
• cognitive priming.

16 Forensic Psychology

Offender profiling:

• top-down organised/disorganised;
• bottom-up investigative/geographical.

Explanations:

• biological;
• Eysenck;
• cognitive distortions;
• differential association;
• psychodynamic.

Treatments/management:

• custodial sentencing;
• token economy;
• anger management;
• restorative justice.

Evaluate with recidivism and ethical evidence.

17 Addiction

Features:

• physical/psychological dependence;
• tolerance;
• withdrawal.

Risk:

• genetics;
• stress;
• personality;
• peers/family.

Explanations:

• reward pathways;
• learning;
• cognitive biases.

Reduction:

• drug therapy;
• behavioural therapy;
• CBT;
• public-health interventions.

Relapse:

• cues;
• stress;
• expectancy.

AQA Exam Language

Outline

AO1 only: precise and relevant.

Explain

Use causal mechanism.

Discuss

AO1 + developed AO3.

Evaluate

Evidence-based judgement.

Application

Link exact scenario detail to theory.

Example:

“The student is showing informational social influence because the task is ambiguous and they use others as a source of correct information.”

AO3 Template

Point → Evidence → Explain → Link

Strong AO3:

• empirical support/challenge;
• methodology;
• alternative theory;
• application;
• issues/debates;
• judgement.

Common Lost Marks

• confusing compliance/internalisation;
• mixing NSI/ISI;
• mixing retroactive/proactive interference;
• treating retrieval failure as erasure;
• confusing deprivation/privation;
• correlation ≠ causation;
• neurotransmitter ≠ hormone;
• generic evaluation with no theory link;
• reliability ≠ validity;
• (p<.05) is not probability hypothesis is true;
• determinism does not automatically invalidate a theory;
• culture bias requires more than noting cultures differ.