You only study unit 3 (7182) if you are doing the full A level for psychology. This has numerous topics for you to pick from and you need to select 3 to study out of the list below (in addition to Issues and debates which is mandatory for everyone and part of section A). The roadmap below outlines your progress to unit 3.
AQA A Psychology Road Map
Below you have an outline of everything you study as part of unit 3. Issues and debates is mandatory meaning everyone must answer questions on this however the next sections allow you to pick topics. In total you need to pick 3 topics out of a possible 9 to study and answer questions on. The topics for unit 3 7182 are all detailed below with model essay answers for them which you can download.
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Issues and debates in psychology for unit 3 is covered here. (click)
Below is an outline of what you need to know for this.
- Gender and culture in psychology – universality bias. Gender bias including androcentrism and alpha and beta bias; cultural bias, including ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.
- Free will and determinism: hard determinism and soft determinism; biological, environmental and psychic determinism. The scientific emphasis on causal explanations.
- The nature-nurture debate: the relative importance of heredity and environment in determining behaviour; the interactionist approach.
- Holism and reductionism: levels of explanation in psychology. Biological reductionism and environmental (stimulus-response) reductionism.
- Idiographic and nomothetic approaches to psychological investigation.
- Ethical implications of research studies and theory, including reference to social sensitivity.
You pick 3 topics to study and answer questions on from the list below which include:
One from: Aggression – Forensic psychology – Addiction
One from: Schizophrenia – Eating behaviour – Stress
One from: Relationships – Cognition and Development – Gender
Saj Devshi
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Would the content in the gender book be relevant to the new spec?
Hi Milo,
I wouldnt recommend the old spec one as the content wont fully cover everything you need to know.
I’m working on a Gender ebook for the new spec currently which should be out by March time! If you follow the Facebook page for Loopa you can get notified in your news feed once its out.
I hope this helps?
-Saj
Hey Saj, just wondering when the new spec addiction booklet will be up ?
Hi Mathura,
Its likely to be after March – I’ve got Gender next after Forensic psychology as a lot of students requested that one so slight wait for it. I’ll do my best though to get it out as soon as possible,
Saj
my exam is so soon but none of my paper 3 option textbooks are out!!!!!! (stress, cognitive development and addiction)
Im sorry Annie! I’m working on them as fast as I can! They will be out for next year so if needed then (perhaps if you do need to retake them topics – hopefully not however) they should be helpful!
-Saj
Hi Saj, are the current e-books and textbook helpful or relevant to the new 2017 A-Level spec?
Hi Pearl – Yes all the resources on Loopa are for the new AQA specification only. The old resources have been removed so there is no confusion. The remaining unit 3 topics are also currently being written with Gender out soon.
I hope this helps!
-Saj
Hi Saj, Will you be doing model answers for Stress and for Cognition and Development?
Hi – Yes! Just finishing the Gender topic which I’m aiming to have released this coming weekend. Just 2 essays left to finalise. Then moving over to the other remaining topics – next one is cognition and development!
-Saj aka Loopa :)