Head of Department: Ian Campbell icc@sevenoaksschool.org

The Psychology Department
Psychology is now a well established subject at Sevenoaks School and has grown considerably in recent years with a significant number continuing the subject at university. The aim of Psychology is to understand how and why people behave, and to explore different aspects of the mind such as memory and perception. This is achieved by exploring scientific evidence which can support or refute proposed psychological theories. The nature of the course is sophisticated in that it aims to teach students different psychological perspectives, or ways of approaching psychological issues, rather than simply moving through a sequence of topics as many Sixth Form courses tend to do.

The course has a very contemporary feel, for example including the very latest evidence supporting the role of genes and neurotransmitters in behaviour. Students not only explore normal behaviour, but also investigate what happens when the mind becomes disordered, with emphasis being placed on understanding the origins of the disorders and how they can be successfully treated. The department prides itself in the use of multimedia resources to support teaching and learning, with all students receiving a specialist IB Psychology CD ROM as well as access to hundreds of psychology programs on DVD.

The Sixth Form
In the Lower Sixth students cover 3 different well established psychological perspectives: The Learning Perspective looks at how the environment influences behaviour and focuses on conditioning, insight and social learning; the Cognitive Perspective contrastingly looks inside the mind at how mental processes such as perception, attention and memory affect behaviour and also how the mind works in social settings by looking at topics such as conformity; the Biological Perspective then investigates the physiological and genetic basis of behaviours such as aggression and gender development.

Upper Sixth students focus on Dysfunctional Psychology which attempts to firstly define what is meant by the term 'psychologically abnormal' and then looks at different models attempting to explain the huge diversity of disorders, particularly anxiety disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder. Finally this component looks at how people can benefit from treatments and therapies and which are the most effective.

Students also design and carry out their own psychological experiment which can include topics such as visual perception, memory and attraction. This comprises 20% of the final mark while the remaining 80% is tested through written examinations.

Click here to see examination results