Edexcel A-Level Psychology A2 Topic E Developmental Psychology Questions

AO1 (4 marks), AO3 (4 marks)
AO1
- 88 children were interviewed and a case history was built up for each of
them.
- An independent social worker also conducted interviews and assessments of
the children.
- 14 thieves were identified as having affectionless psychopathy, with 12 of
those having experienced maternal deprivation.
- It was concluded that maternal deprivation affected emotional adjustment as
only 2 of the non-affectionless psychopaths had not suffered maternal
deprivation.
AO3
- Bowlby conducted the interviews himself so there may be researcher bias in
the analysis.
- The use of an independent social worker increases the validity of the data as
it is more likely to be accurate due to the impartial nature of the social
worker.
- The reason for the maternal deprivation could have been the cause of
emotional problems, rather than the separation itself so the study lacks
cause and effect.
- Bowlby's findings led to better hospital policies with regard to parental
visiting of their children, with parents being able to more frequently visit.
Look for other reasonable marking points.

(8)

\begin{tabular}[t]{|l|l|l|}
\hline Level

Mark

Descriptor

AO1 (4 marks), AO3 (4 marks)
Candidates must demonstrate an equal emphasis between knowledge and understanding vs
evaluation/conclusion in their answer.

0

No rewardable material.

Level 1

1-2
Marks

Demonstrates isolated elements of knowledge and understanding. (AO1)
A conclusion may be presented, but will be generic and the supporting
evidence will be limited. Limited attempt to address the question. (AO3)

Level 2

3-4
Marks

Demonstrates mostly accurate knowledge and understanding. (AO1)
Candidates will produce statements with some development in the form of
mostly accurate and relevant factual material, leading to a superficial
conclusion being made. (AO3)

Level 3

5-6
Marks

Demonstrates accurate knowledge and understanding. (AO1)
Arguments developed using mostly coherent chains of reasoning leading to a
conclusion being presented. Candidates will demonstrate a grasp of competing
arguments but evaluation may be imbalanced. (AO3)

Level 4

7-8
Marks

Demonstrates accurate and thorough knowledge and understanding. (AO1)
Displays a well-developed and logical evaluation, containing logical chains of
reasoning throughout. Demonstrates an awareness of competing arguments,
presenting a balanced conclusion. (AO3)

\begin{tabular}[t]{|l|l|l|}
\hline

AO1 (1 mark), AO2 (1 mark)
Credit one mark for accurate identification of one reason (AO1)
Credit one mark for suggestion in relation to the scenario (AO2)
For example:
- Children under 12 months old are pre-linguistic (1) so Marianne
would not be able to record the words spoken/grammatical
accuracy as children do not use words at this age (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.
Generic answers score 0 marks.

(2)

AO1 (2 marks), AO3 (2 marks)
Credit one mark for accurate identification of stage appropriate
behaviour (AO1).
Credit one mark for justification/exemplification of impact on
development in each stage (AO3).
For example;
Initiative vs Guilt
- This stage involves the child interacting with other children and
playing where they have an opportunity to initiate games and
interactions with others (1). If this initiative is supported the child
will successfully develop purpose and feel secure in their decision
making and interactions with others (1).
Industry vs Inferiority
- A child would want to gain approval from others by showing their
competency in tasks and skills in order to gain confidence in their
own ability (1). Where this is not supported the child begins to
feel inferior and doubt their ability so may not reach their full
potential (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.

(4)

AO1 (4 marks), AO3 (4 marks)
AO1
- Their meta-analysis used secondary data from studies into
attachment undertaken by other researchers.
- The data source search identified suitable studies using a strict
criterion, such as excluding samples of children over 2 years old.
- A large sample of 32 studies was used, including 8 different
countries which in total involved 1,990 strange situations.
- They planned to use Ainsworth et al. (1978) as a baseline sample
distribution to measure their findings against.
AO3
- Using secondary data means that they cannot be certain that the
studies were conducted reliably by the original researchers, so the
data they used may be flawed.
- Strict criterion increases the reliability of the data sources gathered
as they could be sure that the studies were comparable.
- The sample is representative of a large, cross-cultural population
which increases the generalisability of the findings.
- The overall distribution of attachment in the US studies did not
match Ainsworth's suggestions, therefore there was no baseline
measure, limiting cross-cultural comparisons.
Look for other reasonable marking points.

(8)

\begin{tabular}[t]{|l|l|l|}
\hline Level

Mark

Descriptor

AO1 (4 marks), AO3 (4 marks)
Candidates must demonstrate an equal emphasis between knowledge and
understanding vs evaluation/conclusion in their answer.

0

No rewardable material.

Level 1

1-2
Marks

Demonstrates isolated elements of knowledge and understanding. (AO1)
A conclusion may be presented, but will be generic and the supporting
evidence will be limited. Limited attempt to address the question. (AO3)

Level 2

3-4
Marks

Demonstrates mostly accurate knowledge and understanding. (AO1)
Candidates will produce statements with some development in the form of
mostly accurate and relevant factual material, leading to a superficial
conclusion being made. (AO3)

Level 3

5-6
Marks

Demonstrates accurate knowledge and understanding. (AO1)
Arguments developed using mostly coherent chains of reasoning leading to
a conclusion being presented. Candidates will demonstrate a grasp of
competing arguments but evaluation may be imbalanced. (AO3)

Level 4

7-8
Marks

Demonstrates accurate and thorough knowledge and understanding. (AO1)
Displays a well-developed and logical evaluation, containing logical chains of
reasoning throughout. Demonstrates an awareness of competing
arguments, presenting a balanced conclusion. (AO3)

\begin{tabular}[t]{|l|l|l|}
\hline

\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
AO2 (1 mark)

Credit one mark for accurate identification.

For example:
\begin{itemize}
\item[-] Marianne used a cross-sectional research method.
\end{itemize}

Look for other reasonable marking points.
\end{tabular}

(1)

AO1 (1 mark) AO3 (1 mark)
Credit one mark for accurate identification of reason (AO1).
Credit one mark for justification of reason (AO3).
For example:
- Cross cultural research is used to investigate the
universality of children's behaviour (1). Research is
conducted across different cultures and the results are
compared to see similarities and differences between
them (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.

(2)

3(a)

\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
AO2 (3 marks)

Credit one mark for appropriate title. Credit one mark for appropriate labelling of axes Credit one mark for correct plots.

Education or Employment Activity

Look for other reasonable marking points.
\end{tabular}

(3)

AO2 (2 marks)
Credit one mark for each accurate description in relation to scenario.
For example:
- Sophia must gain fully informed consent from the parents, so they
must be told she is investigating the number of hours spent in day
care and the number of words their child can say (1).
- Sophia must keep the results of her study confidential as it could
upset a child if they knew they could not say as many words as
others could (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.
Generic answers score 0 marks.

(2)

\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
AO2 (3 marks)

Credit one mark for a correct calculation of 6 times the sum of $\mathrm{d}^{2}=192$

Credit one mark for a correct calculation of 6 times the sum of $\mathrm{d}^{2}$ divided by $\mathrm{n}\left(\mathrm{n}^{2}-1\right)=0.91429 / 0.91$

Credit one mark for a correct answer to two decimal places = 0.09

Look for other reasonable marking points.
\end{tabular}

(3)

AO2 (1 mark), AO3 (1 mark)
Credit one mark for accurate identification of improvement in relation to
scenario (AO2)
Credit one mark for justification of the improvement (AO3)
For example:
- Marianne could have used a sample of children from different
villages in other areas (1) which would give her a more
representative group of children to gather data from (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.
Generic answers score 0 marks.

(2)

AO2 (1 mark), AO3 (1 mark)
Credit one mark for accurate identification of an improvement in relation
to the scenario (AO2)
Credit one mark for justification/exemplification of improvement (AO3)
For example:
- Maud should use a more representative sample of children of
different ages and genders to take part in the spelling game (1),
which would increase the generalisability of her findings about the
use of educational games to aid spelling ability to a wider
population (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.
Generic answers score 0 marks.

(2)

AO1 (4 marks), AO3 (4 marks)
AO1
- Attachment types can be investigated using the strange situation
procedure (SSP) developed by Ainsworth.
- Classifying attachment by typologies, such as secure (Type B),
suggests attachment is a universal law of development.
- Individual differences in the temperament of a child can affect their
attachment to their caregiver leading to subjectivity in research.
- The strange situation procedure reduces attachment to the
behaviours observed within the controlled observation setting.
AO3
- The SSP is structured and highly controlled, so eliminates any
situational variables, which increases scientific credibility.
- Cassibba et al. (2001) replicated the SSP to measure attachment
types in Italy suggesting typologies can be measured scientifically as
they are objective universal laws.
- Fuertes et al. (2006) found individual differences to be a factor in the
formation of attachment, so research using the SSP may not be
scientific as it cannot eliminate this subjectivity.
- Reductionism increases the scientific nature of the SSP as
attachment behaviours can be operationalised and empirically
observed.
Look for other reasonable marking points.

(8)

\begin{tabular}[t]{|l|l|l|}
\hline Level

Mark

Descriptor

\begin{tabular[t]{l}
AO1 (4 marks), AO3 (4 marks)

Candidates must demonstrate an equal emphasis between knowledge and understanding vs assessment/conclusion in their answer.
\end{tabular}}

0

No rewardable material.

Level
1

1-2
Marks

\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
Demonstrates isolated elements of knowledge and understanding. (AO1)

Generic assertions may be presented. Limited attempt to address the question. (AO3)
\end{tabular}

Level
2

3-4
Marks

\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
Demonstrates mostly accurate knowledge and understanding. (AO1)

Candidates will produce statements with some development in the form of mostly accurate and relevant factual material, leading to a generic or superficial assessment being presented. (AO3)
\end{tabular}

Level
3

5-6
Marks

\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
Demonstrates accurate knowledge and understanding. (AO1)

Arguments developed using mostly coherent chains of reasoning. leading to an assessment being presented which considers a range of factors. Candidates will demonstrate understanding of competing arguments/factors but unlikely to grasp their significance. The assessment leads to a judgement but this may be imbalanced. (AO3)
\end{tabular}

Level
4

7-8
Marks

\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
Demonstrates accurate and thorough knowledge and understanding. (AO1)

Displays a well-developed and logical assessment, containing logical chains of reasoning throughout. Demonstrates an awareness of the significance of competing arguments/factors leading to a balanced judgement being presented. (AO3)
\end{tabular}

CRIMINOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

AO1 (8 marks), AO3 (12 marks)
AO1
- Androcentric is when research is centred on, or dominated by, males;
or takes only a
male viewpoint.
- Gynocentric is when research is centred on, or dominated by, females;
or takes only
a female or feminist viewpoint.
- Socialisation from early infancy is underpinned by social norms, values and
expectations of behaviour that are gender specific.
- Nomothetic laws of universality can ignore the effects of gender on how behaviours
may differ between males and females.
- Alpha bias refers to theories which exaggerate the differences between males and
females.
- Beta bias theories have traditionally ignored or minimised sex differences between
males and females.
- Neurotransmitter explanations of human behaviour are based on physiological
components that are unlikely to be affected by gender.
- Poor representativeness of gender differences in participant samples could limit
research findings.
AO3
- Milgram's (1963) research involved all male participants until experiment 8 where it
was found that females reported higher levels of stress and tension than male
participants, showing there is some difference in gender obedience.
- Wong et al. (1997) used MRI scans of 19 violent male criminals and compared the
size of the amygdala with 20 'normal' control subjects, but as their research was
confined to males the findings may not fully explain violence in females.
- Ainsworth et al. (1978) researched attachment in Baltimore, where she focussed on
infant-mother interactions as a marker of attachment type, excluding the father of
the child from her research, leading to a gynocentric focus of attachment.
- Bowlby (1944) theorised that maternal deprivation could lead to juvenile delinquency,
ignoring the role of paternal deprivation or male role models in his ideas about
bonding and children's emotional development.
- Evans and Davies (2000) researched books published in 1997 for children in school,
there were fairly equal numbers of males and females represented, but they were
gender stereotyped, so people learn to view males and females differently from an
early age and researchers may not be aware of unconscious bias in their research.
- Becker et al. (2002) has an alpha bias in sampling girls in Fiji to research the impact
of television on eating behaviours, demonstrating a gendered assumption that there
is a difference in how or whether eating disorders may affect boys in the same way.
- Chen et al. (2019) found that low expression of the MAOA gene in women was related
to greater happiness, yet no such association was found in men, so there are gender
differences between males and females that researchers should consider.
- Kohlberg's stage of moral development shows beta bias as it was based on interviews
with boys, and conceptualised morality with justice, yet Gilligan (1982) found women
tend to be focused on relationships when making moral decisions, so often appear at
a lower level of moral reasoning in Kohlberg's stages.
- It is likely that dopamine plays a part universally in schizophrenia, but how the
disorder is experienced may reflect gender differences in the D2 receptor given there
are differences in the onset for men and women.
- Rosenthal (1966) found male experimenters were more pleasant, friendly, honest,
and encouraging with female participants than with males, therefore male and female
participants may experience the research process itself very differently.
- Where studies have gender biased samples, such as Moscovici (1969) using just
female participants, the results may not be representative of male conformity,
limiting the usefulness of the findings.
- The APA reported that in the 2014-2015 academic year around 75\% of psychology
graduates were female, showing a reduction in male psychologists which may result
in a shift in the nature of research in psychology from previously male dominated.
Look for other reasonable marking points.

(20)

\begin{tabular}[t]{|l|l|l|}
\hline Level

Mark

Descriptor

\begin{tabular[t]{l}
AO1 (8 marks), AO3 (12 marks)

Candidates must demonstrate a greater emphasis on evaluation/conclusion vs knowledge and understanding in their answer.

Knowledge & understanding is capped at maximum 8 marks
\end{tabular}}

0

No rewardable material.

Level 1

1-4
Marks

\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
Demonstrates isolated elements of knowledge and understanding. (AO1)

A conclusion may be presented but will be generic and the supporting evidence will be limited. Limited attempt to address the question. (AO3)
\end{tabular}

Level 2

5-8
Marks

\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
Demonstrates mostly accurate knowledge and understanding. (AO1)

Candidates will produce statements with some development in the form of mostly accurate and relevant factual material, leading to a superficial conclusion being made. (AO3)
\end{tabular}

Level 3

9-12
Marks

\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
Demonstrates accurate knowledge and understanding. (AO1)

Arguments developed using mostly coherent chains of reasoning leading to a conclusion being presented. Candidates will demonstrate a grasp of competing arguments, but evaluation may be imbalanced. (AO3)
\end{tabular}

Level 4

13-16
Marks

\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
Demonstrates accurate and thorough knowledge and understanding. (AO1)

Displays a well-developed and logical evaluation, containing logical chains of reasoning throughout. Demonstrates an awareness of competing arguments, presenting a balanced conclusion. (AO3)
\end{tabular}

Level 5

17-20
Marks

\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
Demonstrates accurate and thorough knowledge and understanding. (AO1)

Displays a well-developed and logical evaluation, containing logical chains of reasoning throughout. Demonstrates an awareness of competing arguments and presents a balanced response, leading to an effective nuanced and balanced conclusion. (AO3)
\end{tabular}