Tawa College

NCEA Level 2 Psychology 201

Course Description

Teacher in Charge: Ms R. Lomax.

Recommended Prior Learning

The maturity to cope with all aspects of human behaviour in a classroom environment. In addition to this, gained level 1, with 12 or more credits from Achievement Standards in English or a Social Science course (i.e. History, Geography).

If you took Level 1 Psychology to continue to Level 2 Psychology, you must have gained at least Achieved grade in 3 of the 5 standards.

You do not need to have taken Level 1 Psychology to take Level 2 Psychology.

Psychology 201

Psychology is the study of human behaviour. The emphasis of this course is on helping students understand the theoretical concepts and research methods associated with Psychology.

The Year 12 Psychology programme looks at the following areas;

Clinical Psychology: students analyse psychological theories and apply their knowledge to explain addiction. As part of our forensic topic, we analyse theories that explain Anti-social Personality Disorder (APD).
Forensic Psychology: Students investigate explanations of human aggression, eye witness testimony, theories of crime and the application of theories to murders.
Social Psychology: Students examine why people obey authority, conform to social norms and roles.
Ethical issues in Psychological research: Students examine the cost vs benefit of famous unethical studies that psychologically and physically harmed their participants.
Eating behaviour: After learning about the psychological theory behind food preference, students design and conducting an investigation into food preference as part of their assessment.

There are no externals in this 201 course.

Course Overview

Term 1
Clinical Psychology: students analyse psychological theories (Biological, Psychodynamic and Behavioural approaches) and apply their knowledge to explain addiction.
Psychology 2.1 - Examine different psychological approaches used to explain a behaviour

Term 2
Social Psychology: Students examine why people obey authority, conform to social norms and roles. Ethical issues in Psychological research: Students examine the cost vs benefit of famous unethical studies, that psychologically and physically harmed their participants.
Psychology 2.5 - Examine ethical issues in psychological practice

Eating behaviour: After learning about the psychological theory behind food preference, students design and conducting an investigation into food preference as part of their assessment.
Psychology 2.3 - Conduct psychological research with guidance

Term 3
Forensic Psychology: Students investigate explanations of human aggression, eye witness testimony, theories of crime and the application of theories to murders.

Psychology 2.4 - Examine how theory is used in fields of psychological practice

Term 4
This term is used to finish the Term 3 course and tidy up any incomplete work.

Learning Areas:

Social Sciences

Assessment Information

This course has internal assessments only, there are no externals.