Psychology & Sociology

At our first year in the new site, both courses remain as popular and spirited as ever. Mr Reynolds and Mr Pallett have enjoyed so many moments with their classes as new staff, and they are eagerly awaiting fresh opportunities for each class with their new units and topics next year. This year has seen the introduction of AS Level Sociology at Sherborne Senior School, and there is much anticipation of taking our first AS cohort into A Level for the first time in 2023.

Psychology

Pupils entering GCSE psychology for the first time saw them being introduced to a range of foundation topics, ranging from memory to criminal psychology. This allowed them to gain an understanding of what type of areas psychologists are interested in and to give them a glimpse of what paths lie ahead should they continue in the subject. This was developed for the Year 11 pupils, where they finished the year looking at psychological problems and theories around perception, giving them insight into individual experiences of shared reality and helping them to understand others, which serves them well in the diverse community we live in.

At AS Level psychology, pupils covered three core studies from each of the four approaches within the discipline: biological, cognitive, learning, and social. Within the biological approach, we investigated the relationship between the amygdala and emotional memory, the correlation between REM and dreams, and finally the two-factor theory of emotion. Cognitive psychology saw us move to the mind where we looked at the workings of different memory models and the affect that doodling has on attention. The learning and social approaches allowed pupils to study seminal experiments on aggression, obedience, and bystander behaviour. Pupils also had the opportunity to design and present their own research studies on a range of topics such as phobias, animal ethics and altruistic behaviour.

A-level psychology saw pupils look at two optional units: abnormal psychology and health psychology. Within the abnormality unit, pupils looked at the background and methods of defining abnormality and the difficulties that come with that, before tackling aetiologies and treatments of various disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Within the health unit, pupils studied the extent of stress and pain, as well as common treatments for these phenomena. In addition, students further perfected their critical thinking skills by analysing the strengths and weaknesses, as well as the societal impacts of key case studies and their conclusions.

Sociology

Pupils in Year 10 studied topics with the culture and inequality units, such as subcultures, poverty, and globalisation. We had many heated debates on gender and social class differences, where many students took the lead in arguing their points of view strongly back up by newly gained knowledge from sociological theories. Some of the best pieces of work from the class were provided when they were asked to write a letter to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson about their concerns with Islamophobia and multiculturalism. Pupils in Year 11 conversely studied the family unit, and presented research projects on topics such as the explanation for anti-social behaviour in lower class families and whether feminist theories are still applicable in understanding the increased independence of women in society.

At AS Level, pupils began by discussing the main principles of sociology and analysing the different theories of how society functions. Pupils came to grips with structuralist and interactionalist theories to gain a better understanding of how society functions and how members of societies act. They were quick to start making connections between the material that was covered and their everyday experiences, as well as seeing the impact of socialisation, both immediately and as individuals develop. We also studied many contemporary issues within the family, such as domestic violence and the ills of modern childhood. We ended the year with research methods and learning how sociologists go about studying society and which practical, ethical, and theoretical issues attribute to how they are conducted.