2019

Question 1

Outline two behavioural characteristics of depression.
[4 marks]

Answer 1

1. change in activity levels - Having a lack of energy may result in withdrawing from social activities or starting to neglect social hygiene.
2. disruption to sleep - their sleep might increase (hypersomnia) or decrease (insomnia)
3. disruption to eating behaviour - increased eating might lead to weight gain/ decreased eating might lead to weight loss
4. act more aggressively towards others or oneself eg. self-harm

Question 2

Agoraphobia is an extreme fear of open or public spaces. It affects box less than 1% of adults in the UK. In many cases, people with agoraphobia are unable to leave their homes and may not even be able to look outside, perceiving threats everywhere. The condition is very stressful for the individual, and for their family, and may prevent sufferers from living a normal life and achieving their potential.
Referring to the description above, outline three definitions of abnormality.
[6 marks]

Answer 2

Statistical infrequency defines abnormality as any behaviour which is mathematically rare in a population - for example Agoraphobia “affects less than 1% of adults”. Whereas Failure to Function Adequately defines abnormality as anything which interferes with everyday life often causing personal distress or observer discomfort – for example Agoraphobia is described as “very stressful for the individual and their family” and “may prevent suffers from living a normal life”.

Finally Deviation from Ideal Mental Health defines abnormality as behaviour which fails to meet the criteria for psychological wellbeing. This includes having an accurate perception of reality, being resistant to stress and being able to self-actualise - for example Agoraphobics are described as “perceiving threats everywhere” it is “very stressful” and “prevents sufferers…achieving their potential”

Question 3

Outline one limitation of the two-process model. [2 marks]

Answer 3

The 2-process model assumes that all phobias arise from a traumatic experience however, not all individuals who experience a stressful event go on to develop a phobias.

Question 4

Explain one or more reasons why it might be better to conduct a case study than a questionnaire. [4 marks]

Answer 4

Case studies are longitudinal, so changes in the patient’s experience can be observed over time whereas questionnaires tend to provide just a snapshot of the experience.
case studies involve several methods such as observation, interviews, etc. enabling checks for consistency, reliability, and validity whereas a questionnaire is only a single method of data collection. Case studies produce rich, detailed qualitative data, whereas questionnaires tend to produce less detailed information.

Question 5

Outline and evaluate one or more neural explanations of obsessive-compulsive disorder. [8 marks]

Answer 5

Neural explanations focus on abnormality in brain structures. In OCD patients the orbitofrontal cortex is found to be overactive which increases the amount of ‘worry signals’ being sent by the brain. This is in combination with the caudate nucleus which should suppress any minor worries but in patients with OCD is found to be broken, and therefore more worries are allowed through to the** thalamus**. Abnormal levels of neurotransmitters are implicated in the malfunction of these areas with OCD patients having lowered levels of the mood stabiliser Serotonin which is linked to the obsessions part of the disorder and higher levels of the action-rewarding neurotransmitter Dopamine which is linked to the compulsions.

Evidence to support the role of serotonin in OCD comes from the prescription of SSRIs to OCD patients. It has been found that by giving these drugs, which effectively increase the levels of serotonin available in the synapse patients report reduced symptoms of the disorder. This suggests that a lowered level of serotonin may be involved in the development of OCD. However, whilst this is true in a lot of cases not all patients are responsive to SSRIs which casts doubt on this being the only causal factor in OCD and may demonstrate that for some patients the cause lay outside of neural malfunction.

In addition, the neural explanations suffer from a research flaw in that we are able to tell that a patient with OCD has altered levels of neurotransmitters or abnormal brain structures but due to only studying them once they have developed the disorder** it is impossible to tell if this is the cause of the OCD or a symptom of it. **Possibly the over-worrying causes damage to the OFC and Caudate Nucleus rather than the other way around.

Question 6

Which method of studying the brain would most accurately identify specific brain areas
activated during a cognitive task?
Shade one circle only.
[1 mark]
A Electroencephalogram (EEGs)
B Event-related potentials (ERPs)
C Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
D Post-mortem examinations

Answer 6

C Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI

Question 7

Which neuron is only found in the brain/visual system/spinal cord?
[1 mark]

Answer 7

A

Question 8

Which neuron carries nerve impulses from the brain/spinal cord to muscles/glands?

Answer 8

C

Question 9

Which neuron carries nerve impulses between neurons?

Answer 9

A

Question 10

The adrenal gland is part of the endocrine system that produces adrenaline to help the
body prepare for the fight or flight response.
Using an example of a gland and hormone, outline the function of the endocrine system.
Do not use the adrenal gland/adrenaline as your example.
[4 marks]

Answer 10

The endocrine system helps to regulate the activity of cells and organs in the body.
the endocrine system communicates chemical messages to the organs of the body
The main hormone released from
the pineal gland is melatonin, which
is responsible for important
biological rhythms, including the sleep-wake cycle.

Question 11

Discuss research into localisation of function in the brain and/or hemispheric lateralisation.
Refer to Kieran and Sam’s discussion in your answer.
[16 marks]

Answer 11

One major strength of the localisation of function is that it has supporting evidence. Broca had a patient who had a difficulty producing speech, after death when a post-mortem had been completed, Broca realised his frontal lobe was damaged. This is a strength as it gives us confidence to use the localisation of function theory making it plausible and adds credibility. In addition, it heightens the influence of psychology. **This helps us to identify which different areas are responsible for different behavioural activities. **

Contradictory research opposes the localisation of function.** As Wernicke also found that different brain regions are interdependent**. For them to work effectively they must interact with each other. This indicates that communication between different regions control a particular cognitive processing. This discredits the localisation of function which reduces our confidence in the theory, leading to more research being done to support this alternative hypothesis stating that the different cortexes work as a team and each area doesn’t just have one function.

Another argument against the localisation of function is brain plasticity. When the brain has become damaged and a particular function has been lost, the rest of the brain appears to take over responsibility, and reorganise itself in an attempt to recover the lost function. Lashley called this the law of equipotentiality, surviving brain circuits ‘chip in’ so the same neurological action can be achieved. Brain plasticity challenges the localisation theory, suggesting the brain is more interdependent and interconnected. For this reason, it may be more valid to take a holistic approach to investigating the relationship between the brain and human behaviour as it is evident that this **correlation is more complex suggested by the localisation theory. **

Some psychologists argue that the idea of localisation fails to take into account individual differences. **Hegarty 1997 found that Broca’s and Wernicke’s area than men which can perhaps explain the greater ease of language use amongst women. **This, however, suggests a level of beta gender bias in the theory; the differences between men and women are ignored, and variation in the patterns of activation and the size of areas observed during various language activities are not considered. Therefore we are unable to generalise research examining the localisation of function to males and females equally as the different brain structures/sizes suggest that different considerations are required when considering the different sexes.

application to the extract
- sam’s argument is in line with researchers who suggest that the 2 hemispheres work together to form mosts tasks as part of a highly intregrated system
- Sam could be referring to the corpus callosum that enables information to be communicated between the two hemispheres
- Kieran is referring to the fact that Broca’s area is usually found in the left hemisphere and is considered to play a vital role in speech production. This suggests that language is subject to hemisphere lateralisaton

Kieran is referring to the fact that Wernicke’s area is usually found in the left hemisphere and is considered to play a vital role in understanding language. This suggests that language is subject to hemispheric lateralisation.

Question 12

Which of the following does reliability refer to?
Shade one circle only.
[1 mark]
A The accuracy of the data
B The consistency of the data
C The levels of the data
D The validity of the data

Answer 12

B The consistency of the data

Question 13

Which of the following is not a role of peer review in the scientific process?
Shade one circle only.
A To determine whether to award research funding
B To ensure only significant results are published
C To make sure research has high validity and reliability
D To retain the integrity of psychological research

Answer 13

B To ensure only significant results are published

Question 14

Give one reason why it is important for scientific reports to include a referencing section?
[1 mark]

Answer 14

So readers can track down the sources used and give credit to other researchers and to avoid plagiarism.

Question 15

Which of the following is correct? Shade one circle only.
A Groups A and B are conditions of the dependent variable and
happiness is the independent variable.
B Groups A and B are conditions of the independent variable and
happiness is the dependent variable.
C Groups A and B are the controls and happiness is the
experimental condition.
D Groups A and B are the experimental conditions and happiness is
the control.

Answer 15

Groups A and B are conditions of the independent variable and happiness is the dependent variable.

Question 16

Would a directional or non-directional hypothesis be more suitable for the researcher to
use? Explain your answer.
[2 marks]

Answer 16

The hypothesis should be non-directional (two-tailed ) as there was no previous evidence available for the researcher to predict the direction of the results.

Question 17

Write a suitable hypothesis for this experiment. [3 marks]

Answer 17

There will be a difference in the improvement in happiness score after playing team sports than after independently exercising.

Question 18

Identify the type of sampling method used in this experiment. Explain one limitation of using this sampling method in this study. [3 marks]

Answer 18

It is an opportunity sample. A limitation of this method is that it may be unrepresentative of the target population as it might be the case that those present in the café at the time are more confident, this might mean they would be more likely to enjoy team sports which would make the effect of team sports of happiness seem greater.

Question 19

Identify one variable on which participants should be matched in this matched-pairs design. Explain how the researcher could assign matched participants to either Group A or Group B. [4 marks]

Answer 19

They could be matched in the type of sport they usually participate in by asking them to complete a sports survey. Participants with the two highest scores are paired, then the next two highest scores are paired and so on until all participants are paired. one participant from each pair would be randomly allocated to a different condition of the experiment until there were 10 participants in each group.

Question 20

21. Explain one strength of using a matched-pairs design rather than a repeated-measures design. [2 marks]

Answer 20

A strength of using matched pairs rather than repeated measures is that in matched pairs participants only take part in one condition of the experiment. Matched pairs will not result in any order effects, therefore the results are more likely to be valid.

Question 21

22. Calculate the value of S in this study. Show your workings. [2 marks]
    Minus A-B

Answer 21

Total no. of positive numbers = 5
Total no. of negative numbers = 3
the calculated value of S = 3

Question 22

Explain whether or not there was a significant difference in the improvement in the scores between the two groups. Use your answer to Question 22 and Table 3. [2 marks]

Answer 22

The critical value of S is 0. Therefore the difference is not significant because the calculated value of S is 3 which is more than the significant value.

Question 23

Explain what it means for a test to have high concurrent validity. [2 marks]

Answer 23

high concurrent validity is where there is close agreement between the data produced by the new test compared to the established test. Close agreement is indicated if the correlation between the two sets of data produced by the two tests exceeds +0.8.

Question 24

25. The questionnaire had high concurrent validity. Validity was still a concern because the researcher knew which participants were in each experimental group. Explain how this could have affected the validity of the study. [4 marks]

Answer 24

A key problem with this is that this could have led to bias on the part of the researcher. For example, when participants were completing their happiness questionnaire the researcher may have let of subtle cues that would affect their happiness like smiling at them. As a result, this could have affected the happiness rating they gave. This would mean the results may be invalid as the cause of the change in their happiness was not the type of sport they played but the way the researcher acted around them.

Question 25

26. Using your answer to Question 25, suggest one way in which the researcher could modify the study to improve the internal validity of the study. Justify your answer. [4 marks]

Answer 25

It would have been helpful to use a double-blind procedure where the participants and researcher did not know which condition they were in. If the researcher is unaware who is in what condition, then there will be less bias as they will be unable to influence the happiness scores of one group over another.

Question 26

A psychology teacher read the researcher’s study on sport and happiness. She considered whether setting group tasks could improve her students’ level of happiness. She decided to conduct an independent group experiment with 30 students taking A-level Psychology using the same happiness questionnaire. 2 7 Suggest appropriate statistical test the psychology teacher could use to analyse the data. Justify your choice of test. [4 marks]

Answer 26

Mann-Whitney is a suitable test for the data obtained by the psychology teacher.
Mann witney is suitable when testing for difference, independent group design and ordinal data.

Question 27

Design an independent groups experiment that the psychology teacher could conduct.
In your answer you should provide details of:
* the aim of the experiment
* identification and manipulation of variables including details of the task
* controls to minimise the effects of extraneous variables
* data handling and analysis – use of descriptive statistics and/or data presentation.
Justify your design choices.
[12 marks]

• each bullet point is a heading - if u dont do this you automatically lose a mark
• you use the source given, dont use any additional source

Answer 27

The aim of the experiment will be to investigate the effect of group and individual tasks on happiness.

The research will involve; Initially select a sample of participants, have them all complete a well-established happiness questionnaire. Then, divide them into two groups. This will be done using random allocation whereby each of the 30 students will be given a number 1 -30. These numbers will be placed in a hat and the researcher will draw one number for condition one and one for condition two until all participants have been allocated to the conditions. In condition one, the students will complete a task on their own for 45 minutes, the task will be to design a mind map of the psychodynamic approach. In condition two the students will work in groups of 5 (3 groups) and in their groups design a mind map of the psychodynamic approach. When the 45 minutes is over, students in both conditions will be asked to complete the happiness questionnaire once again, these results will then be compared with the original questionnaire to produce a change in happiness score. The IV in this experiment therefore is ‘group task or individual task’ and the DV will be ‘change in happiness score’. To minimise the effect of **extraneous variables **we will ensure that all students completing the mind map have previously studied the psychodynamic approach so that level of knowledge does not impact happiness score. In addition we will ensure that the same questions appear on both happiness test, however we will alter the order that they appear in.

For data analysis we will calculate the mean of happiness score of condition one and condition two to make some tentative conclusions about which condition leads to a larger change in happiness score. We will use the mean as we can assume the established happiness score to be interval data. For a visual display of the data we will plot it onto a bar chart with the categorical variables of group task and individual tasks plotted on the X axis and the mean of each condition on the Y axis. We will also calculate the standard deviation for the two conditions, this will allow us to comment on the spread of data in the two conditions and see if the impact of the IV (type of task) on the DV (score) was consistent or not.