Psychology

What is Psychology?

It has been defined as ‘The Science of Mind and Behaviour’. It’s a fascinating subject that brings together aspects of science and social sciences and it considers questions as diverse as: How do we perceive colours? How do children acquire language? What causes schizophrenia? Is eyewitness testimony unreliable? Why do we dream? Why do people commit crime? Psychology works toward trying to explain why we do things and how our genes, nervous system and environment enable us to do them.

Why study Psychology?

Aside from the insight it gives into human behaviour, Psychology is a subject that can be applied in many different careers and areas of study. The understanding of human and societal interaction is valuable in Business, Computing, Media, Law, Teaching, Nursing, and Medicine. Many universities offer Psychology courses with a wide range of specialisms such as Sports, Educational, Health, Occupational, Forensic or Clinical Psychology. It’s an excellent A’level subject if you are curious about people, methodical and creative in your approach to learning and have good critical thinking skills.

Course requirements:

This is a subject we start from scratch so you do not need to have studied it before, however an interest in understanding human behaviour would be a definite advantage. During the course you will need to be able to communicate effectively, and cope with data analysis and scientific thinking. To do the course you therefore must have a GCSE level 5 in Maths, English and Science.

If you have any questions, please speak to Mrs Sims or email j.sims@gateacre.org

“Leaders make sure that students are prepared well to move on to the training and courses they wish to undertake. Most students move on to university courses.”
Ofsted 2020