Psychology — Year 10

You will study several keys areas in memory research. These include: • encoding, storage & retrieval, Baddeley’s study of encoding, types of memory, the Multi-store model of memory, Murdock’s primacy & recency effect, reconstructive memory theory & Bartlett’s research, McGeoch & McDonald’s study of interference, Godden & Baddeley’s context dependent memory, Loftus & Pickrell false memory study

Students study the following aspects of research: types of experiments, experimental design, sampling methods, ethical concerns.

Students learn how perception differs to sensation and the visual cues that support perception. They use theories such as Gregory's constructivist theory to explain visual illusions. Students will also study factors that affect perception such as culture, emotion, and motivation.

Students study Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and his proposed stages of development. Several pieces of research are used to evaluate the accuracy and usefulness of Piaget's theory. Students also learn about Carol Dweck's growth mindset theory and Daniel Willingham's learning theory.

In this second section of research methods students will learn about observations, self-reports and questionnaires, as well as correlation studies, types of data, descriptive statistics and computation.

In this unit students will study mental health and mental illness. They learn about diagnosis and the impact of mental health problems on the individual and on society. There is a focus on two mental illnesses, depression and addiction. For both of these illnesses, students look at explanations for the illness and methods of treatment.