Practise Unit 1 Psychology questions on social influence, obedience, conformity, memory, cognitive processes and the studies used to evaluate these explanations.
Milgram (1963) conducted research into obedience using a laboratory experiment. His original study was conducted at Yale University with male participants recruited using an advert in a local newspaper.
Explain three ethical issues with Milgram's original study.
AO1 (3 marks), AO3 (3 marks)
Credit one mark for accurate identification of each ethical issue
(AO1)
Credit one mark for justification of each ethical issue (AO3)
For example:
• The right to withdraw was explicitly given to the
participants at the start of study (1) but by using verbal
prods it made it very difficult to actually withdraw during
the experiment itself so it was unethical (1).
• Informed consent was not obtained as they were told the
experiment was about learning not obedience (1)
therefore participants were not aware of aims of study
which was unethical but necessary to reduce demand
characteristics and gather more reliable obedience data
(1).
• Milgram caused severe distress to a number of the
participants during the experiment (1) however after
debriefing the participants were glad to have been
involved despite the unethical levels of distress the
experiment had caused them at the time, they felt it was
worthwhile (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.
(6)
State two conclusions made by Milgram following his variation studies.
AO1 (2 marks)
Credit one mark for each accurate conclusion.
For example:
• Obedience decreases when the authority figure was
not in close proximity (1).
• Obedience decreases the lower the prestige/status of
authority figure is to the teacher (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.
(2)
Explain one strength and one weakness of agency theory as an explanation of obedience to authority.
AO1 (2 marks) AO3 (2 marks)
Credit one mark for accurate identification of one strength and
one weakness (AO1)
Credit one mark for justification of each strength and each
weakness (AO3)
Strength
For example:
• Agency theory, which includes the concept of blind
obedience, is supported by a number of research studies
(1). Burger’s (2009) replication of Milgram’s original study
found that participants followed instructions and
administered shocks to the learners, supporting blind
obedience (1).
Weakness
For example:
• The theory relies on the concept of agentic state
behaviour in the presence of authority (1) so it does not
explain obedience to authority when an authority figure is
distant, such as following the law when police are not
nearby (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.
(4)
The multi-store model of memory by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) includes short-term memory and long-term memory stores.
Describe what is meant by the terms 'capacity' and 'duration'.
Capacity
Duration
AO1 (4 marks)
Credit up to two marks for each accurate description.
For example:
Capacity
- Capacity involves how many items a memory store can
hold (1), in the STM the capacity is between 5 to 9 items
(1).
Duration
- The duration involves how long a memory will last (1) for
example, the STM can hold information from 0-30
seconds (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.
(4)
Explain two ways that the case study of Henry Molaison (HM) demonstrates the difference between short-term memory and long-term memory.
1
2
AO1 (2 marks) AO3 (2 marks)
Credit up to two marks for accurate identification (AO1).
Credit up to two marks for justification/exemplification (AO3).
For example:
- HM had a functional STM but was unable to make new
long-term memories (1) which demonstrates that memory
has two distinct memory stores (1).
- He could recall events from before the operation on his
hippocampus but not any events that he experienced
afterwards (1) showing that memory stores may be
physically located in different regions of the brain (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.
(4)
Philippa carried out an investigation into memory. She used a random sample of 16 participants from her local college of 208 students.
- In Condition A participants learned and recalled a list of words in a quiet classroom.
- In Condition B the same participants learned and recalled a second list of words in a noisy coffee shop.
Calculate the fraction of the college student population Philippa used in her memory investigation.
You must express the fraction in its lowest form.
(1)
Space for calculations
Fraction
\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
AO2 (1 mark)
Credit one mark for correct answer.
For example:
\begin{itemize}
\item[-] 1/13
\end{itemize}
Reject all other answers.
\end{tabular}
(1)
Describe how Philippa could have obtained her random sample of 16 participants from the 208 college students.
(2)
AO2 (2 marks)
Credit up to two marks for an accurate description in
relation to the scenario.
For example:
- Philippa would have put all 208 names on her college
student register into a hat (1) and then used the first
16 names pulled out of the hat for the two conditions
(1).
Generic answers score 0 marks.
Look for other reasonable marking points.
(2)
Describe how Philippa could have used counterbalancing in her investigation.
AO2 (2 marks)
Credit up to two marks for an accurate description in
relation to the scenario.
For example:
- The first half of the participants on Philippa's list could
have learned and recalled in the quiet classroom
(Condition A) and then the noisy coffee shop
(Condition B) (1), the second half of the participants
could have learned and recalled in the noisy coffee
shop (Condition B) and then the quiet classroom
(Condition A) (1).
Generic answers score 0 marks.
Look for other reasonable marking points.
(2)
Explain two variables that Philippa may have needed to control when designing her word lists.
1
AO2 (2 marks) AO3 (2 marks)
Credit one mark for each accurate identification in relation to
the scenario (AO2).
Credit one mark for each justification/exemplification (AO3).
For example:
- Philippa would have needed to ensure that there were the
same number of words on each list (1) so results could
have been compared in terms of number of words recalled
as both lists are the same length (1).
- Philippa could have needed to ensure that each word list
was made up of common words that all participants could
understand (1) therefore one word list was not more
difficult to learn than the other (1).
Generic answers score 0 marks.
Look for other reasonable marking points.
(4)
Philippa decides to use a p≤0.01 level of significance on her results.
State what is meant by ' ≤ '.
Philippa concluded that students recall less words from a word list they learn in a noisy coffee shop than from a word list they learn in a quiet classroom.
\begin{tabular}[t]{l}
AO1 (1 mark)
Credit one mark for an accurate statement.
For example:
\begin{itemize}
\item[-] Less than or equal to (1)
\end{itemize}
Look for other reasonable marking points.
\end{tabular}
(1)
Justify, using working memory model, the conclusion that Philippa made. (1)
( )
AO3 (1 mark)
Credit one mark for an accurate justification.
For example:
- The phonological loop would have been overloaded from
the noise and auditory processing of words both
competing for capacity (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.
(1)
\begin{tabular}[t]{|l|l|l|}
\hline