PSEB SS Psychology study plan

Define psychology and separate it from pseudo-scientific claims by writing a one-sentence definition plus three criteria a claim must meet to count as psychological evidence.

Compare the structuralist, functionalist, psychoanalytic, behaviourist and cognitive/humanistic schools on subject matter, preferred method and key figure, building the comparison table from memory before checking notes.

Label a neuron and the main brain divisions (hindbrain, midbrain, limbic system, four cortical lobes) and state one function for each region without referring to notes.

Explain how neurotransmitters and the endocrine system shape behaviour, generating one original everyday example for each mechanism.

Describe the divisions of the peripheral nervous system and trace how the autonomic branch produces a physical stress response in a real situation you have experienced.

Distinguish classical from operant conditioning by generating three original example pairs and naming the unconditioned, conditioned, reinforced and punished elements in each.

Design a behaviour-modification plan for a study habit, selecting a reinforcement schedule and justifying why that schedule fits the target behaviour.

Identify CS, UCS, CR, UCR and reinforcement contingencies in unfamiliar written scenarios without prompts.

Diagram the information-processing and working-memory models, labelling capacity, duration and coding for each store.

Compare trace decay, interference, retrieval failure and encoding failure as explanations of forgetting, citing one piece of evidence for each.

Apply three different mnemonics to a list of 20 psychology terms and record recall at one hour and at 24 hours.

Explain reconstructive memory and state two implications for the reliability of eyewitness testimony.

Formulate a testable hypothesis and operationalise the independent and dependent variables for a chosen behaviour.

Compare experimental, correlational, case-study, observational and survey designs on degree of control, ability to show causation and practical cost.

Distinguish correlation from causation using a concrete third-variable counter-example you construct yourself.

Apply informed consent, deception, debriefing and confidentiality to a described study and list every ethical violation present.

Compute and interpret mean, median, mode and range for a small dataset and explain when the median is preferable.

Outline Freud's id-ego-superego structure and psychosexual stages, then critique two claims using evidence-based reasoning.

Compare Allport, Cattell, Eysenck and the Big Five on number of traits, assessment method and empirical support.

Summarise Bandura's social-cognitive view and the humanistic views of Rogers and Maslow, noting what each explains better than trait theory.

Explain Lazarus's appraisal model of stress and distinguish problem-focused from emotion-focused coping with original examples.

Compare Maslow's hierarchy, achievement motivation and intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation, applying each to your own study behaviour.

Differentiate James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schachter-Singer and facial-feedback theories of emotion by predicting one different outcome for the same situation under each theory.

Compare Spearman, Thurstone, Gardner and Sternberg on the structure of intelligence and the evidence each relies on.

Distinguish reliability from validity and interpret scores on a normal distribution with mean 100 and standard deviation 15.

Explain concept formation and prototypes, then classify eight real decisions as availability, representativeness or anchoring bias.

Apply means-ends analysis, working backwards and analogy to three unfamiliar problems, recording why each strategy was chosen.

Outline the stages of language development and contrast the nativist and learning accounts of language acquisition.

Explain attribution biases, Asch's conformity findings, Milgram's obedience findings and group polarisation, attaching one real-world application to each.

Describe attitude formation and change, prejudice reduction, prosocial behaviour and aggression, linking each to one applied setting.

Explain crowding, noise, personal space and environmental attitudes, and state one design implication for a classroom or workplace.

Re-teach your two weakest domains from the error log, rewriting the missed concepts in your own words.

Complete a timed 60-item mock covering all eight domains under exam conditions and score it by domain.