Paper 1 — Cognition and Behaviour

AQA GCSE Psychology Paper 1 covers the cognitive and behavioural side of psychology. Understanding how we think, remember, perceive and develop — and how researchers study these areas scientifically — is the focus.

Topics in Paper 1

Code	Topic
P1.M	Memory — encoding, storage, retrieval; multi-store model; working memory; forgetting
P1.P	Perception — visual perception; cues; illusions; nature vs nurture in perception
P1.D	Development — Piaget's stages; Vygotsky; attachment (Bowlby and Ainsworth)
P1.R	Research methods — scientific approach; experiments; observations; questionnaires; correlation

Core themes

The cognitive approach emphasises internal mental processes — memory, attention, perception. Psychologists study these through carefully controlled experiments (often in lab settings) and use models (such as the multi-store model or working memory model) as explanatory frameworks.

The behaviourist approach (relevant to some development content) stresses observable behaviour and learning through conditioning.

Research methods underpin the whole paper — you must apply methodological concepts to novel scenarios, evaluate studies and design investigations.

Exam structure (Paper 1)

• 1 hour 45 minutes
• 96 marks total
• Short-answer and extended-response questions
• Applied questions where a novel scenario is described and you must apply psychological knowledge

Revision approach

• Know key studies for each topic (Baddeley, Miller, Peterson & Peterson, Moray, Piaget, Ainsworth, Gibson & Walk, etc.)
• Be able to evaluate any study: strengths and weaknesses, methodology, ethics, ecological validity
• Practice the 8-mark and 12-mark extended writing questions using Point-Evidence-Explanation structure