2024 a level pscyh questions Flashcards
Outline one ethical issue that has arisen in social influence research. Refer to one or
more social influence studies in your answer.
in milligrams study the participants exhibited signs of extreme stress for example they were shaking or sweating .therefore they were not protected from harm. Zimbardos prison experiment did not protect either from psychological stress beloved in acc prose and disorganised thinking and behaviour eg.hunger strike
Charlie has just started at a new school. He has become friendly with a group of boys in
his year group. Charlie thinks they are ‘cool’.
One day, one of the more popular boys in the group suggests they all wear their school
jumpers inside-out for a week, ‘just to see what will happen’. Charlie worries about this all
night but still goes to school the following day wearing his jumper inside-out.
Use your knowledge of conformity to explain Charlie’s behaviour
Charlie may be conforming due to normative social influence – his decision to wear his jumper
inside-out is motivated by a desire to fit in with the group and avoid being isolated. This pressure
may be felt particularly keenly as he is new to the school (and presumably may not have many
other friends).
* Charlie may be demonstrating compliance – his ‘worrying’ suggests that he is conflicted, but decides
to wear his jumper inside-out (publicly) even though, internally, he may not agree with the behaviour
* Charlie may be demonstrating identification – the fact that he thinks the boys are ‘cool’, values the
group membership and displays group behaviour
Later that day, the headteacher calls each of the boys in the group to his office
one-by-one, including Charlie.
He explains that the school jumper should not be worn inside-out, and that a detention will
be given to any boy who disobeys. From then on, each boy wears their jumper correctly.
Use your knowledge of obedience to explain the boys’ behaviour.
- the boys obeyed because the Headteacher is a legitimate authority figure – in a hierarchical system,
like a school, those who impose the rules have the power to punish, in this case with a detention - the boys obeyed due to situational variables, eg location – the boys are summoned to the
Headteacher’s office; proximity of authority figure – the Headteacher is issuing orders face-to-face;
lack of social support – the boys are called to the office ‘one-by-one’ - the boys obeyed due to being in an agentic state – when the boys then decided to wear their jumper
correctly. - some of the boys may have an authoritarian personality, respect for those they perceive to be in
authority and therefore blindly obey the Headteacher
Discuss consistency and flexibility as processes involved in minority influence.
- consistency – repetition of a message leads to a majority questioning their view; consistency can be
over time (diachronic) or between minority group members (synchronic) - flexibility – the minority should acknowledge/make concessions to the majority to avoid appearing too
rigid/dogmatic. Minorities must strike a balance between consistency and flexibility to be successful - over time, consistency and/or flexibility gives the members of the majority an opportunity to listen to
the minority view and adopt it as their own - use of evidence to support/contradict processes, eg Moscovici et al (1969) – 8% of responses
identified a blue slide as green when exposed to a consistent minority; Nemeth and Brilmayer (1987) –
when a minority offered compromise in a jury situation, they were more likely to convince others of
their view - lab studies of consistency/flexibility lack ecological validity – lack of differential power/status in lab
situations; tasks are trivial, eg naming colour of slides, compared to real-life struggles of minorities - use of real-life examples to support wider discussion
- contradictory nature of consistency and flexibility
- discussion of alternative factors/processes, eg commitment; identification with the minority
A researcher wanted to test if there is a relationship between the passage of time and
recall of nonsense words. They gave 30 participants 40 nonsense words to learn, then
tested recall at fixed intervals over several weeks. The nonsense words were
standardised to ensure they were of similar difficulty and length.
When writing up the investigation, the researcher represented their data on a scattergram.
Briefly explain how the use of inferential statistics would improve this investigation.
- would allow the researcher to establish whether the relationship is significant/due to chance
- allows the (alternative) hypothesis to be accepted/null to be rejected
- can more accurately show the strength of the relationship
- the researcher would more easily deduce the relationship than from a scattergram
- to increase the scientific credibility/validity/objectivity of the research
Suggest an appropriate statistical test to improve this investigation. With reference to the
study, outline two reasons for your choice of test
Pearsons r (can also credit Spearman’s Rho)
- analysing the relationship/correlation between the time elapsed and the number of nonsense words
recalled in long-term memory – test of relationship/correlation - words were standardised (similar difficulty and length) and time is in fixed units, therefore it’s interval
data
OR alternative 2nd bullet point for Spearman’s Rho - some words could still be more difficult or memorable than others, suggesting the difference between
words is not fixed/ equal, therefore the nonsense word list is to be treated as ordinal data
Two types of long-term memory are semantic and episodic.
Outline two ways in which episodic memories are different from semantic memories.
episodic memories are memories of (autobiographical) events in your life, semantic memories are
memories of facts/general knowledge/the rules of language
* episodic memories involve (contextual) knowledge of when (‘time-stamped’) and where the
information was learnt; however, such information is not necessary for recall of semantic memories
* episodic memories are more likely to involve the storage of emotional content in memory, such as how
one felt at the time; however, such information is not necessarily encoded as part of semantic
memories
* episodic memories are generally based on an individual’s subjective experience whereas semantic
memories are objective facts about the world.
Briefly describe retrieval failure as an explanation of forgetting. Outline one limitation of
this explanation
- forgetting is due to an absence of cues, preventing access to long-term memory
- cues may be context dependent (to do with the place where information was originally stored) or state
dependent (the person’s emotional/physical state at the time of encoding) - credit explanation of the encoding specificity principle.
- the influence of context cues may be overstated so the explanation has difficulty accounting for
successful recall in different contexts - nature of supporting evidence, eg Godden and Baddeley is based on the recall of trivial material which
reduced the validity of the explanation - contradictory findings – the context effect disappears when participants are tested using recognition
rather than free recall tasks
Two police officers are discussing the testimony of an eyewitness. The eyewitness had
described a robbery she had seen.
‘At first, the witness said she was convinced the suspect was wearing glasses and had a
limp,’ explained one of the officers, ‘but later she said she may have just been repeating
what she’d heard from other witnesses.’
‘I’m not sure we’re going to be able to use her statement,’ replied the other officer.
Discuss the effect of post-event discussion on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
Refer to the information above in your answer.
Possible content:
* witnesses may discuss what they have seen (with co-witnesses or other people)
* this may lead to contamination of memory/unreliable recall/false memory/confabulation reducing the
accuracy of eyewitness testimony
* knowledge of relevant research studies
* conformity effect – witnesses copy others’ accounts to win social approval
* source monitoring – distortion of memory occurs when alternative accounts are heard, creating
confusion).
Possible application:
*
‘I’m not sure we’re going to be able to use her statement…’, suggests that contamination of memory
has occurred/the account is unreliable
*
‘…may have just been repeating what she heard from other witnesses’, suggests post-event
discussion has occurred
* the witness is unsure whether her account is genuine – source monitoring/confusion.
Possible discussion:
* use of evidence to support or refute the explanation, eg Gabbert et al (2003) – 71% of participants
mistakenly recalled aspects of an event they had picked up in a discussion
* effects of post-event discussion can be reduced if participants are warned of the effects, eg Bodner et
al (2009)
* difficulty in distinguishing between explanations
* comparison with alternative factors, eg leading questions, anxiety.
Describe the concept of a critical period and the concept of an internal working model in
the context of attachment.
Critical period
* the time period when a human/animal infant is maximally ready to form an attachment
* if no attachment has been formed within this time, the child will find it difficult to form an attachment
thereafter
* Lorenz’s work – several hours in geese; approximately up to 3 years in humans according to Bowlby
* Not forming an attachment in the critical period would present irreversible consequences e.g.
emotional difficulties.
Internal working model
* the first attachment forms a blueprint for future relationships
* a form of schema/mental representation of what relationships are like
* a child whose first attachment is loving and secure will go on to form successful relationships with
peers, romantic partners, their own children, etc
* a child whose first relationship involves poor treatment will expect such treatment from others/will carry
this forward to future relationships
* the quality of the IWM can be influenced by the consistency and/or responsiveness of the caregiver
Discuss Romanian orphan studies.
Possible content:
* credit relevant background, eg fall of communist regime in Romania; banning of birth control;
abandoned children ‘warehoused’ in extremely poor conditions; lack of physical and emotional care;
very high child-to-staff ratio
* description of the procedures of research by Rutter and the ERA team, eg Rutter et al (2011) –
progress of 165 Romanian adoptees matched against 52 British controls; emotional, social and
physical development assessed at age 4, 6, 11 and 15 (most recent follow-up at ages 22–25)
* key findings – half were intellectually delayed at 4; at 11, recovery rates were related to age of
adoption; those adopted after 6 months displayed a number of effects eg disinhibited attachment,
quasi-autism, delayed language development, delayed intellectual development, poor physical growth
* credit details of other research, eg Zeanah et al (2005) – Bucharest early intervention project,
randomised controlled trial, attachment assessed using Ainsworth’s procedure, evidence of
disinhibited and disorganised attachment.
Possible discussion points:
* implications for children in the care system, eg continuity of care, preference for adoption/foster care
* difficulty in generalising experience of Romanian institutions as conditions were so extreme
* implications of findings for theory – suggests critical period may be more of a sensitive period; lack of
internal working model can be overcome with adequate aftercare
* lack of adult data so long-term conclusions difficult to draw
* importance of early adoption – before 6 months appears to mediate effects
Which two of the following are emotional characteristics of obsessive-compulsive
disorder?
A Hypervigilance
B Insight into excessive anxiety
C Low mood
D Obsessive thoughts
E Self-loathing
c
e
Ken visited his friend, Jules, who has a large dog called Prince. Prince ran in from the
garden, jumped at Ken and knocked him down, breaking his arm. Ken now has a fear of
dogs and has avoided all dogs ever since.
How would the two-process model of phobias explain Ken’s fear of dogs?
- Ken’s phobia has developed through classical conditioning i.e. by association
- The pain or shock of breaking his arm/being knocked over by the dog was an unconditioned stimulus
producing fear, an unconditioned response - The dog is associated with pain/shock as they occur together in time
- the dog/Prince is a neutral stimulus which becomes a conditioned stimulus producing a fear of dogs as
a conditioned response - the conditioned response is generalised to all dogs
- Ken’s phobia is maintained through operant conditioning
- the behaviour of avoiding dogs is negatively reinforced through the relief it brings.
Discuss the cognitive approach to explaining depression.
cognitive explanations suggest that some people are more vulnerable to depression because of the
way they think
* Beck’s theory – the negative triad (the self, the world and the future), negative self-schema that may
be activated in childhood, faulty information processing, magnification/over-generalisation
* Ellis’ theory – ABC model: activating event, irrational beliefs (musterbation, I-can’t-stand-it-it is,
utopianism, etc), consequence.
Possible discussion:
* use of evidence to support/contradict explanations, eg Clark and Beck (1999) – cognitive
vulnerabilities preceded depression; Cohen et al (2019) – prospective study of adolescents
* application to treatment – theoretical basis of cognitive behaviour therapy
* depression may be more to do with social circumstances, eg extreme poverty, than negative
cognitions
* Beck’s theory more effective at explaining endogenous depression, Ellis’ theory more applicable to
reactive depression
* cognitive explanations tend to underplay the emotional aspects of the disorder
* reasoned comparison with alternative explanations of depression, eg neurochemical basis.
