psychology paper 1 past papers

2020 -statement that is most associated with informational social influence

It is more likely to lead to a permanent, rather than temporary, change in attitude

2020-In a sixth form debating society, Samina is the only student in a group of six who does not believe that drugs should be legalised. Using your knowledge of minority influence processes, explain two ways in which Samina could convince the other students in the debating society to agree with her.

Samina should demonstrate flexibility by adapting her view/accepting other valid counterarguments. Perhaps some ‘softer’ drugs could be decriminalised, rather than legalise

Samina could demonstrate consistency by not deviating from her view that drugs should not be legalised – she could point out that this is a view she has held for many years • Samina could demonstrate commitment by defending her view that drugs should not be legalised through personal investment e.g speaking in assemely

Explain how Asch’s conformity research illustrates one of these features of science

replicability – Asch’s studies had standardised procedures (eg the number of confederates; length of lines etc) which meant that they could be repeated/replicate

theory construction – Asch’s findings led to the development of explanations/theories of conformity, eg that people will conform to group pressure to avoid ridicule (normative social influence

2020- whats legitamacy of autrhoirty

• when a person recognises their own and other’s position in a social hierarchy

• legitimacy is increased by visible symbols of authority, eg uniform

• legitimacy of setting, order, system.

Agentic state:

when a person acts on behalf of an authority figure/person of higher status • the actor feels no personal responsibility/does not feel guilty for their actions • the opposite of an autonomous state in which people act according to their own principles • reference to binding factors(aspects of a situation that allow the person to ignore/minimise the damaging effect of their bhv and reduce moral strain)

obedience- situational factors (LOA, Agentic/autonomous state etc) evals

use of evidence to support/contradict the explanations, eg Milgram variations, Bickman, Hofling • use of real-life examples to illustrate explanations, eg My Lai massacre • neither explanation can account for rates of disobedience in studies • obedience may be dispositional, not situational, eg authoritarian personality • discussion of difficulty measuring and/or distinguishing between reasons why obedience occurs.

State one advantage of an independent groups design.

• removes order effects/effects of practise/fatigue etc • participants are less likely to work out the aim and change their behaviour/less influenced by demand characteristics.

why would it be better to use median if the data has a large anomoly

This would distort the mean value making it unrepresentative of the data set as a whole

recall of words cannot be classed as interval data as not all words are equally difficult/easy to recall. As the data is ordinal, the median should be used rather than the mean.

Using an example, explain what is meant by retroactive interference.3 marks

when new/recently stored information disrupts/affects the recall of old/previously stored information • more likely if competing information is similar. and 1 mark for example

Outline and evaluate research into duration in memory

use of artificial material, eg recall of trigrams, lists of unconnected words etc • use of artificial laboratory setting • discussion of issues of validity (higher in Bahrick study), reliability • alternative explanations – Peterson and Peterson’s findings may be more to do with interference than duration

“Oh, you could be a bit difficult,” Annie’s mother replies. “You used to scream when I left you at nursery. When I returned to pick you up, you would run towards me and then push me away.” 1 Identify the attachment type that Annie’s mother is describin

Insecure-resistant

Distinguish between two other types of attachment

secure attachment/Type B shows moderate levels of stranger anxiety whereas insecure-avoidant/Type A shows low levels • Type B shows moderate levels of separation anxiety whereas Type A shows low levels • Type B shows joy on reunion whereas Type A shows little response • Type B shows use of attachment figure as a safe base whereas Type A shows high levels of independent behaviour • credit distinctions based on other types of attachment, eg disorganised; disinhibited

_Studies of attachment often involve naturalistic observations.
Suggest one way in which studies of attachment could be improved by using controlled
observations 3 marks

controlled observations can minimise extraneous variables • controlled observations are likely to have standardised procedures, so reliability/replication is more of a possibility than in naturalistic observations • cause and effect relationships are easier to establish than in a naturalistic observation

Briefly evaluate the deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality(4 marker)

comprehensive criteria for mental health • based on similar models of physical health – but mental health may not be the same • criteria are too demanding – most of us would be defined as unhealthy • Western individualist bias

Outline two cognitive characteristics of obsessive-compulsive disorder

obsessive thoughts – persistent and intrusive thoughts of, eg germs

hypervigilance/selective attention – increased awareness of source of obsession in new situations • insight into irrationality of thoughts/behaviou

0 2 Name one explanation of resistance to social influence.

locus of control or social support

A teacher was absent and left work for students to complete during the lesson. Some students in the class did not do the work their teacher had left for them. Use one possible explanation of resistance to social influence to explain why this happened.

disobedience/resistance/defiance is more likely to occur in the presence of others who are disobeying/disobedient role models • ‘some students’ suggests there was more than one who did not complete the work • this would have given others more confidence to ignore the teacher’s instructions • social support is associated with diffusion of responsibility/the more people who disobey the less severe the consequences are likely to be – the students may have reasoned that the more of them who disobey, the less likely they are to be in trouble • credit use of evidence to support explanation/application, eg Milgram – two confederates-one naive participant variation.

Locus of control: • disobedience/resistance/defiance is more likely to occur in those who have an internal locus of control • the students who disobeyed the instructions may all have had this personality trait in common • this meant they relied on their own judgement of whether to complete the work, rather than the teacher’s • credit use of evidence to support explanation/application, eg Holland – 37% of internals refused to continue to maximum shock level.

Briefly outline one way in which researchers have investigated the capacity of short-term memory

participants are read a sequence of letters/numbers and asked to repeat the same sequence back immediately. An additional digit is added on each subsequent trial to measure the capacity of STM (the digit span technique)

Briefly outline one way in which researchers have investigated the duration of short-term memory.

participants are given a trigram (three-letter nonsense syllable) and then asked to count backwards from a certain number for a specified time. They are then asked to recall the original trigram

A student showed participants a film of a car accident. After watching the film, each participant was asked to write down what they had seen. The student was surprised to see that the descriptions of the accident were quite different. The student’s psychology teacher suggested that the participants’ recall might be improved by using cognitive interview techniques. Suggest two cognitive interview techniques that could be used to improve participants’ recall of the film.

the participants could have been asked to recall the events in a different order; elaboration might refer to starting eg from the point of impact to the start of the film, or how this technique might have disrupted the influence of schema/expectations

the participants could have been encouraged to mentally reinstate the context; elaboration might refer to eg being reminded of the weather and the general environment, or how this technique might trigger recall.

Lenny is being interviewed for a TV dating show. He describes his approach to relationships: “My friends would say I’m scared of commitment and need to settle down. I suppose they’re right, I’m in my late thirties now. I fall in love constantly but my relationships never last more than a few weeks. My mum left when I was very young, I don’t know if that has something to do with it…” Explain how, according to attachment research, Lenny’s early experience might have influenced his later relationships.

• Bowlby’s internal working model – Lenny’s (lack of) early attachment has not provided an adequate template/blueprint for later relationships • insecure attachments are associated with fear of intimacy/lack of commitment in adult romantic relationships which may explain Lenny’s inability to ‘settle down’ • maternal deprivation theory – disruption to the maternal bond in early life (critical period) leads to later emotional problems – Lenny’s fear of commitment/intimacy • use of evidence to support argument, eg Hazan and Shaver (Love Quiz).

commitment

defending her view that drugs should not be legalised through some personal investment – for instance, offering to speak in assembly about the dangers of drugs. This will draw more attention to her case

consistency

Samina could demonstrate consistency by not deviating from her view that drugs should not be legalised

Legitimacy of authority:

• when a person recognises their own and other’s position in a social hierarchy • legitimacy is increased by visible symbols of authority, eg uniform • legitimacy of setting, order, system.

Agentic state:

• when a person acts on behalf of an authority figure/person of higher status • the actor feels no personal responsibility/does not feel guilty for their actions • the opposite of an autonomous state in which people act according to their own principles • reference to binding factors.

Suggest one way in which studies of attachment could be improved by using controlled observations.

• controlled observations can minimise extraneous variables • controlled observations are likely to have standardised procedures, so reliability/replication is more of a possibility than in naturalistic observations • cause and effect relationships are easier to establish than in a naturalistic observation.