Social Influence is the first topic of Paper 1. It covers the types of conformity and the reasons people conform, the explanations and situational variables behind obedience to authority, the factors that allow people to resist social pressure, and the process by which a minority changes the view of a majority.

• Types of conformity and explanations for conformity18
• Explanations for obedience29
• Resistance to social influence24
• Minority influence14

Memory is the second topic of Paper 1. It covers two models of how memory is structured, two explanations for why it fails, and the factors that reduce the accuracy of eyewitness accounts, ending with the cognitive interview as a way of improving them.

• The multi-store model of memory28
• The working memory model38
• Explanations for forgetting19
• Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony38

Attachment is the third topic of Paper 1. It covers how caregiver and infant interact, how attachment forms and how it is measured, what animal studies contributed, the effects of deprivation and institutionalisation, and how early attachment shapes later relationships.

• Caregiver-infant interactions: reciprocity and interactional synchrony10
• Animal studies of attachment24
• Explanations of attachment29
• Ainsworth's Strange Situation and types of attachment34
• Bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation and effects of institutionalisation30
• Influence of early attachment on relationships31
• Cultural variations in attachment10

Approaches in Psychology is the first topic of Paper 2. It covers the emergence of psychology as a science and the learning, cognitive, biological, psychodynamic and humanistic approaches, then sets them against each other on determinism, nature and nurture, and the status of internal mental events.

• Origins of Psychology: Wundt, introspection and the emergence of Psychology as a science11
• Learning approaches32
• The cognitive approach22
• The biological approach15
• The psychodynamic approach25
• Humanistic Psychology19
• Comparison of approaches16

Biopsychology is the second topic of Paper 2. It covers the structure of the nervous and endocrine systems, how neurons communicate, the fight or flight response, how the brain is organised and studied, how it recovers after injury, and the rhythms that govern the body over time.

• Divisions of the nervous system25
• Structure and function of neurons and synaptic transmission32
• The endocrine system14
• The fight or flight response21
• Ways of studying the brain22
• Localisation of function and hemispheric lateralisation25
• Plasticity and functional recovery of the brain after trauma15
• Biological rhythms: circadian, infradian and ultradian18

Clinical Psychology and Mental Health is the fourth topic of Paper 1. It covers the ways abnormality is defined, the characteristics of phobias, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and one explanation and treatment for each: behavioural for phobias, cognitive for depression and biological for OCD.

• Definitions in the field of mental health32
• Characteristics of phobias, depression and OCD32
• Behavioural approach to explaining and treating phobias34
• Cognitive approach to explaining and treating depression23
• Biological approach to explaining and treating OCD28

Research Methods is the third topic of Paper 2, though research methods can be assessed on any of the three papers. It covers the methods psychologists use to gather data: experiments and where they are run, observation, self-report, correlation, content analysis and case studies, with the strengths and limitations of each.

• Experimental method27
• Observational techniques30
• Self-report techniques26
• Correlations13
• Content analysis18
• Case studies22

Scientific Processes covers how an investigation is designed, run and reported: aims and hypotheses, sampling, design and control, ethics, reliability and validity, and what makes psychology a science. This content sits within research methods and can be assessed on any of the three papers.

• Aims and hypotheses14
• Sampling22
• Pilot studies11
• Experimental designs19
• Observational design11
• Questionnaire construction and design of interviews27
• Variables22
• Control20
• Demand characteristics and investigator effects25
• Ethics21
• Peer review20
• Implications of psychological research for the economy13
• Reliability19
• Validity19
• Features of science21
• Reporting psychological investigations26

Quantitative and Qualitative Data covers the kinds of data psychologists collect and how they are summarised and displayed, from the distinction between numbers and description through to the first statistical test on the specification. It sits within research methods and can be assessed on any of the three papers.

• Quantitative and qualitative data; the distinction between qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques21
• Primary and secondary data, including meta-analysis13
• Descriptive statistics: measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion47
• Presentation and display of quantitative data: graphs, tables, scattergrams, bar charts21
• Distributions: normal and skewed distributions22
• Introduction to statistical testing; the sign test25

Data Handling and Analysis covers what happens to data once it has been collected: summarising it, displaying it, judging the strength of a relationship, and identifying the level of measurement that governs which test can be used. It sits within research methods and can be assessed on any of the three papers.

• Primary and secondary data19
• Descriptive statistics24
• Presentation and display of quantitative data21
• Distributions16
• Analysis and interpretation of correlation20
• Levels of measurement16
• Coding in content analysis14

Inferential Testing covers how psychologists decide whether a result is likely to be genuine: the sign test as the calculation on the specification, the meaning of probability and significance, and the factors that determine which statistical test applies. It sits within research methods and can be assessed on any of the three papers.

• The sign test16
• Probability and significance23
• Factors affecting the choice of statistical test40

Issues and Debates in Psychology is Section A of Paper 3 and is compulsory. It covers gender and culture bias, free will and determinism, nature and nurture, holism and reductionism, and the ethical implications of socially sensitive research. The material is applied to the topics studied elsewhere rather than treated on its own.

• Gender and culture in Psychology17
• Free will and determinism20
• The nature-nurture debate23
• Holism and reductionism18
• Ethical implications of research and social sensitivity10

Relationships is an optional topic for Paper 3. It covers what draws people together, the theories that explain why relationships are maintained or end, and two forms of relationship that fall outside the face-to-face case: those formed online and those held with someone who does not know the person exists.

• Factors affecting attraction in romantic relationships12
• Theories of romantic relationships45
• Online relationships16
• Parasocial relationships11

Gender is an optional topic for Paper 3. It covers the distinction between sex and gender, the biological basis of sex, and the cognitive and social learning accounts of how gender develops, ending with explanations of gender incongruence.

• Sex, gender, sex-role stereotypes and androgyny11
• Chromosomes and hormones in biological sex19
• Cognitive explanations of gender development30
• Social learning theory as applied to gender development23
• Gender incongruence11

Cognition and Development is an optional topic for Paper 3. It covers Piaget's and Vygotsky's accounts of how thinking develops, Baillargeon's evidence that infants know more than Piaget allowed, and the development of social cognition including theory of mind.

• Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development11
• Piaget's theory of cognitive development13
• Baillargeon's explanation of early infant abilities13
• The development of social cognition21

Schizophrenia is an optional topic for Paper 3. It covers the symptoms and the problems of diagnosing them reliably, biological and psychological explanations, drug and psychological treatments, and the interactionist approach that combines the two.

• Symptoms of schizophrenia and issues in diagnosis25
• Biological explanations for schizophrenia17
• Psychological explanations for schizophrenia19
• Drug therapy for schizophrenia28
• Psychological therapies for schizophrenia17
• The interactionist approach to schizophrenia14

Eating Behaviour is an optional topic for Paper 3. It covers why people prefer the foods they do, the neural and hormonal control of hunger, and biological and psychological explanations for both anorexia nervosa and obesity.

• Explanations for food preferences19
• Neural and hormonal mechanisms in eating behaviour24
• Biological explanations for anorexia nervosa16
• Psychological explanations for anorexia nervosa19
• Biological explanations for obesity33
• Psychological explanations for obesity20

Stress is an optional topic for Paper 3. It covers the body's physiological response to a stressor, the link between prolonged stress and illness, where stress comes from and how it is measured, why people differ in their response, and the methods used to manage it.

• The physiology of stress43
• The role of stress in illness24
• Sources of stress21
• Measuring stress24
• Individual differences in stress32
• Managing and coping with stress36

Aggression is an optional topic for Paper 3. It covers the biological basis of aggressive behaviour in the brain, hormones and genes, ethological and evolutionary accounts, social psychological explanations, and aggression in two specific settings: prisons and the media.

• Neural and hormonal mechanisms in aggression28
• Genetic factors in aggression17
• Ethological and evolutionary explanations of aggression37
• Social psychological explanations of human aggression30
• Institutional aggression in prisons28
• Media influences on aggression34

Forensic Psychology is an optional topic for Paper 3. It covers how offenders are profiled, biological and psychological explanations of offending, and the ways offending behaviour is dealt with through custodial sentencing and behaviour change programmes.

• Offender profiling31
• Biological explanations of offending behaviour31
• Psychological explanations of offending behaviour40
• Dealing with offending behaviour44

Addiction is an optional topic for Paper 3. It covers what addiction is and how it is described, the factors that make some people more vulnerable to it, the interventions used to reduce it, and two models of how behaviour change happens.

• Describing addiction10
• Risk factors in the development of addiction22
• Reducing addiction19
• Prochaska's six-stage model of behaviour change21
• Theory of planned behaviour as applied to reducing addiction11

Explanations for Nicotine Addiction sits within the Addiction option for Paper 3. It covers the neurochemical account of what nicotine does in the brain, and the learning account of how smoking behaviour is acquired and maintained by the cues surrounding it.

• Brain neurochemistry, including the role of dopamine14
• Learning theory as applied to nicotine addiction, including reference to cue reactivity13

Explanations for Gambling Addiction sits within the Addiction option for Paper 3. It covers the learning account, built on the reinforcement schedules that gambling runs on, and the cognitive account, built on the biases in how gamblers judge chance.

• Learning theory as applied to gambling, including reference to partial and variable reinforcement15
• Cognitive theory as applied to gambling, including reference to cognitive bias14