Edexcel A Level Psychology Paper 2 June 2019 question paper 9PS0/02

In your studies of clinical psychology you will have learned about one of the following disorders:

• Anorexia nervosa

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

• Unipolar depression.

State three symptoms of the disorder you have learned about.

Explain one strength and one weakness of one biological explanation of your chosen disorder.

Strength

Weakness

Victoria is upset as she finds it hard to leave the house as she is scared of birds. Whenever she leaves the house she is highly anxious in case a bird is nearby, and she has previously run across the road without looking for cars to avoid a bird.

Victoria is unable to work because of her fear of birds, causing her to feel upset as she cannot buy her children toys. This has led to her having suicidal thoughts and feeling that her children would be better off without her.

Describe how distress and danger could be used to diagnose Victoria as having a mental health disorder.

Explain one weakness of using danger to diagnose mental health disorders.

Nancy carried out an experiment to see the effects of sensory deprivation on the number of hallucinations participants reported.

Participants were split into two groups:

• Condition A: Participants had no sensory information for 10 minutes

• Condition B: Participants had no sensory information for 60 minutes.

Nancy totalled the number of hallucinations each participant reported. She then carried out a Mann-Whitney U test on her data.

State two reasons why Nancy selected a Mann-Whitney U test to use on her data.

Nancy’s results are shown in Table 1.

Complete Table 1 and calculate the Mann-Whitney U for the data in Table 1. You must give your answer to one decimal place.

SPACE FOR CALCULATIONS

George is a clinical psychologist who works in a psychiatric hospital. He had a patient referred to him six months ago and read the detailed notes from the doctor who made the referral.

George has since spoken to the patient every day about their thoughts and behaviours. He also asked the patient to carry out some problem-solving tasks to see how the disorder may have been affecting their cognitive abilities.

George has decided to carry out a case study on the patient to publish in a medical journal.

Discuss how George could carry out a case study on his patient. You must make reference to the context in your answer.

Assess how far culture can lead to individual differences in mental health disorders.

Michael has just been diagnosed with schizophrenia. His symptoms include hearing voices telling him what to do, and not being able to put his thoughts into a logical sense. Michael also has a lack of energy and has withdrawn from his friends.

Michael’s doctor says that his schizophrenia is due to his neurotransmitters. His mother thinks it is due to genetics as she also has schizophrenia. His father, however, thinks it is due to Michael taking illegal drugs such as phencyclidine (PCP, ‘angel dust’).

To what extent can Michael’s schizophrenia be explained by the function of his neurotransmitters? You must make reference to the context in your answer.

Rose witnessed a robbery at a bank. Whilst she was waiting to give her statement to the police she was in a room with other witnesses to the robbery. Rose gave an interview to the police at the bank.

When she went home a report of the robbery was on the local news where they mentioned that a weapon had been used. One week later the police asked Rose to go to the police station to give a second interview as they wanted to clarify a few points about the robbery.

Describe how post-event information may have affected Rose’s testimony of the robbery.

The police carried out a cognitive interview with Rose when she was at the police station.

Describe how the police may have carried out a cognitive interview with Rose.

Marya carried out a field experiment to investigate whether cognitive-behavioural treatment was effective for treating offenders in prison and reducing their reoffending rates. She compared one group of offenders who had cognitive-behavioural treatment (Condition A) with a group of offenders who received no treatment (Condition B).

Marya collected the reoffending rates for the participants in each condition six months after the offenders were released from prison.

Marya’s results are shown in Table 2.

Calculate the range of Condition B and complete Table 2 with your answer.

SPACE FOR CALCULATIONS

Marya used the mean as a measure of central tendency.

Explain why Marya used the mean rather than the mode in her field experiment.

Explain one improvement Marya could make to her field experiment.

Evaluate the classic study by Loftus and Palmer (1974).

Donald has recently been caught shoplifting at a local shop. He was taken to the local police station where he was given a warning. His parents had to go to the police station to pick him up. They are now worried that he may be labelled as a criminal and this may affect his future behaviour and cause him to commit more crimes.

To what extent can labelling theory explain whether Donald would commit more crimes in the future?

You must make reference to the context in your answer.

Donna is six months old. Her mother, Rose, decides to place Donna in day care. She places Donna in a nursery where there are other children of the same age and a variety of activities available for Donna to take part in. The manager of the nursery has a professional qualification in childcare.

Using research, describe the advantages for Donna of attending day care.

Describe what Rose could have considered when selecting a nursery that provides good quality day care.

Marya carried out a questionnaire to investigate whether a new therapy was effective for children with autism. She wanted to see if it would improve their social skills and help them socialise more. She compared one group of children with autism who had the new therapy (Condition A) with a group of children with autism who received no therapy (Condition B).

Marya collected the data from the questionnaire filled in by the parents of the children six months after the therapy ended. The higher the score on the questionnaire, the more difficult it was to socialise.

Marya’s results are shown in Table 3.

Calculate the range of Condition B and complete Table 3 with your answer.

SPACE FOR CALCULATIONS

Marya used the mean as a measure of central tendency when analysing the results of her questionnaire.

Explain why Marya used the mean rather than the mode when analysing the results of her questionnaire.

Explain one improvement Marya could make to her investigation.

Evaluate the classic study by van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988).

Donald is two and a half years old. He was in hospital for two months. His parents found it difficult to spend a lot of time with him whilst he was in hospital.

When Donald came home, his parents were worried as he cried a lot and did not seem to be as happy as he was before he went into hospital. They are also concerned that the time he spent in hospital may affect his future behaviour.

Assess how far research into deprivation could explain the short-term and long-term effects of Donald’s stay in hospital.

You must make reference to the context in your answer.

Rose is a health psychologist. She has been asked to create an anti-drugs campaign targeted at young adults. The anti-drugs campaign aims to prevent young adults misusing legal and illegal drugs. Rose wants her campaign to reach as many young adults as possible, and for it to offer memorable information.

Describe how Rose could carry out her anti-drugs campaign.

Rose wanted to see whether her anti-drugs campaign was effective. She collected quantitative and qualitative data from her target population.

Describe how Rose could analyse her data to see if her anti-drugs campaign was effective.

Marya has carried out a study to investigate whether a new treatment was effective for people addicted to alcohol. She wanted to see if it would stop them drinking alcohol. She compared the participants who had the new treatment (Condition A) with the participants who received no treatment (Condition B).

Marya recorded the number of alcoholic drinks consumed in a week six months after the treatment ended.

Marya’s results are shown in Table 4.

Calculate the range of Condition B and complete Table 4 with your answer.

SPACE FOR CALCULATIONS

Marya used the mean as a measure of central tendency.

Explain why Marya used the mean rather than the mode in her study.

Explain one improvement Marya could make to her study.

Evaluate the classic study by Olds and Milner (1954).

Donald is addicted to nicotine. Both his parents and his friends smoke cigarettes. His friends started smoking because they thought it made them look more mature.

He finds that nicotine helps him relax, and relieves any stress he feels. Donald finds that there are certain times during the day when he craves a cigarette, such as just after he has eaten.

Evaluate one learning explanation for nicotine addiction that could account for Donald smoking cigarettes.

You must make reference to the context in your answer.