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Exam-style questions and sample answers have been written by the authors. In examinations, the way marks are awarded
may be different. References to assessment and/or assessment preparation are the publisher’s interpretation of the
syllabus requirements and may not fully reflect the approach of Cambridge Assessment International Education.
Coursebook answers
Chapter 1 Research methods
1.1 Experiments
1
2
3
4
a laboratory experiment
b field experiment
a gender: male or female
b artistic ability: how well the participants redraw a complicated image
Deception: the students are being told it is a study about memory but it isn’t, it’s about artistic ability.
e.g. The image is complicated, so the participants might get distressed. They could use several simpler
images instead.
1.2 Self-reports
5
a
b
c
e.g. Closed: Do you have a phobia? Yes/no. Open: Tell me in detail about one of your phobias.
To explore beyond the answers that participants would give to structured questions, so that new
areas of interest can be investigated.
e.g. Risk of psychological harm: Shareen’s or Judith’s questions could upset the participants just
because they had to think about their phobia.
1.3 Case studies
6
a
b
c
e.g. observation, interview, questionnaire
ie.g. The need for help may be distressing for the potential helpers (protection from psychological
harm); the person with the disability could get hurt (protection from physical harm).
ii e.g. Protection from psychological harm: make sure that the help they need is not upsetting or risky.
e.g. No, because it is only a case study. This is just one situation and helping in other situations
could be different.
1.4 Observations
7
a
b
c
Debra: naturalistic observation, Jin: controlled observation.
Covert, because she is trying to hide from the animals by being in the tree.
e.g. Debra’s – an unstructured observation because different animals, with a range of different
behaviours, could appear so she wouldn’t know in advance what behavioural categories to use.
1.5 Correlations
8
a
b
1
Ekua and Takis will be measuring two variables (the amount of coffee people drink and the
number of dreams they recall) rather than manipulating one variable and measuring another.
e.g. Dement and Kleitman asked their participants not to drink coffee, suggesting that more
coffee is associated with less dreaming. This would be a negative correlation.
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c
i
ii
e.g. the number of cups of coffee they drink a day
e.g. A weakness of counting the number of cups of coffee drunk a day is that people might
drink coffee in different sized cups, so one cup wouldn’t be the same amount of coffee for
one person as for another.
1.6 Longitudinal studies
9
a
b
c
e.g. He should contact them annually, because that will be often enough to see changes as
companies might review pay annually.
e.g. He could use a rating scale of 0–10 asking ‘How happy are you in your career? 0 = not at all
happy, 10 = entirely happy’
e.g. He could take their work email addresses and asking them to update these if they change jobs.
1.7 The definition, manipulation, measurement and control of variables
10 a
IV: Social group when revising: students who revise alone and students who revise with
other people.
DV: How effective the students’ revision is.
b Umar and Saira’s hypothesis is directional, because it indicates which way the difference between
the two levels of the IV will be, i.e. that the DV of ‘effectiveness of revision’ will be greater in the
‘revising alone’ condition than the ‘revising with other people’ condition.
11 a i
e.g. The confounding variable of students who work with other people finding the company
motivating, so being able to work for longer, could affect the results of Umar and Saira’s
experiment because it would mean that the students in the ‘students who work with other
people’ group might be better because of the extra motivation, not because they are working
in a group.
ii e.g. This variable could be controlled by randomly allocating participants to the ‘working
alone’ and ‘working with other people’ groups.
b i
e.g. Students who chose to work with others could want extra motivation in the first place,
that’s why they choose to work in a group, which would be a confounding variable. This could
affect their results as the students in groups might perform better because they are more keen.
ii e.g. This variable could be controlled by having an experimenter monitor the activities
of the group and keep them on track.
c This would be less important than the uncontrolled variables that Umar and Saira identified
because it works randomly. This means that it would not have a systematic effect on the DV
so would be less likely to confound the effect of the IV.
1.8 Sampling of participants
12 a
b
c
2
e.g. A disadvantage of using an opportunity sample would be that it may be unrepresentative
because the sample that Ichiro chooses for his study may be biased because he will use the students
that are most readily available and these individuals may be different from other students.
e.g. A disadvantage of using a volunteer sample in Ichiro’s study would be that it may be
unrepresentative because the individuals who self-select into Ichiro’s study may be similar in some
way and therefore different from other students.
e.g. A disadvantage of using a random sample is that, unless Ichiro’s sample is large, it may
be biased because all groups within the population may not be represented.
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1.9 Data and data analysis
13
Age category (years)
0–5
6–10
11–15
16–20
21–25
26–30
31–35
Minutes per day spent
tidying up
0
25
0
0
27
30
20
14 The average time spent working per week for A Level and degree level students
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
A Level
Degree
Average time spent working (hours)
d
e
3, 45, 32, 14, 21, 18, 38, 29, 14 and 39, so the mode = 14.
3 to 45, so 45 – 3 = 42, 42 + 1 = 43, so the range is 43.
Put all the scores in the set in rank order and identify the middle two scores as there is an even
number of scores. Add these two together and divide by 2. This would be the median.
Add together all the scores and divide the total by 10. This would be the mean.
Number of words spoken
15 a
b
c
60
40
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Age (months)
Happiness
16
Hours of sleep
3
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1.10 Ethical considerations
17 a
b
18 a
b
e.g. There is a risk of physical harm to pedestrians who try to help Kinza on the road, as there
will be traffic.
e.g. Rashid could follow the ethical guideline of protection from harm. He could have stooge drivers
who are warned about the presence of people on the road so they look out for them as they stop.
e.g. Dr Hadid could make sure he follows the guideline of housing and keeps his laboratory mice
healthy with appropriate mouse food.
e.g. Dr Hadid should not expect the laboratory mice to jump a wall that is too high, in case
it causes them pain or distress.
1.11 Evaluating research: methodological issues
19 a
b
c
This procedure will improve reliability because it is a way to ensure that the marking of both
teachers is consistent.
This problem was a threat to validity because it could have made the ‘less frequent test’ group
look like they were better at his subject than they really were.
e.g. Generalisability of the findings could be improved by using classes from different teachers
or subjects.
Exam-style questions
1
a
It is an alternative hypothesis, because it explains that a causal effect is expected, i.e. that changes
in mindfulness will be the product of what happens over a period of time (training or no training)
rather than being due to chance.
b It is a directional hypothesis, because it indicates which way the difference between the two levels
of the IV will be, i.e. that the DV of mindfulness will be greater in the training condition than the
waiting condition.
2 a e.g. A strength of using a questionnaire for Jun’s study is that it would be easier for people who
did not want to give an opinion about a phobia because it scared them too much to give no answer
than if they were face to face in an interview.
e.g. A weakness of using a questionnaire for Jun’s study is that he would be unable to introduce
extra questions depending on what the participant said, so he may obtain less useful data about
the reasons.
b e.g. One closed question that Jun could ask would be ‘Do you agree that people with phobias
should be given help to overcome them, yes or no?’
e.g. One open question that Jun could ask would be ‘Explain whether you believe that people
with phobias should be given help to overcome them.’
c e.g. It is a reliability issue because Jun is worried about whether he will interpret similar responses
to questions in the same way each time.
3 a e.g. Priya could use a field experiment with an independent measures design, comparing two
separate groups, one of boys and one of girls. The IV would be gender; boys or girls would be the
two levels of the IV. However, the students would participate with the genders mixed. The DV
would be how much they doodle. She would need a way to measure doodling, such as how many
pages were covered with doodles by the end of the school day.
Priya could set up the experiment with a class of students who all did the same lessons that day,
so the doodling would be conducted in their classrooms at school. Using a group of students who
did the same lessons would be a control because how boring or interesting the lesson was might
affect how much they doodled. She should also ask all the teachers in the different lessons not to
tell the students off for doodling. She would give all the students a doodling book and tell them
that if they want to doodle they can, but that they must do it in the book.
4
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At the end of the day, Priya should collect all the books and score the pages of doodling for the
‘amount’. This would be done by counting the number of pages filled with doodles, counting
partially filled pages as a half.
b e.g. One problem with the procedure is that the lessons might have been more interesting for one
of the genders, e.g. if all the boys enjoyed music, which was on that day, but the girls didn’t, this
would mean that the girls might doodle more because of the subject they were being taught and
not because of their gender. To overcome this, Priya would have to survey all the students first
about their preferred subjects and make sure that there was a spread of lessons that both boys
and girls liked or found boring.
4 a The independent variable is the species. It is operationalised as two levels: cats and parrots.
b The dependent variable is intelligence. It is operationalised as ability to find a food bowl hidden
in a box, measured in minutes.
c The sampling technique is opportunity sampling, because he is using animals that are readily
available, because they are his own animals.
d the mean
e If one of the animal species can smell the food better than the other, this would make them faster
to get into the box, so they would appear to be more intelligent when in fact they just have a better
sense of smell.
5 a The study uses the volunteer sampling technique, because the participants self-selected by
choosing to respond to the advertisement.
b e.g. All of the participants were able to go to the shops. There might be many old people who are
confined to their homes, so could not have been sampled.
c e.g. The group that was told it would keep them awake might have very poor sleep because group
members are anticipating sleeping badly. This could be bad for their physical or mental health, and
participants are supposed to be protected from harm.
d How many minutes they stayed asleep for is more reliable because a self-report of sleep might be
inaccurate because people are not aware when they are asleep so are unlikely to be able to judge
their sleep consistently.
[Total: 39]
Chapter 2 Biological approach
2.1 Core study 1: Dement and Kleitman (sleep and dreams)
1
2
3
Vertical eye movements were observed, because the dreamer’s eyes were following the movement
pattern that they were dreaming about, which was up and down because it was climbing.
Theymight be dreaming about something in the distance.
They changed the test because the participants were not accurate enough at estimating their dream
duration.
2.2 Core study 2: Hassett et al. (monkey toy preferences)
4
5
6
7
5
‘Masculine toys’ had wheels and ‘feminine toys’ were soft.
e.g. They excluded adult monkeys that had received hormone treatments.
from another study, Berenbaum and Hines, 1992
to eliminate the possibility that position in the social hierarchy was a confounding factor on the
frequency of interactions with the toys by male and female monkeys
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2.3 Core study 3: Hölzel et al. (mindfulness and brain scans)
8
e.g. All participants were physically and psychologically healthy, not taking medication and had
a similar educational level.
9 In the previous cross-sectional studies there may have been pre-existing brain differences between
participants who meditated and those who didn’t . However, in this study, differences must have been
caused by the meditation experience of the experimental group.
10 a body scan, mindful yoga and sitting meditation
b e.g. They were not very sure, because there wasn’t a correlation between increase in grey matter
and amount of mindfulness homework completed in any of the brain areas examined.
Exam-style questions
1 a i e.g. validity
iie.g. The participants’ descriptions could be very convincing and Biyu would not know whether
they were true dreams or not.
b e.g. Her teacher said this because the BPS states that participants should not be deceived and the
teacher does not think that Biyu, as a student, has sufficient justification for deception.
2 a e.g. Correlatons can only detect relationships, not causal links, so Karl could only know from his
study that length of sleep and amount eaten were related. The link could be caused by a third
factor, such as if people have exercised a lot they eat more and sleep more.
b e.g. sleeping – by the number of hours slept; eating – by the weight of food consumed
3 e.g. The monkeys were properly fed, with monkey food and extra vegetables.
4 e.g. One difference is the processes being studied. In the learning approach these are always observable
responses but in the biological approach they can be unseen, such as the influence of genetics, like sex
in Hassett et al.’s study.
Another difference is that when the biological approach studies behaviours it is because it is assumed
they are the product of an underlying hormonal, neural or genetic/evolutionary effect – in the case of
Hassett et al. this could be hormonal. However, in the learning approach the behaviours studied are
influenced by the environment or experience.
5 a e.g. areas that might be related to memory/personal history, by finding previous research
b e.g. With participants who had poor autobiographical memories, it would be hard to know
whether a region that showed no activity was just because they could not recall anything or
whether it was unrelated to autobiographical memory.
6 e.g. The sample was representative because there weren’t just Caucasian people.
7 e.g. One strength was using a laboratory experiment so they could limit uncontrolled variables. For
example, they used a loud doorbell that woke the sleeper up instantly. This meant that no matter what
sleep stage the participants were in they would all wake up quickly so their dream recall would not be
affected by forgetting more of their dream if they were sleeping more deeply.
Another strength was that in the test of dream recall from REM and nREM sleep, the participants
were not told which EEG pattern they had or were given false information about it. This was done to
limit demand characteristics which could have caused participants who believed they were in REM
sleep to make more effort to recall their dream, which would have confounded the results.
A weakness was that the participants were likely to have found sleeping in an unfamiliar bed and
being connected to a machine different from sleeping at home. This could have changed their sleep
or dreams, making the findings less ecologically valid.
There was also an ethical issue of deception. One participant was misled about the stage of sleep he
was being woken in, for example telling him he had been in REM sleep when in fact he was in nREM
sleep. This breaks the ethical guideline because researchers should avoid deceiving participants as it
can cause distress and means they cannot give their informed consent.
This is an example of a good answer. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
6
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Mark according to the following criteria:
• The answer discusses at least two strengths and two weaknesses of the study.
• Accurate knowledge and understanding is applied.
• There is a clear line of reasoning which is logically structured and thoroughly evaluated.
• The answer has given at least one strength and at least one weakness of the study.
• Knowledge and understanding is applied.
• There is evidence of some structured reasoning and some evaluation.
• The answer has given one of the required strengths or weaknesses of the study.
• Some evidence that knowledge and understanding is applied but this may be limited.
• There is evidence of some reasoning with limited evaluation.
• The answer has given one basic strength or weakness that is in the context of the study OR
• The answer has given two evaluation points that are basic.
• No appropriate answer.
[Total: 33]
Chapter 3 Cognitive approach
3.1 Core study 1: Andrade (doodling)
1
2
3
4
doodling and control (non-doodling) group
by recall of names and places mentioned in the mock telephone call
e.g. All of the participants had some paper to use to write their responses at the end. It was important
that the non-doodlers had paper during the experimental procedure rather than being given it at the
end. This controlled for any anxiety the non-doodling participants might have felt about being quick
enough to write down what they recalled if they did not have paper available to them as this distress
could have limited their ability to recall.
e.g. It means there are two ways the results could be explained. Either the difference in the results
could be due to an effect of attention – the doodlers noticed more target words, because doodling
increased their arousal and reduced daydreaming. Alternatively the difference in the results could be
because doodling directly improved memory, e.g. by making participants process the telephone call
more deeply.
3.2 Core study 2: Baron-Cohen et al. (Eyes test)
5
a e.g. sadness
b e.g. feeling upset
c e.g. ‘anger’ – it is also a negative emotion, like sadness, but not with the same origin,
or ‘joy’ because it is also an emotion that we experience often and in both social and physical
situations, like sadness
6 They could have added some questions about complex emotions to make it harder, so the average score
would come down.
3.3 Core study 3: Pozzulo et al. (line-ups)
7
7
a
e.g. Emotional events could be defined as ones that provoke extreme happiness or sadness, such as
experienced at birthdays and weddings versus at funerals and at accident scenes. Non-emotional
events could be defined as ones that do not provoke extremes of happiness or sadness, such as
eating a meal at home or taking a regular journey.
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b
8
a
b
e.g. Some negatively emotional events may be distressing, so to induce false memories about them
would have the potential for breaking the ethical guideline of protection from harm, which means
that participants should not be distressed.
e.g. Shaun’s line-up is longer than Pozzulo et al.’s array, six compared to four, so there is less risk
of the participant guessing correctly.
e.g. Shaun’s line-up includes only the faces whereas Pozzulo et al.’s array included neck and the
top of the shoulders as well as the face, so there were more cues for the participants to use.
Exam-style questions
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
e.g. If we are not very aware of doodling, we are unlikely to use different colours, so most participants
may only use one colour, so Danvir will get a floor effect.
a e.g. Writing poetry could help to prevent the students from daydreaming, which would mean
they could focus better on the exam paper, which should improve their exam performance.
b e.g. It would be a positive correlation – the more poetry they wrote, the better their exam results
would be.
c e.g. He could count the number of words that each student wrote that were unrelated to the exam
answers.
a e.g. It may be easier to detect emotions in the faces of one gender, e.g. females, so the scores
would be artificially high if there were more male faces.
b e.g. It could be improved by having the same number of male and females faces, to reduce the risk
of a gender bias.
a e.g. intelligence quotient (general intelligence) and social intelligence (eyes test)
b e.g. general intelligence is normal, social intelligence is lower than average
e.g. The stimuli were only faces, whereas a real line-up uses whole people.
e.g. Individual factors include how good a child’s memory is and situational factors include social
influences such as the children’s perceptions of adults’ expectations. For children, individual factors,
such as how well they can identify a face are less important in line-ups than situational influences,
such as the target being absent and having to give a ‘non-answer’.
e.g. One strength was using a laboratory experiment so she could limit uncontrolled variables. For
example, the participants all listened to the telephone call at a volume comfortable for them so that
they could all hear the important words clearly. This meant that doodling, rather than the audibility
of the message, was affecting how well they could recall the words.
Another strength was doodling was standardised by using the doodling sheets. This limited individual
differences in doodling between participants. If some had become engaged in very elaborate doodles,
this might have distracted them from the primary task of listening to the phone message, which would
have confounded the results.
A weakness was that the participants were not asked for self-reports of their daydreaming. If they had
been, this would have helped to decide whether the advantage for the doodlers over the non-doodlers
on both monitored and incidental information was due to attention or memory.
There was also an ethical issue as the participants could not give fully informed consent. This was
because they had the unexpected test on place names. This could have distressed them, especially
if they could not remember the names, therefore potentially psychologically harming them when
participants are supposed to be protected from harm in psychological research.
This is an example of a good answer. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
Mark according to the following criteria:
• The answer has discussed at least two strengths and two weaknesses of the study.
• Accurate knowledge and understanding is applied.
• There is a clear line of reasoning which is logically structured and thoroughly evaluated.
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The answer has given at least one strength and at least one weakness of the study.
Knowledge and understanding is applied.
There is evidence of some structured reasoning and some evaluation.
The answer has given one of the required strengths or weaknesses of the study.
Some evidence that knowledge and understanding is applied but this may be limited.
There is evidence of some reasoning with limited evaluation.
The answer has given one basic strength or weakness that is in the context of the study OR
The answer has given two evaluation points that are basic.
No appropriate answer.
[Total: 31]
Chapter 4 Learning approach
4.1 Core study 1: Bandura et al. (aggression)
1
2
3
If the time interval was too large, the observers may have missed important behaviours which
occurred between intervals. If the interval was too small it would be difficult to record such
frequent behaviour.
a the non-imitative verbal responses
b the mean aggressive behaviours
a All of the children in both experimental groups saw a model for the same length of time and
children were all exposed to the same materials/behaviours in the same order. Also, the observation
period and time interval was the same for all participants.
b Standardising the procedure means the research was more valid – the researchers could be
sure that the differences in results between conditions were due to the differences between
the models – and more reliable, because each child within a condition experienced exactly
the same exposure.
4.2 Core study 2: Fagen et al. (elephant learning)
4
5
6
The task was designed to ensure that the elephants could use the trunk wash as a way to provide
a viable sample for testing for tuberculosis.
The mahouts were there for practical reasons and for the safety of elephants and trainers. The mahouts
were asked not to interact during training in order to prevent any influence on the training or testing
which might have affected the validity of the study.
There is evidence that age and health may have affected the ability to be trained in trunk washing.
For example, the oldest elephant was reluctant to engage in training and did not complete all the
individual tests, meaning that the positive reinforcement did not work for all participants in the study.
4.3 Core study 3: Saavedra and Silverman (button phobia)
7
a
b
9
It is the irrational, persistent fear of an object or event which poses little real danger but creates
anxiety and avoidance in the sufferer.
For a person suffering from a fear of spiders, the scenarios could be: 1) small spider outside;
2) small spider inside; 3) large spider outside; 4) large spider inside; 5) large spider on someone
else’s clothing; 6) large spider on someone else’s arm; 7) large spider on own clothing; 8) large
spider on own hand.
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8
a
b
It may be difficult to generalise the results to other people who suffer phobias – adults, for example.
The results may still be useful because the imagery exposure and desensitisation can be adapted
for use with other people; there is evidence to suggest that the principles of classical conditioning
can work in treating phobias.
Exam-style questions
1
Award 1 mark for suggestion regarding operant conditioning.
Award 1 mark for suggestion regarding social imitation.
Suggestion
•
•
2
Operant conditioning is a process that requires shaping/gradual change of behaviour.
Social imitation or learning is a process that can be quickly observed, imitated and reinforced.
Award 1 mark for each point of explanation.
Explanation
•
•
•
3
Informed consent is when participants agree to participate in a study and are told the aim/
what they will have to do in the study.
Children under the age of 16 are unable to give sole consent to participate.
A parent or guardian must give informed consent for their child to take part in psychological
research.
Award 1 mark for each example identified, up to a maximum of 2 marks.
Examples
4
•
•
•
•
Boys were more likely to imitate physical aggression.
Girls were more likely to imitate verbal aggression (although finding was not at level of significance).
Boys were more likely to imitate same-sex models than girls.
Non-imitative verbal responses from children reflected attitudes around sex-typed behaviour,
e.g. ‘that’s no way for a lady to behave’.
a
Award 2 marks for a clear explanation.
Explanation
•
•
•
b
animals must be scientifically suitable for the intended use/choose animals that are most likely
to produce the intended benefit
animals must be ethically suitable for the intended use/choose animals that will suffer least
should take into account the cost and benefit of using specially-bred or genetically mutated
strains of animals in research
Award 2 marks for a clear explanation.
Explanation
•
•
•
10
Positive reinforcement was used as a more ethical alternative to punishment.
Positive reinforcement was used as part of protected contact which is safer for elephants
and handlers.
Positive reinforcement techniques have been found to be effective in training other animals.
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c
Award 2 marks for explanation.
Explanation
•
•
The study showed that positive reinforcement techniques could be used to obtain trunk wash
samples [1] as most of the sample were successfully trained to give an accurate sample [1].
Accurate TB testing can help both elephants and humans [1]. This is useful because the disease
is transmissible between species [1].
5
Award 2 marks for each finding, up to a maximum of 4 marks.
• The four juvenile elephants successfully learned the trunk wash [1], however the adult elephant
did not [1].
• Some behavioural tasks were more difficult than others [1], e.g. the trunk-here task required
more offers/cues than the bucket or blow-into-bucket tasks [1].
• Elephants gradually improved their performance over time [1]; the mean success rate went
from 39% after 10 sessions of training to 89.3% after 35 sessions of training [1].
6
Could include:
Strengths
•
•
•
Use of controls increased the validity of the results (the elephants did not receive cues or signals
from mahouts during training sessions).
Ethically sound procedure (elephants were housed appropriately, minimised pain and suffering).
Use of quantitative data increased objectivity (use of percentages to compare success of training
over time).
Weaknesses
•
•
•
A small sample was used from one single stable (five elephants may not be representative
of how other elephants respond to SPR training).
There were additional distractions to the elephants during training such as the presence
of a baby elephant (this could lower the reliability of the training programme).
Individual differences between the elephants could have affected the results (e.g. one of the
elephants was ill; age of the elephants may also have played a factor in their ability to learn
the trunk wash).
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
Mark according to the criteria below:
• The answer has discussed at least two strengths and two weaknesses of the study.
• Accurate knowledge and understanding is applied.
• There is a clear line of reasoning which is logically structured and thoroughly evaluated.
• The answer has given at least one strength and at least one weakness of the study.
• Knowledge and understanding is applied.
• There is evidence of some structured reasoning and some evaluation.
• The answer has given one of the required strengths or weaknesses of the study.
• Some evidence that knowledge and understanding is applied but this may be limited.
• There is evidence of some reasoning with limited evaluation.
• The answer has given one basic strength or weakness that is in the context of the study OR
• The answer has given two evaluation points that are basic.
No appropriate answer.
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Award 2 marks for a clear explanation.
Explanation
8
•
Researchers wanted to treat a nine-year-old boy with a button phobia using a type of exposure
therapy that could reduce the disgust and distress associated with buttons.
a
Award 1 mark for a clear explanation.
Explanation
•
b
learning through consequence/reward
Award 2 marks for a clear description.
Description
•
•
9
The study used contingency management/a form of positive reinforcement therapy.
The boy was rewarded for showing less fear/handling the buttons.
Award 2 marks for a clear conclusion.
Conclusions
•
•
Emotions and cognitions relating to disgust are important when learning new responses
to phobic stimuli.
Imagery exposure can have a long-term effect on reducing the distress associated with
specific phobias.
[Total: 32]
Chapter 5 Social approach
5.1 Core study 1: Milgram (obedience)
1
2
3
4
a
Quantitative data were collected in the form of voltage shocks given by each participant.
Qualitative data were collected in the form of the observed behaviour and speech of participants.
b Quantitative data can indicate the level of destructive obedience in this situation and qualitative
data can give insight into how participants were feeling about obeying orders to hurt the learner.
This control was in place to make sure the selection process appeared random, to help avoid
participants guessing the real aim of the study.
The participants might have thought the learner was injured, unconscious or even dead.
Validity was an important consideration for this study in order to get an accurate understanding
of how obedient people are to destructive orders from authority figures. By making the shocks seem
believable, participants were more likely to behave naturally. The high level of obedience (e.g. 65%
of participants administering the full voltage available) combined with the distress experienced by
participants (nervous laughing, showing concern for the learner) indicates that they believed the
study was real.
5.2 Core study 2: Perry et al. (personal space)
5
a
b
12
The stimulus of the CID was presented in a standardised way, e.g. the timing of the approach
of the person/object was highly accurate.
The CID relies on a participant imagining they are being approached by another person or object.
This lacks mundane realism and the results of the test may not reflect people’s real-life preferences
for personal space.
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6
7
a
Controls are used to reduce the effect of extraneous variables on the measured variable (DV),
to improve confidence in the cause and effect relationship being studied.
b The control condition was preferred distance between table and plant.
Participants gave their informed consent. The administration of OT/saline was not painful and
no side effects were reported. Participants were debriefed afterwards.
5.3 Core study 3: Piliavin et al. (subway Samaritans)
8
a
The sample was an opportunity one; the researchers used whoever was present in the subway
carriage at the time. This meant the same participants might be involved on more than one trial.
b If the participants took part more than once, they might begin to suspect the victim was not
genuine. They might be less likely to help if they believed the collapse was staged, lowering the
validity of the results.
9 Participants might be reassured that helping was the right and safe thing to do, if they had observed
the model helping first.
10 This study used a number of controls to improve validity, e.g. the victim always wore the same clothes
and collapsed at the same time during the journey.
11 The participants did not give their informed consent to take part. If the participants had been
psychologically harmed by the study, there was no debrief or opportunity for them to be reassured
the collapse was fake.
Exam-style questions
1
Award 1 mark for a partial outline.
Award 2 marks for a full outline.
Assumptions
•
•
2
Our behaviour, cognitions and emotions can be influenced by the actual, implied or imagined
presence of others.
All of our behaviour, cognitions and emotions can be influenced by social contexts and social
environments.
a Award 1 mark for a partial outline.
Award 2 marks for a full outline.
Results
•
•
The majority of participants (65%) [1] delivered the maximum shock [1].
All (100%) of participants [1] gave at least 300v [1].
b Award 1 mark for a partial outline.
Award 2 marks for a full outline.
Results
•
13
articipants became visibly anxious during the study [1] – for example, one laughed
P
nervously [1].
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a
Award 1 mark per feature, up to a maximum of 2 marks.
Features
•
•
•
the appearance of the experimenter/who was dressed in a white coat
the payment made to the volunteers
the legitimacy of the setting/the setting of Yale University
b Award 2 marks for describing the results of Milgram’s study.
Award 2 marks for applying the results described to real life.
Results
•
•
•
The majority of participants (65%) delivered the maximum shock [1].
All participants gave at least 300v [1].
Participants became visibly upset and anxious during the study [1].
Application
• In Nazi Germany, the majority of Germans soldiers were obedient to authority [1].
•
Soldiers could have felt compelled by the situation (verbal commands, military uniform)
to continue [1].
• There were some instances where soldiers or ordinary Germans disobeyed the orders of
the Nazis [1].
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
4
Award 1 mark per point of evaluation, up to a maximum of 6 marks.
Could include:
Strengths
•
•
It used controlled conditions, which increased the validity of the results [1], e.g. the same
laboratory, same ‘shock generator’, confederate and prompt script [1].
It collected both quantitative (scores on shock generator) [1] and qualitative (participants’
reactions to delivering shocks) data [1], which shows how much obedience there was and why [1].
Weaknesses
•
•
•
5
It involved a highly artificial set-up in university lab [1], which lacked ecological validity [1].
Without using an experimental method, it is difficult to test what situational features influenced
obedience [1].
Participants may have suspected the shocks were not real [1], lowering the validty of the results [1].
Award 1 mark per description, up to a maximum of 2 marks.
Sample
•
•
•
•
6
54 males
undergraduates/from the University of Haifa
aged 19–32 years/mean age 25.29
no neurological/psychiatric disorders
Award 1 mark for a clear definition.
Definition
•
14
The area of space around a person in which they prefer not to have others enter.
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7
Award 2 marks for a clear outline.
Conclusion
•
•
The administration of OT enhances social cues in opposite ways [1] based on individuals’ different
empathetic abilities [1].
People with low empathetic ability respond to OT with a preference for increased personal distance
[1] whereas those with high empathetic ability respond to OT with a preference for decreased
personal distance [1].
8
a Award 1 mark for naming each IV.
Award 1 mark for operationalising each IV.
• empathetic ability [1] operationalised as two levels: ‘high’ or ‘low’ [1]
•treatment [1] operationalised in the experiment as: OT administered or placebo
administered [1]
b Award 1 mark for naming the DV.
Award 1 mark for operationalising the DV.
•Preferred interpersonal distance [1] operationalised as the preferred distance measured
between participant and approaching person/object in cms [1].
9
Could include:
Strengths
•
•
•
use of controls which increased the validity of the results (double-blind administration of OT/
placebo, counterbalancing of conditions)
ethically sound procedure (informed consent, protection of harm for participants, debriefing)
standardised procedure meant it was highly reliable (use of CID to automate timings in
Experiment 1, the delay between tasks was consistent)
Weaknesses
•
•
•
highly artificial set-up in university lab, which lacked ecological validity
participants were deceived in Experiment 2, as no personal discussion ever took place
experiments both lacked mundane realism (no cues such as facial expressions, tone of voice and
gestures during computerised tasks)
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
Mark according to the criteria below:
• The answer has discussed at least two strengths and two weaknesses of the study.
• Accurate knowledge and understanding is applied.
• There is a clear line of reasoning which is logically structured and thoroughly evaluated.
• The answer has given at least one strength and at least one weakness of the study.
• Knowledge and understanding is applied.
• There is evidence of some structured reasoning and some evaluation.
• The answer has given one of the required strengths or weaknesses of the study.
• Some evidence that knowledge and understanding is applied but this may be limited.
• There is evidence of some reasoning with limited evaluation.
• The answer has given one basic strength or weakness that is in the context of the study OR
• The answer has given two evaluation points that are basic.
No appropriate answer.
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10 Award up to 2 marks per outline of control.
Controls
•
•
The ‘victim’ was always identically dressed [1] in Eisenhower jackets, old slacks, and no tie [1].
The ‘victim’ behaved in the same way for all trials as they collapsed [1]. They laid on the floor
looking at the ceiling until they received help [1].
11 a
Award 1 mark for each point of description.
• It is the reduced likelihood that a person will take action in an emergency [1] where there
are other people available to help [1], meaning they lack a sense of individual responsibility
[1]. For example, in a large crowd on the subway a person is less likely to help a collapsed
individual [1].
b Award 2 marks for describing the results of Piliavin’s study.
Award 1 mark for applying the results described to the conclusion.
Results
•
•
evels of helping did not depend on the size of group/there were no significant differences
L
between group size and helping [1].
Levels of helping depended on the gender of the helper [1]. Men were more likely to help
than women [1].
Application
•
•
Most people will offer spontaneous help to a stranger even when they are in a group.
The results contradicted the diffusion of responsibility hypothesis.
12 Award 2 marks for a strength of using field experiments in the study.
Award 2 marks for a weakness of using field experiments in the study.
Strength
Because social psychology is concerned with how people behave in the presence of others [1] so field
experiments can tell us how people engage in helping within their normal social environments [1], as in
Piliavin et al. everyday train passengers demonstrated their normal behaviour in this ecologically valid
study [1] meaning the results can be applied to real-life to contradict the diffusion of responsibility
hypothesis [1].
Weakness
Field experiments in social psychology may be carried out without the informed consent of
participants [1]. For example, the passengers on the subway were not briefed that they were being
observed [1], and were unaware that the victim was a stooge [1] which meant the study had several
ethical implications [1].
[Total: 54]
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Chapter 6 Clinical psychology
6.1 Schizophrenia
1
2
3
The main two predictive factors were found to be higher levels of interpersonal sensitivity and higher
levels of anxiety.
Twin studies help us to understand the nature versus nurture debate because the higher concordance
rates in MZ twins, compared to DZ twins, clearly shows there is some genetic influence (nature).
However, the fact that this concordance rate is never 100% shows there must be something in the
environment that is also having an effect (nurture). This shows us that both nature and nurture
influence the onset of schizophrenia.
Antipsychotics best fit the dopamine hypothesis (biochemical), that schizophrenia comes from having
higher dopamine levels.
6.2 Mood (affective) disorders: depressive disorder (unipolar) and
bipolar disorder
4 The BDI is a useful tool as it has been shown to have high levels of reliability and validity and is
a useful tool for clinicians to use to measure the level of depression in an individual. It provides
quantitative data which allows for comparisons and analysis. However, its usefulness is limited because
it only provides quantitative data, so it does not give us a full and detailed account of an individual’s
experience. Furthermore, because it is self-report there is a risk of reduced validity as the person may
exaggerate or downplay their symptoms.
5 Two family members may both develop the same disorder, even if the explanation is not genetic,
because they share an environment. There could be situational factors which could lead to bipolar
disorder that both family members experience. It could also be that living with a family member with
depression could lead to learned behaviours or could cause difficulties in the lives of family members
which could then lead to development of the disorder.
6 People without a negative attributional style would likely attribute their football team losing to bad
luck or to the other team playing better. Someone with a negative attributional style might be more
likely to consider this failure to be internal, stable and global. They may blame themselves (for not
playing well enough), they may think their team will keep losing now, and that more things will now
go wrong (perhaps expecting now that they will come last in a school race).
6.3 Impulse control disorders
7 Gambling behaviour might lead to conflicts with family members, particularly a partner. This could
be due to arguments over money or time spent gambling and possibly due to the person hiding their
behaviour. Gambling behaviour may also come between friendships if gambling behaviour becomes
a priority instead of socialising with friends. Romantic relationships and friendships may break
down completely. Occupational areas may also be affected, if gambling behaviour is a priority over
everything else it may mean the individual misses work to gamble or may oversleep or not be able to
perform well at work if they are not getting enough sleep.
8 The K-SAS has high test–retest reliability as well as good concurrent validity. It gathers quantitative
data, making comparisons and analysis easy. The disadvantages involve the use of self-report
measures, especially to measure something sensitive such as kleptomania. Individuals may not give
honest or accurate answers so this may decrease the validity. There is also the problem of using a
point-based scale – people’s interpretations of this will be subjective.
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9
Evidence shows that those with impulse control disorders tend to have lower than average dopamine
levels in the area of the brain responsible for reward and behavioural control. This evidence shows
that impulse control disorders and low dopamine levels are related to each other, but it does not show
us that low dopamine levels actually cause impulse control disorders. It could be that another factor
causes both low dopamine levels and impulse control disorder to occur, or it could be that the impulse
control disorder causes the low dopamine levels. It makes sense to say that, based on the evidence,
low dopamine is likely involved in the onset of impulse control disorders, but we cannot say for
certain this is the case.
6.4 Anxiety disorders and fear-related disorders
10 An alternative suggestion could be that Hans developed the phobia of horses after witnessing
a horse falling and dying in the street. The behavioural explanation could explain this as a result
of Hans associating the upsetting incident of the horse dying with fear of horses in general.
11 A phobic response is unlearned according to counterconditioning. This is where the conditioned
response of fear is replaced with a new response of calmness. The individual creates an anxiety
hierarchy, allowing gradual exposure to the phobic stimulus, with relaxation techniques being used.
According to the principle of reciprocal inhibition a person cannot feel two strong and opposite
emotions simultaneously so eventually the fear and anxiety is replaced with calmness and relaxation.
12 The case study by Chapman and DeLapp provided useful findings because it allowed us a deep and
detailed understanding of this particular individual and the treatment he was given. The findings
allowed us to see that CBT and applied muscle tension could successfully treat blood-injection-injury
phobia. However, the usefulness of the findings is limited because they can only tell us about the
effectiveness of the treatments for this individual and the specific circumstances within the study.
The extent to which the results could be generalised is limited because they are not based on a large
or varied sample.
6.5 Obsessive-compulsive disorder
13 The MOCI is a quick and easy assessment tool, whereas the Y-BOCS is a more extended diagnostic
tool involving a semi-structured interview as well as a checklist. The advantages of the MOCI come
from its simplicity to use – it only takes a few minutes and is easy to analyse the results. It gives a
clinician a good idea about the patient and indicates whether a person requires further investigation.
However, the downsides are that it is quite simple and relies only on 30 ‘true’ or ‘false’ statements so
it does not allow for very much detail. On the other hand, the Y-BOCS is much more time-consuming
to complete and to analyse but allows for a much more detailed account and an accurate diagnosis
to be given.
14 It may be difficult to investigate this for many reasons. First, it relies on retrospective data – asking
people to accurately remember experiences from childhood may lack validity as they may not be
able to give a true or accurate account. The conflicts are unconscious so, even without the obstacle
of memory, it will not be easy for people to identify behaviours or experiences that may relate to an
unresolved conflict. Lastly, the information will be sensitive which can make it hard for people to
recall accurately and social desirability may lead to inaccurate responses.
15 Lovell et al. did not include a third group with no therapy to act as a control as this was not necessary.
The group who had face-to-face CBT acted as the control group as this is the standard way of
administering this treatment. Lovell et al. were not testing the effectiveness of over-the-phone CBT
compared to no treatment at all, they were testing its effectiveness against face-to-face CBT.
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Exam-style questions
1
a A
ward 1 mark for defining a positive symptom.
Award 1 mark for giving an example of a positive symptom.
• A positive symptom describes an experience that is ‘in addition to’ or ‘a distortion of’
normal experience.
• Examples include: persistent delusions, persistent hallucinations, thought disorder, experiences
of influence, passivity or control.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
b Award 1 mark for defining a negative symptom.
Award 1 mark for giving an example of a negative symptom.
• A negative symptom is where level of functioning or experience falls below normal levels.
• Examples include: avolition, flattened affect, impaired cognitive function, catatonia.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
2 a Award 3–4 marks for a detailed answer with clear understanding of the topic.
Award 1–2 marks for a basic answer with some understanding of the topic.
Answer may include:
• Family studies show a general trend that someone with a family member with schizophrenia
is more likely to develop it themselves, e.g. Gottesman (1991) found the closer you are
genetically to someone with schizophrenia the greater the chance of developing it.
• Twin studies show that concordance rate for MZ twins is significantly higher than for DZ
twins, e.g. Hilker et al. (2017) concluded heritability to be 79%.
• Adoption studies show that someone born to a mother with schizophrenia is still at higher
risk of developing it themselves, even if they are adopted and raised separately, e.g. Tienari et
al. (2000) found schizophrenia in 6.7% of those with a biological mother with schizophrenia,
compare to 4% of control group.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
b Award 5–6 marks for answers that show a clear understanding of the question and include at least
two good comparisons. The answer will include clear detail and give a good explanation.
Award 3–4 marks for answers that show an understanding of the question and include one
comparison in detail or two in less detail. The answer will provide a good explanation.
Award 1–2 marks for answers that show a basic understanding of the question and attempt
a comparison. The answer will provide a limited explanation.
Answer is likely to compare biochemical and cognitive explanations and may include:
• Biochemical explanation suggests that schizophrenia has a biological cause – too much
dopamine in the brain. Whereas cognitive explanation suggests that schizophrenia has
a psychological cause – faulty thinking.
• Biochemical explanation suggests that a biochemical treatment–anti-psychotics – is the most
effective treatment. Whereas the cognitive explanation suggests that CBT is the most effective
treatment.
• The nature versus nurture debate allows a comparison between the two explanations – biochemical
is solely on the nature side of the debate, whereas cognitive considers both sides of the debate.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
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3 a Award 1 mark for a limited description.
Award 2 marks for a good brief description.
Answers may include:
• Depression is caused by cognitive distortion – a person develops negative schemas during
childhood, and these create a negative bias towards new events.
• Beck’s cognitive triad – negative view of self, world and future.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
b Award 3–4 marks for a detailed answer, including a study. The answer should show a good
understanding of the topic.
Award 1–2 marks for a basic answer, including a study, or to a detailed answer without a study.
The answer shows some understanding of the topic.
Answers may include:
• Seligman et al. suggest that depression may result from learned helplessness – a real or
perceived lack of control over the outcome of one’s situation.
• Someone with a difficult upbringing, for example, may be more likely to experience learned
helplessness and therefore be more inclined towards a negative attributional style.
• If something bad happens they will view it as their fault (internal), they will think it will stay this
bad forever (stable) and that this means other things are more likely to go wrong now (global).
• Seligman et al. (1988) investigated how well attributional style could predict depressive
symptoms. Participants with unipolar or bipolar depression were assessed using the BDI and
an Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) to assess the severity of their depression (BDI)
and their attribution style (ASQ). This was compared to a control group of people without
depressive symptoms and the results showed that those with unipolar and bipolar depression
were found to have more negative attributional styles than the control group. Those with more
severe depression had the most negative attributional style. This demonstrates that negative
attributional style is linked with depression.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
4 a Award 2 marks each (6 in total) for a clear detailed description of tricyclics, MAOIs and SSRIs
Answers may include:
• Tricylics work by preventing the reabsorption of the neurotransmitters serotonin and
norepinephrine, thus increasing the levels in the brain, and reducing symptoms of depression.
Tricyclics are effective but tend to have more side effects than more modern alternatives.
• Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) inhibit the work of an enzyme known as monoamine
oxidase. This enzyme is responsible for breaking down and removing the neurotransmitters
norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine. Thus, MAOIs prevent these neurotransmitters from
being broken down, and allow them to remain at higher levels in the brain.
• SSRIs act on the neurotransmitter serotonin to stop it being reabsorbed and broken down
once it has crossed a synapse in the brain. SSRIs are now the most commonly prescribed
antidepressant drug in most countries. They tend to have fewer and less severe side effects
than other antidepressants.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
b Award 3–4 marks for a clear answer with two well-explained comparisons between any two
of the treatments.
Award 1–2 marks for an answer with one well-explained comparison or two less detailed or clear
comparisons.
Answers may include comparisons based on:
• Side effects – SSRIs have fewer, and less severe, side effects than the other two.
• Effectiveness – all are comparatively effective when compared to placebo.
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•
How they work – tricyclics prevent reabsorption of norepinephrine and serotonin; MAOIs
inhibit the MAO enzyme which increases levels of norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine;
SSRIs, prevent serotonin from being reabsorbed.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
5 a For each of the following:
Award 3 marks for a clear answer, with detailed description of the diagnostic criteria.
Award 2 marks for a good answer, with some detailed description of the diagnostic criteria.
Award 1 mark for a basic answer, with limited description of the diagnostic criteria.
i
Answers may include:
• Kleptomania is characterised by a recurring failure to resist the powerful impulse to steal.
• Before theft occurs, there is an intense feeling of tension or affective arousal and, during
or immediately following the theft, there are feelings of excitement, gratification or relief.
• The stealing is not intended to achieve any motive, such as for monetary gain, and the
behaviour cannot be better explained by any other behavioural or mental disorder,
substance use or intellectual impairment.
ii Answers may include:
• Pyromania is characterised by a recurrent failure to control strong impulses to set fires.
This results in many acts of, or attempts at, setting fire to property or other objects.
• An increasing sense of tension occurs directly prior to fire-setting and a sense of pleasure,
excitement or gratification felt during and immediately after the act, as well as while
witnessing the effects or participating in the aftermath.
• Additionally, there is fascination or preoccupation with fire and related stimuli such
as watching or building fires, or with firefighting equipment.
• There is no intelligible motive, such as monetary gain, sabotage or revenge, and the
behaviour cannot be better explained by any other behavioural or mental disorder,
substance use or intellectual impairment.
iii Answers may include:
• Gambling disorder involves a pattern of persistent or recurring gambling behaviour either
online or offline. There is impaired control of the gambling in terms of, for example,
duration or intensity as well as increasing priority given to gambling so that it takes
precedence over other activities or interests.
• Continuation or increase in gambling despite negative consequences.
• The gambling results in significant distress or significant impairment to important areas
of functioning such as personal, family or occupational. Usually, for a diagnosis, the
gambling behaviour and other features would be present for at least a year, but this can
be for a shorter duration if all diagnostic requirements are met, and symptoms are severe.
b Award 3–4 marks for a clear and detailed answer showing good understanding of the topic and
including at least two well-explained strengths or weaknesses.
Award 1–2 marks for an answer that shows some understanding of the topic which includes either
one strength or weakness, well explained, or two or more explained more briefly.
Answers may include:
• It has high test–retest reliability which means it has been shown to be consistent when used
at different times on the same individual.
• It has good concurrent validity, which means that it is valid when compared to other validated
tools.
• However, it is based on self-report which means there could be response bias where individuals
may underplay their symptoms due to social desirability or embarrassment.
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•
It provides quantitative data, which is useful as it allows for ease of comparison and analysis.
However, this data is limited in that it doesn’t give us detailed insight into the experiences or
symptoms of the individual.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
6 a i
Award 1 mark for a partial description.
Award 2 marks for a full description.
• 284 participants (approximately equal split of genders) diagnosed with PG and having
gambled in the last two weeks. All participants were from the USA.
ii Award 3–4 marks for an accurate description of a placebo and clear application to this study.
Award 1–2 marks for limited description of a placebo and basic application to this study.
Or for only one part of the question answered well.
• A placebo is a tablet (or similar) that appears to be like a real medication but has no active
ingredient. It is often a sugar-tablet. It is used to act as a control when investigating the
effects of treatments.
• A placebo was used in this study to act as a control, to test whether the drug treatment
showed a significant improvement in symptoms when compared to the placebo.
iii Award 1 mark for a partial description of the results.
Award 2 marks for a full description of the results.
• Results showed that the variable most strongly associated with a positive response to
opiate antagonist treatment was a family history of alcoholism.
• With those receiving a higher dose of opiate antagonists, intensity of gambling urges was
associated with a positive response to treatment. With those receiving a placebo, younger
age was associated with a more positive response.
iv Award 3–4 marks for a clear and detailed answer showing good understanding of the topic
and including at least two well-explained strengths or weaknesses.
Award 1–2 marks for an answer that shows some understanding of the topic which includes
either one strength or weakness, well explained, or two or more explained more briefly.
Answers may include:
• The study used a double-blind trial, so neither the experimenter nor participant knew
which drug or placebo they were receiving. This eliminated the possibility of participant
or researcher bias and increased the validity of the results.
• The data collected in this study were quantitative; using this objective measurement made
it easy to compare improvement of symptoms through the standardised Y-BOCS.
• However, as with all experiments involving placebos, there are ethical issues around
deceiving participants into believing they are receiving real drug treatment.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
b Award 5–6 marks for a clear and detailed description of one psychological treatment and a clear
and detailed outline of a relevant study.
Award 3–4 marks for a good description of one psychological treatment and a good outline
of a relevant study.
Award 1–2 marks for a basic description of one psychological treatment and a limited outline
of a relevant study.
Answers may relate to covert sensitisation and the study by Glover et al. (2011) or to imaginal
desensitisation and the study by Blaszczynski and Nower (2003).
Answers may include:
• Covert sensitisation involves conditioning, in which an unpleasant stimulus such as nausea
or an anxiety-producing image is paired with an undesirable behaviour in order to change
that behaviour.
22
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•
It therefore draws on classical conditioning and is less concerned with underlying reasons
regarding the origin of behaviour.
• Glover (2011) is a case study of a woman who had been shoplifting for 14 years. Imagery
of nausea and vomiting was used to create an unpleasant association with stealing. Over
several sessions the woman was exposed to more severe visualisation and was told to imagine
vomiting as she began to steal and drawing attention and disgust from those around her. She
practised these visualisations as homework, and in the last session, visualised the sickness
going away as she replaced the item. She had come to associate the unpleasant sensation of
vomiting with the stealing behaviour. Nineteen months later she had decreased desire to steal
and had only one relapse.
OR:
• Imaginal desensitisation relies on the use of images to help individuals who have specific types
of impulse control disorders, such as gambling disorder and kleptomania.
• Blaszczynski and Nower (2003) describe this form of therapy and explore some evidence of its
effectiveness. Firstly, the therapist teaches a progressive muscle relaxation procedure. Clients
must then visualise themselves being exposed to a situation that triggers the drive to carry out
their impulsive behaviour. So, for example a gambler might be instructed to imagine they are
coming back from a long, stressful day at work. They are then asked to think about acting on
the impulse to gamble, then to mentally leave the situation. This should all be done in a state
of continued relaxation, without having acted upon the impulse to gamble. The sessions are
often audio-recorded to assist with practising the technique outside therapy sessions.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
7 Award 5–6 marks for an answer that shows clear understanding of the debate and an accurate
application to the explanations of anxiety and fear-related disorders.
Award 3–4 marks for an answer that shows a good understanding of the debate and a good application
to the explanations of anxiety and fear-related disorders.
Award 1–2 marks for an answer that shows a basic understanding of the debate and a limited
application to the explanations of anxiety and fear-related disorders.
Answers may include:
• Explanations include genetic, behavioural and psychodynamic, all of which can be considered
to be deterministic.
• The genetic explanation suggests that if you have a close family member with blood phobia you
are at significant risk of developing it yourself. If a condition is thought to be genetic it suggests
that free will is not involved and that an inheritance of a certain gene, or combination of genes
will make you more likely to develop the disorder.
• The behaviourist approach is deterministic as it suggests that if you are subject to conditioning
where an association is made between a feared stimulus and a neutral stimulus, that a phobia
will develop.
• The psychodynamic approach proposes that anxiety and fear-related disorders develop due to
unresolved conflicts during childhood. Again, this is deterministic as the suggestion is that if you
experience this unresolved conflict, anxiety or fear will develop and there is little that can be done
to overcome or avoid it.
•
It is important to consider that no gene has been found to be anywhere near 100% predictive
of anxiety or fear-related disorder, that not everyone who experiences a fearful situation then
develops a phobia and that evidence for unresolved conflicts during childhood is unscientific and
retrospective so cannot be used to make predictions or determine the onset of anxiety or fearrelated disorder.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
23
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8 a Award 3–4 marks for a detailed description, which shows a good understanding of the topic.
Award 1–2 marks for a basic description, which shows some understanding of the topic.
Answers may include:
• Systematic desensitisation is a treatment based on the principles of classical conditioning.
If a phobia can be learned through conditioning, it can be unlearned – counterconditioning.
• Relaxation techniques are taught, such as muscle relaxation, deep breathing and visualisations.
• An anxiety hierarchy is created starting with the least extreme up to the most extreme
exposure to the phobic stimulus. The individual works through this step by step, while
practising the relaxation techniques.
• The patient does not move on to the next step until they report no anxiety at the current stage.
• The principle of reciprocal inhibition suggests that we cannot hold two strong and opposing
emotions simultaneously so eventually the feeling of fear and anxiety will be replaced with
calm and relaxation.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
b i
Award 2 marks for a clear description of the aim.
Award 1 mark for a vague or muddled description of the aim.
• The aim of this case study was to investigate whether blood-injury-injection phobia
could be successfully treated using CBT and applied muscle tension.
ii A case study was used (1 mark).
iii Award up to 2 marks for a relevant strength of a case study applied appropriately to this study.
Award up to 2 marks for a relevant weakness of a case study applied appropriately to this study.
• A strength is it gives lots of detail, using a range of methods of data collection – we have
a detailed understanding of T’s family history and experiences with his phobia.
• A strength is it has high ecological validity because it is investigating someone in their
natural environment and considers their surroundings and environment – we can see
how T behaves in real-life situations and the impact his phobia has on him.
• A weakness – the results cannot be generalised as it only focuses one person and their
specific set of circumstances. We can only learn how effective the treatment is for T
and not generalise to the wider population.
• A weakness – they cannot be repeated as no two people will have the exact set of
circumstances. We cannot repeat this study with someone else to test for reliability
as their situation will be different to T’s.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
iv Any two of the following (2 marks):
• Beck Anxiety Inventory
• Beck Depression Inventory
• Quality-of-Life Satisfaction Questionnaire
• Blood-injection Symptom Scale
• Subjective Unit of Discomfort Scale
v Award up to 2 marks for a well-explained relevant strength.
Award up to 2 marks for a well-explained relevant weakness.
Strength
•
24
All provide quantitative data to allow for statistical analysis to be carried out and for data for
pre- and post- treatment to be compared.
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Weakness
•
They all rely on self-report so this may lead to inaccurate information. This may be due to
social desirability, subjective interpretation, or misremembering of retrospective data; this
decreases the validity of the findings.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
9
a
Award 3–4 marks for a good analysis of the two measures of OCD – considering the differences
between the two measures.
Award 1–2 marks for a brief or muddled analysis of the two measures.
Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory – MOCI: A short assessment tool using 30 ‘true’ or
‘false’ items assessing OCD symptoms. This is a relatively quick and simple tool to use, with simple
closed questions. However, Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale – Y-BOCS: A semi-structured
interview and checklist with a severity scale. Designed to measure the nature and severity of OCD
symptoms. This is a more in depth and complex measure, including qualitative data allowing for a
deeper understanding of the OCD symptoms. Where the MOCI is designed as a useful screening
tool, the Y-BOCS is a more thorough assessment tool.
b Award 5–6 marks for answers that show a clear understanding of the question and include at least
two good evaluation points. The answer will include clear detail and show a good understanding
of strengths and weaknesses of psychometric tests.
Award 3–4 marks for answers that show an understanding of the question and include one
evaluation point in detail or two in less detail. The answer will include some detail and show some
understanding of strengths and weaknesses of psychometric tests.
Award 1–2 marks for answers that show a basic understanding of the question and attempt some
evaluation. The answer will show a limited understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of
psychometric tests.
Answers may include:
• The reliability and validity of assessment tools such as the MOCI and Y-BOCS have been
evaluated in a number of studies. They have good levels of concurrent validity; meaning that
individuals will score similarly on different tests for obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• They both offer good test–retest reliability, meaning that individuals who repeat the measures
at different times are likely to get the same results. This is important for researchers wanting
to use the tools in trialling psychological interventions.
• Both tests use a self-report measure, however, which means that they rely on the individual
to give accurate and honest answers to each item. This can be quite a subjective process for
several reasons. For example, those who are resistant to treatment or fear being thought
of badly might downplay the severity of their symptoms. It can therefore be difficult for
researchers or clinicians to obtain a true picture of the nature of someone’s condition.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
10 a Award 3–4 marks for a detailed description of procedure and findings.
Award 1–2 marks for a limited description of procedure and findings, or for one of these described
in detail.
Procedure
•
•
25
2 participants diagnosed with OCD were randomly assigned to either receive telephone or
7
face-to-face CBT for ten weekly sessions.
Prior to treatment, all participants were assessed twice, four weeks apart, using the Y-BOCS and
BDI. Participants were then assessed, using these measures, immediately after treatment and then at
one-, three- and six-month follow-ups. Patients were also given a client satisfaction questionnaire.
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Findings
•
•
•
esults showed that, at all four time points, clinical outcome was equivalent for each
R
condition. Mean scores on the Y-BOCS dropped significantly between initial scores and those
following treatment.
Treatment was found to be clinically relevant in 72% of patients (77% in telephone condition
and 67% in face-to-face treatment).
Scores on the satisfaction questionnaire showed that patients were very satisfied with their
treatments and these results were similar across both conditions.
b
Award 8–10 marks for a clear and detailed response where a thorough evaluation is demonstrated
in terms of both strengths and weaknesses.
Award 5–7 marks for an accurate answer, with some detail and a good level of evaluation is demonstrated.
Award 1–4 marks for a basic answer, with limited evaluation demonstrated.
Answers may include:
Strengths
•
•
•
An independent measures experimental design was used in which participants were randomly
allocated to one of two conditions, thus removing the possibility of researcher bias.
The face-to-face CBT group acted as the control group for the experiment, meaning
researchers could compare the effectiveness of telephone therapy effectively, increasing
the validity.
The duration of the therapy was kept the same in both conditions, and outcomes were
measured using the same validated scales. This meant the study had high reliability.
Weaknesses
•
The sample was relatively small (72 participants) and all were from the UK meaning the
extent to which the results can be generalised is limited.
• Self-report measures were used, which can lead to lower validity as the responses given
may not be accurate. Answers are subjective and individuals may not give a true account
of their symptoms – they may exaggerate or downplay them.
These are examples of good answers. Alternative answers may also be appropriate.
[Total: 108]
Chapter 7 Consumer psychology
7.1 The physical environment
1
2
26
You could give customers a questionnaire when they entered a range of different shops. The
questionnaire could ask questions relating to what, if anything, they noticed about the exterior,
whether they liked what they saw and whether it influenced their decision to go into the shop.
Questions could also ask what features a customer would like to see on a shop exterior. Another
method could be having a shop without any particular features on their exterior and record
customers and/or sales over a period of time. Then refurbish the shop by changing the exterior
(e.g. window displays and landscaping) and then record the number in customers and
sales as a comparison.
It is important that they kept the volume consistent and used well-known music for each genre of
music to make sure that these variables would not influence how much money consumers spent.
If the pop music was louder than the classical music, we could not be sure if the change in spending
was because of the volume or the genre. Similarly, if the pop music was well-known but the classical
music was unfamiliar, we would not know if change in sales was due to familiarity or genre.
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3
Temperature could affect perception of food taste. You could investigate this by giving one group
of participants a range of foods to taste and rate in a very cold room, another group of participants
tasting and rating the same foods in a warm room, and a third group of participants tasting and
rating the same foods in a very hot room. You could then compare results for each condition.
A similar approach could be used to measure the effect of light and dark on taste perception
(half the participants taste and rate foods in the light, half taste and rate foods in the dark,
and compare the results).
7.2 The psychological environment
4
5
6
First, someone designing a mall should take from this that ‘You Are Here’ signs are considered to be
useful, so they should definitely be included in the mall. The second thing to take away from this is that
almost of half of people didn’t realise there were any present at the mall, so it would be important for
a mall to be designed so that the ‘You Are Here’ signs are somewhere easily accessible and easy to see,
so that they can actually be useful.
It was important to use both approaches because the CCTV recorded actual observable behaviour
and provided quantitative data. It did not, however, allow us to understand why these routes were
being used. The interviews provided insight into thoughts, feelings and attitudes of the consumers
and provided qualitative data. By combining the two we are able to get a good understanding of the
reasons behind the different routes taken.
Tables that are closer together will allow more tables and chairs to be fitted in so more customers and
therefore more money can be made. This is a clear benefit of the tables being closer together. However,
the downside of the tables being closer together is that customers might not be satisfied with their
experience; they may feel overcrowded or uncomfortable so may not go back again or recommend
the restaurant to friends. Factors to be considered include what sort of customers you are hoping
to attract, what sort of restaurant and how long you are expecting your customers to stay.
7.3 Consumer decision-making
7
8
9
A nomothetic approach is useful because it allows researchers to make universal rules about
behaviours, which allows predictions to be made. Any understanding about how the majority of
people will make decisions can be helpful to apply to everyday life, for example in marketing and sales.
Advantages of using heuristics when making decisions are that they can make it easier and act as
short-cuts. This is really helpful as there are so many decisions to be made all the time. Another
advantage is that they can make us be more cautious in dangerous situations. Disadvantages are that
often heuristics are based on inaccurate information so they can lead to faulty thinking and can lead
to errors in judgement.
Detection of manipulation could occur at the time of tasting/smelling, or could happen later, once
the experiment had finished, or finally if they did not explicitly report noticing anything but made a
comment about the change in taste or smell. It was important to record these three different criteria
to allow the researchers to gain a better understanding of how, why and when people may detect
manipulation. If someone detects the manipulation at the time of tasting this suggests something
very different to someone detecting the manipulation only after the experiment is over and they have
been debriefed.
7.4 The product
10 It could be that items in the centre of the array draw your attention more; so, the more time you spend
looking at them the more likely you are to buy them. It may be because they are the easiest item to
pick up, rather than bending down or reaching up to others. Or, it could be because we subconsciously
think that they must be the best ones if they are placed in the central spot.
11 They may have chosen to do a mix of field experiments and lab experiments because they then get the
benefits of both. Field experiments allow researchers to see people’s behaviour in a real-life setting
27
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so that will be most useful. However, there is less control in a field experiment so the use of a lab
experiment as well ensures that the same results can be found in high control conditions as well.
12 You could use an online survey; this would be a much quicker and easier way to gather lots of data.
The online survey could suggest different shops or different items to buy and could ask what factors
would influence their decision of where to shop. The survey could also ask participants to look back
to the last time they went to different types of shops and ask why they chose those shops.
7.5 Advertising
13 More recent research suggests that the customer should be at the centre of marketing campaigns,
rather than the product. We have a much better understanding now about what customers want,
and it is important to consider the customers’ wants and needs as the main focus.
14 The control group watched a different scene from Home Alone so that the procedure was kept the same
for both groups; the only difference being whether the scene had product placement in it. It allowed for
all children to watch a similar clip from the same film, then all be questioned about the film and have
the opportunity to choose a drink. The control group increases validity as we can be fairly sure that the
difference in number of children between the two groups who chose Pepsi was because of the product
placement.
15 The function of the slogan is to enhance brand awareness and positively affect brand image. The
slogan is the chance to give the consumer a bit more information about the brand. The name is only
a word or two and the logo is just visual, so the slogan is the component that allows a bit more insight
to be given. It can also act as a way to tie together different adverts in a campaign – the adverts may
be different, with the slogan being the consistent feature. The slogan is also one aspect of the brand
that can be relatively easy to change and update to keep the brand modern.
Exam-style questions
1
Award 1 mark for an outline of each type of store interior design layout named and described.
• Grid – long aisles that customers weave up and down. Most common in supermarkets.
• Freeform – no specific rules and customers wander around and browse. Most common in
boutiques or gift shops.
• Racetrack – the route taken by customers takes the form of a loop all the way around the store
and past all merchandise and through to the tills.
2 a Award 1 mark for a partial description.
Award 2 marks for a full description.
• The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of musical style on the amount of money
customers spent in a restaurant.
• It was predicted that classical music would lead to customers spending more money than
pop music.
b Award 1 mark for a partial description.
Award 2 marks for a full description.
• The sample was made up of 393 customers who ate at the restaurant between February
and March 2002.
• There was an approximately equal number of males and females.
c Award 1–2 marks for a partial description or for results or conclusions only.
Award 3 marks for full description of results and conclusions.
• Results showed that for starters, coffee, total food and total overall spend, there was
a significant difference in spending between conditions.
• For each of these categories, spending was highest in the classical music condition.
28
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•
The researchers concluded that classical music led to significantly higher spending in
restaurants, when compared to pop music or to no music. The results are in line with
expectations, based on previous research.
3 Award 3–4 marks for a good analysis of the effect of crowding on shopper satisfaction, using a study
to effectively demonstrate analysis.
Award 1–2 marks for a brief or muddled analysis of crowding on shopper satisfaction, with use
of study weak or unclear.
• Crowding is when a person’s demand for space exceeds the supply.
• Spatial crowding relates to the number of physical objects, whereas human crowding relates
to the amount of people in a space.
• Perceived crowding can influence decisions about where to shop, as well as satisfaction with
shopping experience.
• Machleit et al. (2000) carried out two field experiments where participants were asked to complete
questionnaires about their shopping experiences. They also carried out one lab study where they
were shown a video clip of a store with spatial and human crowding manipulated and were asked
to complete a questionnaire about their thoughts and feelings. Results were complex but showed
that perceived crowding (spatial and human) lowers satisfaction, and that this effect is greater for
spatial crowding. Emotions were shown to mediate the effect of crowding on satisfaction.
4 a Award 1 mark for a partial explanation or for only one effect being described.
Award 2 marks for a full explanation of both effects.
• The primacy and recency effects are two effects found in memory research, which shows that,
if you are recalling a list of words, the words at the start and end of the list are more likely
to be remembered than those in the middle of the list.
• The same theory has been investigated in relation to item position on a menu; items at the
beginning and end of a section on a menu are more likely to be purchased.
b Award 1–2 marks for an answer that shows some understanding of application to everyday life
in relation to menu design.
Award 3–4 marks for an answer that shows clear and detailed understanding of application
to everyday life in relation to menu design.
• Research into menu design can be applied to everyday life because it focuses on how an
effective menu design works, the importance of ordering the food items and even research
into the effect of naming the food differently.
• This evidence is only really important and useful when it is applied to real life and used by
restaurants and cafes to make changes to their menus and see the effect it has on their business.
• It is particularly useful because most of the changes that a restaurant may choose to make to
their menus are relatively simple and, of all aspects of their restaurant, the menu is a relatively
low-cost component for them to change and, as a result, hopefully benefit greatly.
• Use of a study can be credited but is not necessary for full marks, e.g. Pavesic (2005).
5 a • Award 1 mark for each point.
Strengths:
• provide quantitative data so easy to construct and analyse results and easy for participants to
complete. Gives a good overview of participants’ thoughts and feelings.
• Award 2 marks for 2 points.
Limitations:
•
29
does not allow qualitative data so there is not a deep and detailed understanding of
participants’ thoughts and feelings. Participants may find it hard to decide how to answer and
some may interpret the scale differently to others.
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b i
Award 1 mark for a partial description.
Award 2 marks for a full description.
• The sample consisted of just over 1,000 participants from the USA.
• There was a good balance of gender and location of residence (urban, suburban or rural),
and a range of age and ethnicity.
ii •Strengths include large sample so lots of data, specifically a good balance of gender and
location of residence, and a range of age and ethnicity so the sample is representative and
can be generalised to the wider population.
6 Award 1–2 marks for an answer that shows some understanding of cultural difference in relation
to personal space and queue jumping.
Award 3–4 marks for an answer that shows clear and detailed understanding of cultural differences
in relation to personal space and queue jumping.
• Research into personal space and queuing are particularly subject to cultural differences as they
are both behaviours that vary between cultures.
• Milgram et al.’s research into queue jumping was carried out in New York City, so the results may
only be representative of the city itself but would likely apply to the rest of the USA fairly accurately.
• However, other cultures around the world would likely respond differently when faced with
someone intruding into their queue, so the results should be generalised with caution.
• Similarly, personal space requirements vary across cultures so research carried out in the USA
would not be representative of people around the world.
7 a Award 1 mark for each model named.
• utility theory
• satisficing
• prospect theory
b Award 1–2 marks for some evidence of knowledge of three models, with little attempt made
to make comparisons.
Award 3–4 marks for good evidence of knowledge of three models, with some comparisons made,
but some detail or full understanding lacking.
Award 5–6 marks for solid evidence showing detailed and accurate understanding of all three
models and clear demonstration of comparisons between the three models.
• Utility theory is based on the consumer making the decision rationally and considering all
factors to maximise options. In reality it isn’t possible consider all important factors in turn
and make sure you have chosen the absolute best option.
• In comparison, satisficing is more realistic, where a consumer gets approximately where they
want to go and then stop. You would consider important factors and make a decision when
you found something that was the best fit.
• Comparatively, prospect theory is more complex in that it considers value and endowment:
the idea that something is worth more to you when owned than when not owned and that
decisions would be made based on likelihood of gains rather than likelihood of losses.
8 Award 1 mark each for any three heuristics named and described.
• Availability heuristic – the tendency to focus on something that is easy to bring to mind,
e.g. a company or brand you have used previously.
• Representative heuristic – comparisons made with the best known or most representative example
of a category, e.g. comparing something to the market leader.
• Recognition heuristic – if choosing between two items, the tendency is to favour the one we are
familiar with, e.g. a brand that we know.
30
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•
Take-the-best heuristic – when choosing between several options, the decision is made based on
the one attribute that seems to discriminate between them and other information is ignored.
• Anchoring – the tendency to give the most importance to the first piece of information we gather,
regardless of future information.
9 a Award 1–2 marks for a partial description.
Award 3–4 marks for a full description.
• A field experiment was used, where participants were approached and asked to take part
in a ‘taste test’ for a new brand of yoghurt.
• Each participant was shown a 20 second 3D clip on a laptop of one of the four package
variants and were then given a sample to taste (the same sample was used for all participants).
• Participants were then asked to complete a computer-presented questionnaire, using a series
of questions to assess their taste experience, product evaluation and price expectation, as well
a scale to assess their sensitivity to design.
b Award 1–2 marks for brief description of strength and limitation, or for one given in detail.
Award 3–4 marks for one strength and one limitation that are well explained.
Strengths:
•
field experiment so has ecological validity and results can be applied to real life; lack of
demand characteristics as participants did not know the aim; a standardised procedure was
used which increases reliability.
Limitations:
•
field experiment so less control of all variables; all participants were from Germany so results
cannot be generalised to other cultures; lack of qualitative data so we don’t know details
about thoughts and feelings.
10 a Award 1–2 marks for a partial description, or for either procedure or findings described in full.
Award 3–4 marks for a full description.
Fischer et al. (1991)
Procedure
•
•
•
•
They developed a game technique to measure the recognition level for brand logos.
They gathered 22 brand logos from a range of products, including ten children’s brands (such
as Disney, Disney Channel, McDonald’s and Cheerios (a breakfast cereal)), seven adult
brands (such as Ford, Apple and Kodak) and five cigarette brands.
Each logo was printed on a card and no information was included that might give clues to
the product (e.g. no cigarettes were shown in cigarette logos). Recognition was measured
by asking the children to match the 22 logo cards to one of 12 product categories pictures
on a game board (e.g. cigarettes, television, cereal).
The study involved 229 children, aged three to six years old, from the USA.
Findings
•
•
•
31
The results showed that, not surprisingly, the children showed good recognition rates for the
children’s brand logos. This ranged from 91% for Disney Channel to 25% for Cheerios.
All cigarette brands were well recognised, with one brand being recognised by over half
of the children. Other adult products were recognised between 16% and 54% of the time with
car brand logos being recognised the most.
Recognition increased with age for children’s brands, cigarette brands and adult brands.
There was no effect from race or gender. Children from homes where parents smoked were
more likely to recognise cigarette logos.
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b
Award 8–10 marks for a clear and detailed response where a thorough evaluation is demonstrated
in terms of both strengths and weaknesses.
Award 5–7 marks for an accurate answer, with some detail and a good level of evaluation is
demonstrated.
Award 1–4 marks for a basic answer, with limited evaluation demonstrated.
Answers may include:
Strengths
•
•
•
Fischer et al. carried out their study in the children’s classroom. The use of a natural setting
was particularly important for children as it would make them more likely to feel relaxed and
to demonstrate natural behaviours, as well as being more likely to perform well in the task.
Despite the natural setting there were still high levels of control and a standardised procedure was
used. Each child was given the same set of instructions, was shown the same set of adverts and was
given the same set of categories to sort the adverts into, thus increasing the reliability of the research.
Using a matching task in the form of a game increases the validity of the results. Usual methods
for brand recognition involve written questionnaires but this would likely make it much more
difficult for young children so it may not give a clear and accurate account of their knowledge.
Weaknesses
•
•
•
All children in the sample were American so the results cannot necessarily be generalised
to other cultures, particularly non-Western cultures.
The use of children in psychological research is a sensitive issue so ethical considerations
need to be considered even more closely.
It is not as easy for children to give fully informed consent to take part in research as they
may not fully understand what is involved, so parents give consent alongside their children.
Protection from harm is particularly important because children may respond to things
differently to adults and they may find it difficult to communicate their feelings. This also
applies to right to withdraw: a child may not understand fully that they can withdraw
from the research, or they may not know how to express this effectively
[Total: 70]
Chapter 8 Health psychology
8.1 The patient–practitioner relationship
1
2
3
32
It was particularly important to use interviews rather than any other technique because the study was
specifically testing patients’ understanding of medical terms. An interview is the best way to investigate
this because it allows the interviewer to make sure the patient has understood the question. Also, if a
questionnaire was used, where the patient had to read the word, it would not be clear if any errors were
due to not understanding the word or not being able to read the word.
A doctor can ask open-ended questions. They can encourage discussion with the patient and show
that they are listening and that what the patient says is important and relevant. The doctor could take
a patient-centred approach instead of a doctor-centred approach. The doctor could also be careful to
put the patient at ease and reassure them if they are nervous or embarrassed.
Someone with Munchausen syndrome pretends they are ill due to mental health condition, and to
get attention. In contrast, a malingerer pretends to be ill in order to get some sort of gain such as
compensation or time off work. It is very important to distinguish between the two because someone
with Munchausen needs help, support and treatment because they are likely to continue to hurt
themselves and they may increase the damage they do. Someone who is a malingerer, however, needs
to be dealt with in a different way and potentially by the police.
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8.2 Adherence to medical advice
4
5
6
•
Waste of medication: if medication is received but not taken it is wasted, which has huge economic
consequences, as well potential issues relating to supply and demand.
• Time lost due to missed appointments: research by the Doctor Patient Partnership and Institute
of Healthcare Management in the UK found that 17 million GP appointments and 5.5 million
practice nurse appointments were missed in 2000, at an estimated cost of L150 million.
• Increased use of medical resources: related to the progression of illness, if untreated, a condition
may worsen to the point where the patient may require hospital visits, hospital admissions and
admission to nursing homes.
Participants were told that their adherence would be measured for ethical reasons, so they were not
being deceived. However, they weren’t told how their adherence was going to be measured so they did
not change their behaviour as a result, e.g. they may have opened and shut the Trackcap at the correct
times if they had known that was being tracked.
They used repeated measures so they could compare the amount of adherence using the Funhaler
to the adherence the same people previously showed with their standard device. This increased the
validity. They did not need a control group because they knew all of the participants had previously
used a standard spacer so they could use that as a comparison instead of a control group.
8.3 Pain
7
8
9
They chose a case study so they could get a lot of detailed information about this individual and
their experience with the mirror treatment. It is an intensive and lengthy programme of treatment,
so it made more practical sense to focus on one person in detail. They could have investigated mirror
treatment by using a field experiment where a group of people with similar PLP were split into
groups. One group could be given mirror treatment and the other group given standard care,
and the researchers could compare results.
• The children are less likely to be given appropriate pain medication.
• It could make a misdiagnosis more likely.
• It could lead to long-term fear or anxiety about hospitals/doctors for the children.
They can be used without a prescription. They can be used alongside drug therapy as an extra pain
relief. They don’t have side effects, there is no addiction or tolerance.
8.4 Stress
10 Events are both positive and negative because, according to Holmes and Rahe, it is not a bad event
that is stressful but the amount of change that it leads to. So even if a life event is positive, it still
requires change, which in turn causes stress.
11 It was important because they wanted to compare self-reported psychological stress with physiological
changes in the body such as heart rate and cortisol, and finally to changes in cerebral blood flow, to
see how these different ratings were associated with each other and to see if psychological stress was
reflected in physiological changes and cerebral blood flow.
12 They used three groups because they wanted to measure the effectiveness of biofeedback, which was
their experimental group. They compared this to a standard control group who had no biofeedback.
They then added a third group of participants who had irrelevant biofeedback; this was in place to
check whether having any sort of feedback, even if it was irrelevant, had an effect.
8.5 Health promotion
13 A strong fear appeal tended to lead to people being more worried or anxious at the time of the
information, but it did not lead to as much of a change in behaviour as in the minimal fear group.
This was perhaps because the fear made them ‘switch off’ from what they were seeing and hearing
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and use defence mechanisms to protect themselves against the fear. Those in the minimal fear
group were presented the information and took it on board.
14 The workers were first benefitted by having less likelihood of injury and time off at work. They also
benefitted from the trading stamps that could be exchanged for goods, which would make a big
difference to them financially. Also, they may have felt a sense of pride that they were doing a good job.
The owners of the mine would benefit financially – the programme saved them significant amounts of
money in compensation and damage to equipment. It would also increase productivity and improve
the satisfaction of their staff.
15 Weinstein carried out the second study to test some things that came up in the first study. First, they
asked the participants who had rated the likelihood of each event in the first study, to then do their
own comparative judgements. They did this to see whether having previously rated the event on average
likelihood would affect their own comparative judgement. They also wanted to make sure that the
results in the first study were not due to people getting confused between comparative judgements and
estimating average likelihood. In the second study they gave half the participants explicit instructions
to see if this made a difference. Last, they wished to see whether the unrealistic optimism seen in study
one was due to an inaccurate perception of others so in study two they gave some participants lists of
reasons for their own comparative judgement to see if this affected the results.
Exam-style questions
1
Award 1–2 marks for a partial description of the findings.
Award 3 marks for a full description of the findings.
Any three of the following for McKinstry and Wang (1991):
• Results showed that the doctor in the smart suit was the most popular of the male doctors,
followed by tweed jacket and tie, and white coat over suit (which were almost identical in their
rankings). The doctor in the jeans scored the lowest by far.
• The female doctor in the more traditional clothing (jumper and skirt) was most popular, followed
by the one in the white coat.
• Age had a significant effect on ratings, with older patients more likely to give high scores to
both the male and the female doctor wearing the white coat. Those in social classes 1 and 2
(professional and managerial positions) were more likely to give high scores to a traditionally
dressed doctor; with the male doctor in the white coat the most popular for social class 1 patients.
• The strongest association was with the general practice the patient attends, where differences
between preference varied significantly across almost all categories of dress.
• When asked whether the patient would feel more confident in the ability of any of the doctors
41% answered ‘yes’. These patients were most likely to be confident in the male doctor in the
suit, followed by the white coat, and in the female doctor in the white coat, followed by the skirt
and jumper.
• When asked whether the patient would be unhappy consulting with any of the doctors, 28% said
‘yes’, with the male doctor wearing jeans being the most selected photo. General attitudes to
doctors’ dress showed that 64% of patients thought that the way their doctor dressed was very
important or quite important.
2 a Award 1 mark for a partial description.
Award 2 marks for a full description.
• Patients aged 16 to 75 years, presenting with any symptom, were eligible, and patients were
excluded only if they presented with life-threatening conditions, or for administrative or
preventative measures.
• In total, 200 patients completed all part of the study so were included in the results.
b Award 1 mark for a partial outline.
Award 2 marks for a full outline.
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•
It can be concluded that a directive style leads to higher patient satisfaction in terms
of perception of the doctor’s understanding of the problem, the quality of the doctor’s
explanation, and the subjective improvement one week later.
• This contradicts the general view held by researchers and doctors alike, who tend to feel that
a shared style is a better way forward. It appears that for simple physical illnesses that require
a traditional biomedical approach to diagnosis and treatment, the directing approach is most
effective. However, for other problems, such as chronic or psychological illnesses, the benefit
of the directing approach is removed.
c Award 1–2 marks for two brief points or for one point fully explained.
Award 3–4 marks for two well-explained points.
Strengths
•
•
•
field experiment so has high ecological validity
closed questions led to quantitative data, allowing for analysis
research was standardised, i.e. using the same doctor each time – this increases reliability
Limitations
•
•
3
no open questions so no qualitative data to give more insight
sample is limited as it is made up of patients from the same surgery
a
Award 1 mark each for any three of the factors below:
• symptom severity
• symptom frequency while on the medication
• chance of early death from the illness while on the medication
• severity of the medication side effects
• chance of future unwanted medication side effects
• how the medication is taken
• alcohol restrictions
• the monthly cost to you of the medications
b Award 3–4 marks for a full detailed description of the results, covering at least two findings.
Award 1–2 marks for a less detailed or incomplete description of results, or where only one finding
was included.
• Results showed that six out of the eight factors listed above had a significant effect on the
decision to continue with a medication. Symptom severity and alcohol restrictions did not
have a significant effect on adherence.
• Participant background characteristics did not make a significant difference to the effect of
the factors, and neither did it matter if participants were currently taking medication or not.
• The monthly cost of the medication was found to be a significant factor in non-adherence only
for those who do not have private medical insurance (and therefore have to pay for medication
themselves), but not for those with insurance (where the insurance company pays for the
medication).
• Further analysis of the data shows how participants were willing to trade between levels
of factors. For example, participants would be significantly more willing to continue with
a treatment if it only needed to be taken once a day, compared to four times a day. However,
they would prefer to continue with the task of taking the medication four times a day if it
reduced their risk of unwanted side effects in the future by 20%. Analysis also showed that
most participants (58%) considered harms to be of greater importance than benefits when
making decisions about adherence.
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•
The risk of current side effects was considered to be more important than future side effects,
however, the medication’s ability to reduce the risk of death was seen to be more important
than the reduction in symptom frequency.
4 a • a mailed general prompt
• a mailed specific prompt
• a mailed specific prompt and expanded clinic hours to increase access and convenience
• a mailed specific prompt and a monetary incentive, in the form of a cash lottery
b It was expected that the greatest impact would be the specific prompt with the monetary incentive,
followed by the specific prompt and increased access, then the specific prompt alone, and, last,
the general prompt alone.
5 a Award 1–2 marks for an answer that shows some understanding of specificity theory.
Award 3–4 marks for an answer that shows clear and detailed understanding of specificity theory.
• There is a separate sensory system for processing pain, in the same way as there are for the
senses such as hearing and vision.
• Specialised pain receptors respond to stimuli and, via nerve impulses, send signals to the brain.
• The brain then processes the signal as the sensation of pain, and quickly responds with
a motor response to try to stop the pain.
• For example, if you touch something hot, the nerve impulses from pain receptors in your hand
travel up to your brain, to be processed as a pain sensation, so your brain sends a message
back to the muscles in your hand, telling them to move your hand away from the source
of the pain. This happens automatically and almost instantaneously.
b Award 1–2 marks for an answer that shows some understanding of gate control theory.
Award 3–4 marks for an answer that shows clear and detailed understanding of gate
control theory.
• The spinal cord contains a ‘gate’ that either prevents pain signals from entering the brain or
allows them to continue. This theory can explain why our emotional state, or our expectations,
affect how much something hurts.
• The gating mechanism occurs in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, where both small nerve
fibres (pain fibres) and large nerve fibres (fibres for touch, pressure and other skin sensations)
carry information to.
• When there is more large fibre activity compared to small fibre activity people experience
less pain (the pain gates are closed). When there is more small fibre activity, pain signals can
be sent to the brain in order for pain to be perceived (the pain gates are open).
• This explains why we rub injuries after they happen, for example if you bang your elbow on
a table you will rub where it hurts for a few moments. The increase in normal touch sensation
(large fibres) inhibits the activity of the pain fibres (small fibres) so pain perception is reduced.
6 a Award 1–2 marks for an answer that shows some understanding of the questionnaire and
evaluation of it, or for either description or strength or limitation well explained.
Award 3–4 marks for an answer that shows good understanding of the questionnaire and
evaluation of it, or for two of the three aspects well explained.
Award 5–6 marks for an answer that shows clear understanding of description and evaluation
of the questionnaire.
• Is designed to assess the quality and intensity of subjective pain and can be used on patients
with a range of conditions, such as cancer and muscular pain.
• The MPQ is composed of 78 words, of which the patient chooses the words that best describe
their pain. These words are assigned a value based on their severity and the patient is then
given a total score from 0 (no pain) to 78 (severe pain). The MPQ covers several categories:
Pain descriptors, affective, evaluation of pain, miscellaneous.
• The MPQ also asks which, out of a list of items, increase or decrease the pain.
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•
Finally, the MPQ asks a range of questions to measure the strength of the pain, including
how the pain is best described now, when it is at its worst, and when it is least painful.
Strengths
•
•
•
The MPQ can be used to assess changes in pain over time and to assess the effectiveness
of pain management and treatment.
The MPQ gathers quantitative data, which allows for statistical analysis to be carried out,
and for comparisons to be easily made.
The MPQ is relatively quick and easy to administer.
Limitations
•
•
The MPQ involves closed questions, which may force a patient to choose an answer that
doesn’t fully represent how they feel.
The lack of open questions means no qualitative data can be collected so it is not possible
to get full detailed information about the patient and their experience.
b
Award 1–2 marks for an answer that shows some understanding of the scale and evaluation of it,
or for either description or strength or limitation well explained.
Award 3–4 marks for an answer that shows good understanding of the scale and evaluation of it,
or for two of the three aspects well explained.
Award 5–6 marks for an answer that shows clear understanding of description and evaluation
of the scale.
• This is a scale consisting of ten target behaviours, and the person observing the patient
(someone who lives with the patient) records detail about each of the target behaviours over
a period of time.
• For each of the target behaviours the observer reports on the severity, frequency or intensity
of each behaviour every day.
• Each behaviour is assigned either 0, ½ or 1 mark and a total score is calculated out of a total
of 10, with a high score reflecting a more marked pain associated behaviour and a greater level
of impairment.
Strengths
•
•
The UAB pain behaviour scale is a useful tool as it gathers information about outward signs
of pain, which can be observed by someone else.
It can be used effectively alongside self-report methods of pain measurement.
Limitations
•
•
37
It relies on the interpretation of the person completing the scale. The observer may not witness
the true extent of the behaviours that are being expressed, or they may not interpret the
behaviours accurately.
Scores on the UAB pain behaviour scale do not correlate well with the McGill pain
questionnaire, suggesting that outward displays of pain-related behaviours are not closely
related to subjective experience of pain. It could be that someone displaying a large amount
of pain behaviour is not necessarily in large amounts of pain, they may have been conditioned
or reinforced for acting this way. Or it could be that someone is experiencing large amounts
of pain but has learned not to express this pain outwardly as a way of coping better, or of
protecting those around them.
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7 a Award 1–2 marks for an answer which shows some understanding of life events as a cause of stress.
Award 3 marks for an answer which shows clear and detailed understanding of life events as a
cause of stress.
• Holmes and Rahe proposed that life events are a main cause of stress.
• Life events are any major changes in your life and can be either positive (such as marriage
or having a baby) or negative (such as serious illness or death of a loved one).
• The key aspect of a life event is that it requires some aspect of transition in your life.
• Holmes and Rahe suggest that any change requires mental energy and leads to stress.
b Award 1–2 marks for an answer which shows some understanding of type A personality as a cause
of stress.
Award 3 marks for an answer which shows clear and detailed understanding of type A personality
as a cause of stress.
• Friedman and Rosenman identified two personality types: type A and type B. Type A
personality describes somebody who has three key traits.
• Competitiveness: People with type A tend to be very competitive and strive towards goals,
without feeling a sense of joy in the challenge or in their achievements. Type A personalities
are self-critical and have a significant life imbalance, meaning their work life significantly
outweighs their home life.
• Time urgency: Type A personalities have a constant sense of time urgency and become
impatient with delays or ‘wasted’ time very quickly. People with a type A personality keep very
tight schedules and often try to do more than one thing at a time.
• Hostility: Type A individuals are prone to anger and hostility and tend to see the worst in others,
display envy, and have a lack compassion for others. The anger and hostility may be expressed
outwardly in terms of aggression or bullying of others, or it may be kept inside. Hostility is the
greatest predictor of type A personality and is the greatest predictor of heart disease.
c Award 1–2 marks for answers where there is some attempt made to make comparisons.
Award 3–4 marks for some good comparisons made, but some detail or full understanding lacking.
Award 5–6 marks for clear demonstration of comparisons between the two causes of stress.
• Life events refers to things that happen to you/that you experience, whereas type A personality
refers to your character/personality.
• Both consider psychological/environmental factors as a cause of stress, rather than biological.
• Both are deterministic as they suggest that you will be more likely to suffer stress because
of either your life events or your personality.
8 a Award 1–2 marks for a partial description, or for either procedure or findings described in full.
Award 3–4 marks for a full description.
Procedure
•
•
38
Women undergoing treatment for breast cancer were randomly assigned to one of three
conditions, and were asked to fill in questionnaires assessing their mood at the start of the
programme (after undergoing one radiotherapy session) and after the six-week programme.
The three conditions were: control group (no treatment given), relaxation, and relaxation
plus imagery. Those in the two treatment groups were taught a relaxation technique involving
directing sensory awareness on certain muscle groups, as well instructions for deep breathing.
Those in the relaxation plus imagery group were also taught to imagine a peaceful scene as a
way of enhancing relaxation. The women were given a tape to be listened to for 15 minutes
every day, which repeated the instructions they had been given. Women in all three groups
were seen by a researcher for half an hour once a week for the six weeks, during which those in
the treatment groups practised their exercises and those in the control group were encouraged
to talk about themselves and their interests.
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•
Two questionnaires were used: the profile of mood states questionnaire and the Leeds
general scale for the self-assessment of depression and anxiety. The profile of mood states
questionnaire used 65 items to give scores across several aspects such as tension, fatigue, anger
and confusion, resulting in a total mood disturbance score. The Leeds general scale measures
the severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms for those who are not formally diagnosed.
The scale contains six items each for anxiety and depression, each rated on a four-point scale.
Findings
•
•
•
Results showed that the change in total mood disturbance score differed significantly between
the three groups (but this was not the case for the Leeds general scales). Mood state for
women in the relaxation group and in the relaxation and imagery group improved after the
six weeks, with the greatest improvement shown for the relaxation and imagery group. In
comparison, however, the mood state of women in the control group actually worsened after
the six weeks.
Further analysis showed that both relaxation and imagery were more effective in reducing
total mood disturbance in women aged 55, compared to younger patients. This seemed to
be due to the effect of relaxation and imagery particularly on reducing the older women’s
depression and tension scores.
Women who scored particularly high in anger in the initial assessments did not respond as well
to relaxation or relaxation and imagery compared to those with lower anger levels. This could
be that, due to high levels of anger, these women were unable to gain any benefits from the
relaxation techniques.
b
Award 8–10 marks for a clear and detailed response where a thorough evaluation is demonstrated
in terms of both strengths and weaknesses.
Award 5–7 marks for an accurate answer, with some detail and a good level of evaluation is
demonstrated.
Award 1–4 marks for a basic answer, with limited evaluation demonstrated.
Answers may include:
Strengths
•
•
•
The study by Bridge et al. had a reasonable sized sample of patients. The fact the sample had
all been diagnosed with the same cancer at the same stage was a strength because it meant that
illness or stage would not be a confounding variable affecting the results.
The participants were randomly allocated to one of the three conditions, which increases
validity and reduces the effect of participant bias. It is also a strength that the study used
a control group of women who did not undergo any relaxation treatment, as this enabled
a comparison to be made, again increasing the validity.
The use of self-report questionnaires was a strength because it meant these methods were fairly
quick and easy for the patients to complete, rather than a lengthy interview or other measure that
might be too much of a commitment for women already undergoing radiotherapy for cancer.
Further strengths of the use of the questionnaires are that they used closed questions with Likerttype scales so quantitative data were gathered, allowing for statistical analysis to be carried out
and comparisons to be made between groups and pre- and post-treatment.
Weaknesses
•
•
39
However, the sample was all women who were all attending the same hospital for the same
cancer. Therefore, it is not representative of the general population so the results cannot be
generalised to people with other conditions, or to men.
A weakness of the self-report measures is that they did not gather qualitative data so there was
not an opportunity to collect detailed feelings and experiences from the women.
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9
Award 1–2 marks for an answer that shows some understanding of application to everyday life
in relation to promoting healthy eating in schools.
Award 3–4 marks for an answer that shows clear and detailed understanding of application to
everyday life in relation to promoting healthy eating in schools.
• The healthy eating campaign by Tapper et al. was hugely successful and effective both at home,
at nursery and across whole schools.
• The researchers summarise the three main reasons they think the intervention works:
• The intervention gets children to try fruit and vegetables repeatedly, which leads to them
eventually liking them for the taste and choosing to eat them even when there are no
longer rewards.
• The intervention changes the culture within the school, so the consumption of fruit
and vegetables becomes socially reinforced by their peers.
• The children come to see themselves as ‘fruit and vegetable eaters’ so they are guided
by this self-concept: they see a piece of fruit and think to themselves ‘I always eat my fruit’
and this guides their behaviour.
• The Food Standards Agency and Department of Health commissioned the programme, or
modified versions of the programme, to be rolled out to hundreds of schools across the UK.
• This shows that the intervention is likely to be applicable to huge number of different schools
and will be beneficial to thousands of children.
10 a Award 1–2 marks for an answer which shows some understanding unrealistic optimism.
Award 3 marks for an answer which shows clear and detailed understanding of unrealistic
optimism.
• Unrealistic optimism refers to an error in judgement where people have a tendency to expect
that bad things will happen to other people but not themselves.
• This is an interesting phenomenon because it is very difficult to disprove: without knowing
every detail of a person’s life it is impossible to know whether they are in fact less at risk
of something terrible happening to them than the average person.
• However, if you look at a group of people who all believe this, it clear that there is an error,
demonstrating unrealistic optimism.
• Research shows that people have a tendency to show unrealistic optimism when asked about
their risk for things such as car accidents, illness or crime (Robertson. 1977, Harris & Guten,
1979, Weinstein 1980).
b For each of the three Lives:
Award 1 mark for an incomplete or muddled description.
Award 2 marks for a complete and clear description.
• The Pleasant Life is about positive emotions. It is about experiencing pleasures and having
skills, such as savouring and mindfulness. Happiness in the present.
• The Good Life is about positive traits such as strengths and virtues. It is concerned with
gratification. Gratification tends to lead to long-lasting good feeling, but one that is elusive
and hard to explain.
• The Meaningful Life is about positive institutions such as a strong family or democracy.
It is similar to the Good Life, in that it requires you to identify and use your highest
strengths and virtues, but in this case, you must use these to serve something larger than
you are. These larger things are Positive Institutions, such as your family, college
or workplace.
[Total: 81]
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Chapter 9 Organisational psychology
9.1 Motivation to work
1
2
3
a
b
Self-actualisation can be defined as reaching our personal potential and becoming fulfilled.
Self-actualisation may not be possible for an individual in a particular role, for example if their
work is not challenging or it does not offer potential for personal growth.
One way to apply expectancy theory is to encourage employees to participate in goal setting, making
sure rewards are suitable and valued by employees.
Internal (or intrinsic) motivators come from within and include a sense of enjoyment or achievement
from engaging in work, whereas external (or extrinsic) motivators are rewards such as money and
promotions.
9.2 Leadership and management
4
5
6
Task-oriented leaders focus on the structure of a task and set the requirements and targets for
completion as they supervise and monitor workers and progress. Relationship-oriented leaders focus
on well-being and understanding the interpersonal relationships between workers and those between
workers and managers.
Scouller argues that personal leadership is the most powerful of the three levels. This is because
it has a ‘ripple’ effect on the other aspects of leadership.
Self-management, Commitment, Competence and Courage
9.3 Group behaviour in organisations
7
8
9
a
b
forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning
People feel part of the team and realise that they can achieve work goals if they accept other
viewpoints.
Groupthink is when two or more people experience a need for agreement and as a result make
irrational or bad decisions.
According to Thomas and Kilman, group conflict can be managed through competition (persist in
conflict until someone wins and someone loses), accommodation (individual sacrifices their point of
view), compromise (all members make a small sacrifice to resolve conflict), collaboration (working
together) or avoidance (withdraw from conflict).
9.4 Organisational work conditions
10 Gastrointestinal disease is significantly more common in shift workers than in day workers. Shiftwork
can also affect pregnancy as research indicates a relationship between shift work and low birth weight
as well as between shift work and premature birth.
11 The effectiveness of the token economy was measured through safety data which included the number
of accidents (referred to as frequency rate) and total numbers of days lost (severity).
12 • Accidents should be recorded by type and circumstance to allow for comparison with similar
types of accident to better understand the safety context for future
• Minor accidents or incidents, e.g. those requiring first aid, should be reported as they offer
better statistical data about the nature of frequent accidents
• Poor housekeeping is a frequent source of accidents and major risk factor for accidents
and should be a priority in safety monitoring systems.
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9.5 Satisfaction at work
13 a recognition, possibility of personal growth
b company policies, pay and conditions
14 Regularly changing workers’ tasks within their normal role so the worker performs different tasks
within the same organisation.
15 a Psychometric tests are highly reliable tools which produce quantitative data which is easy to
compare and analyse.
b Psychometric tests can lack validity and contain cultural bias.
Exam-style questions
1
2
Award 1 mark for identifying a dimension and up to 2 marks for application. E.g. one application of
Latham and Locke’s goal-setting theory is for managers to use clarity [1] to help employees set goals
that are clear, specific, unambiguous and measurable [1]. This is the dimension of ‘clarity’ so rather
than saying ‘work quickly’ a manager can say ‘complete this product in one hour’ [1].
Award 3 marks for describing the results/conclusions of Landry et al.’s study.
Award 3 marks for applying the results to the free will vs determinism debate.
Results
•
•
•
Self-report measures showed that psychological need satisfaction was positively related to intrinsic
motivation and performance.
This is more effective than using rewards that undermine psychological needs.
Psychological need satisfaction was also negatively related to extrinsic motivation.
Application to debate
•
•
•
Determinists argue that the cause of human behaviour exists outside the individual.
A person’s motivation and performance is determined by how their psychological need is fulfilled
or threatened by the external environment.
Internal desire for growth and improvement are also involved in this process and allow us to have
free will and pursue autonomy.
3 a Award 1 mark for identifying each principle (maximum 3).
Award 1 mark for describing each principle (maximum 3).
• ‘Get on the balcony’ [1]: view the organisation as if they were observing it from above [1].
• Identify the adaptive change [1]: determine the nature and extent of the change required [1].
• Regulate distress [1]: use pressure to motivate people to change but not so much that it
overwhelms them [1].
• Maintain disciplined attention [1]: confront difficult issues directly [1].
• Give the work back to the people [1]: allowing workers to use their special knowledge [1].
• Protect voices of leadership from below [1]: listen to these voices to learn of impending
challenges [1].
b Award 1 mark for each responsibility. E.g. An adaptive leader’s responsibilities are to stop
maintaining and protecting the organisational existing norms and values [1]. The leader must
instead allow disorientation, conflict and challenge to create a new organisation that can survive
[1]. For example, if in the previous organisational culture, employees obeyed their managers
without question, the new leader should challenge this [1]. An adaptive leader in this case would
create opportunities for employees to question decisions and suggest better practices [1].
42
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CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY: TEACHER'S RESOURCE
4
Award 1 mark per suitable aspect of procedure.
• Detail of: sample, e.g. sample could be taken from an organisation who volunteers for the study.
• Ethical considerations, e.g. Informed consent should be given to participants.
• Materials: e.g. participants could be provided with a scenario to discuss and decide.
• Controls: e.g. experimental group takes part as a group, individuals work on their own.
• Standardisation: e.g. group is given one hour to discuss and make decision.
5
a
Shiftwork is a term used to describe any working pattern that does not involve the same work
pattern every week.
b Knutsson (2003) reviewed of the effects of shift work across a number of studies. This review
found links between shift work and specific disorders and conditions. These included a heightened
risk for gastrointestinal and cardiovascular diseases and the worsening of pre-existing health
complaints. There was mixed evidence within the studies Knutsson reviewed to suggest a link
between shift work and the onset of diabetes and cancer.
c Award 1 mark for identifying a strength and up to 2 marks for discussing the strength in the
context of the study identified.
Award 1 mark for identifying a weakness and up to 2 marks for discussing the strength
in the context of the study identified.
Strengths
•
•
•
Reviewing many studies means a lot of data was analysed.
Knutsson was able to look at different categories of diseases and disorders.
There is greater reliability in the increased sample sizes available when reviewing studies
in this way.
Weaknesses
•
•
•
6
7
8
9
43
The studies reviewed may have been conducted in very different ways.
Not all studies will be of the same quality in terms of reliability and validity.
This makes it hard to compare outcomes of each study in a systematic way.
Award 1 mark for each of the following descriptions of findings:
• Psychologists have found that employees’ internal motivation and satisfaction with work
and colleagues decreases when moved to an open-plan office.
• Workers feel that they are in a ‘fishbowl’ and too exposed.
• Using open-plan design can make it difficult to concentrate and complete a task.
• It becomes more difficult to develop friendships without the whole office hearing.
• It is more difficult to provide effective feedback to workers due to lack of privacy.
• Physical space is very important for the well-being and satisfaction of workers.
Award 1 mark per each feature of the sample: Thirty-eight [1] unionised labourers [1] who all worked
in the same electrical factory [1].
Organisational commitment is the mental and emotional bond an individual employee has to an
organisation [1]. The greater the organisational commitment, the more attached a worker is to their
organisation [1]. It is closely related to job satisfaction [1].
Involuntary absenteeism is when the worker has no choice but to be absent [1], for example due
to illness [1]. Voluntary absenteeism is where the worker has chosen not to attend work without
such a reason [1]. This type of absenteeism is linked to worker dissatisfaction [1].
[Total: 50]
Cambridge International AS & A Level Psychology © Cambridge University Press 2022