2018 psychopathology/ biopsychology/ research methods

Question 1

Is negative schema score best described as measuring a cognitive, emotional or
behavioural characteristic of depression? Shade one box only.
A Cognitive
B Emotional
C Behavioural

Answer 1

A Cognitive

Question 2

Draw a suitable graphical display to represent the data in Table 1. Label your graph
appropriately.
[4 marks]

Answer 2

1. Title - The relationship between self-esteem score and negative schema score
2. labelled x-axis - self-esteem score
3. labelled y-axis - negative schema score
4. accurately plotted points
   range - 5-25
   line of best fit

Question 3

The researcher analysed the data in Table 1 using a Spearman’s rho statistical test.
Regarding the level of measurement, explain why Spearman’s rho is an appropriate
statistical test for this data.
[2 marks]

Answer 3

spearman’s rho uses ordinal data to measure the co-variables self-esteem and negative schema using a non-standardised scale.
The co-variables cannot be measured objectively as they aren’t real things. The units of measurement have an unknown scale.

Question 4

Estimate the correlation coefficient most likely to result from analysis of the data in Table
1. Shade one box only.
The correlation coefficient would be approximately
+0.95
+0.70
+0.30
+0.15

Answer 4

+0.70

Question 5

Discuss the cognitive approach to treating depression.
[16 marks]

Answer 5

AO1
The cognitive element aims to identify irrational and negative thoughts, which lead to depression. The aim is to replace these negative thoughts with more positive ones.The behavioural element of CBT encourages patients to test their beliefs through behavioural experiments and homework.

There are two different strands of CBT, based on Beck’s theory and Ellis’s ABC model.

Beck’s Cognitive Therapy
1. If a therapist is using Beck’s cognitive therapy, they will help the patient to identify negative thoughts in relation to themselves, their world and their future, using Beck’s negative triad.
2. The patient and therapist will then work together to challenge these irrational thoughts, by discussing evidence for and against them.
3. The patient will be encourage to test the validity of their negative thoughts and may be set homework, to challenge and test their negative thoughts.

Ellis’s Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT)
Ellis developed his ABC model to include D (dispute) and E (effect or effective). Like Beck, the main idea is to challenge irrational thoughts, however, with Ellis’s theory this is achieved through ‘dispute’ (argument).

The therapist will dispute the patient’s irrational beliefs, to replace their irrational beliefs with effective beliefs and attitudes.Following a session, the therapist may set their patient homework. The idea is that the patient identifies their own irrational beliefs and then proves them wrong. As a result, their beliefs begin to change.

Question 6

Discuss the cognitive approach to treating depression.[16 marks] A03

Answer 6

The ABC model has practical application it has led to successful therapy - Rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT). The central technique or REBT is to challenge irrational beliefs. The effectiveness of CBT has been supported by Lipsky et al 1980. The effective use of REBT validates Ellis’s prediction that irrational beliefs cause depression. We can confidently offer REBT to patients who are suffering from depression as a standard treatment to deal with some of their symptoms.

However, a limitation of the cognitive approach to explaining depression is that it fails to explain the origins of irrational thoughts. Since most of the research in this area is correlational, psychologists are unable to determine if irrational thoughts cause depression or whether an individual’s depression leads to this negative mindset. Consequently, it is possible that other factors for example, genes and neurotransmitters, are the cause of depression and subsequently, the negative and irrational thoughts are the symptom of depression.

One weakness in terms of appropriate i that CBT appears to be more suitable for some patients than others are; some patients have individual differences. For eg, CBT appears to be less suitable for people who have high levels of irrational beliefs as they are resistant to change and high levels of stress which affects some patient’s accessibility to CBT. A limitation of CBT, individual differences have a negative impact on the accessibility of the treatment, limiting both the effectiveness and appropriateness of CBT as a cognitive approach to treating depression.

Question 7

Give one difference between the autonomic nervous system and the somatic nervous
system.
[1 mark]

Answer 7

the autonomic nervous system is involuntary whereas the somatic nervous system is under
conscious control.
- ANS controls smooth muscles and glands whereas the SNS controls skeletal muscles.

Question 8

Name the types of neurons labelled A, B and C on Figure 1 below. Write your answers in
the boxes provided.
[3 marks]

Answer 8

A = Sensory Neuron
B = Relay Neuron (accept interneurons/connector neuron)
C = Motor Neuron

Question 9

Information can only travel in one direction at a synapse.Explain why neurons can only transmit information in one direction at a synapse.
[3 marks]

Answer 9

• the synaptic vesicles containing the neurotransmitter are only present on/released from the presynaptic membrane
• the receptors for the neurotransmitters are only present on the postsynaptic membrane
• it is the binding of the neurotransmitter to the receptor which enables the signal/information to be passed/transmitted on (to the next neuron).
• Diffusion of the neurotransmitters means they can only go from high to low concentration, so can only travel from the presynaptic to the postsynaptic membrane.

Question 10

The fight or flight response enabled our ancestors to survive but can be less helpful in response to more modern stressors. Explain how the body responds during fight or flight and why this could be unhelpful in a driving test situation. [4 marks]

Answer 10

• the fight or flight response causes adrenaline to be released which can cause an increased production of sweat and faster heart and breathing rate which could be off putting and unhelpful during a driving test (e.g. sweaty hands may make it harder to grip the steering wheel).
• the fight or flight response enable a quick reaction to fight the threat or run away from it but neither of these options would be helpful in a driving test as if you ran away or attacked the instructor you would fail the test.

Question 11

Julia complains that her baby is sleeping all day and keeping her awake all night. Using your knowledge of research into exogenous zeitgebers, discuss what Julia could do to encourage her baby to sleep more at night. [8 marks]

Answer 11

Exogenous zeitgebers are external environmental stimuli which train our body clock into sleep/wake patterns. Light is the most common exogenous zeitgeber, but since Julia is awake all night, because of her baby, this means that her natural sleep pattern is being disrupted. Receptors in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which are found in the hypothalamus, are sensitive to levels of light received by the eyes and help re-set the internal biological clock every 24-hour day/night cycle. As a result, one strategy that Julia could use would be to ensure the baby was exposed to a good level of daylight during the daytime before being placed to sleep in a dark room after sunset.

There is research support for the role of light as an important exogenous zeitgeber. Vetter et al. (2011) conducted a longitudinal study over five weeks with volunteer participants who were either exposed to a ‘warm’ artificial light source or a ‘blue-enriched’ artificial light source, which was similar to daylight. Each participant was required to keep a daily record of their sleep patterns and wore equipment which measured how active they were during the daytime. It was found that participants in the first condition synchronised their circadian rhythm when dawn broke, which advanced every day, whereas those in the second group did not show this pattern and instead synchronised to their working hours at the office. This shows that light is indeed important in encouraging a regular circadian rhythm of the sleep/wake cycle and that the composition of light affects the SCN.

There is evidence to support the role of social cues (exogenous zeitgebers) on the sleep/wake cycle. Luce and Segal’s Artic Circle study in 1966 found that people who live within the Artic circle sleep for around 7 hours per night despite the fact that during the summer the sun never sets. This shows that light is not the only exogenous zeitgebers which influence the sleep/wake cycle, other exogenous factors such as social customs and psychological factors are just as influential.

Social cues, such as mealtimes, social customs and practice can also act as zeitgebers and humans can compensate for the lack of natural light, by using social cues instead.

Question 12

Calculate the mean number of hours slept in the night. Show your workings.
Give your answer to two significant figures.
[3 marks]

Answer 12

9.0 + 8.0 + 8.5 + 7.0 + 7.5 + 10.5 + 8.0 = 58.5 hours
58.5 / 7 = 8.385714285714286
2SF = 8.4 hours

Question 13

Explain one reason why the mean is the most appropriate measure of central tendency for this set of data.
[2 marks]

Answer 13

there are no extreme values (not skewed) so distortion will not be a problem with this data set
- the mean takes into account/uses all the data so is more representative of the data than other
measures

Question 14

Using Figure 2, estimate the percentage of dreams that were reported to be about being
chased. Shade one box only.
[1 mark]
A 4%
B 12%
C 27%
D 42%

Answer 14

C 27%

Question 15

What is meant by a pilot study? Explain one possible reason why the psychologist decided to conduct a pilot study for this investigation. [3 marks]

Answer 15

Pilot studies are small-scale investigations conducted before research, so they can identify whether there needs to be any modifications in the design. For example, whether the interview questions were relevant to the dream content, so they can conduct a study on the differences in dream themes across gender.

Question 16

What is meant by qualitative data? Give one strength of collecting qualitative data in this study. [2 marks]

Answer 16

Qualitative data is non-numerical data. One strength of qualitative data is that it enables the students to talk in rich detail about their dreams. This helps the researcher to develop a deep understanding of the content of the dream to improve identification of dream themes.

Question 17

15. What are investigator effects? Suggest one way in which they could have been minimised during the dream interviews. [3 marks]

Answer 17

Investigator effects occur when a researcher unintentionally influences the outcome of any research they are conducting. This influence could be minimised by providing a standardised script for the interviewers to use so that they all asked the same questions in the same way to avoid any bias in the students’ responses.

• the interviewers could have been trained to greet the students in the same way and ask questions with a neutral tone.

Question 18

16. Another researcher, who did not know the purpose of the study, carried out a content analysis of the interview data. Explain how this content analysis could have been conducted. [4 marks]

Answer 18

The other researcher would read through the dream interview data, highlighting important points of reference and annotate the margins with comments. Using these comments, the researcher would categorise the data, e.g. evidence of social interaction. This process will be repeated for each interview transcript.

Once completed, the categories which emerged through the process of analysing the content are reviewed. With the operationalised categories, the researcher then returns to the original interview data and tallies the occurrence of each ‘behaviour’ accordingly. The qualitative data has now undergone analysis to produce quantitative data which can undergo further analysis such as statistical testing.

Question 19

The psychologist wanted to assess the reliability of the content analysis. Explain how the reliability of the content analysis could be assessed. [4 marks]

Answer 19

• Inter-rater reliability refers to the extent to which two or more researchers are rating or recording behaviour in a consistent way. This is a particularly useful way of ensuring reliability in situations where there is a risk of subjectivity, such as a content analysis of dreams, to make sure that the categories are being used in the correct manner.
• Another independent psychologist would observe the same data set from the original interviews, and then their categories and tallies would be correlated to see whether they are suitably similar.
• researchers could calculate the correlation between the two ratings
• They could compare their tally charts looking for agreement researchers could calculate the correlation between the two ratings, Researchers generally accept 0.8 correlation (accept 0.7-0.9) between the test and the re-test.

Question 20

18. A total of 375 dreams reported by males included social interaction. Use the data in Table 2 to calculate how many of these dreams reported by males were classified as aggressive. Show your workings. [2 marks]

Answer 20

0.6 x 375 = 225 dreams

Question 21

19. Draw a suitable graphical display to represent the data in Table 2 box . Label your graph appropriately. [4 marks]

Answer 21

Title - Type of social interaction in males and females
X - axis females and males / Y- axis % of social interaction
Accurately polted pointed, bars do not touch / key for aggressive and friendly

Question 22

The psychologist decided to experiment to investigate the effect of watching box horror films before going to bed. A volunteer sample of 50 university students consented to take part in the experiment. The 50 students were randomly split into two groups. Group 1 watched a horror film before going to bed each night for the first week then a romantic comedy before going to bed each night for the second week. Group 2 watched a romantic comedy in the first week and a horror film in the second week. When the students woke up each morning, each student received a text message that asked if they had had a nightmare during the night. They could respond ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

20. Write a brief consent form that would have been suitable for use in this experiment. The consent form should: * include some detail of what participants might expect to happen * refer to ethical issues * be in an appropriate format/style. [6 marks]

Answer 22

Dear Participant, you are volunteering to take part in a psychological research study about the effects of watching films before going to bed. In this study, you will watch a horror film or a romantic comedy film every night for one week before going to bed. When you wake up each morning, you will receive a text message from the researcher asking you a question, to which there will be a yes/no response. The study will last for two weeks however you have the right to withdraw your participation from the research study at any time without explanation. You also have the right to ask that any data you have supplied to be withdrawn. You may ask any questions about the procedures before the study begins. The data we collect from you will be treated confidentially. Please sign below to consent that you agree to participate in this study.

Question 23

The psychologist proposed a directional hypothesis. Write a directional hypothesis for this experiment. [3 marks]

Answer 23

Participants who watch a horror movie before bed are more likely to report ‘yes’ that they have had a nightmare when asked the following morning via text message, compared to participants who watched a romantic comedy film before bed.

Question 24

The psychologist used a repeated measures design in this experiment. Explain why it was important to use a repeated measures design in this case. [2 marks]

Answer 24

A repeated measures design was used in this case so that the same participants took part in each condition (horror/romantic comedy). This way, there is less chance of individual differences, such as personality style or film preferences, affecting whether the participants reported a nightmare or not, and any differences found are thought to be the result of the IV affecting that person.

Question 25

23. The psychologist used counterbalancing in this experiment. Explain why it was appropriate to use counterbalancing in this experiment. [2 marks]

Answer 25

As the same participants took part in both conditions of the experiment, order effects can occur. if you saw the horror films in the first week you may still be thinking about them/have higher levels of fear in the second week, resulting in more nightmares. Counterbalancing offsets any order effects as half the participants take part in. Any order effects experienced by those who started in Condition A should be offset by those who started in Condition B.

Question 26

24. Explain how the psychologist could have randomly split the sample of 50 students into the two groups. [3 marks]

Answer 26

the psychologist identifying everyone in the sample and writing their names on a piece of paper before placing them all in a hat. Then the psychologist would select the number of pieces of paper from the hat according to the number of participants required for each group, in this case 25. The remaining 25 in the hat would form the second group.

Question 27

The psychologists collated the responses of all the participants over a 2-week period and calculated the mean and SD for reach response.
Horror movies Mean - 2.18 SD - 1.48
Romantic comedies Mean 0.30 SD 0.61
What do the mean and standard deviation values in Table 3 suggest about the effect of
the type of film watched on the occurrence of nightmares? Justify your answer.
[4 marks]

Answer 27

With a mean score of 2.18 nightmares in 7 days being reported for horror films, compared to 0.30 on average for romantic comedy films, this suggests that watching horror films before bed is more likely to induce a nightmare as significantly more nightmares were reported by participants, on average, in this condition. However, with a standard deviation of 1.48 for the horror film condition, it suggests that there is a large spread of results around the mean. This means that some participants reported far more nightmares and some far fewer nightmares than other participants, meaning the range in data was large.

On the other hand, with a standard deviation of 0.61 for the romantic comedy condition, this suggests that the number of nightmares reported from all participants in this group were more similar to one another as the spread around the mean is less.

Question 28

26. The psychologist found that the difference in the number of nightmares reported in the two conditions was significant at p<0.05. Explain what is meant by ‘significant at p<0.05’ in the context of this experiment. [2 marks]

Answer 28

Significant at p<0.05 means that there is a 5% chance that findings of this experiment are the result of chance. In this case, the researchers can be 95% confident that the number of nightmares reported (DV) was affected by the type of film watched (horror or romantic comedy), before going to bed.

Question 29

27. The psychologist was concerned about the validity of the experiment. Suggest one possible modification to the design of the experiment and explain how this might improve validity. [3 marks]

Answer 29

In experimental research, a control group is often used in order to improve validity. This allows psychologists to see whether the independent variable influences the dependent variable. For example, the researchers could modify their research by having an experimental group who watch the horror and romantic comedy movies and report the number of nightmares in the morning and a control group who do not watch any movies at all before bed but still report the incidence of their nightmares over the same two-week period. In this case, using a control group would allow a comparison to see whether the films were truly causing a higher incidence of nightmares, thus giving greater confidence in the validity of the research.