Complete (except for chapter 2) revision notes for Psychology GCSE. I used the 'Edexcel GCSE (9–1) Psychology' book written by Christine Brain, Anna Cave, and Karren Smith.
For reference, I got a 9, so these notes should be able to get you that grade :) I put my blood, sweat, and tears into t...
Memory: Issues and Debates- Reductionism and Holism
Research Methods: Methods of Sampling
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PSYCHOLOGY EDEXCEL GCSE (9-1) FULL STUDY NOTES
PAPER 1 TOPICS (COMPULSORY):
❏ (1) Development - How did you develop?
❏ (2) Memory - How does memory work? (NOT IN THESE NOTES)
❏ (3) Psychological problems - How would psychological problems affect you?
❏ (4) The brain and neuropsychology- How does your brain affect you?
❏ (5) Social influence - How do others affect you?
PAPER 2 TOPIC(S)
❏ (6) Criminal psychology - Why do people become criminals?
TOPIC 1: DEVELOPMENT - HOW DID YOU DEVELOP?
Early brain development
BRAIN: The organ in the head made up of nerves that processes information and controls behavior.
When the foetus is 3 to 4 weeks old a long tube
develops in the brain which is divided into 3 distinct
parts: the forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain. Below it is
the spinal cord. When it is 5 weeks old, the forebrain
and hindbrain split into two cavities, the posterior and
anterior.
When the foetus is about 6 weeks old, the cerebellum
(little brain) can be seen, and after birth, it is three times
bigger. It controls motor movements (muscle activity)
and is also involved in responses such as fear and
processing sense information. The medulla oblongata (in
the hindbrain in front of the cerebellum) controls
involuntary movements. Formed when the foetus is
about 20 weeks old, it connects the brain to the spinal cord.
As a baby’s brain develops, there is an increase in the number of neural connections. From birth to 3 yrs,
700-1000 new connections are made every second. These allow for fast communication between the
different parts of the brain. The brain doubles in size over the first year and reaches 80% at age 3yrs. It is
important that babies get plenty of stimulation.
Piaget’s stages of development and their role in education
This is a part of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. The first stage refers more to how babies use
their senses and movement. The other three refer to the idea of operations.
Cognitive: Thinking, including problem-solving, perceiving, remembering, using language and reasoning.
,Operations: How we reason and think about things.
1. SENSORIMOTOR STAGE (BIRTH - 2 YEARS)
Learning through trial and error, using their senses and movement (ex: sucking a block). Live in the
present and don’t understand space and time
● At first, they have reflex actions, then they learn to control their movements
● At 4 months, children might repeat things over and over to understand them
● At 6 months they develop object permanence: knowing something exists even if it is out of sight
● By the end, the child has a sense that they live separate from the world around them
2. PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE (2 - 7 YEARS)
Two stages within this stage, the symbolic function stage and the intuitive thought stage
The symbolic function stage The intuitive thought stage
● Children start to imitate each other ● The start of reasoning, ask many
● Symbolic play: using one object to questions as curiosity grows
represent another (like roleplay) ● Centration: focusing on one feature of a
● Think in pictures and symbols, beginning situation and ignoring all other relevant
of language development features
● Egocentrism: see the world through only ● Irreversibility: not understanding that an
their eyes action can be reversed to return to its
● Animism: the belief that objects can original state (if 2+2=4 then 4-2=2)
behave as if they are alive ● Unable to realize that changing how
something looks does not change its
volume, size or weight.
3. CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE (7 - 12 YEARS)
Children start to apply rules and strategies to help their thinking and use objects to help their
understanding (ex: counters). They still find difficulty with abstract ideas such as morality. Here are their
abilities:
● Seriation: sorting objects
● Classification: naming and identifying objects according to their size/appearance
● Reversibility: the opposite of irreversibility
● Conservation: knowing that length, quantitative or number aren’t related to how long things
are. (ex: with playdoh, they can change the shape but still know that it is the same amount)
● Decentration: The ability to take multiple views on a situation.
4. FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE (12+ YEARS)
Children have more control over their thoughts
● Can think about more than one thing at once
, ● Ability to think about how things change over time
● They know things have a sequence, actions have consequences
● Know that other people live in the world separately.
APPLICATION IN EDUCATION:
● Young children are egocentric, they aren’t able to understand the teacher’s point of view.
Might be important for teachers to know
● Children build their own schemas from their own experiences
With sensorimotor development:
- Stimulation should be provided to help children engage with the world around them and build
their schemas (how they learn). Stimulation are smells, tastes, sights, sounds and different
textures
With Pre-operational development:
- Children must be given the experiences and ‘do things’ rather than watching someone do it,
helps build their schemas
- Children learn by interacting with their environment and experimenting with reality. Individual
learning must be encouraged.
- Objects, models and physical aids can help learning.
With concrete operational development:
- Ask children to concentrate on more than one aspect of an issue
With Formal operational development:
- Discuss abstract concepts and ask complex questions involving mental reasoning
- Taught more complex subjects such as science and art which can expand their view of the
world.
Implications for teaching from Piaget (Robert Slavin):
- Should focus more on the child’s processes and thinking rather what they can do (grade)
- Must be able to engage freely with the environment rather than being told facts
- Teaching should accept that children don’t think like adults and they develop differently
- Classrooms should be managed to suit the children’s different rates and stages of
development.
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and the development of intelligence
His explanation to understanding the world: Children developed through adaptation, adjusting to the
world while experiencing new things. They do this by forming their own ideas about the word which
then take the form of schemas. Children need to change, add to or create new schemas
Development of intelligence: building knowledge and skill. Intelligence is acquired through building
schemas and through the four stages of cognitive development.
, KEY WORDS:
Adaptation: using assimilation and accommodation to make sense of the world
Assimilation: incorporation new experiences into existing schemas
Accomodation: when a schema has to be changed to deal with a new experience
Equilibrium: when a child’s schema can explain all that they experience, state of mental balance
Strengths Weaknesses
● Has practical applications. When helping ● He did not consider the influence of social
a child’s learning, focusing on their interactions or the cultural setting, which
individual stage of development. When a can affect development and pattern of
child is allowed to discover things at their thought
own pace, they are able to build their ● Piaget’s data came from his interviews
schemas according to their stage of and observation of children. Therefore,
development. his interpretations could be subjective,
● The theory had generated a lot of which may be biased. Also lacks validity
research such as experiments to show the in his studies, when the studies were
stages and the building of knowledge replicated in more realistic settings
through schemas. However, some produced different findings.
children are able to do things earlier than
Piaget thought
Dweck’s mindset theory and the effects of learning on development
Mindset: a set of beliefs someone has that guides how
someone responds to or interprets
Fixed and Growth mindsets: ability and effort
Focuses of helping students achieve more, specifically
through how praise affects children’s development.
Theory suggests that it is better to praise children for
their effort (which will lead to a growth mindset) than
for being good at something (fixed mindset). Children
should avoid thinking that they do/do not have the
ability to do something, and instead believe they can
put in more effort to achieve.
● Children who develop a fixed mindset: they fear that they will not be successful and give up
easily because the skill might not be ‘in them’. Don’t often challenge themselves, might become
more depressed
● Children who develop a growth mindset: believe that effort will lead to success and challenges
themselves. Take feedback into consideration.
Willingham’s learning theory and the effects of learning on development
Factual knowledge proceeds skill: Knowing the facts will help with problem solving and reasoning
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