Oxford Revise | AQA A Level Psychology | Answers

Chapter 1

All exemplar answers given would achieve full marks or the top level.

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 1

A deeper type of conformity, where a person agrees publicly and privately with the majority on a permanent basis.

2. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Social support: the presence of an ally gives someone psychological power to go against the majority (resist conformity) and disobey orders (resist obedience).
• Use of Asch and/or Milgram to provide an example of social support in resisting social influence.
• Locus of control is the extent to which a person feels in control of the events that influence their life.
• People with a high internal locus of control resist social influence because they believe they are responsible for their successes and failures.
• Internal locus of control characteristics (achievement-orientated, able to resist coercion, and active seekers of information) that allow for resistance to social influence.

Note: locus of control should focus on internal rather than external, but marks can be awarded for explaining why those with an external locus of control won’t resist social influence. Credit other relevant material.

3. Marks for this question: AO2 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Jameel has an authoritarian personality as evidenced by him obeying the unreasonable request from the teacher (authority figure).
• Jameel is showing authoritarian submission by obeying the authority figure without question, even though she’s unreasonable. The submission is wholly consuming because he is cancelling his work shift to get the essays done.
• Jameel is showing authoritarian aggression by calling Jordan ‘an idiot’ for disobeying the teacher by refusing to do the work.
• Jameel is likely to score high on the F scale, indicating a potential for fascism.
• Jameel mentioned that his ‘mum and dad would go mad at him if he doesn’t do the work’ indicating they are strict, which is a component of acquiring the authoritarian personality.
• Jameel does not have an authoritarian personality as evidenced by him disobeying the teacher and refusing to do the work.
• Jameel does not show authoritarian submission as evidenced by refusing to the work, and by stating that the request is unreasonable and the teacher should not shout.
• Jameel has not shown authoritarian aggression towards Jordan for doing the work, showing he doesn’t have an authoritarian personality.

Credit other relevant applications.

Note that the answers may be disproportionately weighted with more information about Jordan than Jameel.

4. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent limitation using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a limitation that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled limitation.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Those who believed the shocks were real gave lower intensity shocks, suggesting demand characteristics.
• Ethical issues such as deception about the purpose of the study, ‘random’ allocation to the role of teacher, and fake shocks. Participants showed distress (psychological harm).
• Lack of right to withdraw due to the verbal prompts from the experimenter.

Credit any valid limitation.

5. Marks for this question: AO2 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Tomas obeyed Sim due to Sim’s legitimate authority. Sim’s latest smartphone and expensive branded clothes are his ‘badges’ of authority.
• Tomas allowed Sim, as the legitimate authority, to define the situation, Sim said ‘they are probably expecting it’.
• Shifting into the agentic state allowed Tomas to maintain his positive self-image. By saying ‘it’s not my fault’ it indicated that he wouldn’t have done that without the instruction from Sim.
• The comment of ‘it’s not my fault’ indicates Tomas does not feel guilty, which is a feature of the agentic state .

Credit other relevant applications.

6. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

2 marks for a clear, coherent definition of role of the agentic state in obedience.

1 mark for a limited/muddled definition.

Exemplar answer:

The agentic state refers to when a person obeys because they feel they are acting on behalf of another person and carrying out their wishes. They are an ‘agent’ for that person, so the behaviour is not something they would choose to do.

Note: Do not credit examples unless these add to the definition, e.g. participants in the Milgram experiment typically said they did not want to shock the learner but were doing what they were told.

7. Marks for this question: AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Social support does not have to be valid to be effective, though it is most effective when it is valid.
• The power of social support was seen in the Rosenstrasse protest, when Jewish women took support from each other to disobey Gestapo police.
• A positive correlation was found between scores of external locus of control and a range of measures of social influence in a meta-analysis. High internals could resist social influence.
• Locus of control does not influence resistance to informational social influence (no correlation between locus of control and predisposition to informational social influence).

Credit other relevant evaluations.

8. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

Note: the three factors affecting obedience in the specification are uniform, location, and proximity, but other factors can be credited.

• Uniform: when the experimenter was called away and replaced with another confederate in regular clothing, obedience dropped to 20%. Uniform is perceived to signify legitimate authority.
• Uniform: when a person on the street was instructed to give a small amount of money for an expired parking meter, most gave money to a confederate dressed as a police officer rather than a beggar or businessperson because the uniform signified legitimate authority.
• Location: when the location of Milgram’s study changed to a rundown office, obedience dropped to 48%. A prestigious location (Yale University) gives confidence in the legitimate authority figures.
• Proximity: when the learner and teacher were in the same room in Milgram’s study, obedience dropped to 40%; seeing the pain inflicted on another decreased the influence to obey.
• Proximity: obedience dropped to 30% in Milgram’s study when the teacher had to force the learner’s hand onto the shock plate; inflicting pain further decreased the influence to obey.
• Proximity: when the experimenter gave instructions over the phone, obedience dropped to 21% in Milgram’s study because the teacher didn’t feel the same pressure to obey when the authority figure wasn’t physically present.
• Social support: only 10% of participants obeyed in Milgram’s study when they had two rebel (confederate) participants who refused to shock the learner; having social support gives psychological power to disobey.

Credit other relevant material.

9. Marks for this question: AO3 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 content:

• The hotel towel study: the guests that received the normative message increased their towel reuse by 25% compared to the guests that just received the environmental message.
• Researchers found that participants’ political beliefs were influenced by what they thought were real reactions from a crowd during presidential debates.
• Another study found that participants who were exposed to negative views about African Americans, from people that they thought were experts, then showed similar racist views. This shows how prejudice can develop through conformity.

Credit other relevant material.

10. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO3 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The Authoritarian Personality is a dispositional explanation of obedience.
• The ‘Potential for Fascism’ scale (the F-scale) was devised to measure the Authoritarian Personality. The higher the F-scale score, the more politically right-wing someone is.
• The authoritarian personality was refined as a cluster of three personality variables referred to as right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), which predispose people to obey.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Researchers found a positive correlation between people high in RWA and the level of shock they gave themselves when they made mistakes on a learning task.
• Use of the F-scale to determine right-wing leanings ignores extreme left-wing ideology, which has historically also been linked to unquestioning obedience to legitimate political authority.
• Methodological issues: people who simply ticked to agree with all F-scale questions would appear to be RWA when they are just ‘acquiescers’ who tend to agree with everything.
• Situational evidence: Milgram maintained that his variations gave stronger evidence for a situational explanation for obedience.

Credit other relevant material.

11. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO2 = 2, AO3 = 3

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• People conform due to normative social influence (NSI) and informational social influence (ISI).
• NSI is conforming to be liked. It is the most superficial level of conformity (compliance).
• Surveillance from others is necessary for NSI.
• ISI is conforming to be right. It is the deepest level of conformity (internalisation).
• ISI is strongest when there is ambiguity, an emergency, and when there are others deemed to be experts.

Possible AO2 application:

• André is showing NSI: he is conforming to be liked and to fit in.
• André said he doesn’t want to be the only person eating meat in the house.
• André is showing compliance (superficial level of conformity), which is unlikely to last if he moves out of the house.
• Mi-Cha is showing ISI: she is conforming to be right.
• Mi-Cha listened to her housemates’ views about meat and the environment and did her own research.
• Mi-Cha has internalised their viewpoint and is likely to stay a vegetarian even if she leaves the shared house.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Evidence for NSI from the hotel-towel study: guests who received the normative message that 75% of guests reuse their towels were influenced to reuse their towels.
• Evidence for NSI was shown when college students who received the normative message that 4/5 students don’t smoke were influenced to not smoke themselves.
• NSI is moderated by personality differences – nAffiliators are more likely to be influenced by NSI as they have a higher need to be liked.
• Evidence for ISI: political beliefs were influenced by what participants thought were crowd reactions to presidential debates.
• ISI is less influential if the task is based in physical reality and people can conduct their own research.
• ISI is most influential when a task is subjective (if there is no definitive answer).
• ISI is moderated by a person’s self-efficacy – those who are confident in their answers won’t be influenced by a majority.
• An Asch replication on engineering students found only one count of conformity in 396 trials, showing the power of self-efficacy in resisting ISI.

Credit other relevant material.

12. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO3 = 10

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Asch’s three-line study found overall conformity of 36.8%. The variables affecting conformity were compared to this percentage.
• Group size: the (confederate) majority was varied from 1 to 15. When the majority was less than 3, there was no conformity. When the majority was 3, conformity jumped to 30%, but didn’t increase with further increases to the majority.
• Group size: Asch concluded that 3 is the critical number for conformity, with larger groups exerting no more influence.
• Unanimity of the majority: when a (confederate) ‘lone dissenter’ gave a different incorrect answer to the majority, conformity dropped to 9%. When they gave the correct answer, conformity dropped to 5.5%.
• Unanimity of the majority: Asch concluded that breaking the unanimity of the majority gave people psychological power to resist conformity.
• Task difficulty: Asch varied the line lengths to make the task harder. Conformity increased.
• Task difficulty: Asch concluded that when people are unsure of an answer, they rely on informational social influence and will conform to be right.

Credit other variables affecting conformity investigated by Asch.

Note: dispositional variables such as an external locus of control are not creditworthy because they were not investigated by Asch.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Issues with external validity/generalisability. Low population validity (the sample), low mundane realism (task not true to life).
• Low temporal validity – the research took place during McCarthyism where people were afraid to stand out for fear of being labelled a communist.
• No studies have investigated groups larger than nine. We are limited in our knowledge of how much larger groups may influence conformity.
• Task difficulty is moderated by a person’s self-efficacy. Engineering students (high in self-efficacy) only conformed once in 396 trials.
• Asch’s researched was culturally beta biased and didn’t account for conformity across cultures. Collectivist cultures have higher conformity rates than individualistic ones.

Credit other relevant discussion points.

13. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO2 = 4, AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Minority influence is when an individual or small group persuades a majority to change their attitudes, values, and behaviours to their own.
• Minority influence is harder to achieve than majority influence.
• Minority influence involves internalisation – the deepest level of conformity.
• Minority influence leads to conversion – conformity usually leads to permanent change.
• Processes affecting minority influence:

   

  • Consistency: synchronic and diachronic; both cause the majority to rethink their opinions.
  • Commitment: the minority make sacrifices to show they are serious about their message.
  • Flexibility: if the minority shows an element of compromise at the end of an argument, then the majority are more like to consider the minority message.
• Key study: four naïve participants and two confederates were shown blue slides. Confederates said they were green either every time or two thirds of the time. There was 8% conformity in the consistent condition, and less than 1% conformity in the inconsistent condition. For a minority to have any influence, they must be consistent.

Possible AO2 application:

• Ferdinand should be consistent in his message about going to Glastonbury Festival in order to be influential. He should not think of other reasons, or his original message will be lost/diluted.
• Ferdinand should show his commitment to going to Glastonbury by being willing to make sacrifices. Suitable sacrifices could be to drive to the festival/put the tent up/bring snacks for everyone/pay some money towards their tickets (credit any other relevant sacrifice).
• Ferdinand should show flexibility by showing an element of compromise at the end of the negotiations, such as going to Reading Festival next year (credit any other relevant compromise).

Possible AO3 discussion:

• There are benefits of minority viewpoints: causes a majority to do research, be creative, make better decisions, and be confident to voice opinions. A study of dissent in work groups found that groups improved their decision making when exposed to minority viewpoints.
• The majority may only accept the minority in a tokenistic way to appear democratic.
• Some minority groups lose the impact of their message by angering the public, e.g. blocking roads.
• Evidence for flexibility: a simulated jury discussing a compensation payment for a ski-lift accident were most influenced when a minority confederate compromised at the end of the negotiations. A degree of flexibility at the right time is influential.
• Moscovici’s artificial task had no consequences and tells us little about how a minority would influence situations that had serious consequences, e.g. a jury.
• Minority influence may be influential on a private level. Moscovici asked participants to individually sort blue and green discs and found those who had experienced the consistent minority in the first task identified more as green.
• Minority groups may cause a majority to change their viewpoint, but on a private level.

Credit other relevant material.

Chapter 2

All exemplar answers given would achieve full marks or the top level.

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 1

0–30 seconds, peaking at 18 seconds.

2. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Context reinstatement: a witness tries to mentally recreate an image of the crime, including their surroundings and feelings at the time of the incident. These may all act as cues/triggers to recall. The answer may include information on the encoding specificity principle.
• Report everything: the interviewer encourages the witness to report all details about the event, even though these details may seem unimportant, as they may highlight something that has been ‘overlooked’. Causes the domino effect where one memory triggers another.
• Recall in reverse order: the witness is asked to describe the scene in a different chronological order, e.g. from the end to the beginning, to verify accuracy. This is very difficult to do so increases concentration, which may enhance recall. It blocks schemas from interfering with real memories.
• Recall from a changed perspective: the witness tries to mentally recreate the crime from different points of view, e.g. describing what another witness present at the scene would have seen. This promotes a more ‘holistic’ view of the event, which may enhance recall. It is very difficult to do so increases concentration, which may enhance recall. It blocks schemas from interfering with real memories.

Credit other relevant material.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent explanation using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for an explanation that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled explanation.

Possible AO1 content:

• Retrieval failure means that we forget because although the memory is available, we don’t have the cues to access it.
• The encoding specificity principle is the theory that more can be remembered if cues that are encoded at the same time as the initial learning are present at recall.
• Cues can be encoded meaningfully (e.g. creating mnemonics to aid recall) or not meaningfully (they relate to external context or internal state).
• Context-dependent forgetting is when external cues in the environment are absent at the time of recall.
• State-dependent forgetting is when a person’s internal mental state is different at time of recall.
• Credit relevant material embedded in an example or study, e.g. the scuba diving study or the alcohol recall study.

Note: answers couched in terms of remembering rather than forgetting are limited to 2 marks.

4. Marks for this question: AO2 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Anxiety may have made Benny’s recall worse because of the weapon focus effect, where people focus attention on the weapon rather than the surrounding details.
• A weapon focus effect study found 49% accuracy of recalling a perpetrator with no weapon compared to 33% when the man had a weapon.
• Anxiety may have made Angelica’s recall better because of heightened focus. Answers could reference studies such as the Swedish bank robbery study, where the victims had the best recall of the event.
• Could be explained by the Yerkes–Dodson law, where anxiety causes recall to get better up to a point but then when someone is overwhelmed, they forget. Angelica may have had a more stable personality so she was not overwhelmed as quickly and could recall more details. Benny may have had a neurotic personality and therefore could not recall the details as he was overwhelmed more quickly.

Credit other relevant applications.

5. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The WMM is a model of short-term memory.
• The purpose of the model is to explain that STM is an active processor that allows us to complete tasks in the present, such as navigating a road or having a conversation.
• Description of the different components of the WMM including:
  • The central executive (CE) which has a very limited storage capacity. It works to direct attention from either the senses or the LTM to one of the sub-systems, so that we can complete tasks
  • The phonological loop (PL) has a limited capacity and deals with auditory tasks. It is divided into the phonological store (inner ear), which stores the words we hear, and the articulatory process (inner voice), which repeats the words on a loop. This is a form of maintenance rehearsal
  • The visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS) also has a limited capacity. It is divided into the visual cache, which is a store for visual data, and the inner scribe which records the arrangement of objects in the visual field. It is used for spatial tasks in the present, such as navigating your way around, or tasks that require you to picture visual information, such as giving directions.
  • The episodic buffer was added to the model later and is seen as the storage element of the CE, holding about four chunks of information. It integrates information from the CE, PL, and VSS to record events (episodes) as they happen.

Credit an accurately annotated diagram. Credit other relevant material.

6. Marks for this question: AO3 = 2

2 marks for a clear, coherent strength or limitation of the working model of memory, using appropriate terminology.

1 mark for a brief or muddled strength or limitation of the working model of memory.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• The working model of memory (WMM) was developed to account for dual task performance. Research support for dual-task performance – e.g. difficulty in tracking a light while describing the letter F – suggests that the phonological loop (PL) and visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS) are separate stores in STM.
• Case studies of brain-damaged patients, such as KF, provide evidence for different stores (PL and VSS) in STM.
• The case study of LH, who had difficulty with visual imagery but not spatial tasks, suggests different components of the VSS.
• There are confounding variables in case studies of those with brain damage due to brain trauma.
• Evidence for the PL and articulatory process: the word-length effect refers to people being able to recall a list of short words like ‘egg’ better than long ones like ‘specification’.
• The central executive (CE) is thought to be the most important part of the WMM but the least understood. There may be more than one component of the CE and it’s thought its role is more complex than simply diverting attention to the slave systems.

Credit any valid strength or limitation.

7. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO3 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Capacity refers to how much information we can hold in our memory.
• The capacity of short-term memory (STM) is 7 + or – 2.
• Key study: participants recalled a list of single digit numbers that increased and changed with each trial to investigate the capacity of STM. The average digit span was 9.3 items, but further research concluded capacity is 7 + or – 2.
• Chunking refers to putting ‘chunks’ of information into a unit, so, for example, recall of 5 words is the same as recall of 5 letters.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• The capacity of STM is overestimated – a later review concluded the capacity of STM is likely limited to 4 chunks, especially if information is visual.
• The size of the chunk matters – syllables within words may act as a chunk, so eight-word phrases are harder to recall than eight one-syllable words.

Credit other relevant material.

8. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO2 = 2, AO3 = 3

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Interference theory refers to one memory blocking or distorting another memory, which we experience as forgetting.
• Proactive interference (PI) is when an older memory blocks or distorts a newer one.
• Retroactive interference (RI) is when a newer memory blocks or distorts an older one.
• Similarity of material increases interference.
• An RI study found that all groups of people had RI when recalling a new list of words, but those who learned synonyms had the worst recall due to similarity of material.

Possible AO2 application:

• Chloe experienced RI.
• The new information of ‘Mrs Watkins’ blocked the old surname of ‘Miss Donnelly,’ causing forgetting.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Thousands of highly controlled laboratory experiments provide evidence for both PI and RI, which suggests that interference is a valid explanation of forgetting.
• There is a lack of mundane realism in laboratory tasks that use meaningless tasks like word lists. Forgetting in the real world may be different if the tasks are meaningful and/or have consequences.
• There are differences in how interference affects individuals. Participants with a greater working memory span were less susceptible to PI. A greater working memory span gave people conscious control of processing, which counteracted the effects of PI.
• Interference does occur, but retrieval failure may be a better explanation for forgetting because people can overcome PI with a cue.

Credit other relevant material.

9. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO3 = 10

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content for leading questions:

• Smash/hit study: estimates of the cars’ speeds were based on changing the verb in the critical question: ‘How fast were the cars going when they ___ into each other?’
• Response-bias explanation – leading questions do not affect memory, just how a person chooses to answer.
• Follow-up broken glass study: participants in the ‘smashed’ condition were more likely to recall seeing broken glass, even though there wasn’t any.
• Substitution bias/explanation – question wording distorts memory.

Possible AO1 content for post-event discussion:

• Pairs of participants discussed a crime. Researchers found 71% of participants mistakenly recalled information they had acquired from the post-event discussion, rather than from the crime itself.
• Memory contamination – co-witnesses mix (mis)information.
• Memory conformity – witnesses go along with others for social approval.
• Accept other relevant theories/studies.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• The use of artificial materials in studies, e.g. a video of a car accident, is less anxiety-inducing than witnessing the event in real life. There are a lack of consequences in lab studies compared to real life.
• Researchers found that real witnesses to a bank robbery in Canada had very accurate recall four months later, despite two initial leading questions. This suggests that leading questions may have less influence in real life.
• Elderly people are more prone to the effects of leading questions and post-event discussion. Although their memory for the event is unimpaired, they can’t remember the source of the information.
• Research support for the substitution explanation, such as the Bugs Bunny study.
• Research studies are biased against older people – they use younger people in identification tasks; it could be that older people are just as accurate, but the stimulus is biased against them.
• Real-world application: the criminal justice system used to rely heavily on EWT, but objective evidence is now crucial for determining a verdict, which helps stop miscarriages of justice.
• Real-world application: links to the cognitive interview.
• Demand characteristics in lab studies reduce their validity.

Credit other methodological issues in studies, e.g. sample bias.

Credit ethical issues if made relevant to the discussion.

Accept other relevant discussion points.

10. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO2 = 4, AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The purpose of the model is to explain how sensory information is processed into memory.
• Capacity, duration, and coding of the separate stores.
• Sensory register – unlimited capacity, duration of milliseconds, coding is sensory dependent.
• Short-term memory (STM) – capacity of 7 + or – 2, duration of 0–30 seconds, coding is acoustic.
• Long-term memory (LTM) – unlimited capacity, duration of 2 minutes to forever, coding is semantic.
• If we pay attention to the sensory information, it will be processed to the STM store.
• Maintenance rehearsal keeps information in STM. Repeating the information enough will move it to LTM.
• Information is lost through decay or displacement.

Credit an accurately annotated diagram.

Credit other relevant material.

Possible AO2 application:

• There is a lot of sensory information at the cocktail bar, such as hundreds of plants and loud music, but only the sensory information she focuses her attention on (her supervisor teaching her how to make the drinks) is processed into short term memory.
• Carmen quickly learned how to make the popular cocktails as she was repeatedly making them, which was a form of maintenance rehearsal. They were rehearsed many times so were transferred to her Long Term Memory Store.
• She could then easily make the popular cocktails because she could retrieve the memory from long term memory to remember how to make the cocktail.
• She couldn’t recall the less popular cocktail recipes because she had not rehearsed them. The information therefore decayed before it could be transferred to her long term memory.
• Carmen’s supervisor showing her how to make the less popular cocktail again is a form of maintenance rehearsal, but she may not process the information to long term memory if she doesn’t make them often and may always have to ask how to make them.

Credit other relevant applications.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• The studies that provide evidence for the distinction between STM and LTM (Jacbo’s digit span, Trigram study, acoustic confusion etc) is research that is the basis of the MSM.
• The distinction between STM and LTM is supported by a brain scan study, which found that the prefrontal cortex was active during STM but not during LTM tasks.
• Evidence from the case study of HM whose hippocampus had been removed to cure his epilepsy. Without his hippocampus he was unable to create new long-term memories, which supports the idea of separate stores of STM and LTM in the MSM.
• HM improved at a mirror-drawing task with practice, even though he had no recall of doing it due to a type of LTM called procedural memory. This suggests the multi-store model is too simplistic because it depicts LTM as a unitary store, which doesn’t account for the different types of LTM: procedural, episodic, and semantic.
• HM improved at a mirror-drawing task with practice, even though he had no recall of doing it due to a type of LTM called procedural memory. This suggests the multi-store model is too simplistic because it depicts LTM as a unitary store, which doesn’t account for the different types of LTM: procedural, episodic, and semantic.
• Case study of KF who had experienced brain damage from a motorbike accident. Only some aspects of his STM were affected, which suggests that depicting STM as a unitary store is too simplistic.
• The working model of memory was developed to demonstrate that STM is an active processor and much more complex than depicted in the MSM.
• Maintenance rehearsal as a mechanism to transfer STM to LTM is criticised. Recall in LTM varies according to the depth of the processing. Participants remembered more words in the deep, rather than shallow processing task. The MSM was updated to include elaborative rehearsal as the process that transfers short-term memories to LTM.
• Reducing the complex phenomenon of memory into constituent parts of stores and processes overlooks the impact of human emotions on the creation, storage and recall of memories, e.g., a study of people caught up in bank robberies found that anxiety increased recall and suggests that in some circumstances memories are not formed in a neat linear fashion.

Credit other relevant material.

Questions on previous content

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent explanation using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for an explanation that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled explanation.

Possible AO1 content:

• Legitimacy of authority plays a role in obedience because a person is influenced to obey another due to that person’s perceived social control in a situation, not because of their personal characteristics.
• The person being obeyed will usually have a ‘badge’ of authority such as a uniform or job title that indicates they are in charge.
• Credit other relevant material, e.g. Milgram believed people enter all situations with a shared expectation that someone is in charge. People allow the legitimate authority figure to ‘define the situation’. If harmful orders are to be obeyed, the legitimate authority figure should have an institution to back them up, such as the military or university.

2. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent limitation of Asch’s research into conformity to the majority, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a limitation of Asch’s research into conformity to the majority that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled limitation of Asch’s research into conformity to the majority.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Issues with external validity: Asch’s study had a low population validity (participants were white, middle-class, educated students). It had low mundane realism (no real-life consequences for conforming). It had low ecological validity (the laboratory environment could have demand characteristics).
• The Asch experiment took place during McCarthyism (when there was high conformity in the USA for fear of being labelled a communist). A UK replication in 1981 only had one count of conformity in 396 trials.
• Researchers found there are individual differences in conformity due to self-efficacy. A UK replication in 1981 only had one count of conformity in 396 trials because engineering students had high self-efficacy.
• Cultural beta bias: Asch’s research missed that conformity varies between cultures.

Credit any valid limitation.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Locus of control refers to the extent to which a person feels in control of the events that influence their life.
• The locus of control questionnaire identifies someone on a continuum from high internal to high external.
• High internal locus of control is when a person believes they are in control of their actions and are responsible for their successes and failures and have the power to resist social influence.
• Personality characteristics of a high internal are the ‘3As’: achievement-orientated, able to resist coercion, active seekers of information.
• The 3As allow the person to resist social influence because they are confident in their decisions, can stand up for themselves, and are likely to be leaders instead of followers.

Credit other relevant material.

Note: the answer should focus on internal locus of control because the question is asking how people resist social influence. Content on external locus of control is creditworthy to Level 1 if there is no mention of how having an internal locus of control allows people to resist social influence. If external locus of control is used to compare to internal locus of control and the focus is on resisting social influence, Level 2 can be achieved.

4. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Procedure: four naïve participants and two confederates were shown a series of 36 blue slides and asked to say whether the slides were blue or green. In condition 1, the confederates were consistent and said ‘green’ for every slide. In condition 2, the confederates were inconsistent and said ‘green’ for two thirds of the slides.
• Findings: there was 8% conformity in the consistent condition and less than 1% conformity in the inconsistent condition (virtually the same as the control group).
• Conclusion: for a minority to have any influence at all, they must be consistent.

Credit any relevant study.

5. Marks for this question: AO3 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 content:

• A field experiment provided research support for the uniform variation. A confederate was dressed as either a police officer, a beggar, or a businessperson. They told passers-by to give them a small amount of money for an expired parking meter. The police officer was obeyed the most, providing evidence that uniform is a powerful factor in obedience.
• Milgram tested one variable’s influence on obedience at a time, keeping all other procedures and variables constant. He also used over 1000 participants in the replications. This suggests high internal validity of the variations.

Credit other relevant evaluations.

Chapter 3

All exemplar answers given would achieve full marks or the top level.

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 1

The baby is born to attach to the caregiver, because it aids survival.

2. Marks for this question: AO2 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Nikith lacked maternal care, as evidenced by repeatedly moving to different care institutions where he couldn’t settle.
• His pastoral support worker reporting that he often felt depressed is linked to the lack of maternal care – Bowlby said maternal care was crucial for normal mental health.
• He moved to different care institutions during the critical period of maternal deprivation (6 months to 2.5 years).
• His low academic ability and difficulty learning links to being deprived of a loving mother or substitute in the critical period, which can negatively influence intellectual development.
• Researchers found that adoptees brought up in institutions had a lower IQ than those who were fostered into families.
• Nikith’s form teacher reporting a lack of remorse for bullying and inflicting pain on others, links to the long-term consequences of maternal deprivation.
• Bowlby claimed that prolonged separation from a mother or substitute during the critical period can lead to becoming an affectionless psychopath.
• The 44 thieves study found that 86% of thieves diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths had experienced prolonged maternal deprivation in early childhood.

Credit other relevant applications.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 application:

• The critical period for attachment is 3–6 months and if attachment does not occur during this time, it will be very difficult or impossible in later life.
• The critical period is an evolutionary approach – it is adaptive for an infant to attach to its caregiver to aid survival.
• The internal working model states the relationship between the infant and caregiver is crucial for all future relationships.
• The internal working model says that the child’s first relationship with its primary caregiver will act as a blueprint for all relationships including childhood friendships, romantic partners, and with their own children.

Credit other relevant material.

4. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent limitation using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a limitation that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled limitation.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Low population validity: the Chinese sample of the meta-analysis only studied 36 babies.
• Comparison of countries rather than cultures: different sub-cultures may be present within each country, with differences in child-rearing style. A sample from urban Tokyo, in Japan, found attachment types similar to the USA. But in rural areas, insecure-resistant attachment was extremely high.
• Imposed etic: Van Ijzendoorn’s meta-analysis used the Strange Situation as its research tool. The Strange Situation interprets a lack of separation anxiety as a child being insecure-avoidant. However, researchers suggest that in German babies, it’s a sign of independence.
• Influence of globalisation: the conclusion that attachment is universal, and therefore innate, was questioned by Van Ijzendoorn, who suggested that globalisation could play a part in the similarity of attachments found across cultures. Widely available mass media in the 21st century means that many cultures are experiencing the same messages about what good and bad parenting look like.

Credit any valid limitation.

5. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 application:

Lorenz’s study of birds:

• Lorenz separated a clutch of goose eggs into two. Half were incubated and hatched by Lorenz (he was the first thing they saw in the critical period of 12-17 hours), and half were hatched by the mother goose.
• Lorenz mixed the goslings in a box and observed who they followed when they were released from the box.
• The birds were observed when they had matured to see whether their early experiences had any effects.
• The birds followed who they saw first during the critical period. Lorenz called this imprinting.
• When the birds were mixed in a box, they separated out into the two groups upon release and followed who they had imprinted on.

Findings of Lorenz’s study:

• Lorenz observed long term consequences of their early imprinting. They showed mating behaviours towards the species they imprinted on. He called this sexual imprinting.

Procedure of Harlow’s monkey study:

Harlow’s monkey study:

• Harlow separated baby monkeys from their natural mother at birth and placed them individually in a cage with two fake ‘mothers’.
• One of the mothers was made of wire and had a feeding bottle, the other mother was covered in soft cloth but had no feeding bottle.
• Harlow measure how long the monkeys spent with each of the ‘mothers’.
• Harlow observed what happened when something was done to scare the monkeys.
• He observed the monkeys when they reached adulthood
• Harlow found that the monkeys spent 22 hours a day with the soft mother, and clung to her when they were frightened.
• The monkeys only went to the wire mother for food.
• The monkeys developed abnormally in adulthood, such as displaying aggressive behaviour to their peers.
• The monkeys became poor mothers unable to cradle their own offspring and something attacking them.

Credit other relevant applications.

6. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

1 mark to identify the unconditioned stimulus as milk.

1 mark to identify the conditioned stimulus as the mother.

7. Marks for this question: AO3 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Non-generalisability from animals to humans: relating Lorenz’s studies to humans is problematic, because mammalian attachment is different from that of birds. Mammalian mothers show more emotional attachment to their young, and mammals can form attachments at any time.
• The theory of sexual imprinting has been criticised by researchers as too deterministic.
• Although researchers found that chickens who imprinted on rubber gloves tried to mate with rubber gloves as adults, this could be overcome by spending time with their own species: they eventually preferred mating with other chickens.

Credit other relevant evaluations.

8. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6

This question is level-marked:

AO1 content for procedure:

• 9–18-month-olds attended a laboratory setting with their mothers as part of a controlled observation.
• They were placed in several challenging situations, such as the mother leaving the room or a stranger entering the room. There were eight situations or episodes in total, each lasting about three minutes.
• The behavioural categories being measured were willingness to explore, separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, and reunion behaviour. The infants’ behaviour was videoed and assessed.

AO1 content for findings:

Three attachment types were identified:

• Secure attachment (type B): 66% of the infants.
  Securely attached infants were able to use their mother as a secure base to explore their surroundings. They showed moderate separation anxiety when she left the room, and moderate stranger anxiety. They were easily soothed when their mother returned (reunion behaviour).
• Insecure-avoidant (type A): 22% of the infants.
  Insecure-avoidant infants were willing to explore their surroundings but did not use their mother as a secure base. They showed low separation anxiety and low stranger anxiety. They showed little or no response when their mother returned (reunion behaviour).
• Insecure-resistant (type C): 12% of the infants.
  Insecure-resistant (ambivalent) infants both wanted their mother and resisted her. They were unable to use her as a secure base as they explored their surroundings, but they showed high separation anxiety when she left the room. They had high stranger anxiety, and when their mother returned (reunion behaviour) they cried, and the mother was unable to soothe them.

Credit other relevant material.

9. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO3 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Note: there are only 3 marks available for the description (AO1) so answers should only briefly describe the four stages of attachment.

Possible AO1 content:

• Secure attachment was most common in all countries, ranging from 50% (China) to 75% (UK).
• Insecure-resistant was the least common, ranging from 3% (UK) to 29% (Israel).
• German babies had the highest insecure-avoidant attachment type.
• As well as differences across cultures, there was also a 150% difference of attachment types within cultures.

Credit any other relevant findings.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• There was a large sample (2000+ babies) which increases internal validity, because any anomalous results caused by poor methodology or outlier participants have a reduced impact on the findings.
• The study had low population validity, for example, the Chinese sample was of only 36 babies. This suggests the sample was not representative.
• Comparison of countries rather than cultures.
• A sample from urban Tokyo, in Japan, found attachment types similar to the USA. But in rural areas, insecure-resistant attachment was extremely high demonstrating each country had different sub-cultures.
• The Strange Situation as a research tool, is criticised as an imposed etic (developing a research tool in one culture and imposing it on another where it doesn’t fit.). The Strange Situation interprets a lack of separation anxiety as a child being insecure-avoidant. However, researchers suggest that in German babies it can be a sign of independence.
• The Japanese babies appeared insecure-resistant because they were not used to be separated from their mothers at all, so the Strange Situation was too traumatic for them.
• The conclusion that attachment is universal, and therefore innate, was questioned by Van Ijzendoorn, who suggested that globalisation could play a part in the similarity of attachments found across cultures. Widely available mass media in the twenty-first century means that many cultures are experiencing the same messages about what good and bad parenting look like. High external validity: babies were in their own homes and observed by parents using everyday situations.

Credit other relevant material.

10. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO2 = 2, AO3 = 3

This question is level-marked:

Note: only 3 marks are available for the AO1 content, so answers should not go into too much detail. A summary of the influence of early attachments should be written using some of the following information.

Possible AO1 content:

• The internal working model (IWM) says a child’s first relationship with its mother will act as a blueprint for all future relationships.
• A good IWM leads to the child seeking functional relationships and behaving in functional ways, leading to long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationships in the future.
• A poor IWM will lead to either avoiding future relationships (insecure-avoidant) or sabotaging relationships (insecure-resistant).
• The IWM acts a blueprint for a mother’s relationship with her own children.
• Securely attached infants had better-quality friendships. Insecure-avoidant children were likely to be the victims of bullying, and insecure-resistant children were likely to be the perpetrators.
• The Love Quiz study found correlations between attachment type and love experiences. Securely attached adults had the longest-lasting relationships. Avoidant participants displayed a fear of intimacy, and insecure-resistant participants described falling in love easily (desire for intimacy) but resisted love when they found it.
• Children who lack an IWM due to neglect or abuse are likely to have an attachment disorder.

Possible AO2 application:

• Llanzo experienced inconsistent love/care from his mother, leading to a poor IWM.
• His experience of his mother being over the top with affection on occasions but being ignored by her on other occasions has set his blueprint for wanting love (he has no problem falling in love) but not sustaining a relationship (he can’t stay in love).
• Llanzo is likely to have an insecure-resistant attachment type as evidenced by falling in love easily but resisting love when he gets it. (He broke up with Rayaan via text.)

Possible AO3 discussion:

• The temperament hypothesis: an infant’s temperament could affect both the way it attaches to its parent in early life and the way it forms relationships later in life.
• The IWM having a fixed effect on later relationships is overly deterministic. There is evidence that poorly attached infants have had successful adult relationships.
• Evidence of the IWM negatively impacting parenting ability: Harlow’s study found that monkeys separated from their mothers were poor parents. A study of women brought up in children’s homes found that more of their children spent time in care homes.
• A longitudinal study assessed the attachment type of 1-year-olds and found that securely attached infants became more socially competent as children. They were also more emotionally attached to their romantic partners in adulthood.
• The Love Quiz has validity issues due to the questionnaire method, which relies on participants having a good memory and telling the truth rather than giving socially desirable answers.

Credit other relevant material.

11. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO3 = 10

This question is level-marked:

Note: the answer may focus on one explanation of attachment in more detail or two in less detail.

Possible AO1 content for learning theory:

• Learning theory is a behaviourist approach.
• Behaviourists believe that all behaviour is learned through either classical and/or operant conditioning. Attachment is not an innate process.
• Classical conditioning: food is the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), causing an unconditioned response (UCR) of pleasure. The mother is a neutral stimulus (NS) eliciting no response (NR) from the baby. The baby learns to associate the UCS (food) with the mother (NS), who becomes the conditioned stimulus (CS). Eventually the CS (mother) produces a conditioned response (CR) of pleasure, and attachment occurs.
• Operant conditioning: when a baby cries, the caregiver responds by comforting the baby. The baby experiences this as rewarding, and so that behaviour (crying) is reinforced. This aids attachment because it is strengthening the bond between baby and caregiver.
• Drive reduction theory identifies that we are driven to reduce the discomfort of hunger by feeding. Food is experienced as pleasurable and is the baby’s primary positive reinforcer. Because the mother provides the milk, she is the secondary positive reinforcer and therefore attachment occurs.

Possible AO3 content for learning theory:

• Animal studies criticise learning theory – Lorenz’s geese imprinted on him before they had had any food, and Harlow’s monkeys spent up to 22 hours a day with a soft comforting mother, only choosing the wire mother to feed.
• Schaffer’s ‘stages of attachment’ contradicts learning theory because it focuses on the quality of the relationship between the baby and their caregiver as a key component for attachment, regardless of who feeds them.
• Caregiver–infant interactions like reciprocity and interactional synchrony could be the positive reinforcement rather than food.
• Social learning theory offers an alternative explanation – we learn behaviour through observation and imitation of significant role models. Attachment could occur because the parents model attachment behaviours, such as hugging.

Possible AO1 content for Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment:

• Bowlby’s theory of attachment is an evolutionary approach – babies attach in order to aid survival.
• Bowlby highlights the need for the primary caregiver to consistently and sensitively respond to the needs of the baby.
• Bowlby identified the critical period for attachment as 3–6 months. If attachment doesn’t happen in the critical period, the infant likely won’t be able to attach.
• Social releasers are innate biological mechanisms that have evolved to elicit caregiving, e.g. big eyes, button nose, laughing, and crying.
• Monotropy refers to having one true attachment figure, and the sensitivity of the mother is key in the development of attachment. Consistent and sensitive responses to the baby’s needs strengthens the bond.
• The internal working model (IWM) maintains that a baby’s relationship with its primary caregiver acts a blueprint for all future relationships, including their own children later in life.
• A good IWM continues into adulthood, where they are socially and emotionally competent adults resulting in better friendships and relationships.

Possible AO3 content for Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment:

• The critical period is too deterministic – although 3–6 months is the optimal time for attachment to occur, it is still possible to form attachments after this window. ‘Sensitive’ rather than ‘critical’ is preferred to describe this period.
• Evidence suggests that social releasers do play a part in eliciting caregiving, as babies stopped showing social releasers when caregiving was removed.
• Monotropy is questioned by research that found babies were able to form multiple attachments. The theory may also suffer from cultural beta bias because it doesn’t account for babies who are born into cultures where they might be raised by many people.
• Monotropy is criticised by feminist writers because emphasising the role of the mother puts an unfair burden on mothers. If the best place for the child is with the mother, then this suggests they should not return to work. This may be financially unfeasible, and it limits their lifestyle choices.
• Support for the internal working model: mothers of 1-year-old babies were interviewed about their attachment to their own parents, and observations were made of them with their babies. Mothers who reported poor attachments to their parents had babies with similarly poor attachments to them.

Credit other relevant material.

12. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO2 = 4, AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) project procedure: a longitudinal study of Romanian adoptees compared to 52 English babies adopted before 6 months. They were assessed at ages 4, 7, 11, and 15 on physical, emotional, and cognitive development.
• ERA study findings: the Romanian adoptees were behind the English babies in all measures when adopted.
• The age at which Romanians were adopted was crucial in their ability to recover from living in the institution (those adopted before 6 months had the best outcomes).
• At age 11, IQ varied between early adoptees (mean IQ of 102), those adopted before 2 years (mean IQ of 86), and those adopted after 2 (mean IQ of 77).
• Late adoptees displayed an attachment disorder (disinhibited attachment).
• Another Romanian study found that 44% of institutionalised children showed disinhibited attachment compared to 20% of controls. 65% had an insecure-disorganised attachment type, and only 19% were securely attached compared to 74% of controls.
• The effects of institutionalisation: physical underdevelopment, intellectual underfunctioning, disinhibited attachment, and poor parenting have been documented as effects of living in an institution.

Possible AO2 application:

• Elena is displaying signs of the effects of institutionalisation such as struggling at school (which could suggest a lower IQ) and having temper tantrums.
• Because she was adopted after the age of 2, she has not been able to recover from the effects of living in the institution.
• She is likely to have an attachment disorder (disinhibited attachment) as Sandy says she seems to prefer to be with strangers rather than her.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Strengths and weaknesses of a longitudinal study: although some children may drop out, leading to a biased sample, it follows the same children over time, which helps avoid making premature conclusions about their development.
• The ERA study may have overstated the effects of institutionalisation due to the particularly bad conditions found in the Romanian orphanages. Other institutions may not inflict such extreme neglect and abuse, so the effects may not be as pronounced.
• It isn’t possible to predict the long-term effects of institutionalisation in the ERA study because the late adoptees may be able to catch up intellectually later in life. Those presumed to have overcome the effects of institutionalisation may regress later in life.
• The effects of institutionalisation can be moderated by the personality of the infant. E.g. smiley infants may elicit better caregiving from workers, leading to early attachment experiences that positively influence their development.
• Research has increased our understanding of the effects of institutionalisation, so that meaningful changes can be made in care homes. Children are now allocated a key worker to work closely with the child, allowing them the opportunity to form a secure attachment and avoid attachment disorders.

Credit other relevant material.

Questions on previous content

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 1

Unlimited.

2. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent strength or limitation of interference as an explanation of forgetting using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a strength or limitation of interference as an explanation of forgetting that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled strength or limitation of interference as an explanation of forgetting.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Evidence from thousands of highly controlled laboratory experiments provide evidence for both proactive interference (PI) and retroactive interference (RI), which suggests that interference is a valid explanation of forgetting.
• There is a lack of mundane realism in laboratory tasks that use meaningless tasks like word lists. Forgetting in the real world may be different if the tasks are meaningful and/or have consequences.
• There are differences in how interference affects individuals. Participants with a greater working memory span were less susceptible to PI. A greater working memory span gave people conscious control of processing, which counteracted the effects of PI.
• Interference does occur, but retrieval failure may be a better explanation for forgetting because people can overcome PI with a cue.

Credit any valid strength or limitation.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO3 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The working model of memory (WMM) suggests that STM is an active processor that allows us to complete tasks in the present time, e.g. navigating a road.
• The central executive (CE) has a very limited storage capacity. It directs attention from either the senses or LTM to one of the slave systems in order to complete tasks.
• The slave systems are the phonological loop (PL), the visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS), and the episodic buffer.
• The PL has a limited capacity and deals with auditory tasks. It is divided into the phonological store (inner ear), which stores the words we hear, and the articulatory process (inner voice), which repeats the words on a loop.
• The visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS) has a limited capacity. It is divided into the visual cache, which is a store for visual data, and the inner-scribe, which records the arrangement of objects in the visual field. It is used for spatial tasks in the present.
• The episodic buffer was added to the model later and is seen as the storage element of the CE, holding about four chunks of information. It integrates information from the CE, PL, and VSS to record events (episodes) as they happen.

Credit a carefully labelled diagram with some explanation.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• The WMM was developed to account for dual task performance. An experiment found that participants had difficulty tracking a light and describing the letter F (two visual tasks), but they could do a visual and auditory task simultaneously. This suggests that the PL and VSS components are separate store in STM, as identified by the WMM.
• Case study evidence of KF, who had a motorbike accident that caused brain damage – he had problems in processing verbal but not visual information in STM, which provides evidence for the separate slave systems in the WMM.
• Case study evidence of LH, who performed better on spatial tasks than those involving visual imagery, providing evidence for the different components of the VSS.
• There may be confounding variables in those that have experienced brain damage due to the trauma in the brain.
• Evidence for the PL and the articulatory process: the word-length effect refers to people being able to recall a list of short words like ‘egg’ better than long ones like ‘specification’, because the PL can only hold the amount of information that can be said in 2 seconds. The word-length effect disappears if the articulatory process is suppressed. E.g. participants had to say ‘the the the’ as they looked at a list of words to remember. This blocked the articulatory process from rehearsing the list and so the word-length effect disappeared.
• The CE is thought to be the most important part of the WMM but is the least understood. There may be more than one component of the CE and it’s thought its role is more complex than simply diverting attention to the slave systems. Credit other relevant material.

4. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The Authoritarian Personality is a dispositional explanation of obedience: it says that instead of situational factors causing obedience, someone’s personality will determine whether they obey.
• The ‘Potential for Fascism’ scale (The F-scale) was devised to measure the Authoritarian Personality. The higher the F-scale score, the more politically right-wing someone is.
• The Authoritarian Personality forms during childhood. If a child experiences strict parenting, including physical punishment and conditional love, they internalise this to become obedient of legitimate authority figures in adulthood.
• Resentment towards their parents is displaced onto ‘weaker’ groups in society, which is an explanation for discrimination. The Authoritarian Personality was refined as a cluster of three personality variables referred to as right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), which predispose people to obey:
  • Conventionalism: strictly abiding to traditional values.
  • Authoritarian aggression: showing aggression towards unconventional people.
  • Authoritarian submission: unquestioning submission to legitimate authority.
• Researchers found a positive correlation between people high in RWA and the level of shock they gave themselves when they made mistakes on a learning task, as directed by an experimenter.

Credit other relevant material.

Chapter 4

All exemplar answers given would achieve full marks or the top level.

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 1

caudate nucleus and orbitofrontal cortex

2. Marks for this question: AO2 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Sangita’s phobia of dogs was initiated through classical conditioning and has been maintained through operant conditioning.
• She associated the unconditioned stimulus of being bitten with the conditioned stimulus of the dog, causing a conditioned response of fear to all dogs.
• Avoiding dogs (crossing the street when she sees one/not visiting anyone with a dog) has negatively reinforced her fear. The relief at avoidance is rewarding.
• Her phobia of dogs has extended to all pets, so she is also scared of the kitten.

Credit other relevant applications.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content for emotional characteristics:

• Overwhelming anxiety and distress in response to intrusive thoughts.
• Inappropriate guilt.
• Feelings of shame and embarrassment due to awareness that their obsessions are excessive.

Possible AO1 content for behavioural characteristics:

• Actions that are repetitive, excessive, and related to the obsession.
• Examples of behaviours, e.g. if the obsession is germs, the compulsive action may be washing hands each time they come into contact with a surface.
• Avoidance of their obsessive stimulus.

Credit other relevant material.

4. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent strength using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a strength that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled strength.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Research support for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT): a review of 75 studies found that CBT was superior to no treatment. A study on adolescents found that CBT was just as effective as drug treatment and that a combination of the two was the most effective.
• Importance of the therapist–client relationship: a meta-analysis of different talking therapies found very little difference in their effectiveness at treating clients with depression. One conclusion is that speaking to a sympathetic person matters more than using a specific kind of therapy.
• A key element of CBT is the concept of giving unconditional positive regard to the client, in which they are supported no matter what they say. This allows them to feel respected and valued, making them more likely to accept any disputes to their irrational way of thinking.

Credit any valid strength.

5. Marks for this question: AO3 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 evaluation for statistical infrequency (SI):

• Rare behaviours can be desirable (such as extremely high IQ) or undesirable (such as anxiety), but the definition does not distinguish between them.
• The objective cut-off point of SI can be useful for diagnosis. E.g. people who are more than 2 standard deviations below the mean for IQ are defined as having an intellectual disability. This helps assess who is in need of additional living support.
• Not everyone who displays rare behaviours benefits from having a diagnosis of a mental disorder. Some people with a low IQ work and live fulfilled lives. A diagnosis may simply damage their self-esteem, and negatively affect how others perceive them.

Possible AO3 evaluation for deviation from ideal mental health (DIMH):

• DIMH has a positive view of mental health compared to all the other definitions.
• Jahoda’s criteria were comprehensive, covering most aspects of why people might seek professional help for mental illness. This opens up discussion for what causes mental ill health in society, and different treatment options.
• The notion that a person will be able to fulfil all the criteria all the time is unrealistic. By this definition, most people would be falsely categorised as having a mental illness.
• If everyone is considered abnormal it could reduce the stigma around mental ill health and make accessible treatment a priority.
• DIMH is culturally biased because the criteria are strongly biased towards individualist rather than collectivist cultures.
• DIMH has the potential to define someone as mentally ill based on invalid criteria for their own culture.

Credit other relevant evaluations.

6. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

2 marks for a clear, coherent description of the cognitive characteristics of phobias, using appropriate terminology.

1 mark for a brief or muddled description of the cognitive characteristics of phobias.

Possible AO1 content:

• Irrational thinking, where the threat posed by the feared stimulus is not based in reality.
• An example of a cognitive characteristic is that people with a phobia of dogs may perceive a dog’s teeth to be far longer and sharper than they really are.
• Awareness that their thinking is irrational, but this does not reduce their fear of the stimulus.

Credit other relevant material.

7. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

Note: this question is for 4 marks. Answers may include both Beck’s CBT and Ellis’s ABCDE model, or one of these in more detail.

Possible AO1 content:

• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy.
• The therapist identifies and challenges the client’s negative automatic thoughts to help the client change their faulty thinking.
• The client may have homework tasks between sessions, e.g. to join a dating site and record when someone matches with them. This acts as evidence against the negative thought of ‘I’m unattractive’.
• The aim is to transform the client’s negative, faulty thought processes into positive and rational ones, because this will transform their feelings and behaviours.
• Ellis’s rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) is a talking therapy.
• Ellis’s ABCDE model builds on the ABC model with ‘dispute’ (D) and ‘effective feelings’ (E). The therapist disputes the client’s irrational thoughts to transform them into rational beliefs and effective feelings, which will allow the client’s self-worth to improve.
• Ellis identified different ways of disputing, all of which were designed to stimulate argument.
• E.g. logical disputing argues that the negative belief is irrational. Empirical disputing argues that there isn’t evidence for the irrational belief.

Credit other relevant material.

8. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content for the failure to function adequately (FFA) definition of abnormality:

• FFA defines mental health illness in terms of not coping with everyday tasks, such as maintaining hygiene or attending college.
• The person themselves may feel distressed, but the definition is also characterised by others feeling distressed in their company.
• Examples to illustrate the above points, e.g. others may feel distress if the person is behaving in a way that puts themselves or others in danger.

Possible AO1 content for the deviation from social norms (DSM) definition of abnormality:

• DSM defines mental health illness in terms of breaking the social norms of society.
• Social norms are the ‘rules’ of what most people see as acceptable behaviour. E.g. someone who is talking to themself might have schizophrenia.
• Social norms vary by culture, e.g. homosexuality is deemed normal in some cultures, and abnormal in others.
• Social norms change over time. E.g. homosexuality was once considered abnormal by most people in the UK, but acceptance of it has increased to the point that Pride events are commonplace.

Credit other relevant material.

9. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO3 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Note: there are only 3 marks for AO1, so the answer should include either Beck’s negative triad or Ellis’s ABC model, or both very briefly.

Possible AO1 content:

• The cognitive approach explains depression in terms of faulty thinking. Depressed people’s thoughts have become irrational and automatically geared towards negativity.
• Depressed people have developed negative self-schemas, often through harmful experiences in childhood such as parental rejection and criticism from teachers.
• Negative self-schemas lead the depressed person to cognitive biases in thinking (over-reacting/catastrophising).
• Beck identified that negative self-schemas and cognitive biases maintain the negative triad, where a person has a negative view of three things: themself, the world, and the future.
• Ellis explained depression through the ABC model, which identifies irrational thoughts as the cause of depression.
• A is the activating event, B is the belief about the event, which could be irrational, and C is the consequence of the belief, which leads to unhealthy emotions (depression).
• Irrational thoughts stem from faulty ‘musturbatory‘ thinking (unrealistic beliefs about what they must have or must do to be happy).
• Musturbatory thinking leads to disappointment at best, and depression at worst.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Research support for faulty thinking: participants became more and more depressed as they were given negative automatic thought statements. A meta-analysis found that pregnant women with cognitive vulnerability were more likely to have post-natal depression.
• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and rational emotive behavioural therapy (REBT) are effective cognitive treatments for depression, which supports the idea that faulty thinking is a reason for depression.
• Cognitive explanations blame a person’s faulty thought processes rather than their situation. E.g. a bullying work environment or an abusive relationship could be worsening or even causing somebody’s depression, rather than their own thought processes.
• The cognitive approach can’t explain components of depression such as intense feelings of anger or hallucinations. This suggests the cognitive approach is not a complete explanation of depression.
• The biological approach may be a better explanation – depressed people have low levels of serotonin. Drug therapy to increase the effectiveness of serotonin has been shown to work, suggesting the biological approach is at least partly a valid explanation for depression.

Credit other relevant material.

10. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO2 = 2, AO3 = 3

This question is level-marked:

Note: only 3 marks are available for AO1, so answers should not go into too much detail. A summary of the behaviourist treatments for phobias should be written using some of the following information. Answers don’t have to include both systematic desensitisation and flooding. Either one is appropriate for AO1. The AO2 component is only for 2 marks, so linking the chosen treatment to the correct example is enough for 2 marks (answers don’t have to include both treatments).

Possible AO1 content:

• The behavioural approach assumes that since phobias are learned through classical conditioning, they can also be ‘unlearned’ through learning-based counter-conditioning.
• Systematic desensitisation (SD) requires a person to create a hierarchy of fears from the least to the most frightening aspect of their phobia.
• They pair the least frightening aspect with a relaxation technique until they feel calm. They repeat this process, progressively working through each aspect on the hierarchy.
• The phobic stimulus (conditioned stimulus) is replaced with a new conditioned stimulus of relaxation.
• Flooding is a desensitisation therapy where the person is immediately exposed to the most frightening aspect of fear on their hierarchy, and practises relaxation techniques until they feel calm.
• Flooding can cure a phobia in one session (2–3 hours).
• The stress hormone adrenaline, which is released when someone is frightened, eventually stops being produced. This helps establish the new stimulus-response reaction.

Possible AO2 application:

• Malik’s husband is suggesting a flooding technique as driving on the motorway would be the most frightening aspect of his phobia. He suggests a few hours, which is how long flooding can take to work. Eventually the adrenaline should wear out. Credit reference to this being potentially dangerous as driving at fast speeds when under pressure could cause an accident.
• Malik’s friend is suggesting systematic desensitisation as there are progressively more frightening steps to encounter: sitting in car, driving on quiet roads, driving on busier roads. Credit reference to this being safer/more appropriate as he would be treating his phobia in a more controlled way.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Patients tend to prefer SD to flooding because it’s less traumatic.
• SD is more suitable than other non-behavioural therapy techniques, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, for people who cannot easily reflect on their own thought processes (such as children and people with learning difficulties).
• Evidence that SD is better than just relaxation: after 33 months, the SD group in a study were less fearful of spiders than the control group; the association between the feared stimulus (spider) and relaxation technique was effective in establishing the new learned response.
• Learning therapies don’t work for all phobias – ‘evolutionary’ fears, such as heights and dangerous animals, are resistant to SD. Complex phobias such as social anxiety are resistant to flooding and are best treated through cognitive therapies. If a phobia has not been strictly learned, then learning theories are less effective as a treatment.
• Flooding is fast (2–3 hours) but opinion is divided as to its effectiveness due to mixed evidence.
• Flooding can have negative outcomes – the trauma of facing the most intense fear can lead to attrition. The relief they feel from avoidance then negatively reinforces the phobia, so flooding could potentially have made it worse.

Credit other relevant material.

11. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO3 = 10

This question is level-marked:

Note: the answer may focus on genetic OR neural explanations of OCD in more detail, or both in less detail.

Possible AO1 content:

• OCD is thought to be polygenic, meaning that many genes (rather than one single one) are involved in causing it.
• A variation causing under-activity in the COMT gene results in higher levels of dopamine in the basal ganglia, causing over-activity in this region.
• A mutated version of the SERT gene results in lower levels of serotonin. Low levels of serotonin cause the caudate nucleus and orbitofrontal cortex to malfunction, which then send minor worries to the thalamus. The thalamus sends the signals back to the orbitofrontal cortex, causing a ‘worry circuit’.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• SSRIs are an effective treatment of OCD, reinforcing the idea that lower levels of serotonin are in part responsible for the disorder.
• The influence of genes on OCD has limited use because it’s polygenic, so it’s difficult to try to develop a gene therapy. There would also be an ethical debate around interfering with a pregnancy on account of potential OCD.
• People with a first-degree relative with OCD were five times more likely to have the illness. A meta-analysis of twin studies found that concordance rates for OCD in monozygotic (MZ) twins were over twice that of dizygotic (DZ) twins. This provides evidence that there is at least some genetic element.
• Although concordance rates for OCD are higher in MZ twins, they are not 100%, which suggests there are also environmental influences.
• The diathesis-stress model could explain this. Both MZ twins are born with the diathesis (the genetic vulnerability), but OCD only develops if they encounter the stress that triggers it.
• A behavioural therapy called ‘exposure and response prevention’ has been found to be between 60–90% effective in treating OCD – in at least some cases, OCD is the result of (and can therefore also be treated by) behavioural conditioning.

Credit other relevant material.

12. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO2 = 4, AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Anti-depressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) treat OCD symptoms.
• SSRIs don’t increase the amount of serotonin you have. Instead, they allow the brain to make more use of the serotonin that is present.
• In the brain, serotonin is released from pre-synaptic nerve endings into a synapse.
• The serotonin then travels to receptor sites found on post-synaptic nerve endings, where it’s absorbed and takes effect.
• Any serotonin that’s not absorbed at the receptor sites will travel back to where it was released from and get re-absorbed (reuptake).
• SSRIs block this reuptake, therefore allowing more serotonin to get absorbed at the intended receptor sites instead.
• Serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) block the reuptake of the neurotransmitters serotonin and noradrenaline. They are more effective than SSRIs, but they also have more side effects, so they are usually only used when SSRIs have been ineffective.
• GABA is a neurotransmitter and a natural form of anxiety relief. Benzodiazepines (BZs) work by boosting the effect of GABA and making it harder for neurons to be stimulated by other neurotransmitters.
• This reduces stress and induces feelings of intense relaxation.

Possible AO2 application:

• Zhara could use BZs for the long-haul flight as they are extremely effective and are a short-term solution to treating OCD.
• BZs are addictive so they should not be used for the transition of living away from home in a different country.
• Zhara should try using SSRIs to live in the different country because they work by increasing the time that serotonin spends in the synapse, so should have an inhibitory effect and result in feeling calm.
• If SSRIs are not effective in reducing OCD symptoms, Zhara could try using SNRIs to cope with the transition to living away from home because they are more effective than SSRIs (blocking the reuptake of both serotonin and noradrenaline), but they have more side effects so should only be used if SSRIs are not effective.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• A meta-analysis of 17 studies comparing SSRIs to placebos found that, in all studies, the drugs were more effective than placebos for up to 3 months.
• Drug therapy is easy for patients, because all they have to do is take a pill rather than give the time, effort and motivation required for talking therapy.
• Credit reasoned discussion of drug therapy being cheaper than talking therapies.
• The side effects of drug therapy can be so unpleasant that people don’t want to use the drugs, which negates their effectiveness.
• BZs are particularly effective for a person with OCD who needs to get through a relatively short and highly stressful event that would usually trigger overwhelming symptoms. However, they cause people to lose interest in the things around them and are highly physically addictive.
• Positive outcomes are more likely to be published, which exaggerates the effectiveness of drugs. Also, drug companies fund much of the research, and they have a financial interest in the continued use of drugs.

Credit other relevant material.

Questions on previous content

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent outline of the procedure using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for an outline of the procedure that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled outline of the procedure.

Possible AO1 content:

• Van IJzendoorn’s meta-analysis of 32 studies, incorporating over 2000 babies from 8 different countries, investigated differences of attachment type across cultures.
• All the studies had used the Strange Situation to determine whether the babies were secure, insecure-avoidant, or insecure-resistant.
• He compared attachment types from different cultures.

Credit other relevant material.

2. Marks for this question: AO2 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Himari was found to have an insecure-resistant attachment type, which is line with the findings of Van Ijzendoorn’s meta-analysis where Japan had the second highest proportion of babies who were insecure-resistant.
• The findings may not have been correct because Japanese babies are brought up to stay with the mother almost all of the time, so the Strange Situation proved to be too upsetting for Japanese babies when their mothers left the room. Their distress caused them to be labelled as insecure-resistant, when they may have been securely attached and the Strange Situation was an imposed etic.

Credit other relevant applications.

3. Marks for this question: AO3 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Discovery that human babies attach for comfort and love rather than food. Harlow highlighted the importance of early attachments on later social developments. These insights have helped professionals, such as social workers, to prevent the neglect of children.
• The cloth and wire mothers in Harlow’s study also had different faces, which acted as another variable affecting the study. Lack of validity. They don’t know if the monkeys spent more time with the soft mother for comfort, or because her face was more appealing.
• The monkeys were deemed similar enough to humans that the findings could be generalised from monkeys to humans, which implies that the monkeys would have also felt a similar degree of suffering to a human.

Credit other relevant evaluations.

4. Marks for this question: AO3 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 evaluation for social support:

• Research found that social support is so effective in resisting social influence that it doesn’t even have to be valid support. In a vision perception test similar to Asch’s, support was offered by a confederate wearing thick glasses (suggesting their support was less valid) and conformity dropped. Valid support is most effective, but having anyone as an ally is an effective tool in resisting conformity.
• The order of social support is important for resistance. In an Asch-type experiment, the lone dissenter (ally) answered first in one condition and fourth in another. Social support was more effective in position 1 than 4, because a correct first answer confirmed the participant’s own judgement.
• Social support was effective in the Rosenstrasse protest. German women protested in Rosenstrasse in Berlin because the Gestapo were holding 20000 Jewish men. The Gestapo threatened to open fire if the women did not leave, but the women stood together, continuing their protest until the Jewish men were released. This courage at risking their own lives demonstrates the power of social support in resisting social influence.

Possible AO3 evaluation for locus of control:

• A meta-analysis provides research support for locus of control influencing resistance to social influence. A positive correlation was found between scores of external locus of control and a range of measures of social influence. Those with high external scores were more easily persuaded, more easily influenced and more conforming than those who had high internal scores.
• In a correlational investigation, there was a positive correlation between external locus of control and predisposition to normative social influence, but no correlation between locus of control and predisposition to informational social influence. Locus of control did not appear to be a factor in this type of conformity.

Credit other relevant evaluations.

5. Marks for this question: AO2 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Kai could not remember anything because ‘he was closest’ to the robber, which suggests the weapon focus effect took place. His anxiety about the weapon (knife) meant he focused his attention on this rather than the details of the crime, such as the robber.
• Kai said he saw a gun because of the post-event discussion at college where everyone was talking about the rumour there was a gun. Kai incorporated the information into his own account of the robbery.
• Nikau was able to give the police a lot of information about the robber, despite only seeing the back of him briefly, because of post-event discussion. Everyone was talking about the robbery at college, so Nikau acquired the information in this way and incorporated it into their memory.
• Maya could recall a lot of details because of her anxiety. This was seen in the Swedish bank robbery study, where the most anxious people (bank tellers) had the best recall.
• Kai and Maya’s personalities may have impacted on their ability to recall information. People who are more neurotic (on Eysenck’s personality scale) recall less when they are anxious as it doesn’t take much to make them feel overwhelmed with anxiety. This suggests that Maya may have a more stable personality (good recall) and Kai may have an anxious personality (poor recall).

Credit other relevant applications.

Chapter 5

All exemplar answers given would achieve full marks or the top level.

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 1

Unconditioned stimulus

2. Marks for this question: AO2 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• If Omar was very rich, he would have his physiological and safety needs met because he would have shelter, food, and a secure place to live.
• If Omar didn’t get a job, his money could run out and he would not have his safety needs met.
• Having friends come to his beach house would fulfil Omar’s love and belonging needs.
• A beach house in Bermuda, lots of money, and parties that everyone wants to attend would fulfil Omar’s esteem needs because people would regard him in high esteem.
• Magda’s comment about whether he needs anything else to be truly fulfilled refers to self-actualisation. None of the things Omar has mentioned would cause self-actualisation, which is when people do something that gives them personal fulfilment, not related to others or money. Self-actualisation is often linked to education, sport, or creative arts.

Credit other relevant applications.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

Note: all four processes should be briefly addressed for 4 marks. Answers could be started with a sentence such as ‘The following factors mediate whether behaviour is imitated: …’

• Attention: the extent to which we notice (pay attention to) behaviours.
• Retention: remembering the behaviour in order to imitate it.
• Reproduction: having the skills and abilities to replicate the behaviour.
• Motivation: the desire to imitate the behaviour, usually determined by vicarious reinforcement or identification with the model.

Credit other relevant material.

4. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent strength or limitation of the psychodynamic approach using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a strength or limitation of the psychodynamic approach that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled strength or limitation of the psychodynamic approach.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• It was a pioneering approach that used case study methodology rather than subjective introspection. It was the first approach to suggest psychological rather than physiological treatments for mental ill health.
• There is research support for the role of the unconscious in determining behaviour and for the defence mechanisms of denial, displacement, and repression.
• The approach relies on a subjective and unscientific methodology – it is unrealistic to make universal claims based on a small number of case studies.
• Cultural bias: psychoanalysis, a therapy that requires freely speaking to unlock the unconscious mind, is only applicable in certain cultures.

Credit other relevant evaluations.

5. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Theoretical models are used to represent theories of internal mental processes. They are based on research, and they are often pictorial, using boxes and arrows to indicate the stages of a mental process.
• Credit an answer embedded in an example, such as the multi-store model of memory: a theoretical model that shows how information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence. It represents how memories are formed, stored, and retrieved. The characteristics of each store are based on research.
• Cognitive psychology uses the computer model as a way of explaining how information is processed and stored in the brain.
• The computer model uses the language of computing, such as ‘input’, ‘coding’ and ‘stores’, and it sees the brain as the ‘central processing unit’.
• Credit an answer embedded in an example, such as long-term memory being the hard disk and short-term memory being RAM, which clears and resets when a task is finished, very much like working memory.

Credit other relevant material.

6. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3

1 mark to describe denial.

A further 2 marks to give a relevant example of denial and how it protects the ego.

Possible AO1 content:

• Denial is the refusal to accept an aspect of reality.
• Example 1: a person finds a lump in their breast but does not accept the reality that it is a lump and therefore does not seek treatment. The denial protects the psyche from facing the possibility of having cancer, which allows the person to carry on their daily life without worry.
• Example 2: a person sees their partner kissing another person in a nightclub where they thought they could not be seen. The person denies the kissing took place which protects them from the pain of being cheated on – they get to maintain their relationship rather than face ending it.

Credit any relevant example.

7. Marks for this question: AO3 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• The biological approach uses scientific methods such as scanning techniques, drugs trials, and twin studies. The use of sophisticated imaging and recording techniques produces objective and reliable data that is less likely to be misinterpreted by investigator bias. Experimental methods are highly controlled and systematically reported, allowing for replication.
• Twin studies assume higher concordance rates for MZ twins are because of genetic heritability. However, they are never 100% in MZ twins, indicating there must be environmental influences as well as genetic ones. Also, concordance rates in DZ twins are higher than in regular siblings, even though the genetic similarity between siblings is the same in each case (50%).
• The biological approach has led to the development of drug therapies for mental disorders such as depression. Drug therapies allow people to manage their condition and improve their quality of life.
• The biological approach claims all behaviour is determined by internal forces, such as genes. It therefore doesn’t account for free will. Stephen Mobley’s criminal defence against his murder was that he was biologically determined to murder due to inherited aggressive tendencies, but he lost the case because the criminal justice system recognises that humans have free will.

Credit other relevant evaluations.

8. Marks for this question: AO2 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Positive reinforcement: Lydia enjoys her cigarette breaks with her friends, which is rewarding. This makes the likelihood of repeating the behaviour more likely.
• Negative reinforcement: Lydia removes the unpleasantness of the pictures of throat cancer on the cigarette package by covering them up. The relief at not seeing the pictures is rewarding, making the likelihood of smoking more likely.

Credit other relevant material.

9. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO3 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Pavlov observed that dogs salivated when they saw their feeders who were wearing white coats even if food was not present. He tested the idea that physiological responses could be learned by association.
• Pavlov classically conditioned the dogs to salivate to the sound of a bell.
• Initially, food was the unconditioned stimulus, causing the unconditioned response of salivation in dogs. The bell was the neutral stimulus, initially gaining no response from the dogs.
• The food (UCS) and bell (NS) were regularly presented together. The dogs would salivate because of the food (UCS), not because of the bell (NS).
• Eventually, the bell became the conditioned stimulus and caused a conditioned response of salivation. Eventually, the bell became the conditioned stimulus and caused a conditioned response of salivation. The dogs salivated when they heard the bell (CS), without the presence of food (UCS).results.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• An overall strength of Pavlov’s research is the work it did in legitimising psychology as a credible science. Behaviourists used the language, methods, and rigour of the natural sciences to measure observable behaviours in strictly controlled laboratory conditions.
• Real world application of Pavlov’s research to therapy to treat phobias – Systematic desensitisation (SD) the patient gradually pairs the phobic stimulus with a conditioned stimulus of relaxation techniques. In doing so, they learn to associate the phobia with relaxation, overcoming their fear.
• Ethical issues may have impacted on the dogs’ responses. Pavlov’s dogs were subjected to stressful (unethical) conditions such as having saliva collectors surgically implanted into their faces. This may have affected their salivary reactions.
• Other approaches in psychology argue that there is difficulty extrapolating the results to humans because of the cognitive element to human learning, suggesting that humans play a much more active role in learning than animals the inference.

Credit other relevant material.

10. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2, AO2 = 2

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The biological approach believes that some aspects of human behaviour today are evolutionary adaptations.
• Behaviours seen today would have given our ancestors an advantage in survival and/or passing on their genes.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Humans prefer fatty foods because food was scarce when we were evolving, so fatty foods would have aided survival.
• Humans are born with ‘social releasers’ such as crying, looking cute, and laughing, all of which elicit caregiving which aids survival and helps attachment.
• Men compete with other men (intrasexual selection) for access to the opposite sex, so they get to pass on their genes.

Credit any valid example.

11. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO2 = 2, AO3 = 3

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Schemas are part of the cognitive approach to psychology.
• Schemas are packages of information we have about everything. They act as a mental framework that allows us to process vast amounts of information quickly because we already have an expectation of what we are about to see.
• Schemas affect our perception based on what we expect to see.

Possible AO2 application:

• Dexter’s schema for an airport allowed him to navigate his way through the Vietnamese airport despite not knowing the language or the signs.
• He expected to see features such as passport control, so he knew how to process the sensory information quickly.
• He wrote specific details about the mugger in his journal despite not seeing their face or a weapon based on his schema of what a mugger looks like. His perception was affected by his schema.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Schemas are problematic because they alter our perception of events based on what we expect to see.
• Researchers showed participants in 1940s America a photo of a white man threatening a black man with a razor. A week later, participants recalled the reverse happening, due to their racist schemas altering their perception and memory of the picture.
• Knowledge of how schemas work helped to develop the cognitive interview (CI), used by the police when interviewing eyewitnesses. The ‘reverse order’ and ‘changed perspective’ components of the CI are difficult tasks that were designed to prevent schemas from distorting and interfering with real memories of the crime.

Credit other relevant material.

12. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO2 = 4, AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Basic assumptions of the humanist approach are that humans are self-determining and have free will.
• Environment and biology will affect how people feel and behave, but people have the freedom to make personal choices despite internal and external forces.
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: humans are motivated to achieve personal growth and fulfilment by progressing through the hierarchy of needs.
• The ultimate goal is to reach self-actualisation. This is often achieved through education, sport, or creative arts.
• The importance of feelings of self-worth.
• Congruence between the ideal self and the actual self gives positive self-worth.
• Incongruence leads to negative feelings of self-worth and possible mental health issues.
• Humanistic therapy: ‘person-centred counselling’ to achieve congruence. Requires active listening and unconditional positive regard from the counsellor.
• The supportive environment helps self-acceptance, allowing for congruence, personal growth, and the potential for self-actualisation.

Possible AO2 application:

• Conditions of worth: Ping’s parents called her stupid, which made her feel worthless.
• Free will: Ping knew it was wrong to steal but used her free will to do it anyway.
• Person-centred counselling to achieve congruence: the counsellor actively listened and helped Ping to be the person she wanted to be (free of drugs, hard-working, family orientated)
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Ping has met her physiological needs (lives with her family), safety needs (has a job) and love and belonging needs (husband/children). She feels good about herself (work/family), so her esteem needs are met. Self-actualisation is met through work/volleyball.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• The humanistic approach is positive, focusing on personal growth and self-actualisation rather than what might go wrong with people.
• It is the only approach that supports holism to understand human behaviour (rather than reductionism). Rogers believed that people’s personal experiences, e.g. of depression, could only be understood by considering the whole person. Comparison to drug therapy (the biological approach), which is criticised for treating the symptoms but not the cause.
• Evaluating humanistic psychology is difficult because it has untestable concepts such as self-actualisation. Non-experimental methods lack empirical evidence.
• The approach is culturally biased – individual freedom and personal growth are appropriate in some culture more than others. A study in China found that self-actualisation was defined more in terms of contributions to the community than individual development.
• Research support for conditions of worth: adolescents who created a ‘false self’ to live up their parents’ expectations often displayed low self-esteem and depression.
• Comparison with alternative approaches in terms of evaluation and/or application.

Credit other relevant material.

13. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO3 = 10

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Social learning theory (SLT) claims all behaviour is learned in a social context.
• Vicarious reinforcement: learning by seeing someone else being rewarded or punished for behaviour.
• Children learn through observation and imitation of significant role models (modelling). They can learn whole patterns of attitudes, values, and behaviours very quickly.
• Identification: children imitate the behaviour of people they identify with. Children tend to identify with models they see as attractive, feel similar to, and like.
• Role models can be ‘live’ (e.g. parents or teachers) or ‘symbolic’ (e.g. TV characters or media personalities).
• Mediational factors (cognitive factors) in whether imitation will occur after observation include attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation.
• Bandura’s Bobo doll study: children that observed a role model hitting a Bobo doll imitated the behaviour and also took the aggression further (using toy guns). They were more likely to imitate same-sex role models.

Possible AO3 comparison:

• Both are determinist but have elements of free will.

  SLT: behaviour is determined by observation and imitation of significant role models, but the mediational factors of attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation indicate free will.

  The cognitive approach: behaviour is determined by thoughts, but talking therapies allow for the transformation of thoughts and therefore a change of behaviour.

• Both are reductionist, reducing complex phenomena into constituent parts.

  SLT: reduces complex phenomena into observation and imitation, modelling, vicarious reinforcements, and mediational processes.

  The cognitive approach: machine reductionist, reducing humans to a series of inputs, processes, and stores.

• Nature versus nurture: SLT is purely on the nurture side of the debate, saying that behaviour is learned from observation and imitation of significant role models, and mediated by cognitive processes. The cognitive approach is also on the nurture side in that it argues that experiences influence the way we process information, such as in schemas. But it is also on the nature side in arguing that processing, such as the formation of memories, is innate.
• A difference is in the treatment of mental ill health. The cognitive approach treats numerous mental health disorders through changing people’s thoughts processes. SLT does not have a treatment.
• The use of scientific methods: SLT is based on the experimental method. The cognitive approach uses sophisticated scanning techniques and draws inferences.

Use of topic examples to illustrate and elaborate on comparison points should be credited.

Credit other relevant material.

Chapter 6

All exemplar answers given would achieve full marks or the top level.

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 1

Event related potentials (ERP)

2. Marks for this question: AO2 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• When the amygdala detects a threat (e.g. Jonathan surprising Bianca), it sends a message to the hypothalamus, which uses the sympathetic nervous system to instruct the adrenal glands (adrenal medulla) to secrete adrenaline into the bloodstream.
• The adrenaline has physiological effects on the body such as increased heart rate, blood pressure and respiration, which give punching power (fight) or running power (flight).
• Bianca’s fight response was automatic, as evidenced by her not consciously deciding to hit the Jonathan.
• The shaking and sweating are effects of adrenaline.
• She had stopped sweating and shaking by the time they had coffee as her parasympathetic nervous system had been activated as the threat had passed, returning her body back to a resting state.

Credit other relevant material.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Participants who played Super Mario for thirty minutes a day for two months had more grey matter in the cortex, cerebellum and hippocampus than participants who didn’t play. Video game training had resulted in new synaptic connections in areas of the brain necessary for playing for the game.
• Brain images of medical students three months before and after their final exams showed changes to the posterior hippocampus and parietal cortex as a result of the intense learning for the final exams.
• Researchers sewed a kitten’s eye shut and found that the area of the visual cortex associated with the shut eye continued to process information from the open eye demonstrating the brain’s ability to reorganise itself. Prior to this it was assumed that area of the brain would be idle, so the research was pioneering.
• London taxi drivers must learn ‘The Knowledge’ (all the streets and routes in London), which takes 2–3 years. Researchers found that their learning altered the structure of their brains. MRI scans showed that they had significantly larger posterior hippocampi compared to matched controls.
• Rats with brain injuries received transplants of stem cells into the region of the brain affected by injury. Three months later they showed development of neuron-like cells in the area of injury that were accompanied by a stream of stem cells migrating the brain’s site of injury. This was not the case for a control group who had a placebo solution infused into their brains.
• Patients with moderate to severe brain injuries were seven times more likely to have disability free recovery if they spent 16 years in education, compared to those that didn’t finish high school. Education was taken as an indication of the ‘cognitive reserve’; essentially the more learning you do, the better protected your brain is to injury or decline.

Credit the procedure and findings of any relevant study of plasticity of the brain.

4. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent strength or limitation of the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as a way of investigating the brain, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a strength or limitation of the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as a way of investigating the brain that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled strength or limitation of the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as a way of investigating the brain.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• fMRI is non-invasive, with no radiation.
• It gives an objective and reliable measure of psychological processes compared to verbal reports.
• It has a high spatial resolution providing clear, detailed activation maps, showing localisation of function.
• Participants must lie very still; it’s unsuitable for people with medical issues such as Parkinson’s disease.
• It has a poor temporal resolution (there is a lag of a few seconds between the neural activity and the image on the screen).
• A risk of false positives: researchers did an fMRI on a frozen Atlantic salmon and found neural activity.
• Critics argue it’s communication between the regions that is critical to mental function.

Credit any valid strength or limitation.

5. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Note: a labelled diagram is acceptable for this question but will still need some text to explain the process.

Possible AO1 content:

• An electrical impulse (action potential) arrives at the presynaptic neuron (axon terminal).
• The impulse stimulates the vesicles to release their neurotransmitter contents into the synaptic gap.
• Neurotransmitters diffuse into the synapse and bind with receptors on the postsynaptic neuron.
• This causes either an excitatory or inhibitory response in the postsynaptic neuron, depending on the type of neurotransmitter.
• The neurotransmitters are taken back up into the presynaptic neuron (‘reuptake’) and stored again in the vesicles, ready for reuse.

Credit other relevant applications.

6. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

somatic nervous system

autonomic nervous system

7. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

2 marks to identify two different glands in the endocrine system.

A further 2 marks for the correct hormone that are secreted by each.

Possible glands and hormones:

• Pituitary – ACTH, LH, FSH
• Adrenal glands – adrenaline
• Pancreas – insulin
• Pineal gland – melatonin
• Testes – testosterone
• Ovaries – oestrogen

Credit other relevant glands and hormones.

8. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO3 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• If the image or word was presented to the right visual field (processed in the left hemisphere), the patient would say what they saw.
• If the image or word was presented to the left visual field (processed in the right hemisphere), the patient then reported ‘nothing’.
• Patients could draw information presented to the left hemisphere with their left hand. (Being able to draw it with their left hand suggests that the patients can comprehend something that is processed in the right hemisphere.)
• Touch variation – when a word or image was presented to the left visual field, the patients could select the correct item from a grab bag using their left hand. They processed the information in the right hemisphere, which doesn’t have speech.
• The right hemisphere controls the left-hand side of the body, so when information is presented to the left visual field, they can grab the item with their left hand, or an item closely associated to it because the right hemisphere comprehends it and then the controls the opposite side of the body to select it. E.g. Sperry showed them a cigarette, and they selected an ash tray.
• The left hemisphere is specialised for speech and language, and the right for visual-spatial processing and face recognition, but control of behaviour relies on the connectivity of the hemispheres.

Credit other relevant material.

Possible AO3 content:

• Sperry made use of highly specialised and controlled standardised procedures that were well designed, and therefore had high internal validity.
• Issues with the sample – Sperry used 11 right-handed patients with epilepsy as his sample. The epilepsy may have caused changes in the brain (confounding variable) that influenced the findings. The control group had no history of epilepsy, and it’s argued that a control group of participants with epilepsy but without a split-brain would have been more appropriate.
• There were also differences in how much the experimental group’s hemispheres were disconnected in surgery, which could have influenced the findings, and limits the generalisability of the research.
• Early research found the right hemisphere couldn’t handle language, but the case study of JW who can speak about information presented to both the left and right hemispheres disputes this.
• Researchers found HL allowed chickens to perform two tasks simultaneously. However, although it is assumed that using only one hemisphere to perform a function leaves the other hemisphere free to perform another function, there is very little evidence that lateralisation in humans is advantageous to the functioning of the brain.

Credit other valid evaluations.

9. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO2 = 2, AO3 = 3

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• If the brain is damaged through injury or illness, it can reorganise itself so healthy areas of the brain can take on the function of the area that is damaged.
• Recovery can be spontaneous at first, but rehabilitation is often then needed to further aid recovery.
• Neuronal unmasking is when ‘dormant’ (secondary) synapses that are not usually used, because neural input to them is too low, are activated or ‘unmasked’ when the area near them is damaged. Neural input increases to the dormant synapses, allowing function lost through damage to continue.
• Stem cells – it is thought that transplanting stem cells into the brain might help restore lost function from brain damage by directly replacing damaged cells. Transplanted cells may form a neural network, linking an uninjured brain site with the damaged region of the brain so that the uninjured area can take on its function.

Possible AO2 application:

• The damage to Rhiannon’s brain may have been rescued by neuronal unmasking.
• Her brain may have reorganised itself, so healthy areas took on the lost functions.
• Rhiannon was very young (2 days old) when the damage happened, which increases the chances of recovery.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• The brain’s ability to reorganise itself was demonstrated through a study of a kitten whose eye was sewed shut. The area of the visual centre associated with the shut eye continued to process information from the open eye.
• Rats with brain injuries received transplants of stem cells into the region of the brain affected by injury and showed development of neuron-like cells in the area of injury, which were accompanied by a stream of stem cells migrating to the brain’s site of injury. The same wasn’t found in those who had a placebo solution.
• Our understanding of plasticity has led researchers to theorise that phantom limb pain is due to cortical reorganisation in the somatosensory centre.

Credit other relevant evaluation points.

10. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO3 = 10

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The fight or flight response is an unconscious, physiological reaction to something dangerous. It evolved to aid our survival. When faced with a threat or stressor, the human body starts a physiological sequence that facilitates punching power (fight) or running power (flight) to survive it.
• When the amygdala detects a threat via sensory signals, it sends a signal to the hypothalamus
• The hypothalamus activates the sympathetic nervous system to send a message to the adrenal glands
• The adrenal medulla secretes the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline into the bloodstream, which impacts several areas of the body.
• Physiological responses to adrenaline include increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, increased perspiration, and increased respiration.
• These give the body ‘punching power’, which is ‘fight’, or ‘running power’, which is ‘flight’, to avoid the stressor or attack the stressor to aid survival.
• When the threat has passed the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, which restores the body back to its physiological resting state.

Possible AO3 content:

• The fight or flight response aided our survival in evolutionary terms, but today it may put people’s health at risk. Some stressors, such as workplace stress, result in adrenaline being released regularly, which damages blood vessels and can lead to heart disease.
• Researchers argue that there is a third response of ‘freeze’, which is the initial response to danger and readily observed in animals. When a human has the freeze response, they become hypervigilant to their surroundings and can focus their attention to deal with the danger.
• The original research on the fight or flight response was gender biased because the researchers only experimented on male rats. They missed a hormonal response to stress in females, who secrete the hormone oxytocin. In humans, it’s believed this evolved from the need of women to care for their children, because oxytocin binds people together and inhibits ‘flight’. So, when faced with a threat, a female will automatically attend to her child as part of her response. It is also believed that women are better protected if they form alliances with other women. This is called the ‘tend and befriend’ response.
• Researchers argue that men also increase their cooperative and protective behaviour in times of intense stress, for example a terrorist attack. It’s thought to be adaptative because humans are social animals, and so helping others in times of crisis, helps the species survive. Despite gender differences, it should be noted that there are individual differences in how people respond to threats and stressors, which may not be gender related.

Credit other relevant evaluations.

11. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO2 = 4 and AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Localisation of function is a theory that different functions of the body are localised in specific areas of the brain.
• If the brain is damaged in a particular area, this will negatively impact the functions associated with this area.
• The cerebral cortex is the outer layer of the brain that covers the inner parts. It is responsible for higher-order functions in humans. It is subdivided into eight lobes, four in each hemisphere.
• Lobes: frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital.
• Motor centre: controls voluntary movement; located at the back of the frontal lobe.
• Somatosensory centre: processes sensory information such as touch, pain, and heat; located at the front of the parietal lobe.
• Visual centre: processes visual information such as colour, shape, and movement; located in the occipital lobe.
• Auditory centre: processes information about speech and sounds; located in the temporal lobe.
• Broca’s area: language centre for speech production; located in the frontal lobe.
• Wernicke’s area: language centre for speech comprehension; located in the temporal lobe.

Possible AO2 content:

• It’s likely that Nkosi’s stroke affected the left temporal lobe for the following reasons:

   

  • His difficulty in saying the words he wishes to say is Broca’s aphasia, which is an area of the brain located in the left frontal lobe responsible for speech production.
  • His difficulty moving the right-hand side of his body indicates damage to the motor cortex in the left hemisphere, which is located at the back of the temporal lobe. The left hemisphere controls the movement in the right-hand side of the body.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• The case study of HM provides neurosurgical evidence for localisation of function, suggesting the hippocampus is crucial for processing new long-term memories. The cerebellum is vital for procedural memory.
• Brain scan evidence: a wealth of studies using scanning techniques (such as fMRI) demonstrate localisation of function. E.g. researchers found Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas were active for speaking and reading tasks, respectively.
• Case study of PG: the damage caused by a 1m metal pole shooting through his head provides evidence for and against localisation of function. Despite passing through the frontal lobe, he could still walk and talk (against), but his higher-order functions like personality were permanently changed (for).
• Lashley’s experiments on rats suggested the higher-order function of learning appeared to be too complex to be localised: it required all areas of the cortex.
• Plasticity of the brain: the law of equipotentiality is the theory that if an area of the brain is damaged, then other areas can take over to recover the function. The brain can reorganise itself so that an undamaged area can take on the lost function.

Credit other relevant evaluations.

Questions on previous content

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

2 marks for a clear, coherent explanation of ‘vicarious reinforcement’ using appropriate terminology.

1 mark for a brief or muddled explanation of ‘vicarious reinforcement’.

Possible AO1 content:

• Vicarious reinforcement is learning by seeing someone else being rewarded or punished for behaviour.
• Imitation is less likely if a person sees someone else punished for behaviour. If the other person is rewarded, they are more likely to repeat the behaviour they have observed.

2. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent limitation of Bandura’s research using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a limitation of Bandura’s research that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled limitation of Bandura’s research.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Boys consistently displayed more aggression than girls in the Bobo study. This suggests there may be hormonal factors, such as higher levels of testosterone in boys, which social learning theory doesn’t consider or account for.
• Children in the Bobo doll study may have been displaying demand characteristics because the purpose of a Bobo doll is to knock it over (low internal validity).
• At least one child had heard details of the study from earlier participants (low internal validity).

Credit any valid limitation.

3. Marks for this question: AO3 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Nature versus nurture: the behaviourist approach is on the nurture side of the debate, saying that all behaviour is learned through classical and/or operant conditioning. The biological approach is mainly on the nature side of the debate, saying that behaviour is due to the action of genes, neurotransmitters, hormones, and evolutionary adaptations. However, environmental effects can be passed on through epigenetics.
• Free will versus determinism: both approaches are determinists. The behaviourist approach is environmentally determinist (stimulus-response units/reinforcement history). The biological approach is biologically determinist (behaviour is determined through genes, neurotransmitters, hormones, and evolutionary adaptations).
• Reductionism versus holism: both approaches are reductionist. The behaviourist approach reduces complex phenomena into stimulus-response units and reinforcement history. The biological approach reduces complex phenomena into the action of genes, hormones, neurons, and evolutionary adaptations.

Credit other relevant comparisons.

Chapter 7

All exemplar answers given would achieve full marks or the top level.

1. Marks for this question: AO2 = 3

3 marks for a fully operationalised hypothesis that includes both co-variables. It should ideally be directional or a null because the stimulus specifies that it’s ‘following previous research’, indicating we can make a prediction. However, a non-directional hypothesis can be accepted.

2 marks if the hypothesis identifies a positive correlation instead of a negative one, or where one of the co-variables is not operationalised.

1 mark where both co-variables are not operationalised.

0 marks for an experimental hypothesis or a general statement or aim.

Exemplar answer:

There will be a negative correlation between a participant’s score on an anxiety questionnaire and their eyewitness testimony score.

2. Marks for this question: AO1 = 1

random sampling

3. Marks for this question: AO3 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• There is no researcher bias: each person has an equal chance of being selected.
• It might cause a biased sample because not everyone selected will agree to take part, potentially only leaving a certain type of person in the actual sample (such as motivated participants).
• It can be difficult, expensive, and time-consuming to carry out.

4. Marks for this question: AO2 = 3

1 mark for each of the following points:

• Using test-retest reliability.
• Participants complete the questionnaire twice, usually one week apart.
• If their scores on both questionnaires correlate by 0.8 or more, the questionnaire is reliable.

Note: split-half reliability is not on the specification but can be credited. It means splitting the questionnaire in half. A participant answers all the questions; if the score on the first half correlates by 0.8 with the score on the second half, it’s reliable.

5. Marks for this question: AO2 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Possible content and style for informed consent form:

• It has a title that gives the overall aim of the study. E.g. ‘An investigation into anxiety and accuracy of eye-witness testimony.’
• It has a brief amount of information about the purpose of the study. E.g. ‘I am a psychologist looking for participants to take part in an investigation into the relationship between anxiety and accuracy of eye-witness testimony.’
• It has information regarding the task, including how long it will take, so that people can make an informed decision about whether to take part. E.g. ‘All participants will be required to fill in a personality questionnaire to assess their level of anxiety. They will then watch a video of a violent crime. These tasks will take no longer than 30 minutes. 48 hours later, participants will be required to return to the laboratory and fill in another questionnaire to assess their accuracy of recall of the crime. This will take no longer than 30 minutes.’
• It has ethical information. E.g. ‘Any participants who choose to take part have the right to withdraw from the study at any time.’
• Space is included for the participant to sign, print their name, and date the form.
• The form has a professional tone.

6. Marks for this question: AO2 = 3

3 marks for a scattergram that has each of the following features:

• A correct scale and scatterplots are in the correct places.
• A title containing both co-variables.
• Correctly labelled axes (it doesn’t matter which co-variable goes on which axis).

7. Marks for this question: AO2 = 3

For 3 marks, identify the strength and direction of the relationship and explain what this means.

Exemplar answer:

The scattergram demonstrates a strong negative correlation between anxiety and the accuracy of eye-witness testimony. The higher the anxiety score, the lower their eye-witness testimony score.

8. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3

1 mark for identifying that this means there is a 5% probability the results are due to chance (they can be 95% certain the results are not due to chance).

1 mark for identifying that this strikes the balance between making a Type I and Type II error.

1 mark for explaining that a Type I error might occur if the significance level is too lenient (p < 0.10) and a Type II error might occur if the significance level is too stringent (p < 0.01).

9. Marks for this question: AO2 = 3

1 mark for identifying that the calculated value of Rs = –0.986 is significant.

1 mark for explaining that the calculated value of Rs = –0.986 is significant because it is higher than the critical value of Rs = 0.503.

1 mark for stating that where N = 12, p < 0.05 for a one-tailed test.

Exemplar answer:

The calculated value of Rs = –0.986 is significant because it is higher than the critical value of Rs = 0.503 where N = 12, p < 0.05 for a one-tailed test.

10. Marks for this question: AO2 = 2

1 mark for explaining that the psychologist did not think she had made a Type I error because the calculated value of Rs = –0.986 is still higher than the critical value of Rs = 0.671 at the p < 0.01 level of probability.

1 mark for explaining that this means there is a less than a 1% probability the results are due to chance.

Credit answers identifying that it’s significant at the p < 0.005 level, Rs = 0.727, meaning there is less than a 0.5% probability the results are due to chance.

11. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• An abstract is a short summary of the overall investigation so the reader can decide whether they want to read the whole report.
• It appears at the beginning of a research paper.
• It contains brief descriptions of the aims, hypotheses, procedure, results, and conclusions.

Credit other relevant material.

12. Marks for this question: AO2 = 6, AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Answer guidance:

• The answer should be written in continuous prose, although there could be some bulleted sections (e.g. when listing the specialist materials needed for the experiment).
• The most obvious study would be an experiment (test of difference) with the conditions of the IV being to take medication before watching a video of a violent crime, and to not take medication or take a placebo before watching a video of a violent crime.

Possible experimental design:

Each section below represents approximately 4 marks.

Section 1: Design (include reference to the variables, experimental design, and controls)

• For full marks on this section, the IV and DV must be operationalised. The most obvious anxiety-inducing task to test eye-witness testimony would be to watch a video of a violent crime and then be tested on accuracy of recall 48 hours later.
• Answers might include other anxiety-inducing tasks. Credit all reasonable tasks, but make sure they are ethical, so the participant won’t be asked to watch a real crime or be abused in any way.

Example of variables (credit other relevant variations of the IV and DV):

• IV: 20mg of anxiety medication before watching a video of a violent crime/no medication (or placebo medication) before watching a video of a violent crime.
• DV: eye-witness testimony score after 48 hours.

Note: The experimental design can be either independent groups, repeated measures, or matched pairs. If matched pairs is chosen, specific criteria that participants should be matched on that are relevant to the stimulus should be identified. For example, anxiety score on a personality questionnaire, educational achievement, sex, age, etc.

Possible justification for the experimental design (will be dependent on which experimental design is chosen):

For an independent groups design:

• Because participants would only do one condition of the IV, this means that the video of the violent crime is the same for each condition, improving validity.
• Participants are only doing one condition of the IV, so they are less likely to guess the true purpose of the study and display demand characteristics.
• Participants won’t suffer from order effects (boredom, practice, or fatigue) as they are only doing one condition of the IV.

For a repeated measures design:

• Each participant acts as their own control, so their baseline anxiety level is the same, giving a good indication of whether the anxiety medication makes a difference to their accuracy of eye-witness testimony.
• Fewer participants would need to be recruited because each participant generates two sets of data.

For a matched pairs design:

• Participants are matched on specific criteria and then one person from each match does a different condition of the IV.
• This gives the same advantages of an independent groups design (less chance of demand characteristics, fewer order effects of boredom, practice, and fatigue).
• In addition, participants are acting more as their own control because they have been matched on appropriate criteria.

Note: the factors to be matched on must be identified. Possible matching criteria for this study include baseline anxiety score, age, gender, education level, ethnicity.

Possible control measures (will be dependent on which experimental design is chosen):

• All answers could include a pilot study. This must explain the things to be tested in relation to this study. For example, a pilot study would control for extraneous variables. In this study the psychologist might test the length and content of the video of the crime, and the equipment that the video is being shown on, including the screen, speakers, and volume. They might test whether the questionnaire that will determine the accuracy of eye-witness testimony is suitable in terms of the number of questions and content of questions.
• Identify that the pilot study will control things that might influence the DV (accuracy of eye-witness testimony). For example, if the video of the crime is too long, people might get bored and lose concentration and so not recall as many facts; this would influence the DV and would mean that it is possible that the participants got bored and stopped concentrating rather than it was the anxiety/anxiety medication affecting the accuracy of recall.
• All answers could include standardised instructions as a control measure, although this alone would not be enough for full marks in this section. Also identify how standardised instructions will control for extraneous variables. For example, standardised instructions reduce investigator bias and investigator effects because all participants will get the same instructions delivered in the same way, not allowing the investigator to give subtle cues about what is expected.
• For independent groups design, identify that the study will use random allocation to assign people to the conditions of the IV, to spread the individual differences (participant variables) between the groups. Identify personality characteristics that would need to be spread across the conditions of the IV, such as participants’ scores on an anxiety questionnaire, their memory, etc.
• For repeated measures design, identify counterbalancing to control for the order effects of boredom, practice, and fatigue. Also identify that because participants are doing both conditions of the IV, there must be two different videos of a crime, otherwise participants will have already seen the video in the first condition and do better the second time around. The study must therefore match the two videos as closely as possible – e.g. the length of the video, the number of people in it, the nature of the crime – so that one is not easier to recall than the other.
• For matched pairs design, include the pilot study and standardised instructions for control measures (see above for details on these).

• Other general control measures could include general information about the conditions the video(s) are shown in being the same for all participants, e.g. the room, the lighting, the seating. Credit all relevant controls.

Section 2: Materials/apparatus/procedure – describe the task, procedure, and any special materials required

For full marks in this section, the task should relate to the IV, DV, and experimental design. It should also relate to the stimulus, so it must include taking anxiety medication for one of the conditions of the IV and not taking it for the other condition.

Possible content for the task and procedure:

For an independent groups design:

• Participants should be randomly allocated to conditions of the IV, e.g. half taking anxiety medication before watching a video of a violent crime, and half not taking anxiety medication before watching the same video.
• After 48 hours, all participants will fill in a questionnaire to assess their accuracy of eye-witness testimony. These scores for both conditions of the IV will then be compared to test for a difference.

For a repeated measures design:

• All participants will complete both conditions of the IV, so they will watch a video of a violent crime without taking anxiety medication beforehand, and they will watch a different video of a violent crime having taken anxiety medication beforehand. Participants will be counterbalanced to avoid order effects of boredom, practice, and fatigue. So, half will do condition A followed by condition B, and half will do condition B followed by condition A.
• After 48 hours of seeing each film, the participants will fill in a questionnaire to assess their accuracy of eye-witness testimony.
• These scores for the conditions of the IV will then be compared to test for a difference.

For a matched pairs design:

• Participants will be matched for appropriate criteria such as baseline anxiety score, age, gender, education, etc. One person from each pair will go into a condition of the IV.
• All participants will see the same video of a violent crime, but half will have taken anxiety medication before seeing the film and half won’t.
• After 48 hours, all participants will fill in a questionnaire to assess their accuracy of eye-witness testimony. These scores for both conditions of the IV will then be compared to test for a difference.

Specialist equipment and materials will include:

• Video of a violent crime (two videos that have been matched if a repeated measures design)
• Video player, screen, speakers
• Anxiety medication and glasses of water
• Controlled room to watch the video
• Appropriate seating to view the video

Credit any other relevant specialist equipment and materials needed.

Section 3: Data analysis (include reference to descriptive and inferential analysis)

Descriptive statistics:

• Award marks for an appropriate measure of central tendency AND measure of dispersion.
• Because it’s ordinal data, ideally the median and range should be chosen, justified by stating that it is ordinal data. The median could be chosen, justified by stating that it removes anomalies (extreme scores), and the range is quick and easy to calculate.
• Marks are also awarded for the mean and standard deviation with justification, e.g. the mean is the most sensitive measure of central tendency as it includes all the scores. The standard deviation is a more sophisticated calculation that shows how closely clustered the scores are around the mean.

The inferential statistics will depend on the experimental design chosen:

• For a repeated measures or matched pairs design, use the Wilcoxon test because it’s a test of difference, uses ordinal data (the eye-witness testimony score), and uses a repeated measures or matched pairs design.
• For an independent groups design, use the Mann-Whitney test because it’s a test of difference, uses ordinal data (the eye-witness testimony score), and uses an independent groups design.

Note: the question required data suitable for testing at the ordinal level of measurement, so if an answer contains interval data it will be capped at 6 marks due to the fact the inferential statistics will be incorrect.

Questions on previous content

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

sympathetic nervous system

parasympathetic nervous system

2. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent outline of cognitive neuroscience, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for an outline of cognitive neuroscience that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled outline of cognitive neuroscience.

Possible AO1 content:

• Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes.
• Scanning techniques like fMRI allow psychologists to see which part of the brain is active for different functions.
• For example, researchers found that guilt activated the medial pre-frontal cortex.

Credit other relevant material.

3. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent strength or limitation of the use of electroencephalogram (EEG) as a way of investigating the brain, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a strength or limitation of the use of electroencephalogram (EEG) as a way of investigating the brain that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled strength or limitation of the use of electroencephalogram (EEG) as a way of investigating the brain.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Has a high temporal resolution, providing a recording of brain activity in real time (compared to fMRI which has a low temporal resolution).
• Invaluable in the diagnosis of conditions like epilepsy.
• Contributed to our understanding of the stages of sleep.
• Electrical activity can be picked up by several neighbouring electrodes, so it’s not useful for pinpointing the exact source of activity.
• EEG can only detect activity in the superficial regions of the brain, not the deeper regions such as the hypothalamus. (In comparison, post-mortem can examine deeper regions of the brain.)

Credit any valid strength or limitation.

4. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3

3 marks for clear, coherent outline of the role of adrenaline in the fight or flight response, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for an outline of the role of adrenaline in the fight or flight response that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled outline of the role of adrenaline in the fight or flight response.

Possible AO1 content:

• When the amygdala detects a threat via sensory signals, it sends a signal to the hypothalamus.
• The hypothalamus activates the sympathetic nervous system to send a message to the adrenal glands.
• The adrenal medulla releases the hormone adrenaline into the bloodstream.
• Physiological responses to adrenaline include increased heart rate and blood pressure, faster respiration (breathing) and perspiration (sweat), all of which enable us to punch harder (fight) or run faster (flight) to deal with the danger.

Credit other relevant material.

5. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2, AO2 = 2

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• A person’s genotype (their actual genetic makeup) can differ from their phenotype (how the genes are expressed) due to environmental influences.

Credit other relevant material.

Possible AO2 application:

Credit any relevant example of how a person’s environmental influences may affect their phenotype. For example:

• A person may have the genotype for a disease called PKU, an allergy to protein causing brain damage and death. However, if they have a restricted diet without protein, their phenotype is expressed as a healthy individual.

6. Marks for this question: AO3 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• The biological approach uses scientific methods such as scanning techniques, drug trials, and twin studies. The use of sophisticated imaging and recording techniques produces objective and reliable data that is less likely to be misinterpreted by investigator bias. Experimental methods are highly controlled and systematically reported, allowing for replication.
• The biological approach’s focus on the influence of neurochemistry on behaviour has led to the development of drug therapies for mental disorders such as depression. Drug therapies allow people to manage their condition and improve their quality of life.
• Breaking down complex human behaviours into their constituent neurochemical parts, such as explaining depression as simply having low levels of serotonin, is a reductionist approach that may be missing the whole picture. It may mean only drug therapy is offered, which may treat the symptoms but not the cause. Research indicates a combination of drug and talking therapies are beneficial for many conditions.
• Explaining behaviour in terms of internal forces, such as neurotransmitters, is deterministic and doesn’t account for free will.

Credit other relevant evaluations.

7. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

Procedure:

• 11 right-handed patients whose corpus callosum had been cut as a treatment for epilepsy (meaning their right and left hemispheres could not communicate) took part in a study.
• An image or word was flashed for one tenth of a second to the patient’s right or left visual field, and they were asked to say or draw what they saw.

Findings:

• If the image or word was presented to the right visual field (processed in the left hemisphere), the patient would say what they saw.
• If the image or word was presented to the left visual field (processed in the right hemisphere), they often reported ‘nothing’. However, they could draw it with their left hand.

Credit other relevant split-brain research, or variations such as the ‘touch’ variation or ‘composite words’ variation.

Chapter 8

All exemplar answers given would achieve full marks or the top level.

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 1

Humans are ‘self-determining’ and control their behaviour. Internal and external forces may exert influence, but we are not a slave to these forces.

2. Marks for this question: AO2 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

An example using Bowlby’s theory of attachment:

• Bowlby’s work on attachment is considered socially sensitive because it had consequences to potentially discriminate against women.
• Bowlby highlighted the need for monotropy, which indicated women should not return to work.
• This could pressure women to stay at home, which could put them under financial and emotional strain.
• The research is particularly outdated today as many mothers choose to work or need to work.
• It also discriminates against fathers as caregivers. A study found that the percentage of stay-at-home dads has quadrupled in the last 25 years.

Credit other relevant material.

Note: this question could relate to any topic in Psychology, from Years 1 or 2. It may relate to the positive or negative implications of research. An example using Bowlby’s theory of attachment is given above, but you could write about, for example:

• Milgram’s obedience research and attitudes towards people of different nationalities.
• Diagnosis of depression, schizophrenia, etc.
• Labelling, e.g. gender identity.
• Biological research into addiction/aggression/offending – issue of who is to blame, e.g. if addiction/aggression/offending is inherited.
• Piaget’s research into discovery learning – changes in education system/classroom practice.
• Implications of relationship counselling based on research into relationships.
• How research into gender might affect parenting/educational practice.
• Influences of eyewitness testimony on the judicial system.
• Explanations and treatments for mental ill health.
• Wakefield’s fraudulent findings of the supposed association between vaccines and autism.

3. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent limitation of biological determinism in explaining behaviour, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a limitation of biological determinism in explaining behaviour that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled limitation of biological determinism in explaining behaviour.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Concordance rates for MZ twins are never 100%, which suggests behaviour is not purely biologically determined.
• Determinism may apply accurately to animals, such as in mating behaviour. But human behaviour is more complex and involves higher cognitive factors, which can override biological impulses.
• The law rejects hard determinism, and instead assumes free will.

Credit any valid limitation.

4. Marks for this question: AO2 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Environmental determinism claims that all behaviour is environmentally determined by external forces, such as our experiences, and classical and operant conditioning.
• Mark’s phobia of flying was initiated and maintained through the two-process model.
• His phobia was initiated through classical conditioning; he associated the plane (conditioned stimulus) with the panic caused by turbulence (the unconditioned stimulus). He now associates flying with fear.
• Mark’s phobia is maintained through operant conditioning. Every time he avoids flying, he feels relief, which is negative reinforcement.

Credit other relevant applications.

5. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Ethnocentrism refers to judging other cultures from your own point of view, and it can lead to discrimination, because other cultures may be viewed as inferior.
• Ethnocentric research leads to cultural bias. Behaviour is interpreted through the values and standards of the researchers’ own culture, meaning different cultural behaviours get labelled as ‘abnormal’.
• Cultural bias threatens universality, because if a theory is ethnocentric, it may misrepresent certain cultures. It might make them appear inferior or pathological, or it may not apply to them all.
• In psychology, theories tend to be developed in certain cultures (e.g. the USA). They often ignore other cultures with different cultural values and standards, resulting in cultural bias.
• Cultural relativism aims to combat cultural bias but can lead to bias. For example, Margaret Mead’s investigation of aggression in Papua New Guinea assumed cultural differences that didn’t exist.
• Credit answers embedded in examples. E.g. in research of attachment types, the ‘Strange Situation’ only viewed behaviour from a US viewpoint, and so it misjudged Japanese babies as insecure-resistant.

Credit other relevant material.

6. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

2 marks for a clear, coherent explanation of why individuals may have free will, using appropriate terminology.

1 mark for a brief or muddled explanation of why individuals may have free will.

Possible AO1 content:

• Free will states that humans are ‘self-determining’ and control their own behaviour.
• Internal and external forces may exert influence, but humans are not a slave to these forces.
• Humanistic psychology claims that humans have free will and that free will is needed for personal growth because it means taking personal responsibility.

Credit other relevant material.

7. Marks for this question: AO2 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Something traumatic happened to Abdul during the oral stage of development, which led to oral fixation.
• Abdul’s behaviour is determined by his oral fixation.
• This is seen in the orally fixated behaviours of smoking, drinking, biting his nails, and overeating.
• He doesn’t want to engage in the oral habits and worries about them.

Credit other relevant applications.

8. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent explanation of what is meant by ‘socially sensitive research’, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for an explanation of what is meant by ‘socially sensitive research’ that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled explanation of what is meant by ‘socially sensitive research’.

Possible AO1 content:

• Socially sensitive research investigates topics that might have consequences for the groups represented.
• The groups are usually minorities, who are vulnerable to discrimination, so it’s important the research doesn’t increase the potential for discrimination.
• Investigating aspects of race and gender is socially sensitive, as is the genetic basis of criminality.

Credit other relevant material.

9. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO3 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Androcentrism refers to things that are male-centred. Psychology developed in an androcentric world.
• Most psychologists are men, and this has always been the case, so psychological research and theories are likely to reflect human behaviour from their viewpoint.
• This leads to gender bias, where men and women are treated differently based on stereotypes, resulting in misrepresentation of one gender (usually women).
• Gender bias threatens universality – if a theory is androcentric, it may misrepresent women. It might incorrectly make them appear inferior or pathological, or it may not actually apply to them all.
• Alpha bias exaggerates the differences between men and women, to the detriment of one gender (usually women). E.g. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory.
• Beta bias minimises the differences between men and women, to the detriment of one gender (usually women). It assumes that what is true for men is also true for women, or vice versa. E.g. early research into biological stress responses.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Negative stereotypes disadvantage women in all aspects of life, from work to expressing their emotions such as anger.
• Institutional sexism may exist within psychological research – senior researchers are more likely to be men, so questions relating to women may not be conceived; male researchers are more likely to have their work published, perpetuating a male-dominated viewpoint; laboratory experiments may place female participants in a disadvantaged position.
• Examples of gender biased research, e.g. a 1960’s study found that male experimenters were more pleasant, friendly, and encouraging to female participants than to male participants, with the result that male participants appeared to perform less well on the assigned tasks. Other studies have suggested that lab experiments disadvantage women because the controlled conditions in a lab tell us little about the experiences of women outside lab conditions.
• To help combat gender bias in research, feminists recommend that women participate in research using collaborative methods, rather than being the object of it. Collecting qualitative data should reduce gender bias, because researchers would have to try to understand women’s experiences rather than using a reductionist approach.

Credit other relevant material.

10. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO2 = 2, AO3 = 3

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The nature–nurture debate asks the question of whether our behaviour is due to innate biological and genetic factors (nature) or due to the influence of the environment (nurture).
• Genetic explanations: behaviours can be inherited from biological parents’ genes (heredity). MZ twins have higher concordance rates for many psychological characteristics, indicating a strong biological contribution.
• Evolutionary explanations: some behaviours today may be due to their adaptive advantage, caused by genes that were naturally selected for and passed on through generations – aiding survival or reproductive success. E.g. attachment.
• Behaviourists believe that all behaviour is learned through classical and/or operant conditioning, suggesting that nurture influences behaviours.
• Social learning theory emphasises the effect of nurture on behaviour; humans observe and imitate significant role models.
• The nature–nurture debate has changed to acknowledge that nature and nurture are inextricably linked. Psychologists are now likely to ask about the relative contributions of nature and nurture to explain behaviour. This is the interactionist approach.

Possible AO2 application:

Reference to any topic in Psychology from Years 1 or 2. Examples include:

• Babies attach for evolutionary reasons (Bowlby’s social releasers etc.) versus babies attach because of stimulus-response (pairing the unconditioned stimulus of food with the conditioned stimulus of the parent).
• The development of mental health issues, such as OCD, could be due to nature (faulty COMT/SERT gene) or nurture (the person learns to associate germs with fear).
• Resisting social influence could be due to an internal locus of control (nature) or social support (nurture).
• The stress response can be evolutionary, so activation of the sympathomedullary pathway occurs to aid survival (nature) but can be moderated through the hardy personality. Hardiness training (nurture) can therefore influence the stress response.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Hebb argued that separating nature from nurture to explain behaviour was impossible. E.g. genetic diseases such as PKU (nature) can be controlled through diet (nurture).
• The diathesis–stress relationship emphasises an interactionist explanation of behaviour between nature and nurture. E.g. a person may be born with a genetic vulnerability for OCD (nature) but only develops OCD due to a stressful event in the environment (nurture).
• A person’s genes (nature) may affect their environment (nurture). ‘Niche picking’ is when a child seeks out people and environments that suit their genetic characteristics. E.g. an ‘adrenaline junkie’ will seek excitement and pick similar people to have exciting experiences with.
• Reactive gene–environment interaction refers to when a genetic characteristic causes other people to always respond in the same way. This therefore creates a similar environment wherever you go. E.g. aggression creates an aggressive environment.
• A person’s life experiences (nurture) can alter the structure and workings of the brain (nature). E.g. the London taxi drivers study showed that the intense learning required to pass ‘the Knowledge’ exams increased the grey matter in the posterior hippocampus.

Credit any relevant material.

11. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO3 = 10

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The idiographic approach to psychological research focuses on the study of individuals. It uses qualitative methods to gather rich and detailed data, which gives insights into their subjective way of viewing the world. It doesn’t usually aim to generate laws of behaviour.
• Examples of idiographic approaches include:

   

  • Humanistic psychology – concerned with studying an individual’s unique subjective experience rather than observations from others.
  • The psychodynamic approach – Freud used the case study method of investigation. Freud tried to formulate general laws of behaviour from case studies, but this is still considered idiographic because it was drawn from unique individuals.
• The nomothetic approach to psychological research studies large groups of people. It uses quantitative methods to gather numerical data, for use with statistical analysis. Nomothetic approaches tend to be determinist and reductionist, and they aim to generate laws/theories of behaviour.
• Examples of nomothetic approaches include:

   

  • The biological approach – takes a nomothetic approach when using drug trials, to draw conclusions like serotonin causing depression.
  • Social learning theory – behaviourists experimented on hundreds of animals to develop the laws of learning theory.
  • The nomothetic approach to investigating personality – uses psychometric tests on large groups, such as Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire (which uses factor analysis to produce personality types).

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Qualitative methods used in the idiographic approach give rich and detailed information of an individual, which may provide insights into behaviour overlooked by nomothetic methods. E.g. drug trials can determine the efficacy of SSRIs in treating depression but tell us nothing of the individual experiences of a person living with depression.
• Case studies provide the basis for nomothetic investigation. E.g. the case study of HM provided detailed information about his experiences of memory, contributing to our overall understanding of memory. But it also provided the basis for nomothetic investigation on different types of long-term memory.
• Falsification of case studies is impossible, as they can’t be replicated. Generalisations are also impossible, as there are no controls to compare against.
• Case studies are open to investigator bias, e.g. Freud’s interpretation of Little Hans, whom he only met once. Freud was also discriminatory towards women, considering them morally inferior.
• Nomothetic research tends to be highly scientific, often using experimentation that allows for highly controlled conditions, replication, and falsification. This helps preserve the integrity of psychology as a credible science.
• Critics argue that idiographic and nomothetic research shouldn’t be mutually exclusive. E.g. the English and Romanian adoptees study used a combination of methods to investigate social, emotional, intellectual, and physical development.

Credit other relevant material.

12. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO2 = 4, AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Reductionism believes that behaviour is best understood by breaking it down into its constituent parts.
• Holism believes that behaviour is best understood by analysing the person as a whole, and that if you reduce behaviour into constituent parts then you will miss something.
• Holism and reductionism have different ways of viewing the same behaviour, and they are demonstrated through levels of explanation.

   

  • Highest level: how our cultural and social groups influence behaviour.
  • Middle level: psychological explanations of behaviour.
  • Lower level: biological explanations of behaviour.
• Biological reductionism reduces complex phenomena into constituent biological parts, such as the action of genes, neurotransmitters, hormones, etc. E.g. schizophrenia is reduced to overactivity of dopamine in the basal ganglia.
• Environmental (stimulus-response) reductionism explains complex phenomena by breaking them down into stimulus-response links. E.g. attachment is explained by pairing the unconditioned stimulus (milk) with the conditioned stimulus (mother) to create a conditioned response of attachment.

Possible AO2 application:

• Svitlana uses the lowest level of explanation (reductionist) to explain why Roma is depressed. She has reduced depression into the constituent part of the low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain.
• Svitlana recommends a reductionist therapy: using SSRIs because it will increase the time serotonin spends in the synapse, causing more serotonin to bind with receptors on the postsynaptic neuron. This will have an inhibitory effect, helping Roma feel less depressed.
• Ivor is referring to higher levels of explanation. He thinks there is a reason other than low levels of serotonin that is causing the depression.
• Ivor thinks that addressing Roma’s depression holistically by investigating the social and/or cultural reasons that cause him to feel depressed will help solve his depression in the long term.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• A problem with reductionism is that by reducing complex phenomena into constituent parts, it might fail to consider how human emotion may be influential. E.g. the multi-store model of memory explains the linear processes involved in transforming sensory information into memory, but it doesn’t account for the human emotion of anxiety. The Swedish bank robbery study showed how extreme anxiety led to enhanced recall of a crime.
• Biological reductionism has led to the development of drug therapies, such as SSRIs to treat depression and OCD. Since drug therapies were developed in the 1950s, there has been a reduction in institutionalisation.
• Drug therapies are criticised for variable success rates, and for treating the symptoms rather than the cause. Someone with depression might be bereaved or seeking asylum, and they would benefit from therapy and/or practical help to tackle the root cause, rather than (or as well as) drug therapy.
• A more holistic view (higher-level explanation) of the person’s cultural and social experiences could be more appropriate in these cases.
• The behavioural approach was developed using non-human experiments, and critics argue it is inappropriate to extrapolate the results to humans. Environmental reductionism ignores other influences on behaviour, such as cognitive factors and intentions.

Credit examples of reductionism ignoring other influences. E.g. in addiction the theory of planned behaviour identifies intention as a key component to behaviour. Intention is strongly influenced by a person’s self-efficacy (their confidence in their ability to stop the addiction, even in the face of barriers), and researchers found that it’s possible to enhance self-efficacy to help treat addiction.

Credit other relevant material.

Chapter 9

All exemplar answers given would achieve full marks or the top level.

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 1

Intra-psychic, dyadic, social, grave dressing.

2. Marks for this question: AO2 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Chihiro and Patrick met because of the first filter of social demography – they went to the same university so they lived in the same place, had a similar educational background and were both students.
• They stayed together for 18 months because of the second filter of similarity of attitudes – they chose the same degree, both liked Mexican food, and had the same values as they volunteered at the food bank. Similarity of attitudes is the biggest predictor of a relationship becoming stable.
• Patrick is unhappy in the relationship and asked to separate because they have moved on to the third filter, complementarity of needs – they are not complementing each other. They live in the same shared house and have not pursued careers in environmental science. For the relationship to succeed they should provide what the other doesn’t have. E.g. if one of them was pursuing a career and the other was providing support at home, the theory predicts they would have a better chance of staying together.

Credit other relevant applications.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The absorption addiction model aims to explain why people engage in the deeper levels of parasocial relationships.
• People may become ‘absorbed’ (preoccupied with focusing on their celebrity) as a substitute for a lack of fulfilment in their real relationships or to escape the reality of a distressing situation, such as a parental divorce.
• High levels of absorption may lead to addiction, where the need to focus on their favourite celebrity consumes and controls someone, moving people into the deeper levels of a parasocial relationship.

Credit other relevant material.

4. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent strength or limitation of the attachment theory of parasocial relationships, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a strength or limitation of the attachment theory of parasocial relationships that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled strength or limitation of the attachment theory of parasocial relationships.

Possible AO3 application:

• A study of 381 adults found that attachment type was significant in parasocial bereavement (experiencing the same responses to the loss of a real friend); insecure-resistant participants anticipated the most negative reactions to their favourite TV character being taken off air.
• A study on attachment type and celebrity-related attitudes found those with insecure attachments were no more likely to form parasocial relationships with celebrities than those with secure attachments.

Credit any valid strength or limitation.

5. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Investment feeds into the commitment level, which partly determines whether someone will maintain or leave the relationship.
• Investments are the resources that are associated with the relationship that would be lost (or negatively changed) if the relationship ended.
• Intrinsic investments are resources that a person directly brings to the relationship, such as money, possessions, energy, and self-disclosures.
• Extrinsic investments are resources that partners have made together within the relationship, such as possessions (house, car, etc.), children, mutual friends, and shared memories.
• High investment can explain why someone will stay in a relationship even if they are not satisfied.

Credit other relevant material.

6. Marks for this question: AO2 = 2

2 marks for a clear, coherent explanation of Charlie was able to ask Jamal on a date on social media but not face-to-face, referring to concepts from online relationships.

1 mark for a brief or muddled explanation of why Charlie was able to ask Jamal on a date on social media but not face-to-face, referring to concepts from online relationships.

Possible AO2 application:

• Charlie had gates that prevented him from asking Jamal on a date in real life.
• Charlie’s gates are that he is shy and goes red when he sees Jamal face to face.
• Online there is an absence of gates that allows Charlie to reach out to Jamal.
• Sending a friend request is easier for Charlie than speaking face to face.
• Jamal can’t see if Charlie goes red in online communication.
• The absence of gating online allows the relationship to begin.

Credit other relevant applications.

7. Marks for this question: AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Researchers found that objective ratings of wives’ attractiveness were positively related to their husbands’ levels of satisfaction over at least the first four years of marriage. However, objective ratings of husbands’ attractiveness were not related to their wives’ marital satisfaction at the beginning of the relationship or over time.
• A lack of physical attractiveness may be overcome by other desirable qualities, such as wealth, status, or kindness. People can attract others of a much higher physical attractiveness by compensating with these other assets (complex matching).
• Evidence for the halo effect: physically attractive people were attributed positive traits, including political knowledge, even when participants knew the attractive people didn’t have political expertise.
• A meta-analysis of actual romantic couples provided strong support for the matching hypothesis. The analysis of 17 studies found a strong positive correlation between the attractive ratings of romantic partners.

Credit other relevant evaluations.

8. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Social exchange theory weighs the rewards a person gains from their relationship against the costs incurred, to determine whether the relationship will be maintained.
• For a relationship to be maintained it must be profitable, so the benefits should outweigh the costs. Possible profits/losses (depending on whether someone is giving/receiving what they want): time, money, intimacy, gifts, emotional effort, having a family, companionship, etc.
• The comparison level means comparing a current partner to all previous partners and expectations of what a relationship should be; if a partner doesn’t compare favourably, the relationship will end.
• The comparison level for alternatives includes everything from the comparison level plus comparing a partner to possible attractive alternatives. These alternatives include another partner, a career, or more time with friends and family.
• If someone is completely satisfied in their current relationship, they may not even notice the alternatives. If someone is not, then they weigh up the profitability of the alternative compared to the costs of leaving their current partner.

Credit other relevant material.

9. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO2 = 2, AO3 = 3

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• When one partner feels distressed about aspects of their romantic relationship, they begin to consider ending the relationship.
• The breakdown of a relationship is in a series of phases:
• Intra-psychic phase – a person will brood on the aspects of the relationship they are dissatisfied about and feel resentful towards their partner. It is a private stage, as they don’t voice their concerns to anyone.
• Dyadic phase – the dissatisfied person will speak to their partner about their concerns. At this point, both partners are likely to consider which investments could be lost if the relationship were to end. At this stage the relationship can be saved or moves to the next stage of breakdown. Private stage between the partners.
• Social phase – partners tell their social network about the problems. Advice from friends and family can accelerate the relationship breakdown or stop it through mediation and support. Public phase as partners tell their social network. The breakdown is inevitable. Partners may discuss the logistics of breaking up.
• Grave-dressing phase – occurs after the relationship has broken down. Each partner wants to publicly ‘dress the grave’ of their relationship to justify their actions and control their public image. Involve warping the truth to create a better image for themselves. People typically focus on the negatives of their ex-partner and will negatively reframe aspects of their partner’s character that they once found attractive (for example, if someone at first seemed ‘spontaneous’ they are reframed as ‘irresponsible’).

Possible AO2 application:

• Dean is in the intrapsychic phase as he’s angry that Sasha is irresponsible with money in the joint account. It’s private, he hasn’t said anything, even to Sasha, therefore it’s not dyadic yet.
• Dean reaches the dyadic phase when Sasha causes a fee from a late charge. The dyadic phase does not go well as she accuses him of being boring and the negotiation doesn’t go well, so it will tip into the next stage.
• Dean is in the social phase when he tells his friend about the issues on a night out. The breakdown is now inevitable as it’s gone to the public phase.
• Dean will end the relationship with Sasha as it’s gone past the private stages and is inevitable as he’s reached the social phase.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Incomplete model – Researchers surveyed students who had recently split up and found evidence of distress and personal growth. The ‘resurrection phase’ was then added to the model to indicate a period of personal growth after a relationship breakdown. A person can reflect on the relationship, consider what they have learned.
• A person may go through all the stages but not leave their partner due to cultural or religious reasons. The phase model is therefore an imposed etic.
• An understanding of the phase that couples are at gives relationship counsellors an indication of how to help them. If a person indicates they are discussing their dissatisfaction with friends (social phase), the counsellor can encourage them to bring it back to the dyadic phase where they work on the relationship with their partner, which increases the chance of reconciliation. Alternatively, a counsellor may recognise that partners are at the grave-dressing phase and help them to work on practical strategies for a more amicable split.
• A research participant may not wish to disclose every aspect of their relationship breakdown, particularly if their ex-partner hasn’t given informed consent to the study. They may also be in a vulnerable position, ranging from emotional about the breakup, to being afraid of an abusive ex-partner, and should not feel pressured to answer all research questions. The results of any research should remain confidential to protect participants.

Credit any relevant material.

10. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO3 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Note: although there is a lot of possible AO1 content, you should be selective in what you include as there is only a maximum of 3 marks for AO1.

Possible AO1 content:

• Reduced cues theory: self-disclosure will be inhibited through online communication because a lack of social cues (e.g. tone of voice) can cause misunderstandings.
• Online anonymity leads to deindividuation, leading to people writing hurtful comments they would never say in real life, therefore causing self-disclosure to shut down.
• The hyper-personal model: self-disclosure will occur more quickly and intensely online because we can edit our messages and photos to put across the best possible version of ourselves, potentially coming across as more attractive than in real life.
• Online communication is often anonymous, meaning that what we disclose will remain confidential from our real-life social networks, giving us freedom to say what we really think.
• Deeper self-disclosure is likely to happen more quickly and is intensely satisfying.
• Relationships that develop online are referred to as the ‘boom and bust’ phenomenon: the excitement and intensity of the interaction (boom) will rarely last because the underlying trust is absent, and people rarely live up to the idealised version of themselves that they have put across (bust).
• In real life there are ‘gates’ to dating that prevent people from approaching others to request a date (e.g. being shy). Online communication removes gating, giving people the confidence to approach others online that they wouldn’t in real life.
• Absence of gating allows attraction to grow as partners learn about each other through self-disclosure in messaging, and relationships may begin.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Those with Internet access at home were more likely to be in a romantic relationship than those without it: 71% compared to 35%, suggesting that the formation of relationships is changing from traditional face-to-face methods to online.
• Researchers found greatly increased activity in reward centres in the brain, such as the ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens, when people were talking about themselves compared to talking about someone else. This explains the motivation to self-disclose in social media.
• Contrary to the reduced-cues theory, researchers identified a range of non-verbal cues in online communication, such as emojis, acronyms, and gifs, as well as being able to manipulate the style and timing of messages. The non-verbal cues add nuance and promote self-disclosure in online relationships.
• Evidence for the hyper-personal model: online daters were found to self-disclose elements of their real selves in dating profiles, but they also admitted to copying other daters’ ideas and images as a way of making themselves more attractive.
• Researchers found that socially anxious daters were able to express their true feelings more easily in online communication compared to face-to-face interactions. This suggests that without gates, people can approach others and form a meaningful connection because the communication goes deeper than superficial elements of, say, looks.

Credit other relevant material.

11. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO2 = 4, AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Equity theory is an economic theory to determine the likelihood of partners continuing or ending their romantic relationship.
• Profitability is gained from an equitable (fair) exchange of rewards and costs.
• Satisfaction is gained from a feeling of ‘fairness’, where partners put in the same amount of effort and energy into the relationship that they get out of it.
• If profits are not equitable, partners may feel undesired negative emotions.
• Over-benefitted partners who receive more rewards than they put into the relationship may feel guilty, ashamed, and pity their partner.
• Under-benefitted partners who have more costs of being in the relationship than rewards may feel sad, humiliated, and angry, and may come to resent their partner.
• Their negative emotions can motivate them to either change the dynamic of the relationship to one that is fair, or to end it.
• Equity can change when couples have children. Before and after having children, couples feel more equitable in terms of domestic chores and report greater marital satisfaction. During the child-rearing years, marital satisfaction dips, with wives often feeling under-benefitted and husbands feeling over-benefitted.

Possible AO2 application:

• Sangeeta’s relationship is not equitable. She feels under-benefitted because her husband makes no effort for a date night and leaves the childcare and housework to her. She has negative emotions of anger and resentment.
• Sangeeta’s relationship may have been more equitable before she had children, but having children may have shifted Sangeeta to feeling under-benefitted and her husband to feeling over-benefitted.
• Sangeeta will be motivated to encourage her husband to put more time and effort into their relationship and if he doesn’t, she will be motivated to end it.
• Anya’s relationship is not equitable. She feels over-benefitted because her partner does all the household chores, buys her gifts and does exactly what she tells him. She has negative emotions of pity. She may also feel guilt and shame.
• Her negative emotions will motivate her to change things to be more equitable in the relationship, or if they don’t change, then to end the relationship.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• A survey of 118 married couples measuring equity, found couples who perceived their marriage as equitable showed greater relationship satisfaction compared to those who felt under- or over-benefitted. This suggests that equity theory is a more valid theory than social exchange theory.
• The importance of fairness has ancient origins – female capuchin monkeys became angry if they didn’t receive their prize of grapes in exchange for playing a game. If another monkey was given their prize who hadn’t played the game, they became enraged.
• Not all people are ‘equity sensitive’ and need equity in a relationship to feel satisfied. ‘Benevolents’ are people happy to give more rewards than they receive, whereas ‘entitleds’ guiltlessly receive more rewards than they give.
• Women are more likely to perceive themselves as under-benefitted and feel more distressed about being under-benefitted. Women may notice inequity more due to inequity in society and/or because they are more relationship-focused than men.
• Although couples from individualist cultures were more satisfied in equitable relationships, both men and women from collectivist cultures were more satisfied when they were over-benefitted. Equity theory is therefore an imposed etic that can’t account for cultural differences.

Credit other relevant material.

12. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO3 = 10

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content for self-disclosure as a factor affecting attraction:

• Self-disclosure is when a person reveals personal information to another.
• The more self-disclosure, the greater the attraction because it builds trust and understanding of the other person.
• The type of self-disclosure influences attraction: surface-level disclosures (e.g. taste in music) won’t be as influential as deeper types (e.g. ambitions, disappointments, previous relationships).
• Self-disclosure should happen gradually and reciprocally for attraction to grow.
• Attraction may stop if:
• too much personal information is revealed too quickly; indiscriminate self-disclosure makes people feel they are not special
• self-disclosure is not reciprocated; this causes feelings of vulnerability and discourages conversation
• a person doesn’t allow reciprocation (just talks about themselves); the other person may become bored and feel their date is not interested in them.
• Social penetration theory refers to the gradual and reciprocal exchange of information – partners can penetrate more deeply into each other’s lives, learn their deepest thoughts, and understand each other better.

Possible AO3 discussion for self-disclosure as a factor affecting attraction:

• Evidence for two types of self-disclosure: a meta-analysis found that people who self-disclosed on a deeper level were liked more than those who disclosed at a more superficial level.
• Self-disclosure online can cause the ‘boom and bust’ phenomenon. The self-disclosure is faster and deeper, causing attraction and the relationship to become intense very quickly (boom), but trust and knowledge of the person is lacking, causing it to end (bust).
• Self-disclosure may not always increase satisfaction in a relationship. In relationships that are breaking down, partners may disclose very intimate and personal information, but sometimes this is not enough to reconcile.
• In different cultures, the level of acceptable self-disclosure varies. E.g. people from China disclose less information about sexual thoughts and feelings than those in the USA. Both approaches are linked to relationship satisfaction, suggesting that self-disclosure is moderated by cultural differences as a factor affecting attraction.
• Our desire for self-disclosure to be gradual is so important that it applies to our liking for reality TV contestants. Researchers found that viewers preferred reality TV contestants who self-disclosed gradually, which highlights the importance of following the norms of self-disclosure for attraction to grow.

Possible AO1 content for filter theory as a factor affecting attraction:

• Filter theory suggests we are attracted to romantic partners based on a series of filters that narrows down the field of available people.
• The filters are in an order and explain attraction from first meeting, through to long-term relationships.
• Filter 1 is social demography. This refers to variables that predict the likelihood of partners meeting in the first place, e.g. age, social class, location, ethnicity, etc. People are more likely to meet people they share several social demographics with, and having more in common with a potential partner can increase initial feelings of attraction.
• Filter 2 is similarity in attitudes. Having similar attitudes and values is important for the first 18 months of the relationship and is the best predictor of the relationship becoming stable.
• Filter 3 is complementarity of needs. For relationships lasting longer than 18 months, partners filter based on whether they complement each other’s needs. E.g. the need for financial resources and the complementary need to provide. When partners meet each other’s needs, they form a ‘whole’ and the relationship is harmonious.

Possible AO3 discussion for filter theory as a factor affecting attraction:

• Many studies have failed to replicate the original research that was used to formulate filter theory. An investigation in 1970 studied 330 couples using the same procedures as the original 1962 study and found no evidence for the similarity or complementarity components.
• Lack of temporal validity: society has changed since these studies, with the formation of many relationships shifting online. This has reduced the importance of sharing social demographics in meeting people.
• A speed-dating event measured actual and perceived similarity using a questionnaire; perceived rather than actual similarity predicted romantic attraction for others. This counters filter theory, which identifies that real similarity in attitudes and values are important in attraction.
• An investigation of singles on a dating site found more evidence for similarity of attitudes and values than complementarity. The participants indicated they would prefer complementary characteristics, but in reality, there were many strong correlations between their own personality and their ideal partner’s personality.
• Researchers suggest there is a real value to the filtering process. Partners share information that allows them to make a prediction about the long-term value of the relationship. A person may then end a relationship before becoming too invested.

Credit other relevant material.

Questions on previous content

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

2 marks for a clear, coherent outline of the term heredity using appropriate terminology.

1 mark for a brief or muddled outline of the term heredity.

Possible AO1 content:

• Heredity means that behaviours can be inherited from our biological parents’ genes.
• Parents pass on genes that determine not only physical characteristics, but psychological characteristics such as aggressive behaviours, addiction, and schizophrenia.

2. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent limitation of environmental determinism in explaining behaviour, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a limitation of environmental determinism in explaining behaviour that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled limitation of environmental determinism in explaining behaviour.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• If behaviour was largely environmentally determined, then we would expect the concordance rates to be very high for both MZs and DZs due to their similar upbringings, but they aren’t. Concordance rates tend to be higher for MZs than DZs, indicating a biological component to behaviour and questioning the influence of the environment on determining behaviour.
• Social learning theory identifies that behaviour is largely determined by imitating significant role models and vicarious reinforcements. However, there are also mediational (cognitive) processes involved, so there is also an element of free will in determining behaviour.
• Skinner claimed that free will is an illusion and that behaviour is determined by classical and operant conditioning and reinforcement history.

Credit any valid limitation.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4, AO2 = 2

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The nomothetic approach focuses on the study of large groups of people.
• It uses quantitative methods to gather numerical data, for use with statistical analysis.
• Nomothetic approaches tend to be determinist and reductionist.
• Nomothetic approaches aim to generate laws/theories of behaviour.

Possible AO2 application:

You can refer to any topic in Psychology from Years 1 or 2. Examples include:

• The biological approach takes a nomothetic approach when using drug trials, to draw conclusions like serotonin causing depression.
• Behaviourists experimented on hundreds of animals to develop the laws of learning theory.
• Cognitive psychologists tested large samples of people in laboratory experiments and made inferences about memory processes based on their performance.
• The nomothetic approach to investigating personality uses psychometric tests on large groups, such as Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire (which used factor analysis to produce personality types).

Credit other relevant material.

Chapter 10

All exemplar answers given would achieve full marks or the top level.

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 1

The unease an individual feels due to a mismatch between their biological sex and gender identity.

2. Marks for this question: AO2 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Lily is in the gender identity stage of gender development, which happens at about the age of 3. Lily can identify herself as a girl but is unaware that her sex is permanent, which explains her comment that she wants to be a daddy when she grows up.
• Phoebe is in the gender stability stage of gender development, which happens about the age of 4. This is why she knows that gender is usually consistent over time and explains that now she’s 5 she talks about being a mummy when she’s grown up.
• Phoebe has not reached the gender constancy stage of gender development, which happens around the age of 6. This explains why she thinks her parent’s friend is a man because ‘he’ has a stereotypically male job (builder) and short hair.
• Evie is in the gender constancy stage of gender development, which happens about the age of 6. Her understanding of gender has developed to understand that gender is consistent over time and across situations, which is why she understands that Charlotte is a woman despite doing a stereotypically male job and having short hair.

Credit other relevant applications.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Testosterone develops external genitalia in prenatal males.
• Testosterone affects brain development prenatally and later in childhood.
• Males have a surge of testosterone during puberty, causing secondary sexual characteristics, such as facial hair.

Credit other relevant material.

4. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent strength or limitation of gender schema theory, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a strength or limitation of gender schema theory that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled strength or limitation of gender schema theory.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Gender schema theory’s age-related predictions are questioned as children were found to use gender labels from as early as 19 months.
• Children under 6 were more likely to remember gender-consistent photographs, and many misremembered the gender-inconsistent photographs by recalling the person as the opposite sex (gender schemas distort memory processing).
• Children under 4 display strong gender stereotypes, which is consistent with gender schema theory and contradictory of Kohlberg’s theory.
• Evidence of children distorting counter-stereotypes in their memory suggests their gender schemas are resilient to change because they don’t recall counter-stereotyped information. Efforts to reduce gender stereotypes should focus on providing children with direct experiences of people who do not fit stereotypes.
• The assumption of gender schema theory is that if a gender schema is changed, then gendered stereotypical behaviour will change. However, research demonstrates that contradictory schemas and behaviours are common. For example, many married heterosexual couples believe in equal division of labour within the home, but rarely carry this out in practice. This challenges gender schema theory because schemas don’t necessarily impact on behaviour.
• Critics argue the role of schemas in determining gendered behaviour are exaggerated and overlook the role of social factors such as parental rewards and punishments. E.g. if a boy is praised for bravery by holding in his tears when in physical or psychological pain, he is likely to repeat that behaviour in the future.

Credit any valid strength or limitation.

5. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Diversity in sex development is when a developing foetus does not have XX or XY chromosomes.
• Examples of different chromosomes such as X0 (Turner’s syndrome) and XXY (Klinefelter’s syndrome).
• Chromosomal differences influence physical and psychological characteristics. (May give brief examples, e.g. X0 females have a vagina and uterus, but ovaries do not develop, they often have a higher-than-average reading ability, but poorer spatial ability. XXY males have a penis but less facial and body hair and underdeveloped genitals. They often have problems with language development and an inability to cope with stress.)
• Hormones also play a role in diversity in the development of biological sex.
• Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) refers to XY males who do not respond to the hormone testosterone, prenatally.
• Individuals with complete AIS do not develop male genitalia and appear biologically female at birth and have a short vagina.
• Their gonads do not descend into testes or develop into ovaries.
• Some secondary sex characteristics develop at puberty such as breasts, but they don’t menstruate (no uterus or ovaries).

Credit other relevant material. Not all of the above information needs to be included for full marks, but answers must include information about AIS.

6. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

2 marks for a clear, coherent explanation of the term ‘gender fluid’ as a gender identity.

1 mark for a limited or brief explanation of the term ‘gender fluid’ as a gender identity.

Possible AO1 content:

• Gender fluid identity falls under the non-binary classification, but there is no standard definition.
• A person’s gender may be between male and female, or outside of both, and they may not want a gender identity.
• Gender fluidity is unfixed, dynamic, and expressed in a personal way, which may include through clothing, makeup, and pronouns, etc.
• Gender fluid gender expression and/or identity may change regularly or over time.

Credit other relevant material.

7. Marks for this question: AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 evaluation for culture:

• Margaret Mead’s study of tribes in Papua New Guinea provided evidence of cultural differences in gender roles. Men and women in one tribe were gentle and cooperative, in another they were aggressive and striving for power, and in a third the women were dominant and men passive.
• Mead was criticised for investigator bias as she had preconceived ideas of what to expect. Freeman argued that she was deliberately misled by indigenous people, which she may have realised if she lived there longer. Mead subsequently ‘softened’ her conclusion about the influence of culture on gender and acknowledged significant biological influences.
• Cross-cultural research is often undertaken by Western researchers. Critics argue that theories and research tools created in Western society may be meaningless when investigating other cultures. To overcome the problem, research teams should generally include at least one member of the local population, which Buss did in his investigation of sexual attraction.

Possible AO3 evaluation for media:

• Evidence for media influences on gender: a longitudinal study investigated views on gender stereotypes before and after a Canadian town gained access to TV in the 1960s. Before, children had fewer sex-typed views and less gender-stereotypical behaviour and after, both measures had increased.
• A longitudinal study of children aged 6–12 found that those who watched more than 25 hours of TV a week held more sex-stereotyped perceptions than those who watched less than 10 hours.
• Some studies have found that media portraying counter-stereotypes can be influential in changing gender expectations. However, gender schema theory points out that children often misremember counter-stereotypes, which limits their effect. One study found that exposure to counter-stereotypes reinforced gender stereotypes in boys.

Credit other relevant material.

8. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The Bem Sex Role Inventory was devised by asking male and female undergraduates to identify desirable personality traits for men and women (e.g. ‘assertive’ for men, and ‘loyal’ for women).
• The list was made into a questionnaire containing 20 masculine, 20 feminine, and 20 neutral traits.
• Respondents rate themselves between 1 (not true) and 7 (always true) on each item.
• Respondents who have high scores for both masculine and feminine traits are classified as androgynous.
• Gender was classified according to their answers (not their biological sex) in the following way: high masculine, low feminine score = masculine; high feminine, low masculine score = feminine; high masculine, high feminine score = androgynous; low feminine, low masculine score = undifferentiated.

Credit other relevant material.

9. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO3 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• ‘Transgender’ gene: a study of the DNA of 112 male-to-female transgender individuals found they were more likely to have a longer version of the androgen receptor gene than controls. This abnormality reduces the action of the male sex hormone testosterone, which may influence prenatal gender development by under-masculinising the brain.
• Brain-sex theory suggests that the structures of transsexuals’ brains do not match their genetic sex.
• An area of the brain called the ‘bed nucleus of the stria terminalis’ (BSTc) is, on average, twice as large in men than women and contains twice the number of neurons. Two Dutch studies of transsexual individuals found the number of neurons in the BSTc corresponded with their gender identity and not their biological sex.
• Genetic factors: MZ twins who share 100% DNA are more likely to both experience gender incongruence, compared to dizygotic twins who share 50% of their DNA. A study found concordance rates of 39% for MZs and 0% for DZs, which suggests that genetic factors play a role in its development.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• A limitation of brain-sex theory is that differences in the BSTc don’t develop until adulthood, but most transgender individuals report gender incongruence from early childhood.
• Researchers found that hormone therapy influenced the size of the BSTc, which could explain the findings of the two Dutch studies.
• A study of female-to-male transgender individuals before hormone therapy did find evidence supporting brain-sex theory, but inconsistent evidence suggests further research should be conducted to test validity.
• Not only do twin studies for gender incongruence tend not to have very high concordance rates for MZs (39%), but they assume equal environments for MZ and DZ twins when evidence shows MZs are treated more similarly. This suggests higher concordance rates could be for environmental rather than genetic reasons.
• Sample sizes for twin studies are extremely small due to the rarity of gender incongruence, which makes generalisations difficult.

Credit discussion of comparisons between the biological explanation with alternative explanations for gender incongruence, such as psychoanalytic theory or cognitive theory.

Credit other relevant material.

10. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO2 = 2, AO3 = 3

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Social learning theory (SLT) claims that all behaviour, including gender development, is learned through observation and imitation of significant role models.
• Reinforcements and cognitive factors also impact development.
• Direct reinforcement is when a child is rewarded for gender-appropriate behaviour or punished for gender-inappropriate behaviour. It encourages or dissuades repetition of the behaviour.
• Indirect/vicarious reinforcement is when a child sees someone else rewarded or punished for gender-appropriate or inappropriate behaviours. By observing the consequences of gender behaviours, children learn what are considered gender-appropriate behaviours in their world.
• A child imitates behaviour of significant role models such as parents, siblings, peers, teachers, or celebrities. These people model gender behaviours, which the child is more likely to imitate if they identify with them. Children identify with people they admire and perceive to be like them, especially if they are the same sex.
• Mediational processes (attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation) affect the likelihood of behaviour being imitated.

Possible AO2 application:

• Ismail learned through vicarious reinforcement that ‘boys don’t cry’ when he saw his friend Herman punished (scolded) for crying when he hurt his knee falling over.
• When Ismail hurt his elbow, he wanted to cry, but kept his tears in (boys don’t cry).
• Ismail is the same sex as Herman, which increases the likelihood of learning the gendered behaviour.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Evidence for direct reinforcement of gender-appropriate behaviours from a young age: adults gave gendered toys and encouragement depending on whether the baby was dressed as a boy or a girl.
• Children aged 8–9 were shown film clips in which boys and girls were seen selecting an apple or pear. Later, boys chose the fruit they had seen the boys in the film selecting and girls chose the fruit the girls had selected, which demonstrates the influence of modelling.
• In the same study, children did not imitate gender-inappropriate behaviours, such as a man wearing a dress, which is in line with gender schema theory and unexplained by SLT.
• SLT emphasises the role of the environment in gender development and can therefore explain changing gender roles in Western society since the 1950s, when sex-role stereotypes were more pronounced than today. Changes in law have increased women’s rights, and expectations (and reinforcements) of acceptable gender-appropriate behaviours have shifted. The biological approach’s emphasis on the role of chromosomes and hormones in gender development can’t explain these differences.
• The case study of David Reimer contradicts SLT’s explanation of gender development: the biological influence of David’s chromosomes and prenatal hormones were the determining factor in his gender identity.

Credit any relevant material.

11. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO3 = 10

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Gender refers to a person’s sense of maleness or femaleness, which is a psychosocial construct.
• The sex chromosomes (usually XX or XY) determine biological sex and influence gender, partly because external genitalia have a strong influence on how individuals are socialised, and partly due to the link to hormones.
• Gender development is largely governed by hormones.
• Differences in the brains of males and females are thought to arise largely through the actions of hormones.
• Testosterone levels cause sex differences in the amygdala, the parahippocampus, and the occipital cortex.
• Testosterone is the main sex hormone produced by biological males, it causes behavioural effects with a link to aggression.
• Testosterone has been found to influence activity interests in childhood and adulthood, and to influence occupation choices.
• Oestrogen in biological females develops physical characteristics from puberty onwards, such as breast development and widening of the hips. The physical changes are often associated with femininity and contribute to a sense of gender identity.
• Oestrogen can cause behavioural effects such as heightened emotions and irritability during the menstrual cycle, known as premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
• Oxytocin is a hormone produced from the pituitary gland in both males and females. Females produce large amounts of oxytocin when giving birth, which promotes bonding with the baby and lactation (for breastfeeding).
• Females produce oxytocin when stressed, causing a ‘tend and befriend’ response.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Case study of David Reimer demonstrates the influence of chromosomes on gender identity. Despite surgery and socialisation to be female, the influence of David’s chromosomes and prenatal hormones were a strong determinant in his sense of maleness.
• Post-mortems on the brains of trans people have found that the size of the BSTc (central subdivision of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis) correlated with gender identity rather than biological sex, which could explain why some people develop a gender identity opposite to their biological sex at birth.
• A study found that male offenders with the highest levels of testosterone were more likely to have committed violent or sexually motivated crimes. Another study found that when transgender females were injected with hormones of the opposite sex, their aggression and visuo-spatial skills decreased. Transgender men experienced the opposite. The studies suggest that sex hormones influence behaviour.
• Inconsistent evidence for the role of testosterone in aggression: many studies show a positive relationship between testosterone and aggression. However, no correlation was found between testosterone levels of prison inmates and actual violent behaviour while in prison, suggesting the relationship between testosterone and aggression in humans remains unclear.
• The effect of testosterone on behaviour: researchers found that female monkeys exposed to testosterone during prenatal development displayed more typically masculine characteristics such as rough and tumble play and were more aggressive than other females. However, in a human study, women who falsely believed they were given a dose of testosterone in a bargaining game, displayed more unfair behaviour than those who believed they were given a placebo. This provides some evidence for the role of testosterone in male behaviours, but more evidence is needed in human studies.

Credit other relevant material.

12. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO2 = 4, AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Binary gender categorises gender into two exclusive and fixed options of male and female.
• Binary gender is underpinned by biological characteristics (chromosomes, hormones, and reproductive organs) and corresponds with the biological sex an individual was assigned at birth.
• Non-binary is a gender identity that doesn’t fit into the two options of male or female.
• Non-binary individuals may identify as being between male and female, or outside of them altogether, or not wanting a gender identity.
• Research on the number of non-binary individuals in the general and transgender populations vary greatly.
• Gender fluid identity falls under the non-binary classification, but there is no standard definition.
• Gender fluidity is unfixed, dynamic and expressed in a personal way, which may include through clothing, makeup and pronouns, etc.
• Gender fluid gender expression and/or identity may change regularly or over time.
• Gender has been measured through the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI).
• The BSRI also measures ‘androgyny’, which is a personality type that has a balance of masculine and feminine traits, attitudes, or behaviours.
• BSRI was pioneering in acknowledging that biological sex does not necessarily reflect a person’s masculine or feminine traits.
• The BSRI was devised by asking male and female undergraduates to identify desirable personality traits for men and women (e.g. ‘assertive’ for men, ‘loyal’ for women). The list was made into a questionnaire of 20 ‘masculine’, 20 ‘feminine’, and 20 neutral traits.
• Respondents rate themselves between 1 (not true) and 7 (always true) on each item and are classified as follows: high masculine, low feminine score = masculine; high feminine, low masculine score = feminine; high masculine, high feminine score = androgynous; low feminine, low masculine score = undifferentiated.

Possible AO2 application:

• Daniel’s gender identity is binary (male) as seen by his pronouns, he/him.
• Daniel’s binary sex matches his chromosomes (XY) from birth. Daniel’s clothing choices (stereotypically male) express his binary male sex.
• Leo’s gender identity is likely to be gender fluid, indicated by the use of their pronouns being he/them.
• Leo’s gender is dynamic and not fixed, as shown by them sometimes wearing stereotypically female clothes, makeup, and hairstyles. The word ‘sometimes’ indicates that their gender is not fixed and changes back and forth between male/female or somewhere in between.
• Joh’s gender identity is likely to be non-binary, as shown by them choosing the pronouns they/them, indicating they don’t fit into the gender binary at all.
• Joh’s gender seems more fixed than Leo’s, as shown by them using their new name and pronouns with all the people in their life (friends, family and teachers) and over time.
• It’s likely that Joh feels their gender is outside the gender binary altogether as indicated by them feeling their clothing styles is outside of traditionally male or female clothing, and this matches how they feel about their gender.

NB students may refer to either Jon or Joh, or Jon/Joh in their answer.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Support for the gender binary: biological definitions of sex are often based on chromosomes and hormones, with research distinguishing male and female categories.
• Support for the gender binary: biological explanations of gender also support the gender binary by linking gender traits and behaviours to biological differences between males and females, e.g. hormones that result in distinct male and female traits, such as testosterone with aggression in men, and oxytocin with bonding during stressful times in women.
• Support for the gender binary: wealth of research showing evidence of neuroanatomical differences in the brain between males and females, for example, a meta-analysis reported regional sex differences in volume and tissue density in areas including the amygdala, hippocampus, and insula.
• Support for non-binary gender: diversity in sex development poses a challenge to binary gender as individuals may not have the standard XX or XY chromosomes, or their chromosomal sex may differ to their sex characteristics, suggesting that sex is on a spectrum.
• Support for gender non-binary gender: people who identify as non-binary add to this challenge, especially if they don’t feel their gender is even on the spectrum, or don’t have a gender at all.
• Support for non-binary gender: there are neuroscience findings that refute sexual dimorphism of the human brain, finding that they are not internally consistent for male-typical and female-typical features, but that most human brains are a mosaic of these features.
• Indigenous emphasis on non-binary: numerous indigenous communities around the world recognise a third or more genders within their societies.
• Indigenous emphasis on non-binary: In 1990, Myra Laramée, elder of the Fisher River Cree, coined the term ‘Two Spirit’ for people who have a third gender (or other gender-variant) social role in their communities. These people are foundational members of their culture and seen as gifted due to being able to see through both the masculine and feminine lens.
• The BSRI has been criticised for response bias; data from 133 students found those classed as androgynous simply had higher overall scores. Scores may not represent a true difference in gender but show people’s tendency to choose higher or lower scores on the Likert scale.

Credit other relevant material.

Questions on previous content

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

2 marks for a clear, coherent outline of the term heredity using appropriate terminology.

1 mark for a brief or muddled outline of the term heredity.

Possible AO1 content:

• Heredity means that behaviours can be inherited from our biological parents’ genes.
• Parents pass on genes that determine not only physical characteristics, but psychological characteristics such as aggressive behaviours, addiction, and schizophrenia.

2. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent limitation of environmental determinism in explaining behaviour, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a limitation of environmental determinism in explaining behaviour that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled limitation of environmental determinism in explaining behaviour.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• If behaviour was largely environmentally determined, then we would expect the concordance rates to be very high for both MZs and DZs due to their similar upbringings, but they aren’t. Concordance rates tend to be higher for MZs than DZs, indicating a biological component to behaviour and questioning the influence of the environment on determining behaviour.
• Social learning theory identifies that behaviour is largely determined by imitating significant role models and vicarious reinforcements. However, there are also mediational (cognitive) processes involved, so there is also an element of free will in determining behaviour.
• Skinner claimed that free will is an illusion and that behaviour is determined by classical and operant conditioning and reinforcement history.

Credit any valid limitation.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4, AO2 = 2

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The nomothetic approach focuses on the study of large groups of people.
• It uses quantitative methods to gather numerical data, for use with statistical analysis.
• Nomothetic approaches tend to be determinist and reductionist.
• Nomothetic approaches aim to generate laws/theories of behaviour.

Possible AO2 application:

You can refer to any topic in Psychology from Years 1 or 2. Examples include:

• The biological approach takes a nomothetic approach when using drug trials, to draw conclusions like serotonin causing depression.
• Behaviourists experimented on hundreds of animals to develop the laws of learning theory.
• Cognitive psychologists tested large samples of people in laboratory experiments and made inferences about memory processes based on their performance.
• The nomothetic approach to investigating personality uses psychometric tests on large groups, such as Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire (which used factor analysis to produce personality types).

Credit other relevant material.

Chapter 11

All exemplar answers given would achieve full marks or the top level.

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 1

Pre-operational

2. Marks for this question: AO2 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Lucas thought the car would be in the toy box and did not think to look anywhere else for it because he does not have theory of mind (ToM), which means he is not able to understand the perspective of others or that others have different knowledge to himself.
• Lucas’ ToM deficits meant he didn’t search for the car elsewhere because he didn’t realise and wasn’t able to comprehend that Arif had moved the car to the kitchen.
• Lucas is likely to have autism spectrum condition (ASC), which is linked to ToM deficits.
• In the Sally-Anne test, children diagnosed with ASC were compared to control groups of children with Down’s syndrome. 20% of children with ASC and 85% of controls correctly identified where Sally would look for the marble.
• ToM deficits are not linked to low intelligence but are linked to ASC. Researchers suggest that deficits of ToM may be a complete explanation for ASC.

Credit other relevant applications.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Piaget claimed that motivation to assimilate (add new information to existing schemas) or accommodate (form new schemas) comes from the unpleasant cognitive state of disequilibrium in response to new stimuli.
• The unpleasantness is the driving force for the child to learn and either add to an existing schema or form or new one.
• Once this has been done, a state of equilibration occurs, restoring balance in the child’s mind.

Credit other relevant material.

4. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent strength or limitation of equilibration as a process in cognitive development, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a strength or limitation of equilibration as a process in cognitive development that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled strength or limitation of equilibration as a process in cognitive development.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• There is little evidence that disequilibrium causes such dissonance that it motivates children to learn. One study found that mild conflict of expectation helped learning, but this is hardly the driving force described by Piaget.
• Critics argue that Piaget’s original sample of clever, middle-class children was biased. These children were likely to be more intellectually curious, which may have led Piaget to overemphasise the role of equilibration in motivation.
• Vygotsky believed that others are central to the process of learning and that with social support (scaffolding) children can learn quickly.
• Piaget revolutionised the classroom, changing it from one of children copying from a board to actively engaging in tasks.

Credit any valid strength or limitation.

5. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Mirror neurons (MNs) are nerve cells involved in social cognition that fire in response to the actions of others.
• The mirror neuron system simulates the feelings of others within us, so we ‘feel’ their emotions.
• MNs also respond to others’ intentions as well as actions – understanding another’s intentions is central to social cognition.
• MNs may be the biological mechanism that allows us to understand another’s perspective and develop a theory of mind, because they enable us to simulate the emotions of others. When we understand someone else’s thoughts and emotions we are better able to respond appropriately.
• Language is fundamental to social cognition and researchers believe MNs help infants imitate and develop language.
• Scanning techniques found evidence of MNs in Broca’s area, which is the part of the brain responsible for speech production. This suggests that when infants observe others talking their Broca’s area fires, which facilitates language.
• MNs may be an evolutionary adaptation that aided the survival of the human species. Humans rely on successful integration into large complex social groups and MNs facilitate this by allowing us to understand the emotions, perspectives, and intentions of others.
• Dysfunction in the mirror neuron system may be an explanation for ASC; ‘broken mirror’ theory claims that in infancy, dysfunctional MNs prevent the child imitating and understanding social behaviours. This leads to difficulties in language, communication, and social interactions, as children are unable to experience the intentions and emotions of others so don’t know how to respond appropriately.

Credit other relevant material.

6. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

2 marks for a clear, coherent explanation of what is meant by the term ‘schema’ in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, using appropriate terminology.

1 mark for a brief or muddled explanation of what is meant by the term ‘schema’ in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.

Possible AO1 content:

• Schemas are mental structures that represent a group of related concepts.
• They allow individuals to make sense of the world and quickly process new information.
• Children are born with a few schemas that allow them to interact with people (e.g. faces).
• Infants construct new schemas through environmental experiences.

7. Marks for this question: AO3 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible strengths:

• Although replication studies found that children coped better with tasks requiring logic than Piaget anticipated, there were still age-related differences in their abilities. This suggests that biological maturation does drive cognitive development.
• Piaget’s evidence that children are only biologically ready to learn concepts at specific ages led to changes in teaching methods. Rote learning was replaced by children actively engaging with activities appropriate to their cognitive stage of development.

Possible limitations:

• Critics argue that the way Piaget posed questions to test children’s logic was confusing, which led him to underestimate their intellectual capability. For example, in the three-mountains task, children could take on the perspective of others if the task was made more realistic. E.g. they could show where to put a naughty boy doll so he wouldn’t be seen by police officers.
• Piaget’s claim that children under 7 are not cognitively developed enough to grasp class inclusion was challenged by a study of 100 five-year-olds who were given three sessions of 10 class-inclusion tasks. Children who received feedback after each task that explained the concept of class inclusion improved on the tasks, which suggests they had developed a genuine understanding of class inclusion.
• Critics argue that Piaget overestimated the cognitive abilities of adolescents. One researcher estimated that only a third of adults reach the formal operational stage and are capable of thinking in the abstract and solving hypothetical problems through deductive reasoning.

Credit any valid strength or limitation.

8. Marks for this question: AO2 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Alma is in stage 1 – social-informational perspective taking – suggesting she is 6 to 8 years old. She is aware of differences between her own viewpoint and her mother’s, but assumes these differences are because her mother doesn’t have the information that she has. She thinks that when she returns safely her mother will then have the same information as her.
• Martina is in stage 4 – societal perspective-taking – suggesting she is 12 to 15+ years old. She is using the perspective of society’s conventions to help her reasoning. We know this as she considers what other people may think about her mother’s behaviour (she should give more freedom) but believes they will understand that Camila is right to show concern.

It could be stated that Alma is in stage 0 and Martina is in stage 3, if this is justified in the explanation.

Credit other relevant applications.

9. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Assimilation involves adding new information to existing schemas, whereas accommodation involves the creation of a new schema.
• Assimilation requires prior knowledge and experience of a stimuli, whereas accommodation doesn’t.

Credit the use of examples to illustrate the differences.

10. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO3 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• During the pre-operational stage (2–7 years) children can use language, but can’t think logically, which leads to errors of reasoning in conservation, perspective-taking, and class inclusion.
• Conservation is the mathematical principle that a quantity stays the same despite its appearance. E.g. children in the pre-operational stage might think that the volume of water in a glass changes when poured into a differently shaped glass.
• Egocentrism is the inability to take on the perspective of others. This was demonstrated in the three-mountain task, where children were only able to report their own view of mountains rather than from a doll’s perspective.
• Class inclusion is the understanding that objects can be included into classifications (categories) and subsets. For example, dogs are included in both dog and animal classifications.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Critics argue that the way Piaget posed questions to test children’s logic was confusing, which led him to underestimate their intellectual capability. E.g. asking children about the quantities of water in the conservation task twice made them think that a different answer was required the second time. In the three-mountains task, children could take on the perspective of others if the task was made more realistic. E.g. they could show where to put a naughty boy doll so he wouldn’t be seen by police officers.
• Piaget’s claim that children under 7 are not cognitively developed enough to grasp class inclusion was challenged by a study of 100 five-year-olds who were given three sessions of 10 class-inclusion tasks. Children who received feedback after each task that explained the concept of class inclusion improved on the tasks, which suggests they had developed a genuine understanding of class inclusion.
• Although replication studies found that children coped better with tasks requiring logic than Piaget anticipated, there were still age-related differences in their abilities. This suggests that biological maturation does drive cognitive development.
• Piaget’s evidence that children are only biologically ready to learn concepts at specific ages led to changes in teaching methods. Rote learning was replaced by children actively engaging with activities appropriate to their cognitive stage of development.

Credit other relevant material.

11. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO2 = 2, AO3 = 3

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Baillargeon developed the violation of expectation (VOE) technique to investigate infant understanding of the physical world.
• VOE research: 24 infants aged 5–6 months were shown a tall and short rabbit passing behind a screen with a window. In the possible condition, the tall rabbit could be seen passing the window but not the short one. In the impossible condition, neither rabbit could be seen passing the window.
• The infants looked at the impossible event for longer (average 33.07 seconds) compared to the possible (average 25.11 seconds).
• Infants stared longer at the impossible event because they were surprised that the tall rabbit didn’t appear at the window, which suggests they understood object permanence.
• Baillargeon proposed that babies have an innate physical reasoning system (PRS), which means they are born with an understanding of the physical world and mechanisms that help develop this understanding through experience.
• PRS was demonstrated in the ‘unveiling’ experiments, where infants were shown a cover with a protuberance, suggesting an item was hidden underneath. By 12.5 months infants showed surprise if there was nothing underneath, and if the item was smaller than the protuberance suggested. The infants had incorporated size into their physical reasoning of protuberances.

Possible AO2 application:

• Malika, at 6 months old, displayed object permanence because she stared intently and seemed fascinated when Fatima made it appear that the teddy bear had disappeared.
• Malika’s PRS means she was born with an understanding of the physical world, which is why she is fascinated at the teddy bear seeming to disappear.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Unlike Piaget, who only studied white, middle-class infants, Baillargeon’s sample used birth announcements in the newspaper to give a higher population validity.
• Baillargeon’s research was controlled for observer bias through a double-blind technique where observers didn’t know whether the babies were looking at possible or impossible conditions.
• Parents were asked to close their eyes while holding their baby on their lap to control for unintentional cues. These measures resulted in high experimental validity.
• VOE experiments may not be measuring surprise at violation of physical laws. The infants may have looked for different lengths of time at different events because they see them as different, or interesting.
• Researchers support Baillargeon’s idea that the PRS is innate; they highlight the universality of infants’ understanding of physical objects. They gave the example that regardless of culture, learning, or experience, we know that if someone drops a keyring it will fall to the floor. The understanding requires a PRS and is universal, suggesting it is innate.
• There is a lack of studies of babies from different cultures. More research should be conducted to determine the influence of nature and nurture on an infant’s cognitive ability to understand the physical world.
• Testing the PRS directly is difficult, but it is comparable to other theories of innate abilities, such as the findings of Pei et al. on distance perception. These theories are useful in supporting the idea that the brain is equipped with mechanisms for cognitive development in many areas.

Credit other relevant material.

12. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO3 = 10

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Vygotsky believed that children’s cognitive abilities develop with age and through social interactions, with knowledgeable people known as ‘experts’.
• Experts transmit their knowledge through semiotics (signs and symbols), which may vary across cultures. Language is the primary semiotic and enables a shared dialogue between the expert and child.
• Mathematical symbols are also valuable semiotics, and also influence a child’s cognitive development.
• Once the child can form mental representations, they begin to communicate within themselves.
• Culture is important as the expert transmits culturally specific knowledge, so the child learns the reasoning abilities specific to their culture.
• The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the region between what a child can already understand and what they would be unable to understand even with support.
• Vygotsky claimed that children’s social interactions with experts is crucial to crossing the ZPD and that they learn more from others than individual exploration of the world.
• They may be limited by their developmental stage, but they learn as much as they are capable of in the ZPD. They don’t just learn facts but acquire advanced reasoning skills.
• Scaffolding refers to how children are assisted by experts to cross the ZPD. The expert creates a temporary support (scaffold) that is gradually withdrawn as the child’s cognitive ability increases.
• Scaffolding methods range from demonstrating tasks and giving explicit instructions (high levels of support) to verbal prompts and encouragement (low levels of support).
• Task mastery was linked to contingent regulations, which means varying the levels of support in response to the child’s ability on a task. Higher levels should be provided if the child is failing and lower levels when they begin to succeed.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Researchers investigated the cognitive impact of a counting system in Papua New Guinea where they count to 27 using body parts. Their mathematical semiotics limit their cognitive ability to add large numbers beyond 27. This provides evidence for Vygotsky’s theory that culture is influential in cognitive development.
• Researchers showed participants a kidney-shaped drawing and told them it was either a kidney bean or a canoe. Later, they were asked to draw the shape, and their drawings differed depending on which label they were given. This suggests that language influences the way we think and process memories.
• Researchers asked 4–5-year-old children to estimate the number of sweets in a box. Children worked alone or with an expert (an older child). Children who received scaffolding from experts were able to make good estimates, unlike those working alone.
• A longitudinal study found mothers provided fewer direct interventions (high level of support) and more verbal hints (lower level of support) in response to their child’s increased ability to complete problem-solving tasks. This supports the contingent regulations theory that mastery of a task should have scaffolding removed gradually.
• If social interaction was all that was needed for cognitive development, then learning would be faster, and children would all learn the same things from interactions. However, a study of children aged 9–12 found that they came to different conclusions after group interactions, which suggests that learning varies and is not limited to social interactions.

Credit other relevant material.

13. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO2 = 4, AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content for theory of mind (ToM):

• ToM is an individual’s understanding that other people have their own thoughts and feelings, which can be understood through facial expressions. ToM starts to develop at the age of 4 and is considered essential for social interactions and relationships.
• Testing for ToM uses false-belief tasks. In one such task, children heard a story about a boy called Maxi, who saw his mum put chocolate in a blue cupboard. While Maxi was at the park, his mum moved the chocolate to a green cupboard. Children were asked where Maxi would look for the chocolate. Nearly all 3-year-olds incorrectly said the green cupboard, but some 4-year-olds correctly identified the blue cupboard, which suggests that ToM begins to develop at age 4.
• A false-belief task called the Sally–Anne test uses a story of two dolls, Sally and Anne, where Sally puts a marble in her basket, but Anne moves it to a box while Sally is away. Children are asked where Sally will search for the marble.
• Researchers used the Sally–Anne test to assess the link between ToM deficits and autism spectrum condition (ASC). Children diagnosed with ASC were compared to control groups of children with Down’s syndrome.
• 20% of children with ASC and 85% of controls correctly identified where Sally would look for the marble.
• The test suggested that ToM deficits are not linked to low intelligence but are linked to ASC. Researchers suggest that deficits of ToM may be a complete explanation for ASC.
• High-functioning adolescents and adults with autism easily succeeded on false-belief tasks, so researchers devised the more challenging, Eyes Task (identifying an emotion from a photo of a person’s eyes). High-functioning ASC individuals struggled with the Eyes Task, which supports ToM deficits as an explanation for ASC.

Possible AO2 application for theory of mind (ToM):

• Anita is more considerate of Lila’s feelings even though she annoys her because she has ToM, where she understands the differences between them.
• Lila does not have ToM. She didn’t tell Anita that Peter had moved her phone even though she looked for it for half an hour because she doesn’t have the ability to understand that others have false beliefs. She can’t distinguish between what she knows and what Anita knows.
• Lila also demonstrated a lack of ToM because she didn’t understand that Anita was getting frustrated and angry despite clear facial expressions that this was the case.

Possible AO3 discussion for theory of mind (ToM):

• Research shows that not all autistic people lack ToM, which suggests that it can’t be a complete explanation for ASC because if it was, all autistic people would have this deficit.
• It isn’t possible to tell whether ToM deficits are a cause or effect of ASC. It might not be that a lack of ToM causes difficulties in social interaction, but rather that difficulty communicating stops ToM from developing.
• Critics argue that false-belief tasks do not measure ToM because success on a false-belief task requires other cognitive abilities, such as memory. Although the Sally–Anne story is shorter than others, it’s still a lot for a 3-year-old to recall. Researchers found that when they gave ASC children visual aids to help them remember the story, they were more likely to succeed.
• Critics argue that looking at a static pair of eyes (the Eyes Tasks for adolescents and adults) in isolation is very different from real life, where other non-verbal cues are available to help interpret someone’s thoughts and feelings.
• Researchers found that ToM appears earlier in children from large families and suggest this is because having a large family requires the child to think about the feelings of others when resolving inevitable conflicts. This highlights the role of experience alongside biological maturation in the development of ToM.
• A study of 300 Chinese and North American children found that ToM develops in the same sequence for both groups, which supports the role of biological factors in its development. However, the timings differed by up to 2 years, which supports the role of experience.

Possible AO1 content for mirror neurons (MNs):

• MNs are nerve cells involved in social cognition that fire in response to the actions of others.
• The mirror neuron system simulates the feelings of others within us, so we ‘feel’ their emotions.
• MNs also respond to others’ intentions as well as actions – understanding another’s intentions is central to social cognition.
• MNs may be the biological mechanism that allows us to understand another’s perspective and develop a ToM, because they enable us to simulate the emotions of others. When we understand someone else’s thoughts and emotions we are better able to respond appropriately.
• Language is fundamental to social cognition and researchers believe MNs help infants imitate and develop language.
• Scanning techniques found evidence of MNs in Broca’s area, which is the part of the brain responsible for speech production. This suggests that when infants observe others talking their Broca’s area fires, which facilitates language.
• MNs may be an evolutionary adaptation that aided the survival of the human species. Humans rely on successful integration into large complex social groups and MNs facilitate this by allowing us to understand the emotions, perspectives, and intentions of others.
• Dysfunction in the mirror neuron system may be an explanation for ASC; ‘broken mirror’ theory claims that in infancy, dysfunctional MNs prevent the child imitating and understanding social behaviours. This leads to difficulties in language, communication, and social interactions, as children are unable to experience the intentions and emotions of others so don’t know how to respond appropriately.

Possible AO2 application for theory of mind (ToM):

• The mirror neuron system simulates the feelings of others within us, so we ‘feel’ their emotions. Lila can’t feel the frustrated emotions of Anita.
• Lila may have a ‘broken mirror’ because she can’t understand that Mona was getting frustrated and angry despite clear facial expressions that this was the case.
• Anita is able to realise that Lila has extra needs because she doesn’t have autism, so she doesn’t snap at her even when she does something that appears selfish, like not telling her that Peter had moved her phone when she was looking for it.

Possible AO3 discussion for theory of mind (ToM):

• Researchers suggested that a part of the brain rich in MNs, called the pars opercularis, is involved in perspective-taking. Male participants watched either a fishing documentary, a comedy, or heterosexual pornography while in an fMRI scanner. Activation of the pars opercularis was seen immediately before sexual arousal, which suggests that MNs produced the perspective-taking that made the pornography arousing.
• Scanning techniques don’t allow us to measure activity in individual brain cells. Researchers can only infer that activity in a brain area means activity of mirror neurons. There is a lack of direct evidence for mirror neuron activity in studies that use scanning techniques.
• Critics argue that MNs are the outcome of classical conditioning, with neurons becoming paired because they are both excited at the time. This criticises the evolutionary adaptation theory because it suggests that MNs are a result of experience rather than being innate.
• Researchers found that autistic children showed reduced activity in the inferior frontal lobe, which is associated with the mirror neuron system, compared to non-autistic children while watching facial expressions. The evidence supports the idea that MN dysfunction is linked to ASC. Researchers suggested that strengthening MNs through imitation-based activities may help autistic individuals.

Credit other relevant material.

Questions on previous content

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

2 marks for a clear, coherent outline of the term ‘heredity’ using appropriate terminology.

1 mark for a brief or muddled outline of the term ‘heredity’.

Possible AO1 content:

• Heredity means that behaviours can be inherited from our biological parents’ genes.
• Parents pass on genes that determine not only physical characteristics, but psychological characteristics such as aggressive behaviours, addiction, and schizophrenia.

2. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent limitation of environmental determinism in explaining behaviour, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a limitation of environmental determinism in explaining behaviour that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled limitation of environmental determinism in explaining behaviour.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• If behaviour was largely environmentally determined, then we would expect the concordance rates to be very high for both MZs and DZs due to their similar upbringings, but they aren’t. Concordance rates tend to be higher for MZs than DZs, indicating a biological component to behaviour and questioning the influence of the environment on determining behaviour.
• Social learning theory identifies that behaviour is largely determined by imitating significant role models and vicarious reinforcements. However, there are also mediational (cognitive) processes involved, so there is also an element of free will in determining behaviour.
• Skinner claimed that free will is an illusion and that behaviour is determined by classical and operant conditioning and reinforcement history.

Credit any valid limitation.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4, AO2 = 2

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The nomothetic approach focuses on the study of large groups of people.
• It uses quantitative methods to gather numerical data, for use with statistical analysis.
• Nomothetic approaches tend to be determinist and reductionist.
• Nomothetic approaches aim to generate laws/theories of behaviour.

Possible AO2 application:

You can refer to any topic in Psychology from Years 1 or 2. Examples include:

• The biological approach takes a nomothetic approach when using drug trials, to draw conclusions like serotonin causing depression.
• Behaviourists experimented on hundreds of animals to develop the laws of learning theory.
• Cognitive psychologists tested large samples of people in laboratory experiments and made inferences about memory processes based on their performance.
• The nomothetic approach to investigating personality uses psychometric tests on large groups, such as Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire (which used factor analysis to produce personality types).

Credit other relevant material.

4. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4, AO2 = 2

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Holism and reductionism have different ways of viewing the same behaviour, and they are demonstrated through levels of explanation.
• Highest level: how our cultural and social groups influence behaviour. The most holistic level.
• Middle level: psychological explanations of behaviour.
• Lower level: biological explanations of behaviour. The most reductionist level.

Possible AO2 application:

You could apply the levels of explanation to any relevant topic you have studied in Years 1 and 2. Here they are applied to memory:

• Highest level: memory is viewed in terms of how cultural and social experiences and expectations influence our memories.
• Middle level: memory is explained in terms of STM and LTM, which are broken down into component parts (the central executive, the episodic buffer, etc).
• Lower level: memory is explained in terms of the biological areas of the brain, and the neurotransmitters involved in storing and forming memories.

Credit other relevant material.

Chapter 12

All exemplar answers given would achieve full marks or the top level.

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

Hallucinations

Delusions

2. Marks for this question: AO2 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Cognitive explanations for SCZ identify abnormal thought processing as the cause of symptoms so Macey is experiencing dysfunctions in her thought processing.
• Macey’s metarepresentation is dysfunctional – she is not able to reflect on her thoughts or recognise that her thoughts and actions are her own rather than Chappell Roan’s. So, when Chappell Roan posts on social media, Macey therefore processes this in a way that she thinks the messages are specifically for her.
• Macey’s mum is struggling to understand what Macey is saying because Macey’s central control (the ability to suppress automatic responses while performing deliberate actions, like having a conversation) is dysfunctional. That means the conversation is constantly derailed by new information and Macey can’t finish one sentence before starting another.
• Macey thought she heard Chappell’s voice as her metarepresentation is dysfunctional. She can’t recognise that the voice she heard is an auditory hallucination rather than Chappell Roan’s voice.

Credit other relevant applications.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis (CBTp) helps patients deal with symptoms and improves their general functioning.
• CBTp is usually delivered on a 1–1 basis but is sometimes delivered in a group.
• The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends 16 sessions.
• CBTp aims to help change the faulty, irrational thoughts associated with the positive symptoms of delusions and hallucinations. Patients often find it helpful when they understand where the symptoms come from. By monitoring their thoughts, feelings, or behaviours they can think of alternative explanations for them, which reduces distress and improves functioning.
• SCZ patients are encouraged to trace back the origins of their symptoms to gain insight into how they might have developed. They are also encouraged to evaluate the content of their delusions and/or hallucinations.
• Therapists then gently challenge the patients to identify how likely it is that their beliefs are true. This encourages the patient to develop alternative, less threatening possibilities to previous irrational and maladaptive beliefs.
• Although CBTp may not get rid of symptoms, it helps patients cope. Like regular CBT, patients are set behavioural assignments to improve their level of functioning.

Credit other relevant material.

4. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3

Note: whilst this may appear to be an AO3 evaluation question, it actually requires an AO1 content answer.

3 marks for a clear, coherent issue in the diagnosis of schizophrenia, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for an issue in the diagnosis of schizophrenia that lacks some clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled issue in the diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Possible AO1 content:

• Research suggests that diagnosis of SCZ is influenced by cultural factors. A study found that 69% of US psychiatrists but only 2% of UK psychiatrists gave a diagnosis of SCZ from the same description of a patient.
• African Americans and English people of Afro-Caribbean origin are much more likely to be diagnosed than white people. They may be more likely to report hearing voices due to a cultural belief in communicating with ancestors.
• Gender bias: more men than women are diagnosed with SCZ. Women may be under-diagnosed because they function better than men and their symptoms are masked by good interpersonal functioning.
• Symptom overlap: SCZ and bipolar disorder both include positive and negative symptoms (delusions and avolition). The same patient could be diagnosed with SCZ when using the ICD-11, but with bipolar when using DSM-5 criteria. Some even suggest that SCZ and bipolar may not be two different conditions.
• Co-morbidities: such as depression, PTSD, substance abuse, and OCD are common among patients with SCZ. If conditions occur together often, it causes an issue in their diagnosis because they might be a single condition and/or clinicians might just be incapable of differentiating between them.

Credit any relevant issue.

5. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Negative symptoms of SCZ refer to a loss of ability or function in certain areas.
• Speech poverty (alogia) refers to a decrease in speech fluency. A person may produce fewer words, speak in less complex sentences, and respond slowly. It’s believed this is due to blocked thoughts rather than a reduced vocabulary.
• Avolition (apathy) refers to an inability to start and maintain goal-directed activities. People with schizophrenia have a sharp decrease in motivation in areas such as work, education, personal hygiene, and exercise, despite opportunities being present.
• Anhedonia is a loss of interest or pleasure in activities that used to bring joy. Physical anhedonia is the inability to experience physical pleasures, such as pleasure from food.
• Affective flattening is a reduction in the range and intensity of emotional expressions, such as facial expression, tone of voice, and eye-contact.

Credit other relevant material.

6. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2

2 marks for a clear, coherent outline of the role of symptom overlap in the diagnosis of schizophrenia, using appropriate terminology.

1 mark for a brief or muddled outline of the role of symptom overlap in the diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Possible AO1 content:

• Symptom overlap refers to when two different mental health conditions have some of the same symptoms. E.g. SCZ and bipolar disorder both include positive and negative symptoms (delusions and avolition).
• This makes it difficult to diagnose SCZ or classify it as a distinct disorder.
• E.g. the same patient could be diagnosed with SCZ when using the ICD-11, but with bipolar when using DSM-5 criteria.

Credit other relevant material.

7. Marks for this question: AO3 = 2

2 marks for a clear, coherent strength or limitation of cognitive explanations of schizophrenia, using appropriate terminology.

1 mark for a brief or muddled strength or limitation of cognitive explanations of schizophrenia.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Evidence for central control dysfunction: SCZ patients found thought suppression difficult on a range of cognitive tasks, such as the Stroop test.
• The effectiveness of cognitive therapies for SCZ suggests that faulty cognitions have a causal influence. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) reviewed treatments for SCZ and found cognitive behavioural therapy was more effective in reducing the severity of symptoms and improving levels of social functioning than antipsychotic medication.

Credit any valid strength or limitation.

8. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Double-bind theory is when a child receives contradictory messages from their parents, e.g. a mother saying ‘I love you’ but turning her head in disgust. The child’s understanding of the world is one of confusion and danger, and it’s difficult for them to develop a coherent sense of reality.
• The ‘schizophrenogenic mother’ is a psychodynamic explanation for SCZ; it identifies that the mother is cold, controlling, and rejecting of the child. This causes a tense atmosphere where the child feels they must be secretive and can lead to paranoia and SCZ.
• Expressed emotion refers to negative emotions being expressed towards a patient by their family. It includes verbal criticism, hostility, and emotional over-involvement, all of which are a serious source of stress for the patient. Expressed emotion may trigger symptoms in a genetically vulnerable person or could cause relapse.

Credit other relevant material.

9. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO3 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The aim of family therapy is to prevent relapse of SCZ.
• Family therapy should be offered when a person with SCZ is in contact or lives with family members.
• Parents, siblings, and partners attend at least 10 therapy sessions between 3 and 12 months and are educated about SCZ.
• To help reduce the level of expressed emotions, the family find ways to support the person with SCZ and try to resolve practical problems.
• It’s beneficial if the person with SCZ is included in therapy sessions because being active in the treatment helps them overcome any paranoid suspicions.
• Family therapy improves relationships within the household because family members are encouraged to listen to each other and provide solutions that suit everyone.
• Improved communication reduces expressive emotion in the home, which helps prevent relapse.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• A review of 53 studies from Europe, Asia, and North America on the effectiveness of family therapy found that when people with SCZ had family therapy, they were more compliant with taking medication and were less likely to relapse than if they were on antipsychotics alone. There was some improvement to general functioning, but not to being able to live and work independently. There were mixed outcomes for their mental state.
• It is suggested that family therapy is effective because it makes patients more likely to comply with their medical treatment, not necessarily because it improves communication and reduces levels of expressed emotion.
• As family therapy leads to lower relapse rates and reduces instances of hospitalisation, it has considerable economic benefits.
• Family therapy improves outcomes not just for the individual with SCZ, but also for family members, such as increased coping and problem-solving skills, and improved family functioning and relationship quality.
• A study found that when individuals with SCZ had carers who used low levels of expressed emotion and high levels of support, they fared the same as having family therapy, especially compared to those who had no support or carers. The study concluded that for many people, family therapy may not improve outcomes further than having good carers.

Credit other relevant material.

10. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO2 = 2, AO3 = 3

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• The diathesis-stress model is an interactionist approach to SZ because it identifies that an interaction of biological (diathesis) and psychological (stress) factors are responsible for onset.
• There isn’t one ‘schizogene’ but many genes are responsible for increasing vulnerability.
• Family and twin studies support the role of genes in SZ, which as they show that the closer the genetic makeup, the higher the concordance rates.
• Psychological diathesis: childhood trauma can cause a diathesis, and also act as a stressor; childhood trauma alters the developing brain, which increases vulnerability to SZ.
• Stressors will trigger SZ in those with a diathesis.
• Stressors include trauma in childhood, urbanisation and cannabis use.
• A study found that children who experienced severe trauma before the age of 16 were three times more likely to develop SZ than the general population.
• A meta-analysis found that people living in densely populated urban areas were 2.37 times more likely to develop SZ than those living in rural areas.
• Cannabis use increases the risk of SZ up to seven times depending on the dose, which is thought to be because cannabis interferes with the dopamine system.
• Interactionist treatment – advocates both biological and psychological therapies as an interactionist approach to treatment.
• Interactionist treatment includes combining antipsychotics with CBTP.
• The UK tends to adopt the interactionist approach to treatment, but the USA tends to focus on drug therapies.

Possible AO2 application:

• Dina may have had a biological diathesis for schizophrenia (SCZ) – her mum had SCZ so may have passed on genes increasing Dina’s vulnerability.
• Dina’s childhood would have been traumatic because of her abusive stepdad, and this trauma may have been a psychological diathesis for SCZ.
• Dina’s abusive stepdad may have also acted a stressor to trigger her diathesis for SCZ.
• Dina moving to a highly urbanised area may have been a stressor that triggered her diathesis for SCZ. A meta-analysis found that people living in densely populated urban areas were 2.37 times more likely to develop SZ than those living in rural areas, which may have been due to adverse living conditions.
• Dina’s cannabis use with her friend may have triggered SCZ. A study found that cannabis use increases the risk of SCZ up to seven times, which is thought to be because cannabis interferes with the dopamine system.

Possible AO3 application:

• Evidence for the diathesis-stress model: Finnish children who were adopted by ‘schizophrenogenic mothers’ (cold, hostile, and low in empathy) developed SZ, but only if they had a genetic risk. This suggests that both genetic vulnerability and stress (childhood trauma from parenting style) are important in developing SZ.
• Evidence that diatheses are not always genetic in origin: individuals who experienced problems in their birth, such as prolonged labour which can cause oxygen deprivation, were four times more likely to develop SZ than those who did not have complications. This is evidence that life experiences can act as a diathesis for SZ.
• Evidence against urbanisation as a stressor: A New Zealand study found no urban/rural differences in mental health of women. Urban/rural area comparisons did find differences in SCZ, but these disappeared after adjusting for the socio-economic differences, which suggests that urbanisation as a risk factor for SZ is oversimplified.
• Support for the effectiveness of interactionist treatments: a comparison of medication + CBT, medication + supportive counselling, or just found that patients in the two combination groups showed lower symptom levels than those in the control group, which emphasizes the importance of an interactionist approach to treatment.
• It’s unclear how diathesis and stress work: We don’t yet fully know the mechanisms by which the symptoms of SZ appear. This limits the usefulness of the diathesis-stress model in explaining how schizophrenia actually develops.

Credit other relevant material.

11. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO3 = 10

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• There are two types of antipsychotic drugs to treat SCZ, called typical and atypical.
• Typical antipsychotics, such as chlorpromazine, are dopamine antagonists, which means they bind to dopamine receptors (particularly the D₂ receptors in the mesolimbic dopamine pathway) and block the action of the neurotransmitter dopamine.
• Typical antipsychotics are effective in treating the positive symptoms of SCZ quickly, such as hallucinations and delusions.
• Typical antipsychotics also block the action of dopamine in other areas of the brain, which leads to problematic side effects, such as movement issues resembling Parkinson’s disease.
• Chlorpromazine has a sedative effect, so is sometimes used to calm SCZ patients if they are anxious when admitted to hospital.
• Atypical antipsychotics, such as clozapine, were developed to combat the side effects of typical antipsychotics. They are effective in treating hallucinations and delusions. There is some evidence they also treat negative and cognitive symptoms.
• Like typical antipsychotics, they bind to the D₂ receptors to block the action of dopamine, but they then rapidly dissociate to allow normal dopamine transmission. This combats the movement side effects experienced with typical antipsychotics.
• Clozapine also acts on serotonin and glutamate receptors, which is thought to improve mood, reduce depression, and improve cognitive functioning.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• A meta-analysis of 65 studies from 1959–2011 found that when patients took a placebo rather than their antipsychotic, 64% relapsed within a year compared to 27% who stayed on their antipsychotic.
• A review of 13 drug trials found that chlorpromazine improved patients’ overall functioning, reduced symptom severity, and lowered the relapse rate compared to a placebo.
• A review of atypical antipsychotics found that clozapine was more effective than typical antipsychotics and other atypical antipsychotics. It also found that it was effective when typical antipsychotics had failed in 30–50% of patients.
• Some successful trials had their data published multiple times, which exaggerates effectiveness.
• Sedative effects are used to demonstrate effectiveness, but that doesn’t mean a reduction in symptoms of psychosis.
• Most published studies only assess short-term benefits and often compare patients who keep taking antipsychotics with those suffering withdrawal from them. It’s unclear how patients would fare once withdrawal symptoms stop.
• Side effects of typical antipsychotics include dizziness, weight gain, and movement problems (including involuntary facial movements). Distress from these side effects could cause patients to stop taking the drugs, which is a serious limitation in their effectiveness.
• Patients are more likely to continue with atypical antipsychotics due to fewer side effects, which increases the likelihood of a reduction in symptoms. However, patients using clozapine must have regular blood tests to prevent agranulocytosis, which can be fatal.
• A meta-analysis found no evidence for atypical antipsychotics being less effective, but there were fewer distressing side effects.

Credit other relevant material.

12. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO2 = 4, AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Family and twin studies have found that the closer the degree of genetic similarity, the higher the concordance rate for SCZ, suggesting there is a genetic basis for the condition.
• Adoption studies support the genetic basis of SCZ; adoptees born to biological mothers diagnosed with SCZ were more likely to have an SCZ diagnosis (6.7%) compared to those born to non-SZ mothers (2%).
• Schizophrenia is believed to be polygenic.
• Schizophrenia is believed to be polygenic.
• Excess dopamine in subcortical regions, particularly the mesolimbic pathway, is thought to cause positive symptoms such as hallucinations. This was highlighted by drugs that either increased or decreased dopamine.
• A deficit of dopamine in areas of the brain such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is thought to cause negative and cognitive symptoms. This was highlighted by PET scans that found lower levels of dopamine in the dorsolateral PFC in SCZ patients.
• Neural correlates are brain functions and structures that correlate with experiences. Neural correlates of SCZ experiences and brain functions/structures include:
  • ○ Hallucinations correlate with lower activation levels in the superior temporal gyrus and anterior cingulate gyrus.
  • ○ Avolition correlates with lower activity in the ventral striatum.
  • ○ Developing SCZ correlates with grey matter loss in the frontal and temporal lobes, and increased brain ventricles.
  • ○ Cognitive symptoms correlate with deficits within the PFC and its connections with other areas of the brain.
  • ○ Working memory impairments correlate with deficits in the nerve connections between the hippocampus and the PFC.
  • ○ Information processing correlates with reduced myelination of white matter pathways, particularly in the neural pathways between the PFC and hippocampus.

Possible AO2 application:

• Niamh is indicating that genetic factors are the cause of Lorenzo’s SCZ, meaning that Lorenzo may have inherited one or more candidate genes from his biological mother who has SCZ.
• Abena is referring to the action of neurotransmitters in the brain, where an excess or deficit of dopamine in certain areas can cause positive and negative symptoms.
• Abena is also referring to neural correlates, such as the negative symptom of avolition correlating with lower activity in the ventral striatum.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• Evidence that genetics makes people vulnerable to developing SCZ include:
  • ○ Adoption studies show that biological children of people with SCZ have a higher risk of SCZ.
  • ○ Researchers found that the more genetically similar individuals are, the higher the risk of developing SCZ.
• Researchers have stated that MZ twins are treated more similarly and experience more identity confusion (being treated as though they are the other twin) than DZs. This suggests that higher concordance rates for MZ twins might not indicate a genetic heritability for SCZ but can instead emphasise the importance of environmental factors.
• Antipsychotic drugs do not stop hallucinations and delusions in about one third of people, and some people experience them despite levels of dopamine being normal. This suggests that abnormal activity of dopamine is not the sole cause of positive symptoms, and that other neurotransmitter systems may also be responsible.
• Neural correlates only show the relationship between brain functions and/or structures with experience, but not causation. E.g. rather than lower activity in the ventral striatum causing avolition, avolition could lead to less information passing through the striatum, causing lower activity in this area. This suggests that although neural correlates exist, they tell us little about explanations for SZ.

Credit other relevant material.

Questions on previous content

1. Marks for this question: AO3 = 2

2 marks for a clear and coherent explanation of one limitation of the peer review process, using appropriate terminology.

1 mark for a brief or muddled explanation of one limitation of the peer review process.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Finding an expert to do the peer review isn’t always easy.
• Peer review is usually anonymous so the reviewer can be objective and honest, but some reviewers may use this anonymity for their own gain. E.g. it could lead reviewers to sabotage good research because they are either a rival or they want to do the research themselves.
• Publication bias: journals tend to publish positive results to improve their reputation. This can lead to misperceptions and exaggerating some findings.
• If peer-reviewed research has been published that was incorrect due to ineptitude or fraud once the views are out in the world it’s hard to retract them.

Credit any valid limitation.

2. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2, AO2 = 2

4 marks for the correct answer with or without working out.

If the answer is incorrect, marks awarded for correct working out:

28 – 13 = 15

115.4% to 4 significant figures.

3. Marks for this question: AO2 = 4

Means:

1 mark for the conclusion: when people watch a horror film before bed, it will increase the number of dreams they have compared to watching a comedy.

1 mark for justification/application: this is supported by the difference in the mean number of dreams per night between the conditions (horror/comedy), which show a higher mean number of dreams for horror (28) than watching a comedy (13).

Standard deviations:

1 mark for the conclusion: the mean number of dreams after watching a horror film is more varied/dispersed/spread out than when watching a comedy.

1 mark for justification/application: the higher standard deviation (5.6) for horror films shows the mean number of dreams were more varied than the standard deviation (1.2) for comedy films.

Chapter 13

All exemplar answers given would achieve full marks or the top level.

1. Marks for this question: AO1 = 1

Ghrelin

2. Marks for this question: AO2 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO2 application:

• Jake and Josh struggled at mealtimes because of differences to their cultural norms (family eating patterns). Eating fish for breakfast is not in their ‘rules’ for what and where to eat.
• Jake and Josh didn’t eat the foods at the Thorrablot festival because they weren’t used to the traditional food. The Icelandic people associate the flavours with the fun of the festival and happy memories.
• Media has an impact on food preferences and attitudes, as seen by Josh humming the adverts to fast food outlets from his home country.

Credit other relevant material.

3. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Note: although you could talk about any of the learning processes (such as media and culture), it would be best to answer this question by writing about the role of classical and operant conditioning in learning food preferences (‘the role of learning’ implies the behaviourist approach).

Possible AO1 content:

• Classical conditioning: flavour–flavour learning refers to developing a preference for a new food because the flavour is associated with a flavour already liked. E.g. a preference for sweetness means that if a new food is sweetened, it will be liked, and eventually the new food will be liked on its own.
• Operant conditioning: children are directly reinforced for their food choices by parents. E.g. they may receive reward in the form of praise for eating healthy foods and/or punishment, such as ‘You can’t have your pudding until you eat your vegetables.’
• Social learning theory explains food preferences in terms of children observing and imitating food choices and habits of significant role models. The effect is enhanced by identification with the model and vicarious reinforcement.
• Parental influences are particularly strong as parents are the gatekeepers to food choices for many years, determining what and when their children eat.
• Same-age peers influence a child’s food preferences, which can have positive or negative effects depending on what their friends eat.
• Media has a major impact on food preferences and attitudes. Consumers are bombarded by advertising for (often) unhealthy foods promoted by fun, identifiable characters.
• Cultural norms (including family eating patterns) teach the ‘rules’ of what, where, and how much to eat. E.g. meat consumption varies by culture: European countries tend to eat many parts of the animal (including organs), which is not the case in the US.
• Many cultural holidays involve traditional foods, and happy memories of those occasions can cause people to carry certain food choices through into adulthood.

Credit other relevant material.

4. Marks for this question: AO3 = 3

3 marks for a clear, coherent strength or limitation of social learning influences in food preferences, using appropriate terminology.

2 marks for a strength or limitation of social learning influences in food preferences lacking clarity or detail.

1 mark for a brief or muddled strength or limitation of social learning influences in food preferences.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Parental influence depends on the method of learning – interviews with parents of children aged 2–5 years found the most effective methods of influencing healthy preferences were parental modelling and food exposure (rather than operant conditioning).
• A study of 8–10-year-old Danish children found that those who watched the most TV had the unhealthiest food preferences, suggesting the influence of media. Six years later, the relationship was weaker and had disappeared for girls. Researchers concluded that TV is influential in the short-term, but as children get older, their peers are a stronger and longer-lasting influence on food preferences.

Credit any valid strength or limitation.

5. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) have abnormal levels of serotonin, but these levels usually return to normal after short-term recovery.
• A study of individuals who had not returned to their pre-illness weight found they responded less well to drugs that stimulate serotonin, indicating underactivity of the serotonin system.
• The highest levels of serotonin activity were found in women who showed the most anxiety, suggesting that persistent disruption of serotonin levels may lead to increased anxiety, which may trigger AN.
• A PET scan study found overactivity of dopamine receptors in the basal ganglia in a group of women recovering from AN.
• Increased dopamine activity appears to impair the interpretation of rewards, which could explain why people with AN find it hard to gain pleasure from rewards, such as food. Credit other relevant material.

6. Marks for this question: AO1 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Taste aversion is an avoidance reaction to the sight or smell of food that can make us ill. This aided survival, as our ancestors avoided dangerous foods.
• Bitter compounds in foods signal toxins.
• Newborns respond negatively to bitter flavours, suggesting an innate mechanism for avoidance.

Possible AO3 content:

• Vast individual differences in people’s ability to detect the bitter-tasting chemical, 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP), questions whether it is an adapted trait. If it was so important for survival, detection should be universal.
• Cancer patients sometimes experience aversion to foods they usually enjoy, which is triggered by chemotherapy treatment that causes vomiting. Researchers gave cancer patients a novel tasting ice-cream prior to cancer treatment, and they developed a taste aversion for the ice-cream.

Credit other relevant evaluations.

7. Marks for this question: AO3 = 4

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Early research involved lesion experiments on rats. Lesions to the lateral hypothalamus (LH) caused aphagia (stopping eating). Lesions to the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) caused hyperphagia (overeating) and obesity.
• Subsequent studies found damage to the VMH caused the same problems in humans, and that an area of the brain called the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) has an important role in feelings of satiety and ‘switching off’ eating.
• Although the LH plays an important role in controlling eating, it is unlikely to just be the brain’s only ‘on switch’ for eating. A study found that damage to the LH caused deficits in not just hunger, but also in thirst and sex.
• Recent research showed that eating behaviour is controlled by neural circuits throughout the brain and not just the hypothalamus.
• Recent research has found complex interactions of biochemicals involved in the control of eating, which enhance or inhibit each other’s activities, suggesting the LH/VMH model is oversimplified.
• Researchers suggest that social and cultural factors as strong influencers in determining eating habits, such as traditional times for meals.

Credit any valid strength or limitation.

8. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Harsh conditions in the environment of evolutionary adaptiveness (EEA) led to food preferences and mechanisms that would aid survival and still exist today, due to natural selection.
• Preference for fatty foods: high calorie foods quickly provide energy, so a preference for fat evolved as it has twice as many calories as the equivalent amount of protein or carbohydrates. Fat also smells and tastes appetising.
• Preference for meat: fossil evidence suggests that early humans had a meat-rich diet. Researchers suggest that this was the catalyst for brain development, as meat is dense in nutrients
• Preference for sweet foods: early humans would have received essential vitamins and minerals from ripe fruit, which is also high in fructose, a fast-acting sugar that gives a quick supply of energy. So, those with a preference for sugar were more likely to grow and survive. Researchers have found that babies respond positively to sugar, especially fructose, suggesting it is an innate preference.
• Taste aversion is an avoidance reaction to the sight or smell of food that can make us ill. This aided survival, as our ancestors avoided dangerous foods.
• Bitter compounds in foods often signal toxins. Newborns responded negatively in response to bitter flavours, suggesting an innate mechanism for avoidance.
• Food neophobia is when people won’t eat new or unusual foods and is common in children aged 2–6 years. Researchers suggest that at this age, ancestral children would have started exploring by themselves, and so neophobia would have evolved to protect them against consuming poisonous foods without the guidance of parents. Once we learn that specific foods won’t poison us, neophobia usually diminishes.

Credit other relevant material.

9. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO3 = 5

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Researchers found moderate heritability for obesity from family studies, with concordance rates for first-degree relatives between 20%–50%.
• Many twin studies have found a greater genetic component. A meta-analysis of 12 twin studies found concordance rates between 61–80%. Another study found that MZs reared apart were more similar in their body mass index (BMI) compared to DZs reared together.
• A study of 540 Danish adult adoptees found a strong relationship between the weight category (underweight, overweight, or obese) of adoptees and their biological parent, but no relationship with their adoptive parent.
• No one gene causes obesity. Instead, multiple genes interact with each other, all with relatively small effects on different aspects of obesity.
• A study of the genomes of more than 300,000 people identified 97 genes associated with variations in BMI, which accounted for only 2.7% of BMI variation. They estimated that as many as 400 genes may be involved.
• Normal serotonin functioning controls eating behaviour by inhibiting sites in the hypothalamus, including the ventromedial hypothalamus. Serotonin signals to the hypothalamus that we have eaten to satiety.
• Abnormally low levels of serotonin create inaccurate satiety signals, which disinhibits eating behaviour (leading to overeating). Low serotonin levels also lead to cravings for highly calorific foods, making obesity more likely.
• Normal levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine stimulate brain areas that provide feelings of reward and pleasure, including the pleasure derived from food. Many studies have found a link between a dysfunctional dopamine system and obesity. E.g. a study found that obese people had fewer dopamine D₂ receptors in the striatum than controls.
• Low levels of dopamine prevent a pleasure response from normal eating, but overeating may activate the reward centres enough to gain pleasure. This leads to a neurochemical food addiction, making obesity more likely.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Biological explanations reduce the stigma surrounding obesity and help draw blame away from individuals, as they offer objective reasons for weight gain that are out of the person’s control.
• Credit discussion comparing biological explanations with psychological explanations, which emphasise the failure of individuals to eat healthily and to exercise, drawing judgement from others.
• Biological explanations can lead to biological treatments (e.g. drug therapy), which may be a relief to individuals who have failed to lose weight in the past but could lead to reliance.
• A meta-analysis of 88 studies found the heritability estimate was highest during childhood and reduced during adulthood. Gene expression is lower in adulthood due to the establishment of individual dietary and exercise habits, which decreases the genetic contribution to BMI.
• Twin studies assume equal environments for MZ and DZ twins, but MZs tends to be treated more similarly than DZs. Higher concordance rates for MZs could reflect stronger environmental influences on obesity than genetic ones.
• Researchers found a link between a dysfunctional serotonin system and obesity in a laboratory study of mice. They genetically modified ‘knock-out’ mice to have inactive C2 serotonin receptors and found they developed late-onset obesity, providing evidence for the role of serotonin in obesity.
• Researchers found a genetic basis to a dysfunctional dopamine system. The DRD2 gene codes for the D₂ receptor found to be implicated in obesity. A PET scan study found people who inherited a particular variant of the DRD2 gene had 30–40% fewer D₂ receptors. Fewer D₂ receptors leads to less dopamine-activated pleasure from normal eating, which increases the likelihood of overeating.

Credit other relevant material.

10. Marks for this question: AO1 = 3, AO2 = 2, AO3 = 3

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Individuals with a first-degree relative with AN have an approximately ten-times greater risk of developing AN than those who don’t, suggesting an inherited genetic vulnerability.
• A study found 56% concordance rates for AN for MZ twins and 5% for DZ twins. MZs and DZs usually share a similar environment, so the differences in concordance rates suggest a genetic predisposition.
• A study compared adopted females with either their adopted sister (raised together) or biological sister (raised apart) and assessed their body dissatisfaction and weight preoccupation. Heritability ranged from 59–82% for disordered eating, indicating a strong genetic component.
• AN is polygenic, meaning many genes may contribute to the disorder. One study found only one gene to be significantly associated with AN – epoxide hydrolase 2 (Ephx2) – but most researchers believe this gene alone cannot explain the numerous and complex characteristics of AN.

Possible AO2 application:

• Maddy and Marie are identical twins, and both have AN, which suggests a biological component as they share 100% DNA.
• They found many identical twins with AN in the online support group, but not DZ twins, which indicates there is a genetic heritability to AN as both sets of twins would have had similar environmental influences. DZs only share 50% DNA, which suggests a biological component to AN.
• The non-identical twin who has AN may have inherited the condition from her biological mother, who also had AN. There are many genes thought to be responsible for AN, and her non-identical twin (shares 50% DNA) did not inherit it.
• The non-identical twin’s adopted mother does not have AN, which suggests a biological component because her biological mother does have AN. Biological influences are stronger than environmental ones.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Studies have generated widely contrasting heritability ranges for AN, which questions their validity. Also, many twin studies assume equal environments for MZ and DZ twins, but MZs tends to be treated more similarly than DZs. Higher concordance rates for MZs could therefore have environmental rather than genetic reasons.
• Researchers have accepted that searching for one gene to explain the numerous and complex physical and psychological characteristics of AN is pointless. Current theory suggests that AN is polygenic, meaning many genes may contribute to the disorder.
• The diathesis-stress model suggests that AN is caused by biological and environmental factors. A person’s genes create a vulnerability (diathesis) for AN, but this is only triggered when they try to lose weight (a stressor), which could be for social, cultural, or psychological reasons.
• Biological explanations reduce the stigma surrounding AN and help draw blame away from the patients as they offer objective, non-emotional reasons for symptoms.

Credit other relevant material.

11. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO3 = 10

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content for family systems theory (FST):

• FST believes the cause of AN in an individual is due to growing up in a dysfunctional family.
• The ‘anorexic family’ has four main features: enmeshment, overprotectiveness, rigidity, and conflict avoidance.
• Anorexic families’ that exhibit the above features prevent individual members exercising autonomy and control. The intrusive family dynamic means the adolescent cannot be themselves, argue, or take steps towards independence.
• In response, the adolescent may develop AN. Autonomy and control are achieved through controlling their body with an extremely restrictive diet (self-starvation) and excessive exercise.

Possible AO3 evaluation for family systems theory (FST)

• Researchers found that in cohesive families, individual members felt supported and had positive psychological well-being. In comparison, enmeshed adolescents were stifled by manipulation and control, and had poor psychological well-being. The findings applied across different cultural groups, demonstrating the universality of FST.
• 40 families with an adolescent daughter with AN were compared to 40 matched control families. Parents and daughters were told to choose two areas of disagreement between them that were nothing to do with food or eating. Observations found the AN families had difficulty choosing topics, remaining focused, and making resolutions, which supports FST.
• Researchers found that female AN patients had greater disturbances of autonomy in their families, such as a more controlling way of regulating their own behaviour. Findings suggest that when autonomy is desired but prevented, it is a risk factor for AN.
• Behavioural family systems therapy (BFST) was developed to combat the factors identified by FST to increase autonomy and control of AN patients. A 16-month study of BFST on a sample of 11 female AN patients found that outcomes were better than for individual therapy, but the study was not blinded, so investigator bias prevents drawing conclusions on its effectiveness.
• Critics argue that family dysfunction may be the consequence of having a daughter with AN, rather than the cause. Supporters of FST say that regardless of cause and effect, the AN symptoms are linked to how the family interacts. Understanding the link can help develop effective treatments.

Possible AO1 content for social learning theory (SLT):

• SLT believes a child’s attitudes and behaviours around weight are learned through observation and imitation of significant role models such as parents, friends, and media figures.
• The child is more likely to imitate people (modelling) that they consider important and identify with. If they observe their role models losing weight and valuing a thin body shape, they may begin to restrict their food intake to achieve the same figure.
• A child also learns vicariously through observing the consequences for their role models of losing weight. If they observe people rewarded for weight loss through praise, attention, or social media success, they are more likely to restrict their own eating. If thinness is valued and rewarded by family members, it makes imitation much more likely as vicarious reinforcement occurs so frequently.
• Mothers have a strong social learning influence on daughters. Mothers who modelled weight concerns were more likely to have daughters concerned about their weight. A study found similarities between mothers’ and daughters’ food restraint in children as young as ten.
• The media conveys cultural ideals of body image and although trends vary, the preference for thinness is a constant feature. TV, music videos, film, and social media are packed with symbolic models and have a powerful influence on attitudes to weight. Young women may feel determined to lose weight and exercise if they identify with the glamour of celebrities. This can vicariously reinforce them to lose more weight and develop AN.
• The media is more influential in the development of AN on girls with low self-esteem, who are more likely to compare themselves to idealised media images.

Possible AO3 evaluation for social learning theory (SLT):

• Although billions of people access media daily, most do not develop AN. If SLT was the singular cause of AN, there would be far more cases.
• The diathesis-stress model is a better explanation as it proposes a diathesis (vulnerability) for AN which is triggered by environmental stressors such as media exposure. A diathesis could be genetic or environmental, such as childhood trauma.
• AN has increased in Japan over the past 40 years. The ideal body shape has changed from plump to thin due to media influences. Researchers found that many Japanese adolescents with AN regularly read magazines promoting thinness. The findings suggest that as their symbolic role models changed, so too did their attitudes to weight loss and eating.
• Many studies have failed to find evidence of the influence of maternal modelling on attitudes and behaviours to weight. E.g. one study found no association between mothers and daughters in their restrained eating or body dissatisfaction. Researchers suggest that maternal influence on AN may be due to enmeshment, not SLT processes.
• 162 girls aged 5–8 years were shown a storybook that either had images of a Barbie doll (excessively thin), an Emme doll (realistic body shape) or control images of flowers, balloons, and clothes. Girls who saw the Barbie images had the highest body dissatisfaction and lowest body esteem. This supports the role of the media in influencing weight dissatisfaction, which may lead to AN.
• A natural experiment on the effect of TV on Fijian adolescent girls found that ‘social network media exposure’ was a predictor of eating disorders. Watching TV itself did not predict AN, but if a girl’s friendship group watched TV, then she would be exposed to vicarious reinforcement of thinness by her friends praising thin models and direct reinforcement for losing weight herself.

Possible AO1 content for cognitive theory:

• Cognitive explanations for AN suggest that individuals with AN have a warped view of reality and irrational beliefs about their appearance.
• Cognitive distortions are misperceptions of reality. Individuals develop a faulty belief that they are overweight, perhaps due to comparing themselves to media images, which leads to feelings of self-disgust and a motivation to lose weight.
• The transdiagnostic model states that the same cognitive distortions underlie all eating disorders. These include a person overestimating their weight, negative misperceptions of appearance, and an emphasis on self-control.
• A study comparing 37 AN patients with 95 controls found the AN group overestimated their size, and selected a thinner ideal body shape than controls.
• Individuals with AN often have irrational beliefs about themselves and the world, which lead to negative automatic thoughts and behaviours. Typical irrational beliefs include thinking they are worthless if they are ‘fat’, and they are only likeable if they are ‘thin’.
• Perfectionism is a key irrational belief of individuals with AN, and can lead to extreme weight loss, as weight loss goals increase as soon as they are achieved. It also causes resistance to treatment as people feel compelled to exercise, restrict food, and self-monitor to achieve their weight loss goals.
• The cognitive-behavioural model of AN identifies that a person’s perfectionism, coupled with self-doubt and exposure to cultural ideals of thinness, leads to the irrational belief that losing weight will reduce distress and make them more attractive to others. They develop an irrational fear of food and weight gain, and avoid food.

Possible AO3 evaluation for cognitive theory:

• Researchers compared 41 children and adolescents diagnosed with AN with 43 healthy controls on a range of neuropsychological measures. There was no difference in IQ, but the AN group displayed a more inflexible cognitive processing style, such as being less able to overcome previously held beliefs despite new information. The findings were independent of clinical or demographic factors, which suggests that inefficient cognitive processing is an underlying characteristic of AN.
• The cognitive explanation of AN is supported by the success of CBT-E treatment for AN. suggests the cognitive explanation is valid. A study of 26 hospitalised AN patients found that CBT-E successfully treated symptoms and this result was maintained in a one-year follow-up.
• Researchers used fMRI to scan the brains of 10 AN patients and 10 controls while showing them images of their own and other people’s bodies. There was no difference in brain activation when shown images of others, but when shown images of themselves the AN group had little activation in brain areas involved in attention compared to controls. The findings provide support for cognitive distortions in AN, although only for their own bodies.
• In a study of 728 women over the age of 16 with AN, they completed the EATATE Lifetime Diagnostic Interview, which measures anorexia symptoms and perfectionism in childhood. They found that childhood perfectionism was a significant predictor of developing AN later in life.
• Many studies of cognitive processing in individuals with AN rely on self-reported data collected retrospectively. Cognitive scientists prefer performance-based measures of cognitions as retrospective data is likely to be flawed through poor or biased recall.

Credit other relevant material.

12. Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO2 = 4, AO3 = 6

This question is level-marked:

Possible AO1 content:

• Psychological explanations for obesity focus on reasons why trying to lose weight through food restriction often fails and leads to overeating.
• Restraint theory means that when an individual tries to restrain (limit) the quantity and types of food they eat to lose weight, it can lead to an obsession with food and increase the likelihood of weight gain.
• ‘Rigid’ (uncompromising) restraint is a greater risk for obesity than ‘flexible’ restraint where fattening foods can be eaten in small quantities.
• Disinhibition refers to a person eating whatever they want in unlimited quantities, despite satiety. It occurs after a period of restraint in response to internal and external food-related cues, such as their mood or media images.
• Restraint and disinhibition occur in a cycle due to distorted all-or-nothing thinking, which makes obesity likely. Studies have found strong associations between disinhibition and weight gain.
• The boundary model explains why dieting (restraint) may lead to overeating.
• Food intake is on a continuum from hunger to satiety. Biological processes determine motivation to eat or to stop eating by creating aversive feelings at either end of the continuum. Between these points is the zone of biological indifference, where eating is driven by social and cultural factors rather than biological ones.
• Restrained eaters have a wider zone of biological indifference as they have a lower hunger threshold and a higher satiety threshold. Food intake is determined more by cognitive than physiological control, which increases vulnerability for disinhibited eating.
• Dieters impose a boundary that is set lower than satiety, which represents what and how much they think they should eat. If they exceed the limit, they experience a ‘what the hell’ effect, and eat beyond satiety.

Possible AO2 application:

• Davit has set himself a rigid form of restraint, putting foods like brownies and pizza as off limits.
• The rigid restraint has led to obsessing about food ‘all the time’.
• The boundary model shows that David has set his boundary for eating at lower than satiety – this represents what he thinks he should eat.
• Seeing Mari eating a pizza and feeling upset that she can eat whatever she wants without getting fat is a disinhibitor for him. He breaks the restraint by eating all the foods he said he wouldn’t in large quantities, showing ‘all or nothing’ thinking.
• Once he has exceeded the limit of his boundary he eats beyond satiety and consequently has put on weight after one week rather than lose it.

Possible AO3 discussion:

• 27 obese women were randomly assigned to either a diet group (restrained eating), an exercise group, or a no-treatment group. Participants were assessed for food intake after four weeks and six weeks in different laboratory conditions. In both assessments, the diet group ate more than the exercise or no-treatment groups. This suggests that restraint causes overeating, leading to weight gain and obesity.
• A study compared restrained and unrestrained eaters in responding to media images. Participants saw a slideshow that showed images of thin people in the media or control images (such as furniture). The restrained eaters ate significantly more in a 10-minute taste test after viewing the media images compared to unrestrained eaters. There was no difference in response to the neutral images. Media images act as disinhibitors, which trigger eating in restrained eaters.
• Critics argue that studies of restraint theory in a laboratory setting lack external validity. Two studies found that dieters who tracked their food intake in their natural environment over a period of days did not show disinhibition (overeating) after violations of their diet.
• Most participants in disinhibition studies have been white women. Studies on other groups, such as men and African-American women, have found lower restraint and disinhibition scores, which suggests that disinhibition as an explanation for obesity is limited.
• A study of 200 adults with BMIs ranging from 17–41 found that attachment anxiety is linked to disinhibited eating and BMI. Researchers suggest that anxiously attached individuals use disinhibited eating as a way of coping with anxiety, particularly during periods of stressful transition like leaving home. The coping mechanism eventually leads to an increase in BMI.

Credit other relevant material.

Questions on previous content

1. Marks for this question: AO3 = 2

2 marks for a clear and coherent explanation of one limitation of the peer review process, using appropriate terminology.

1 mark for a brief or muddled explanation of one limitation of the peer review process.

Possible AO3 evaluation:

• Finding an expert to do the peer review isn’t always easy.
• Peer review is usually anonymous so the reviewer can be objective and honest, but some reviewers may use this anonymity for their own gain. E.g. it could lead reviewers to sabotage good research because they are either a rival or they want to do the research themselves.
• Publication bias: journals tend to publish positive results to improve their reputation. This can lead to misperceptions and exaggerating some findings.
• If peer-reviewed research has been published that was incorrect due to ineptitude or fraud once the views are out in the world it’s hard to retract them.

Credit any valid limitation.

2. Marks for this question: AO1 = 2, AO2 = 2

4 marks for the correct answer with or without working out.

If the answer is incorrect, marks awarded for correct working out:

$$28\; –\; 13\; =\; 15$$

$$\backslash left(\; \backslash frac\{15\}\{13\}\; \backslash right)\; \backslash times\; 100\; =\; 115.38\backslash \%$$

115.4% to 4 significant figures.

3. Marks for this question: AO2 = 4

Means:

1 mark for the conclusion: when people watch a horror film before bed, it will increase the number of dreams they have compared to watching a comedy.

1 mark for justification/application: this is supported by the difference in the mean number of dreams per night between the conditions (horror/comedy), which show a higher mean number of dreams for horror (28) than watching a comedy (13).

Standard deviations: