Edexcel A Level Psychology Paper 1 June 2017 question paper 9PS0/01

Adam and Lauren have carried out research into obedience as part of their A level Psychology course. They investigated whether males or females are more obedient to authority. They approached the first 25 male and 25 female students who were available at the time and asked them to complete a questionnaire. Each student who took part was given a scenario about whether or not they would follow a female teacher’s instruction to pick up litter.

Table 1 shows the number of males and females who said they would or would not follow the instruction.

Identify the sampling method that Adam and Lauren used in their study.

State a fully operationalised directional (one-tailed) hypothesis for Adam and Lauren’s study.

Explain one improvement that could be made to the procedure of Adam and Lauren’s research.

The teachers at two local schools, Seaside High and Elk Manor Academy, are concerned about the hostile attitudes students hold towards one another. This has been demonstrated in recent weeks at league and cup hockey matches, where students have often shouted insults at each other.

Using your knowledge of realistic conflict theory, explain why there are problems between the students.

Evaluate the ethical considerations of research within social psychology.

There are many models used within psychology to explain how memory works.

Describe the multi-store model of memory.

Louise is interested to see whether there is a difference between the number of pictures recalled by children with dyslexia and by those who do not have dyslexia. The children have been given a short recall task to see how many of the pictures they can remember out of 20.

Table 2 shows the raw data from the experiment.

Calculate the range of scores Louise gathered in both conditions of her study and complete Table 2 above.

Experiments within psychology, such as that carried out by Baddeley (1966b), have aided our understanding of cognitive functions.

Assess the usefulness of using experiments within cognitive psychology.

Describe how recreational drugs change the way neurotransmitters operate within the brain.

Nadiya and Tamal are analysing data they have gathered about students’ exam scores and the number of missed classes.

Table 3 shows the raw data from Nadiya and Tamal’s study.

Draw a scatter diagram to show Nadiya and Tamal’s data.

Title

Identify the type of correlation displayed in the diagram you have drawn.

Nadiya and Tamal used Spearman’s rho to analyse their data.

State two reasons why they used Spearman’s rho.

Compare the biological explanation of aggression with Freud’s psychodynamic explanation of aggression.

Twin studies are used as a research method to investigate human behaviour in biological psychology.

Evaluate one twin study you have covered in biological psychology.

Classical conditioning uses many terms to explain the acquisition of behaviour.

Define the terms ‘unconditioned response (UCR)’ and ‘extinction’.

Unconditioned response (UCR)

Extinction

There are many pieces of research that have used animals within psychology.

Explain the practical issues of using animals in psychological research.

You and a friend are undertaking an observation to see how many people in a supermarket help you to reach something on the top shelf.

Describe how you would carry out the observation in the supermarket.

Learning theories have been used to explain key questions of relevance to today’s society.

Discuss the key question for society you have studied using concepts, theories and/or research from learning theories.

Key question

Cognitive psychology is about the role of cognition/cognitive processes in human behaviour.

Assess whether cognitive psychology is reductionist.

Matt is 16 years old and has been getting into fights when he goes out with his friends. His mother blames his friends, however Matt denies this and says he cannot control his own behaviour.

Evaluate how far social and biological psychology can explain Matt’s behaviour. You must make reference to the context in your answer.