Department | Psychology

FOR THE INCREASE OF LEARNING AND GOOD MANNERS

MEMBERS OF STAFF

Mrs. C. Phillips

Head of Department

Subject Information

Psychology is the study of human behaviour and the aim of this introductory GCSE course is to give pupils an insight into aspects of why people behave the way they do in different situations. The course deals with the behaviour of the individual and then examines how their thoughts and actions can be influenced by association with other people. It is a broad ranging course that covers many aspects of psychology taught through significant and ground breaking research. In addition, it deals with topics that are current and relevant.

This engaging and effective qualification introduces pupils to the fundamentals of psychology, developing critical analysis, independent thinking and research skills. It requires – and develops – good communication skills as the ability to explain clearly, difficult concepts and ideas, is both necessary and improved upon. As Psychology is classed as a science the research methodology covered in the programme supports the practical elements of any science based course. In summary, pupils engaging in the course should be inquisitive, good communicators and wish to deepen their understanding of how humans behave and how this can be influenced by nature and nurture. Furthermore, due to the course content there are strong links to biology.

What will I learn about in this subject?

In Year 11 there are four modules to study, 3 of which relate to the individual: memory (how do we retain information in our brain), perception (how we make sense of the world around us: reality) and development (particularly in childhood to adolescence). The fourth topic deals with research methods, which is effectively the scientific method and the approach it adopts to investigations.

Year 12 covers topics that deal with individual, but also how behaviour has a social dimension. In social influence the effects of groups and crowds is investigated. Language, thought and communication looks at the various forms of nonverbal communication and parallels this with animal behaviour. Psychological problems examines the latest information on depression and addiction and introduces the effective use of cognitive behaviour therapy. The final unit is heavily biased towards biology as it delves into neuroscience and

The examination board is AQA. The GCSE is a two-year linear course with two examinations at the end of Year 12: one Year 11 and one Year 12 paper. The papers are equally weighted.

Website:

https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/psychology/gcse/psychology-8182

There are numerous careers that are available once a person has a degree in psychology. They are too numerous to list here; therefore, follow the hyperlink to a useful page highlighting the options and explanations on each.

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/psychology

The most prominent careers would be working as an Educational Psychologist, a Research Psychologist, a Forensic Psychologist, Occupational Psychologist or in counselling and careers advice. That said, the qualification is a useful passport to a wide range of jobs and professions.

Famous people who studied this subject...

Mark Zuckerburg (Facebook CEO)
Jessica Ennis-Hill (Olympic Gold medal athlete)
Gloria Estefan (Singer)
Natalie Portman (actor)
Lil Wayne (Rapper)

Department Blog Posts

2009, 2024

Speech Night 2024

By Mr. Forrest|2024-09-20T14:37:24+00:00September 20th, 2024|Categories: Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Academic Success and Character Celebrated at Royal School Speech Night St Mark’s Parish Church, Armagh was the venue on Thursday 19th September for our annual Speech Night. Following the [...]

1109, 2024

Unveiling the New Sixth Form Common Room: A Modern Space for Pupils to Thrive
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Unveiling the New Sixth Form Common Room: A Modern Space for Pupils to Thrive

Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism, Uncategorized

Unveiling the New Sixth Form Common Room: A Modern Space for Pupils to Thrive

By Mr. Forrest|2024-09-11T10:35:53+00:00September 11th, 2024|Categories: Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Unveiling the New Sixth Form Common Room There was great expectation at school this morning when the new Sixth Form Common Room was opened for use. Over the summer major [...]

2208, 2024

Fantastic GCSE Results for RSA: Pupils Surpass Pre-Pandemic Standards
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Fantastic GCSE Results for RSA: Pupils Surpass Pre-Pandemic Standards

Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism, Uncategorized

Fantastic GCSE Results for RSA: Pupils Surpass Pre-Pandemic Standards

By Mr. Forrest|2024-08-22T10:04:38+00:00August 22nd, 2024|Categories: Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Fantastic GCSE achievement at RSA The wait finally ended for Year 12 pupils of The Royal School, Armagh as they collected their GCSE results from staff in the [...]

1508, 2024

Top Grades and Top Universities: Royal School A Level Triumph
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Top Grades and Top Universities: Royal School A Level Triumph

Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism, Uncategorized

Top Grades and Top Universities: Royal School A Level Triumph

By Mr. Forrest|2024-08-16T09:45:48+00:00August 15th, 2024|Categories: Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism, Uncategorized|0 Comments

2024 A Level Exam Success at the Royal School Relief, celebration, and a few tears of joy were mingled at the Royal School on Thursday morning as another fine [...]

2709, 2023

Achievement recognised by Royal School Armagh

By Mr. Forrest|2023-09-27T13:47:04+00:00September 27th, 2023|Categories: Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Achievement recognised by Royal School Armagh St Mark’s Parish Church, Armagh was the venue on Thursday 21st September for our annual Speech Night. Following the academic procession, the ceremony was [...]

2408, 2023

Fantastic GCSE achievement at RSA

By Mr. Forrest|2023-08-24T13:20:08+00:00August 24th, 2023|Categories: Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Fantastic GCSE achievement at RSA The wait finally ended for Year 12 pupils as they collected their GCSE results from staff in the Assembly Hall from 08:30 on [...]

1708, 2023

2023 A Level Exam Success at the Royal School

By Mr. Forrest|2023-08-17T14:23:30+00:00August 17th, 2023|Categories: Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism, Uncategorized|0 Comments

2023 A Level Exam Success at the Royal School Relief, celebration, and a few tears of joy were mingled at school this morning as another fine set of A [...]

1110, 2022

Achievement recognised by Royal School

By Mr. Forrest|2022-10-11T14:17:10+00:00October 11th, 2022|Categories: Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism|0 Comments

Achievement recognised by Royal School St Mark’s Parish Church, Armagh was the venue on Thursday 22nd September for the return of the prize-giving ceremony of The Royal School, [...]

2508, 2022

2022 GCSE Exam Success at the Royal School

By Mr. Forrest|2022-08-25T14:32:37+00:00August 25th, 2022|Categories: Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism|0 Comments

More fantastic results at The Royal School Congratulations to all our pupils who have received their GCSE results. This year’s attainment is truly outstanding and we are very proud [...]

1908, 2022

2022 A Level Exam Success at the Royal School

By Mr. Forrest|2022-08-19T14:08:23+00:00August 19th, 2022|Categories: Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism|0 Comments

2022 A Level Exam Success at the Royal School Congratulations to all our pupils who received results yesterday. We are so proud of you and delighted at your success. [...]

703, 2022

Visit from Conor Burns MP, Minister of State for Northern Ireland
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Visit from Conor Burns MP, Minister of State for Northern Ireland

Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism

Visit from Conor Burns MP, Minister of State for Northern Ireland

By Mr. Forrest|2022-03-07T17:12:40+00:00March 7th, 2022|Categories: Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Boarding, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism|0 Comments

Visit from Conor Burns MP, Minister of State for Northern Ireland We were very pleased to host a visit on Friday by Rt. Hon. Conor Burns MP, Minister [...]

2408, 2021

Excellent Results at RSA

By Mr. Forrest|2021-08-24T11:26:08+00:00August 24th, 2021|Categories: Agriculture, Announcements, Art & Design, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, English, Geography, Government & Politics, Health & Social Care, History, Home Economics, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Moving Image Art, Music, News, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Technology & Design, Theatre Studies, Travel & Tourism|0 Comments

Excellent Results at RSA The wait finally ended for pupils of The Royal School, Armagh as they collected their A Level and their GCSE results on Tuesday 10 and [...]