VCE INDUCTION PACKAGE

PSYCHOLOGY UNITS 1 & 2

2015

PSYCHOLOGY

UNIT 1-2

TEXT BOOK:

Psychology for the VCE Student 1 & 2 (6th edition) Grivas and Carter

1. SUMMARY OF COURSE

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

AREA OF STUDY 1: WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?

Since its philosophical beginnings, Psychology has been driven by questions such as ‘Who am I?’ and “Why do i

behave the way I do?’, ‘What is the relationship between the mind and the brain?’ and ‘Why do I perceive things the

way I do?’ In this Area of Study, students will explore and analyse various classic and contemporary theories that

have contributed to the development of Psychology, explore the various specialised fields of study in Psychology as

well as investigating visual perception and consider how Psychologist explore the study of the mind and the body

from biological, behavioural, cognitive and socio-cultural perspectives.

In order to successfully achieve Outcome 1, students must demonstrate knowledge of the following:

• Scope of Psychology including specialised career fields and fields of application and their contribution to

understanding behaviour

• Classic and contemporary theories that have contributed to the development of Psychology from its

philosophical beginnings to an empirical science, including the relationship between Psychology and

Psychiatry

• Differences between contemporary Psychological research methods and non-scientific approaches to

investigating and exploring human behaviour

• Major perspectives (biological, behavioural, cognitive and socio-cultural) that govern how Psychologists

approach research into human behaviour

• Application of psychological perspectives to explain visual perception: characteristics of visual perception

and the visual process in detecting and interpreting stimuli, the effect of Psychological factors on perceptual

set and distortions of visual perceptions by illusions

• Research methods and ethics associated with the study of Psychology

AREA OF STUDY 2: LIFESPAN PSYCHOLOGY

This Area of Study explores Psychological development of an individual from infancy to old age which includes the

complex interaction of heredity and environment. It focuses on the interaction between biological, cognitive and

socio-cultural influences and learned behaviours that contribute to an individual’s Psychological development and

mental wellbeing. Various classic and contemporary studies will be considered to understand the changes that take

place in an individual’s lifespan.

In order to successfully achieve Outcome 2, students must demonstrate knowledge of the following:

• Stages of lifespan: infancy, childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle age and old age

• Interaction between heredity and environmental factors ‘nature vs nurture’

• Classic and contemporary theories of development: perceptual (Eleanor Gibson), emotional (John Bowlby

and Mary Ainsworth), cognitive (Jean Piaget), Psycho-social (Erik Erikson) and moral development (Lawrence

Kohlberg)

• Nature and incidence of mental illness

• Cognitive and Psychosocial changes in the very old, successful ageing according to Paul Balter

• Research methods and ethics associated with the study of lifespan

UNIT 2: SELF AND OTHERS

This Area of Study explores how people’s attitudes and behaviours affect the way they view themselves and in turn

how this affects the way they relate to others. It will explore factors that influence these, as well as, explanations of

aggression, altruism, power and peer pressure. This unit will also look at individual differences in personality and

intelligence and differences in perspectives between individuals, groups and cultures.

AREA OF STUDY 1: INTERPERSONAL AND GROUP BEHAVIOUR

In order to successfully achieve Outcome 1, students must demonstrate knowledge of the following:

• Classic and contemporary theories of attitudes, including the Tri-component model

• Relationships between attitudes, prejudice and discrimination and factors that influence and reduce

prejudice

• Understand social and cultural groupings, stigma, stereotypes and prejudice: gender, race and age

• Social influences on the individual such as effects of status and power, obedience and conformity (studies by

Zimbardo, Asch and Milgram)

• Ways in which a group may influence each other to change e.g. per pressure, risk-taking behaviour

• Pro-social and anti-social behaviour- factors that influence these

• Bandura’s Social learning theory e.g Bobo doll study

• Explanations of aggression – ethological, biological, psychodynamic and social learning perspectives

AREA OF STUDY 2: Intelligence and Personality

• Intelligence and factors that influence this such as genetics and environment

• Classic and contemporary approaches to describing intelligence

• Strengths and limitations of scientific methodologies in measuring intelligence e.g. IQ,, Stanford-Binet

test, Wechsler’s intelligence scales

• Personality and factors that influence this

• Classic and contemporary theories of personality e.g. Psychodynamic, trait and humanistic theories

• Research methods

EXERCISES TO GET STARTED

1. Read pages 3-6 and do Learning Activity 1.1. Your responses will be discussed as a class.

2. Do Learning Activity 1.2 (if you don’t have an A3 size paper, use a double page spread of your workbook).

3. On your completed graphical poster (from step 2), add annotations that define Psychology, Behaviour,

Mental Processes, Cognition and Behaviour.

4. Read pages 7-8 and on an unused page from your workbook, develop a Venn diagram (see below) that

compares the similarities and differences between the professions of Psychology and Psychiatry.

Psychology Psychiatry

Similarities

5. Read pages 9-14 and do Learning Activities 1.5 and 1.7.

Course Overview

AREA OF STUDY 1: Introduction to Psychology

Unit 1 Assessment Task Marks

Outcome 1a

Test on chapters 1 & 2.

Introduction to Psychology

and relevant theories.

40

Outcome 1b Poster Presentation of a

research study that has

contributed to the

understanding of visual

perception.

30

Outcome 2 Empirical Research Activity-

Piaget’s developmental

theory of cognitive abilities.

50

AREA OF STUDY 2: Self and others

Unit 2 Assessment Task Marks

Outcome 1 ERA on attitudes 50

Outcome 2a Poster flow chart on pro-

social behaviour and ethics

50

Outcome 2b Test on Chapters 11 and 12:

Intelligence & Personality

40

GENERAL STUDY AND PREPARATION ADVICE

1. Ask lots of questions!

2. Complete homework and class work on time – don’t fall behind!

3. Catch up on missed work when absent – this is your responsibility!

4. Read and view set chapters multiple times throughout the year and use post-it notes to mark any

important sections

5. Take note of the advice your teacher gives you and act on it – they know what they are talking

about!

6. Create a study timetable and stick to it

7. Form study groups with friends – their ideas may help you

8. Make the most of every opportunity