Edexcel A Level Psychology Paper 2 June 2022 question paper 9PS0/02

Lena cannot go to work due to her anxiety. She has also stopped going out with her friends once a week and does not like people visiting her at home. She has recently seen a psychiatrist who has diagnosed her with a mental disorder.

Define the term ‘dysfunction’ as it is used to diagnose Lena’s mental disorder.

Explain two weaknesses of using ‘dysfunction’ to diagnose Lena’s mental disorder.

Vihaan wanted to conduct a meta-analysis to investigate the effectiveness of a psychological therapy on a range of mental disorders. He aimed to investigate how effective a psychological therapy was compared to a biological therapy. Vihaan collected his data from one country.

Describe how Vihaan may have carried out his meta-analysis.

Vihaan collected secondary data.

Compare primary and secondary data as used in clinical psychology.

You will have learned about the classic study by Rosenhan (1973).

Describe the results of Rosenhan (1973).

Explain one strength of Rosenhan (1973).

Explain one improvement that could be made to Rosenhan (1973).

In your studies of clinical psychology, you will have learned about a key question of relevance to today’s society.

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

Key question

Evaluate the use of the longitudinal research method as used in clinical psychology.

Alba has recently been diagnosed with a mental health disorder using a classification system. She has presented with a number of symptoms including losing interest in everyday life, altered sleep patterns and an inability to express her emotions. She also occasionally has angry outbursts.

Alba’s psychiatrist has diagnosed her with schizophrenia. Her mother disagrees and thinks Alba has a different mental health disorder and wants her to see another psychiatrist who is from the same culture as Alba.

To what extent are classification systems a reliable and valid way of diagnosing mental health disorders?

You must make reference to the context in your answer.

Alexei conducted an investigation into whether appearance of the defendant can affect the decisions made by a jury. Alexei used an opportunity sampling technique to recruit participants for his investigation from a local business.

The participants watched a video of a mock trial where the defendant was found guilty. Half the participants saw the defendant in a smart suit (condition A) and the other half of the participants saw the defendant in casual clothes (condition B). The participants had to say how long the defendant should be in prison for, in months.

Explain one strength and one weakness of the sampling technique used by Alexei for his investigation about jury decision making.

Strength

Weakness

Table 1 shows the results of Alexei’s investigation.

Calculate the mean number of months participants in condition A said the defendant should spend in prison.

Mean for condition A_........

Calculate the median number of months participants in condition B said the defendant should spend in prison.

Median for condition B_........

Explain one improvement that Alexei could make to his investigation.

Describe one theory of personality as an explanation of crime and anti-social behaviour.

Jekaterina has recently had an accident which resulted in damage to her amygdala. Since the accident she has lost her temper a lot more. She has had frequent arguments with her parents.

Jekaterina’s old friends do not like to go out with her any more, as she often starts fighting with strangers. She is now going out with some new friends. Jekaterina has just been arrested by the police for hitting someone whilst she was out with her new friends. Jekaterina thinks her aggression is due to the damage to her amygdala.

Discuss how damage to Jekaterina’s amygdala may account for her aggression.

You must make reference to the context in your answer.

Denis and Angela recently witnessed a robbery at a bank. The robber was waving a gun at the bank staff as he demanded the money. Denis had to give the police a statement about what he saw and heard during the robbery. He gave detailed accounts of the gun used. He failed to pick the robber out of a selection of photographs.

Two weeks after the robbery, Angela, who enjoys watching police dramas, also gave a statement to the police. She accurately identified the robber, but she said the robber had a knife rather than a gun. Another witness who had discussed the robbery with Angela also said a knife was used by the robber.

Evaluate factors influencing the eye-witness testimony given by Denis and Angela.

You must make reference to the context in your answer.

Alexei wanted to investigate whether being in day care influenced how much children would share their toys. He used an opportunity sampling technique to recruit children for his observation from families he knew in the local area.

Alexei wanted to observe how often children would share their toys with other people. He videoed a group of children, who did not go to day care, playing in their own homes (condition A). Alexei also visited a local day care centre and videoed a different group of children playing (condition B). He tallied how many times each child shared their toys with other people.

Explain one strength and one weakness of the sampling technique used by Alexei in his observation about sharing toys.

Strength

Weakness

Table 2 shows the results of Alexei’s investigation.

Calculate the mean number of times toys were shared by children in condition A.

Mean for condition A_........

Calculate the median number of times toys were shared by children in condition B.

Median for condition B_........

Explain one improvement that Alexei could make to his investigation.

Describe one biological explanation for autism.

Jekaterina works as a child psychologist in a local health centre. She observes that most of the children she works with form an emotional bond with their parents. Most of the children are happy to explore the toys in Jekaterina’s practice room, but they get upset if they cannot see their parent.

Jekaterina is concerned about a five-year-old child she works with who often hits other children. The child’s mother went back to full-time work when the child was three months old.

Discuss Bowlby’s work on attachment with reference to Jekaterina and the children.

You must make reference to the context in your answer.

Mrs Smythe is in charge of a local nursery that looks after children aged from six months old to five years old. She has witnessed that a few of the children get very upset when their parent leaves them at the nursery.

Mrs Smythe has also noticed that different children have varied reactions to their mother or father when they are picked up from the nursery to go home. She has observed that some children are happy to see their parent at the end of the day, whilst other children are not bothered about seeing their parent at home time. Mrs Smythe has also noticed how the mothers or fathers interact with their children differs.

Evaluate Ainsworth’s types of attachment with reference to the children at the nursery.

You must make reference to the context in your answer.

Alexei conducted an investigation into whether the use of high fear tactics influenced the amount of drugs that addicts took. Alexei used an opportunity sampling technique to recruit his participants for his investigation from a local alcohol addiction centre.

Half the participants saw a video on the minor short-term effects of taking drugs (condition A) and the other half of the participants saw a video showing the severe health effects of taking drugs (condition B). One week later, the participants had to record the amount of alcohol they had consumed (in units) in the past week.

Explain one strength and one weakness of the sampling technique used by Alexei in his investigation on the use of high fear tactics on drug taking.

Strength

Weakness

Table 3 shows the results of Alexei’s investigation.

Calculate the mean number of alcohol units consumed in the past week by participants in condition A.

Mean for condition A_........

Calculate the median number of alcohol units consumed in the past week by participants in condition B.

Median for condition B_........

Explain one improvement that Alexei could make to his investigation.

Describe one learning explanation for heroin addiction.

Jekaterina takes an illegal drug. At first, she only took the drug a couple of times a week, but she now takes the drug daily. She finds that she needs to take twice as much of the illegal drug compared to when she first took it in order to feel the same effects.

When she does not take the drug Jekaterina often gets severe headaches. She now thinks that she cannot cope with her stressful job if she does not take the illegal drug.

Discuss issues around drug taking with reference to Jekaterina’s drug use.

You must make reference to the context in your answer.

Mrs Smythe works at a local doctor’s surgery as a community nurse. One of her responsibilities is to reduce the number of people in the local area who are addicted to nicotine. In order to do this, she offers help and advice to those addicted to nicotine as well as treatments. She has also set up a support group for the nicotine addicts.

Mrs Smythe has recently hired a therapist who is qualified to administer aversion therapy. She has decided to offer this to a small group of people who are addicted to nicotine. To see if the aversion therapy is effective Mrs Smythe will monitor the nicotine use of the group over a six-month period.

Evaluate aversion therapy as it is used for the group of nicotine addicts.

You must make reference to the context in your answer.