GCSE Psychology Wikia

This Wikia provides information and important content relating to GCSE Psychology. Summary notes, guides, example exam questions, and tips are provided on this website. Made by A\* GCSE Psychology students. Good luck!

## Welcome to the GCSE Psychology Wikia for Edexcel

This Wikia provides information and important content relating to GCSE Psychology. Summary notes, guides, example exam questions, and tips are provided on this website. This website provides information for GCSE Psychology for the Edexcel exam board, but may be useful for other exam boards and intends to help other GCSE Psychology students.

**How to use this website:**

 First **check out the syllabus** and find about the different topics. You can also check out the Edexcel GCSE Psychology website here, where you can find the specification and past papers.

**Here are the links to the different topics, where the content has been broken down for you step by step:**

(This site is still under construction)

## Syllabus Outline

**Topic A - How do we see the world?** Note: Note: For key terminology/tips/exam question details, click on the link.

1. Biological structure of the eye
2. Gregory's theory
3. Gestalt laws
4. Visual illusions
5. Palmer
6. Bartlett
7. Carmichael
8. Methodology
9. Ethics in Research (Topic A)
10. Eyewitness memory and schema

**Topic B - Is dreaming meaningful?**  Note: For key terminology/tips/exam question details, click on the link.

1. Freud's dream theory
2. How neurons send messages
3. Hobson and McCarley's activation-synthesis theory
4. Comparison of Freud and Activation Synthesis
5. Methodology (For Topic B)
6. Ethics issues (For Topic B)
7. The Case Study Method
8. Dream analysis of Little Hans
9. Evaluation of dream analysis
10. Role of psychoanalyst
11. How psychological sleep disorders are treated

**Topic C - Do video and TV games affect young people's behaviour?**

1. Biological causes of aggression
2. Social Learning Theory (social theory)
3. Comparing Biological and Social Theories of Aggression
4. Ramirez et al (2001)
5. Anderson and Dill (2000)
6. Charlton et al (2000)
7. Williams (1981)
8. Comparing Charlton et al and Williams et al
9. Content Analysis (methodology)
10. Ethics in research
11. Role of an educational psychologist
12. Censorship

**Topic D - Why do we have phobias? Note: For key terminology/tips/exam question details, click on the link.**

1. Evolutionary explanation of preparedness
2. Social Learning Theory (not the same in Topic C)
3. Classical Conditioning
4. Nature-Nurture Debate
5. Methodology (for this unit)
6. Questionnaires
7. Practical and Ethical Issues of Animal Experiments
8. Cover Jones (1924) Little Peter
9. Bennett-Levy and Marteau (1984) Preparedness
10. Treatment of Phobias - Flooding and Systematic Desensitisation
11. Role of a Clinical Psychologist
12. Heinrichs et al (2005) Cultural Anxiety
13. Animal Studies - Ethics and Practicality

**Topic E - Are criminals born or made?** Note: For key terminology/tips/exam question details, click on the link.

1. Biological explanations of criminality
2. Social explanations of criminality
3. Comparing biological and social explanations of criminality
4. Sigall and Ostrove 1975
5. Madon et al 2004
6. Theilgaard 1984
7. Ethical and practical problems associated with biological and social research into criminality
8. Purpose, process and effectiveness of Offender Profiling
9. Offender profiling in the case of John Duffy
10. Role of a forensic psychologist

Click here to see example Topic E exam questions. And here to see a summary of all the case studies that you may need.

## Example Exam Questions, Case Study Summaries

Only the hard questions such as the 6~10 mark questions will be tackled, and some 3~4 mark questions will be included.

For some topics, case study summaries are included, which are summaries of all the case studies that you may need in the course.

1. Topic A Example Exam Questions
2. Topic B Example Exam Questions
3. Topic C Example Exam Questions
4. Topic D Example Exam Questions Topic D Case Studies Summary
5. Topic E Example Exam Questions Topic E Case Studies Summary

## How to revise for GCSE Psychology

GCSE Psychology lasts for around 1 year and a half. That is Year 10 and half of Year 11. In Year 10 usually you will learn Topics A and B first. **Use your breaks to revise Topic A and B so that you can come into Year 11 knowing all of the content.** If you are in Year 11 and you haven't done this during your break, don't worry, Topics A and B are less challenging, so you can catch up very quickly.

Topics C, D and E are more challenging, where you are required to use the nature-nurture debate to write longer answer questions. The content also gets heavier. Make sure you pay attention in class, and make sure that your teacher covers all the content needed for the exam. **Check the content list to make sure that you know everything that will appear in the exam.**

Before the exam you must have done past papers do practice your knowledge. **Doing past papers can help you better understand how the mark scheme allocates marks.** Start doing this early on in the course, like in Year 10. Learn exam technique.

**Right before the exam spend a few hours revising all the content in the syllabus, making sure you remember all the main points about the topic.** You can use this website to make sure that you have covered all of the content yourself. You may use flashcards and quizzes to help you remember key information.

Good luck!

**For more exam tips and revision tips please click here. If you are considering taking GCSE Psychology or you want to know what you are in for, please click here and/or see the section below.**

## How hard is GCSE Psychology?

 GCSE Psychology is not an easy subject. It is very content based. However, most people find it a very interesting subject and can do well. **You need to score around 90% in total which is 80% in each paper for an A\*,** and not a lot of people can do that!

If you are a talented student taking Psychology you have nothing to worry about. With regular revision and good notes, you can easily get an A/A\*. But even if you are a mediocre student taking GCSE Psychology, you don't need to worry, the content is not hard to understand but the workload can be offputting. You probably do have the ability to do very well, but you are going to work as hard as the A\* students, **which means revising at least once every 2 weeks (more before exams) and making sure you understand all the content.** Hopefully with this website you can better improve your grade!

## Copyright disclaimer

You may use information from this website in your notes and in your exam. Some of this information has come from Pearson's Edexcel GCSE Psychology textbook and other sources such as Mr Spark's GCSE Psychology revision guide. It is strongly recommended that you by Pearson's textbook and you can access Mr Spark's revision guide for free.

**Not everything on this website may be correct. Some information may be incorrect. However we like to think that this website is reliable because most information has come from textbooks, revision guides, and mark schemes from past papers. If you see something wrong feel free to change it yourself. (Your edits are seen and checked)**

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