AQA A Level Psychology Paper 2: Psychology in Context November 2020 question paper 7182/2

What is the correct arrangement of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs from bottom to top of the hierarchy?

Shade one circle only.

A Physiological, Safety, Love/belongingness, Esteem, Self-actualisation.

B Physiological, Safety, Love/belongingness, Self-actualisation, Esteem.

C Safety, Physiological, Love/belongingness, Esteem, Self-actualisation.

D Safety, Physiological, Love/belongingness, Self-actualisation, Esteem.

Which of the following shows the correct order of the psychosexual stages of development as proposed by the psychodynamic approach?

Shade one circle only.

A Oral, Anal, Genital, Latency, Phallic.

B Oral, Anal, Phallic, Genital, Latency.

C Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital.

D Oral, Genital, Anal, Phallic, Latency.

Describe the role of defence mechanisms according to the psychodynamic approach.

Briefly explain one strength and one limitation of the psychodynamic approach.

Alison is a Psychology teacher who is keen to reduce plastic waste in her school. She puts a sticker showing an ocean full of plastic waste on each plastic bottle of water sold in the canteen.

Alison asks canteen staff to increase the price of bottled water by 20 pence and offer free refills of water to any student taking in their own bottle.

Finally, Alison sets up a bottle return desk, where students can get 20 pence back for any plastic bottle they hand in for recycling.

Describe and evaluate operant conditioning as a way of explaining people’s behaviour. Refer to Alison’s approach to reducing plastic waste in your answer.

Figure 1 shows the left hemisphere of the human brain. Five areas of the brain are labelled A, B, C, D and E.

Explain the difference between infradian rhythms and ultradian rhythms.

A survey of hospital patients has found that a new drug, Zapurpain, is as effective as other pain medication.

Explain one limitation of asking hospital patients to self-report the effectiveness of Zapurpain.

Zapurpain acts like an inhibitory neurotransmitter at the synapse.

Explain how Zapurpain might affect the process of synaptic transmission through inhibition.

Explain one difference and one similarity between Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) as ways of studying the brain.

Outline and evaluate split-brain research.

A study into the relationship between recreational screen time and academic achievement was conducted. Students were asked to self-report the number of hours spent watching TV, playing on their mobile phones or video games (daily recreational screen time) and their end-of-year test performances (academic performance).

The results of the study are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 The relationship between daily recreational screen time and academic

In which section(s) of a scientific report would you expect to find reference to the results/findings of the investigation?

Shade one circle only.

A The abstract and the results sections only

B The abstract, the discussion and the results sections only

C The results and the discussion sections only

D The results section only

Which of the following correlation co-efficients best describes the data represented in Figure 2 ?

Shade one circle only.

A –0.80

B –0.25

C +0.25

D +0.80

Identify the type of graph shown in Figure 2 and explain why this is an appropriate graph to use for the data collected.

Explain why it would not be appropriate for the researchers to conclude that increased recreational screen time reduces academic performance.

A psychologist reads a review of a meta-analysis confirming the relationship between recreational screen time and academic performance.

What is meant by the term meta-analysis?

The psychologist decided to design an experiment to test the effects of recreational screen time on children’s academic performance.

The psychologist randomly selected four schools from all the primary schools in her county to take part in the experiment involving Year 5 pupils. Three of the four schools agreed to take part. In total, there were 58 pupils whose parents consented for them to participate. The 58 pupils were then randomly allocated to Group A or Group B.

For the two-week period of the experiment, pupils in Group A had no recreational screen time. Pupils in Group B were allowed unrestricted recreational screen time. At the end of the experiment all pupils completed a 45-minute class test, to achieve a test score.

Complete Table 1 by ticking the statement that best describes the population and the sample in the psychologist’s experiment.

Place one tick in each column.

Briefly explain why a directional hypothesis would be most suitable for this experiment.

Write an appropriate hypothesis for this experiment.

The results obtained from the experiment are summarised in Table 2.

Table 2 Descriptive statistics for the test performance scores for

Using the data in Table 2, explain how the distribution of scores in Group A differs from the distribution of scores in Group B.

What do the mean and standard deviation values in Table 2 suggest about the effect of the recreational screen time on test performance? Justify your answer.

The psychologist wanted to test the statistical significance of the data.

Identify the most appropriate choice of statistical test for analysing the data collected and explain three reasons for your choice in the context of this study.

One criticism of the study is that the pupils were not matched on their typical recreational screen time.

Explain how the psychologist could have matched pupils on their typical recreational screen time across the experimental conditions.

Identify one other variable for which the psychologist could have matched the pupils. Explain how this might have affected the test performance if it was not controlled.

The feedback from one of the schools was that recreational screen time affected pupils’ social interactions. The psychologist decided to investigate this further by using an observation of social interaction during playtime at the school.

Design the observation to investigate pupils’ social interaction in the playground.

In your answer you will be awarded credit for providing appropriate details of:

• type of observation, with justification

• choice of time sampling or event sampling, with justification

• dealing with one relevant ethical issue

• assessing reliability of the data through inter-observer reliability.