Psychology syllabus, dot point by dot point

Topic 1.1 Interaction of Heredity and Environment: explain how the interaction of nature and nurture, studied through twin, family, and adoption research, shapes psychological traits.

Topic 1.2 Overview of the Nervous System: describe the organization of the central and peripheral nervous systems, the somatic and autonomic divisions, and the role of the endocrine system.

Topic 1.6 Sensation: explain transduction, sensory thresholds and adaptation, and how the visual, auditory, and other sensory systems detect and encode stimuli.

Topic 1.5 Sleep: describe the stages of sleep and the sleep cycle, the role of circadian rhythms, theories of why we sleep and dream, and major sleep disorders.

Topic 1.4 The Brain: identify the major structures of the brain and their functions, explain hemispheric specialization and plasticity, and describe the tools used to study the brain.

Topic 1.3 The Neuron and Neural Firing: explain the structure of the neuron, the action potential, synaptic transmission, and how neurotransmitters and drugs influence neural communication.

Topic 2.4 Encoding Memories: explain the processes of encoding information into memory, including effortful and automatic processing, levels of processing, and mnemonic strategies.

Topic 2.7 Forgetting and Other Memory Challenges: explain the causes of forgetting, including encoding failure, decay, interference, and retrieval failure, and how memory can be distorted.

Topic 2.8 Intelligence and Achievement: explain theories of intelligence, how intelligence and achievement are measured, and the role of heredity, environment, and bias in testing.

Topic 2.3 Introduction to Memory: describe the major models of memory, including the three-stage information-processing model and the different memory systems.

Topic 2.1 Perception: explain bottom-up and top-down processing, perceptual organization and constancies, depth and gestalt principles, and the influence of attention and set.

Topic 2.6 Retrieving Memories: explain the processes of retrieval, the difference between recall and recognition, and the cues and effects that aid or distort retrieval.

Topic 2.5 Storing Memories: describe how memories are stored, the types of long-term memory, and the brain structures and processes involved in memory storage.

Topic 2.2 Thinking, Problem-Solving, Judgments, and Decision-Making: explain concepts and prototypes, problem-solving strategies, and the heuristics and biases that shape judgment.

Topic 3.7 Classical Conditioning: explain classical conditioning, including the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli and responses, acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination.

Topic 3.4 Cognitive Development Across the Lifespan: explain Piaget's stages of cognitive development, Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and the zone of proximal development, and the changes in cognition during adulthood and aging.

Topic 3.5 Communication and Language Development: describe the stages and milestones of language acquisition and explain the major theories of language development, including the role of a critical period.

Topic 3.3 Gender and Sexual Orientation: distinguish sex from gender, explain gender identity, gender roles, and gender typing, and describe the biological and environmental influences on gender and sexual orientation.

Topic 3.8 Operant Conditioning: explain operant conditioning, including positive and negative reinforcement and punishment, primary and secondary reinforcers, shaping, and the schedules of reinforcement.

Topic 3.2 Physical Development Across the Lifespan: describe prenatal development and teratogens, infant reflexes and motor milestones, the changes of puberty and adolescence, and the physical and sensory changes of adulthood and aging.

Topic 3.9 Social, Cognitive, and Neurological Factors in Learning: explain observational learning and modeling, cognitive influences such as latent and insight learning, and biological factors such as biological preparedness and instinctive drift.

Topic 3.6 Social-Emotional Development Across the Lifespan: explain attachment styles, parenting styles, temperament, Erikson's psychosocial stages, Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning, and ecological systems theory.

Topic 3.1 Themes and Methods in Developmental Psychology: explain the recurring themes of development (stability and change, nature and nurture, continuity and stages) and the research methods (cross-sectional and longitudinal) used to study them.

Topic 4.2 Attitude Formation and Attitude Change: explain how attitudes form and change, including cognitive dissonance, the foot-in-the-door and door-in-the-face techniques, the central and peripheral routes to persuasion, and the link between attitudes and behavior.

Topic 4.1 Attribution Theory and Person Perception: explain attribution theory, the dispositional and situational attributions, the fundamental attribution error, self-serving and actor-observer biases, and person-perception effects such as the mere exposure effect.

Topic 4.7 Emotion: explain the major theories of emotion (James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schachter-Singer two-factor, and cognitive appraisal), the role of physiological arousal, and the expression and universality of emotion.

Topic 4.6 Motivation: explain the major theories of motivation, including drive-reduction, arousal, Maslow's hierarchy, incentive, and self-determination theory, and apply them to hunger and other motivated behaviors.

Topic 4.4 Psychodynamic and Humanistic Theories of Personality: explain Freud's psychodynamic theory, including the id, ego, and superego and the ego defense mechanisms, and the humanistic theories of Maslow and Rogers, including self-actualization and unconditional positive regard.

Topic 4.3 Psychology of Social Situations: explain conformity, obedience, and group influences such as social facilitation, social loafing, deindividuation, group polarization, and groupthink, and describe prosocial behavior and the bystander effect.

Topic 4.5 Social-Cognitive and Trait Theories of Personality: explain the trait approach and the Big Five factors, the social-cognitive theory including reciprocal determinism and self-efficacy, and the methods used to assess personality.

Topic 5.4 Categories of Psychological Disorders: describe the major categories of psychological disorders, including anxiety, OCD, depressive and bipolar, schizophrenia spectrum, dissociative, trauma- and stressor-related, feeding and eating, neurodevelopmental, and personality disorders, and their defining symptoms.

Topic 5.3 Explaining and Diagnosing Psychological Disorders: explain how psychological disorders are defined and classified, the diagnostic systems (DSM and ICD), and the models used to explain disorders, including the biopsychosocial and diathesis-stress models.

Topic 5.1 Introduction to Health Psychology: explain stress and stressors, the general adaptation syndrome, the effects of stress on health, and the strategies people use to cope with stress.

Topic 5.2 Positive Psychology: explain the aims of positive psychology, subjective well-being, the concepts of flow, gratitude, character strengths and virtues, resilience, and posttraumatic growth.

Topic 5.5 Treatment of Psychological Disorders: describe the major approaches to treatment, including psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral, cognitive, and biomedical therapies, and the formats and ethics of treatment.