What issues and debates you will consider in year 13
Approaches
Candidates should have knowledge and understanding of:
physiological;
cognitive;
individual differences;
developmental;
social.
Perspectives
Candidates should have knowledge and understanding of:
behaviourist;
psychodynamic.
Methods
Candidates should have knowledge and understanding of:
experimental (laboratory and field);
case study;
self-report;
observation;
methodological issues such as reliability and validity.
Issues
Candidates should have knowledge and understanding of:
ethics;
ecological validity;
longitudinal and snapshot;
qualitative and quantitative data.
Debates
Candidates should have knowledge and understanding of:
o Determinism and free will
o Reductionism and holism
o Nature–nurture
o Ethnocentrism
o Psychology as science
o Individual and situational explanations
o The usefulness of psychological research
Unit G543: Options in Applied Psychology - 2 hour exam (100 marks)
25%
The units we teach will be
Forensic psychology.
Health and clinical psychology
You need to answer 4 questions in total. Two of these will be from a choice of 4 from
Forensic Psychology and two of these will be from a choice of 4 from Health and Clinical
Psychology
Unit G544: Approaches and Research Methods in Psychology - 1.5 hour exam (80
marks) 25%
Part a: Research methodology, where candidates are required to design a practical project.
Answer all questions (although you will have a choice of research topics)
Part b: Structured synoptic questions on approaches, perspectives, methods, issues and
debates. You will have a choice of 2 sets of questions. You answer 1 set.
A2 Unit G543: Forensic Psychology
Candidates should:
 be able to describe and evaluate the areas below in the
light of psychological theories, studies and evidence;
 apply psychological methods, perspectives and issues;
 apply theory and evidence to the improvement of real-life events and
situations;
 explore social, moral, cultural and spiritual issues where applicable;
 consider ways in which the core areas of psychology (cognitive psychology,
developmental psychology, physiological psychology, social psychology and
the psychology of individual differences), studied in the AS course, can inform
our understanding of forensic psychology.
Turning to Crime
To introduce some of the influences that psychologists have used to explain criminal
behaviour
Upbrining
Disrupted families – (eg Farrington’s study);
Learning from others – (eg Peers – Differential association hypothesis.
Sutherland 1939);
Poverty and disadvantaged neighbourhoods (eg any of the SCoPic ('social
contexts of pathways into crime') studies looking at pathways into crime in
UK or US; Peterborough study most relevant).
Cognition
Criminal thinking patterns (eg Yochelson & Samenow);
Moral development and crime (eg Kohlberg);
Social cognition (eg attribution of blame –Gudjohnsson).
Biology
Brain dysfunction (eg Raine’s work on the cortex and other work);
Genes and serotonin (eg Brunner 1991);
Gender (eg evolutionary explanation of why males commit more crime, eg
Daly & Wilson 1988).
Making a case
How psychology can inform the investigative process
Interviewi
ng
Recognising and recreating faces by E-fit (eg Bruce 1988);
witnesses
Factors influencing accurate identification (eg the ‘weapon focus’ effect, eg
Loftus);
The cognitive interview (eg Geiselman 1985/6).
Interviewi
ng
suspects
Creating a
profile
Detecting lies (eg Vrij 2000);
Interrogation techniques (eg Inbau);
False confessions (eg Gudjohnsson 1992).
Top down typology (eg Hazelwood);
Bottom up approaches such as circle theory or geographical profiling
(eg Canter);
Case study (eg John Duffy).
Reaching a verdict
How psychology can inform behaviour in the courtroom
Persuadin
g a jury
Effect of order of testimony (eg Pennington & Hastie);
Persuasion (eg use of expert witnesses, Krauss & Sales 2001);
Effect of evidence being ruled inadmissible (eg Broeder 1959).
Witness
appeal
Attractiveness of the defendant (eg Castellow 1990);
Witness confidence (eg Penrod & Cutler 1987);
Effect of shields and videotape on children giving evidence (Ross et al
1994).
Reaching
a verdict
Stages and influences on decision making (eg Hastie 1983);
Majority influence (eg Asch 1953);
Minority influence (eg Moscovici 1976, 1980, 1985).
After a guilty verdict
To look at how psychology can inform the penal system
Imprisonme
nt
Planned behaviours once freed from jail. (eg factors affecting
recidivism Gillis et. al. 2005);
Depression/suicide risk. (eg Dooley 1990);
The prison situation and roles (eg Haney & Zimbardo 1998, 25 years
since the Stanford Prison Experiment).
Alternatives
to
imprisonme
nt
Probation (eg Prison Reform reports, Smith Institute report 2007);
Restorative justice (The Smith Institute reports and Cambridge
University 2007);
‘Looking Death worthy’, (Eberhart et al U.S. death penalty).
Treatment
programme
s
Cognitive skills programmes (eg Friendship et al 2002);
Anger management (eg Ireland 2000);
Using ear acupuncture with a drug rehabilitation program (eg
Wheatley (2005) FOCUS program with ear acupuncture, Cambridge
University Institute of Criminology).
Health and Clinical Psychology
Candidates should:





Be able to describe and evaluate the areas below in the
light of psychological theories, studies and evidence
Apply psychological methods, perspectives and issues
Apply theory and evidence to the improvement of real-life events and
situations
Explore social, moral, cultural and spiritual issues where applicable
Consider ways in which the core areas of psychology (cognitive psychology,
developmental psychology, physiological psychology, social psychology and
the psychology of individual differences), studied in the AS course, can inform
our understanding of psychology and health
Healthy living
There are many factors that influence our healthy lifestyles; these can include our beliefs about
health and how healthy behaviour is promoted; an example of healthy behavior is adherence to
medical advice
Theories of
HBM (eg Feshbeck);
health belief
Locus of control (eg Rotter);
Self efficacy (eg Bandura).
Methods of
health
promotion and
supporting
evidence
Features of
adherence to
medical
regimes and
supporting
evidence
Media campaign (eg Cowpe 1989);
Legislation (eg Maryland 1999);
Fear arousal (eg Janis & Feshbeck 1953).
Reasons for non-adherence: cognitive rational non-adherence (eg
Bulpitt);
Measures of non-adherence: physiological (eg Lustman 2000);
Improving – behavioural (eg Watt’s funhaler 2003).
Stress
Stress appears to be a major factor in the health of people, with psychologists interested in
improving the health of the nation by identifying causes, and trying to encourage stress
management techniques
Causes of
Work (eg Johansson 1978)
stress and
Hassles and life events (eg Kanner 1981)
supporting
evidence
Methods of
measuring
stress and
supporting
evidence
Techniques
for managing
stress and
supporting
evidence
Lack of control (eg Geer & Meisel 1973)
Physiological measures (eg Geer & Meisel 1973)
Self report (eg Holmes & Rahe 1967)
Combined approach (eg Johansson 1978)
Cognitive (eg SIT, Meichenbaum 1975)
Behavioural (eg biofeedback, Budzynski 1973)
Social (eg social support, Waxler-Morrison 2006)
Dysfunctional behaviour
Dysfunctional behaviour is atypical behaviour psychologists are interested in explaining and
treating, whichever psychological approach is adopted.
Diagnosis of
dysfunctional
behaviour
Categorising (eg DSM/ICD);
Definitions ( eg Rosenhan & Seligman 1989);
Biases in diagnosis (eg gender; Ford & Wediger 1989).
Explanations of
dysfunctional
behaviour
Biological (eg genetic; Gottesman & Shields 1991; Ost 1992);
Behavioural (eg classical conditioning; Little Albert 1920; Lewinsohn
1979);
Cognitive (eg maladaptive thoughts, Beck; DiNardo 1988; Seligman 1979).
Treatments of
dysfunctional
behaviour
Biological (eg SRRIs; Karp & Frank 1995);
Behavioural (eg desensitisation; Wolpe; McGrath 1990);
Cognitive (eg cognitive therapy; Beck; Dobson 1989).
Disorders
Disorders; to introduce types of disorder, such as anxiety, affective and psychotic, their
characteristics,
causes and treatments.
Characteristics of
An anxiety disorder (eg phobia);
disorders
A psychotic disorder (eg schizophrenia);
An affective disorder (eg bipolar).
Explanations of one
disorder
(EITHER affective
OR anxiety OR
psychotic)
Behavioural (eg classical conditioning, Watson & Raynor; Lewinsohn 1979 for
affective)
Biological (eg genetic psychotic, Gottesman & Shields 1972, genetic
affective Oruc
1998);
Cognitive (eg DiNardo 1998 for anxiety, Seligman 1979 for affective)
Treatments for one
disorder
(EITHER affective
OR anxiety OR
psychotic)
Behavioural (desensitisation, Wolpe; Paul & Lentz 1977 for psychotic,
McGrath 1990
for anxiety)
Cognitive behavioural therapy (eg RET; Ellis, Comer 1998 for affective,
Ost &
Westling 1995 for anxiety, Senskly 2000 for psychotic)
Biological (eg drugs, biochemical; Karp & Frank 1995 for affective, Comer
1998
forpsychotic).
G543 - The options paper (Forensic Psychology and
Health and Clinical psychology)
Exam technique
o The key to getting your target grade is being able to answer the question set, as
well as excellent subject knowledge you need good exam technique.
o In the exam there will be 4 questions from the Forensic option and 4 questions
from the Health and Clinical option. You have to answer 2 questions from each
option.
o In each option there are 3 major topics, e.g. Making a Case, each of which has 3
bullet points, e.g. Interviewing Witnesses. It is essential that you know all these
topics and bullet points and can name a piece of evidence from each.
o Each question is worth 25 marks; part A worth 10 marks and part B worth 15
marks. The structure is the same for every question.
Section A – mainly descriptive
o
o
o
o
Describe/outline a theory/method/technique/study/research/ strategy/ way
This will relate to 1 bullet point on the specification.
10 marks - 10 minutes
Pay close attention to the command in the question. If it aske you to outline a
study, outline a study! If is asks you to outline a theory, outline a theory!
o You should answer this in approximately 10 minutes.
Section B – mainly evaluative
o Evaluate/discuss/analyse – linked to the issue/topic in part A
o Answer could relate to methods/debates/issues/approaches/problems /
usefulness
o Your answer may relate to whole subtopic = 3 bullet points
o 15 marks-20 minutes]
o You must demonstrate understanding of the question set and relate your
evaluative points and arguments specifically to it.
o Your discussion may include the following:
 Use of an issue, e.g. reductionism, usefulness – relate to psychological
evidence
 Research methodology, strengths and weaknesses - relate to psychological
evidence
 Problems of carrying out research in that area, e.g. ethics
 Methodological problems e.g. validity, ecological validity and reliability
 Debates
 Application
 Comparison with other studies supporting / challenging theory / results
 Effectiveness or otherwise of techniques
 Problems of creating behavioural change
 Evaluation of approach (social, cognitive etc)
o To get high marks you must “go further” & “do something more”. There are 3
ways of doing this:
1. Compare/contrast,
e.g. Farrington’s research takes a social approach and suggests the roots of
criminal
behaviour lie in behaviour observed in close family members and it is the
influence of
others that lead a person to a criminal career, SIMILARLY Sutherland adopts
this approach
and highlights the role of peer group norms and exposure to criminal peers in
determining
criminal behaviour.
IN CONTRAST to this Raine provides evidence that criminal behaviour may be
biologically
determined by demonstrating a functional difference in the pre-frontal cortex
of a group of
murderers and a group of non murderers.
2. “So what?” – “The consequences of this are….”
e.g. By identifying the childhood factors associated with later criminal
behaviour
Farrington’s research has implications for the implementation of early
intervention
programmes to prevent those at risk from turning to criminal behaviour.
3. Take the unexpected view – Weaknesses often have strengths
e.g. the usefulness Sutherland’s work has been questioned as he presents a
theory as
opposed to clear empirical findings BUT theories are very useful as they
provide a good
starting point and are the inspiration for empirical research.
o PEED still works and is a good strategy – go for 3 and remember to make the
comment / elaboration convincing.
o OCR is trying to move away from pre-prepared formulaic style answers, they
want to see a bit of individuality and flair from candidates, the most important
thing to do is ANSWER THE QUESTION SET.
G544: Approaches and Research Methods in Psychology
From the specification-Section A – Research methods: the design of a practical project
This section will examine all aspects of research methods including all of the topics in the AS
research methods unit and the design of a practical project. This unit builds and extends on the
research methodology learned in unit G541.
The question paper will contain a short passage setting the scene and provide the focus for a set of
research questions. The assessment task will require the design of a specific practical project that
could be carried out by candidates, for example a repeated measures design for an experiment
involving two conditions and collecting at least ordinal data. It is recommended that the process of
designing, conducting and evaluating be practised within a classroom setting in preparation as
candidates may be asked about practical difficulties or problems and how they could be overcome.
You will receive a booklet for each of the topics we study as well as a booklet for
G544 part a and G544 part b.
Don’t forget, you will need to read around the topics in your own time and make
links between discrete units of the specification. You will also need to keep
yourself reminded of AS topics. This will demonstrate synopticity in your writing –
a higher level skill which examiners love to see.
G544 structure, content and tips
Content of the paper
 Booklet on Moodle to print
 This exam lasts 90 minutes
 There are 80 marks available in total
 There are 2 sections – section A and section B
Section A (Total 40 marks)
 Answer all questions
 You will be given a choice of 7 scenarios. Choose one on which to answer all the
questions following
 You may be told what design of experiment to carry out (repeated measures,
matched pairs, repeated measures) and what level of data to collect (ordinal,
nominal, interval).
 You may be asked:
o what your null / alternate hypothesis will be
o To describe the method you would use to conduct your practical project (this
needs to be replicable, appropriate for the scenario you have chosen, feasible
and high quality)
o To give a strength / limitation of using an alternative design in your practical
project (i.e. if you have used an independent measures design, what would
the strengths / limitations be of using a repeated measures / matched pairs
design
o To assess the validity of your investigation in measuring the dependent
variable
o Outline how you could select a sample which would be representative
o What ethical issues you would need to consider in designing your practical
project
o To suggest one idea for possible future research related to your practical
project
Section B (Total 40 marks)
 Answer one out of the 2 questions
 Each question will have 5 parts (a, b, c, d and e)
 You may be asked:
o About psychological approaches (make sure you can outline ALL the
psychological approaches and perspectives)
o About research that uses each of the approaches (you can use AS or A2
studies for this so make sure you can still describe each of the core studies in
AS)
o To evaluating the approaches (make sure you are able to outline the
strengths and limitations of each approach and give examples of research to
support your answer)
o To compare and contrast psychological approaches (make sure you know
how each of the approaches differ from each other and how they are similar.
Ensure too that you can use examples of psychological research to support
your answer)
o To discuss features of the approaches that support the debates in psychology
(make sure you know the debates free will and determinism, holism and
reductionism, nature / nurture, psychology as a science, ethnocentrism,
usefulness, individual and situational explanations)
o To outline what is meant by any psychological term relating to research
methods and approaches (make sure you know your terminology. Use the
glossary at the back of the G544 booklet. Ethics Ecological validity,
longitudinal and snapshot, qualitative and quantitative data, reliability,
validity. Make sure too that you can give examples of psychology research
that demonstrates high or low ecological validity, reliability, validity. Also
examples of research that is longitudinal, snap shot and research that has
generated quantitative / qualitative data)
o To outline advantages / disadvantages of each of the above (Ethical research
/ unethical research, high and low ecological validity , longitudinal and
snapshot, qualitative and quantitative data)
o To compare and contrast ecological validity of the various research methods (
make sure you know and can explain the advantages and disadvantages of
observations, self-report, correlations, lab, field and quasi- experiments)
o To discuss the usefulness of each of the research methods (make sure you
know how findings from lab, field, quasi, experiments, correlations, selfreport and observational studies have been used and applied in real life)
The G544 15 steps to success
1. Use point, example, comment: State your point, give an example to clarify
what you mean and explain what you mean
2. Use psychological terminology
3. If the question asks you to support your answer with psychological research,
make sure you do this. even if the question doesn’t ask you to do this, your
answer will be much stronger if you use psychological research to back up
what you write
4. If the question asks you to outline TWO pieces of research, make sure you
outline TWO. You can only pick up a MAXIMUM of half marks of you only
outline one.
5. If you are asked for strengths and weaknesses, make sure you give a balance
of both
6. In a 12 mark question asking you to discuss strengths and limitations, to get
full marks, the examiner is looking for AT LEAST 2 strengths AND 2 limitations
all of which are described impressively and supported with evidence.
7. If you are asked to compare approaches supporting your answer with
psychological research, don’t fall onto the trap of comparing the research.
Keep referring back to the question to ensure that you are comparing
approaches all the way through.
8. If you are asked to compare anything, make sure you use comparative
language e.g. however…, whereas…, in contrast to…, similarly…
9. For longer answers (8-12 marks), make sure you start with an introduction
and finish with a concluding sentence
10. For an 8 mark ‘discuss’ question, the examiner is looking for about 4
arguments that are supported by appropriate psychological evidence
11. If you are asked for 2 pieces of psychological research, do not give 3. You will
only be marked for the best 2 so it will be a waste of time
12. Name the studies you use to support your answer (e.g. the Subway Samaritan
study by Piliavin)
13. ‘Discuss’ is asking for evaluative material. Give positive and negative points
14. For an 8 mark ‘Compare’ question, the examiner is looking for AT LEAST 2
differences with supporting evidence.
15. Whatever key words are used in the question, make sure you use these
words in your answer