A Level
A Level Psychology Paper 3
Covers Conformity and Minority Influence, Obedience and Social Change, Memory Models and Multi-Store Memory and 9 more.
Questions
Question 1 [2 marks]
Approaches in Psychology
State two limitations of introspection as a method used by Wundt to study the mind.
Question 2 [2 marks]
Memory Models and Multi-Store Memory
State two features of long-term memory (LTM) in the multi-store model.
Question 3 [3 marks]
Caregiver-Infant Interactions and Attachment Types
Outline what is meant by 'secure base behaviour' in attachment.
Question 4 [3 marks]
Conformity and Minority Influence
Outline the effect of task difficulty on conformity, as investigated in variations of Asch's research.
Question 5 [4 marks]
Research Methods and Statistics
Outline the difference between a random sample and an opportunity sample.
Question 6 [4 marks]
Biopsychology: Nervous System and Brain
A patient can move their arm voluntarily to pick up a cup with no difficulty, but is unable to consciously control their heart rate or digestion, which continue to function automatically with no deliberate effort on their part.
Use your knowledge of the divisions of the nervous system to explain this pattern.
Question 7 [4 marks]
Depression and OCD
Explain the genetic explanation for depression, with reference to the diathesis-stress model.
Question 8 [4 marks]
Obedience and Social Change
Tom works in a warehouse. His new manager instructs him to falsify a delivery record. Tom feels uncomfortable but does it anyway, telling himself he was 'just following instructions'.
Use the agentic state explanation of obedience to explain Tom's behaviour.
Question 9 [5 marks]
Eyewitness Testimony and Forgetting
A witness to a burglary is interviewed twice, once immediately after the crime and once a week later, after discussing the event several times with a neighbour who also saw part of it. In the second interview, the witness reports a detail the neighbour mentioned that the witness had not noticed at the time.
Use your knowledge of post-event discussion to explain this change in the witness's account.
Question 10 [5 marks]
Definitions of Abnormality and Phobias
A person becomes intensely fearful of any situation involving unfamiliar groups of people, worrying they will be humiliated or judged, and avoids parties and public speaking, though they have no particular fear of any single object or animal.
Identify the type of phobia this person is most likely experiencing and describe its key features.
Question 11 [6 marks]
Explanations of Attachment and Cultural Variations
Discuss the influence of early attachment on later childhood and adult relationships (the continuity hypothesis).
Question 12 [6 marks]
Issues and Debates in Psychology
Discuss the nature-nurture debate in psychology, including the diathesis-stress model as an interactionist position.
Question 13 [6 marks]
Research Methods and Statistics
Discuss features of science, including falsifiability and paradigms, in relation to psychology.
Question 14 [6 marks]
Approaches in Psychology
Discuss the biological approach in psychology.
Model solutions
| Question 1[2 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying that introspection relies on private, subjective experience that cannot be directly observed or verified by others | 1 |
| identifying that the act of introspecting may itself change the thought process being studied, making the report less trustworthy | 1 |
| Final answer: Introspection relies on unverifiable, private experience, and the act of introspecting may itself alter the thought process being reported on. | |
| Question 2[2 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying that LTM has a potentially unlimited capacity | 1 |
| identifying that the duration of LTM can be very long, potentially a lifetime | 1 |
| Final answer: LTM has a potentially unlimited capacity and can last a very long time, potentially a lifetime. | |
| Question 3[3 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying secure base behaviour as the infant using the caregiver as a base from which to explore the environment | 1 |
| elaborating that the infant periodically returns to the caregiver for reassurance/comfort before continuing to explore | 1 |
| noting that showing this behaviour appropriately is generally taken as a sign of secure attachment | 1 |
| Final answer: Secure base behaviour is using the caregiver as a safe base to explore from, returning periodically for reassurance; it is generally taken as a sign of secure attachment. | |
| Question 4[3 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying task difficulty as a variable investigated in variations of Asch's research | 1 |
| stating that conformity increased when the task was made harder, e.g. by making the comparison lines more similar in length | 1 |
| explaining this rise using informational social influence, since a harder task increases uncertainty about the correct answer | 1 |
| Final answer: Conformity rose as the task got harder (e.g. more similar comparison lines), because the increased uncertainty made participants rely more on informational social influence from the group. | |
| Question 5[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying a random sample as one where every member of the target population has an equal chance of being selected | 1 |
| identifying a method of achieving this, e.g. assigning each member a number and using a random number generator to select participants | 1 |
| identifying an opportunity sample as one drawn from whoever is conveniently available at the time | 1 |
| noting an opportunity sample is quicker and easier to obtain, but is more likely to be biased/unrepresentative than a genuinely random sample | 1 |
| Final answer: A random sample gives every population member an equal chance of selection, e.g. via a random number generator; an opportunity sample uses whoever is conveniently available, which is quicker but more likely to be biased. | |
| Question 6[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying the voluntary arm movement as controlled by the somatic nervous system | 1 |
| identifying the involuntary heart rate and digestion as controlled by the autonomic nervous system | 1 |
| explaining that the somatic system governs conscious, voluntary actions via the skeletal muscles | 1 |
| explaining that the autonomic system governs automatic bodily processes outside conscious control | 1 |
| Final answer: Voluntary arm movement reflects the somatic nervous system; automatic heart rate and digestion reflect the autonomic nervous system, which operates outside conscious control. | |
| Question 7[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying that depression is proposed to have a genetic component/vulnerability, at least partly inherited from parents | 1 |
| reference to a candidate gene, e.g. a gene affecting serotonin function has been studied as a possible candidate | 1 |
| outlining the diathesis-stress model, that a genetic vulnerability alone is not usually enough and an environmental trigger is also needed | 1 |
| noting the model explains why not everyone with the genetic vulnerability goes on to develop depression | 1 |
| Final answer: A genetic vulnerability, possibly involving genes affecting serotonin function, is proposed to interact with an environmental trigger (diathesis-stress model), explaining why not everyone with the vulnerability becomes depressed. | |
| Question 8[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying the agentic state as acting on behalf of another, an authority figure, rather than from personal conscience | 1 |
| applying this to Tom, who shifts responsibility for the act onto his manager | 1 |
| identifying the moral strain Tom experiences (discomfort) as consistent with being in an agentic state | 1 |
| noting the phrase 'just following instructions' reflects an agentic shift away from an autonomous state | 1 |
| Final answer: Tom appears to have entered an agentic state, obeying his manager and shifting responsibility onto them, which explains both his compliance and his discomfort (moral strain). | |
| Question 9[5 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying post-event discussion as witnesses discussing an event with each other after it has occurred | 1 |
| identifying memory conformity as the likely explanation for the new detail appearing in the second account | 1 |
| explaining that the witness may have accepted the neighbour's detail through informational influence, assuming the neighbour noticed something they missed | 1 |
| noting the witness may now genuinely believe they remember the detail themselves, showing memory itself, not just the reported account, can be altered | 1 |
| a suitable further point, e.g. this illustrates why police are advised to interview witnesses separately and as soon as possible after an event | 1 |
| Final answer: The new detail likely reflects memory conformity through post-event discussion: the witness accepted the neighbour's detail via informational influence, assuming the neighbour saw something they missed, and may now genuinely believe they remember it, which is why police are advised to interview witnesses separately and quickly. | |
| Question 10[5 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying this as social anxiety (social phobia) | 1 |
| explaining that the fear centres on social or performance situations, e.g. being watched or judged by others | 1 |
| distinguishing this from a specific phobia, which centres on one particular object or situation, e.g. an animal | 1 |
| distinguishing this from agoraphobia, a fear of situations that would be difficult to escape, e.g. crowded public spaces | 1 |
| identifying avoidance of the feared social situations, e.g. avoiding parties and public speaking, as the behavioural response | 1 |
| Final answer: This is social anxiety (social phobia): fear centred on social/performance situations, distinct from a specific phobia of one object or agoraphobia's fear of hard-to-escape places, with avoidance of situations like parties and public speaking. | |
| Question 11[6 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| outlining the continuity hypothesis, that the internal working model formed from early attachment shapes expectations and behaviour in later relationships | 1 |
| outlining supporting research, e.g. Hazan and Shaver's love quiz finding an association between recalled early attachment style and later romantic relationship quality | 1 |
| identifying a further area of application, e.g. later friendships or a person's own parenting style being linked to their early attachment type | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. much supporting evidence is correlational and relies on retrospective recall of early attachment, which may be unreliable | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. not every insecurely attached child goes on to have relationship difficulties, showing the link is probabilistic rather than certain | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. the hypothesis has practical value, informing early intervention programmes aimed at improving parent-infant relationships | 1 |
| Final answer: Outline the continuity hypothesis and supporting research such as the love quiz; evaluate the reliance on correlational, retrospective evidence and the probabilistic (not certain) nature of the link, against its practical value for early intervention. | |
| Question 12[6 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| outlining the nature position, that behaviour is due to innate/genetic factors, with a suitable example | 1 |
| outlining the nurture position, that behaviour is due to environmental/experiential factors, with a suitable example | 1 |
| outlining the diathesis-stress model as an interactionist position, combining an inherited vulnerability with an environmental trigger | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. modern psychology increasingly favours an interactionist position over a strict either/or view, since most behaviours appear to involve both nature and nurture | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. epigenetics shows that experience (nurture) can influence whether or how genes (nature) are expressed, further blurring a strict nature/nurture distinction | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. a strong emphasis on either extreme can have social implications, e.g. a purely genetic explanation of achievement risking being used to justify unequal treatment of social groups | 1 |
| Final answer: Outline nature, nurture and the diathesis-stress interactionist position; evaluate with the modern shift towards interactionism and epigenetics, against the social risk of leaning on either extreme. | |
| Question 13[6 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying falsifiability as the idea that, for a theory to be scientific, it must be possible in principle to prove it wrong through testing | 1 |
| identifying a paradigm as a shared set of assumptions and methods generally accepted within a scientific discipline at a given time | 1 |
| outlining a paradigm shift as a significant change in these shared assumptions, describing how an established science, such as physics, tends to progress | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. psychology has been criticised as not yet having a single agreed paradigm, being made up of several distinct approaches that sometimes conflict | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. some argue this shows psychology is a 'pre-science' rather than a mature science | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. the use of falsifiable, testable hypotheses across most approaches suggests psychology broadly follows scientific principles even without one unifying paradigm | 1 |
| Final answer: Outline falsifiability and paradigms/paradigm shifts; evaluate psychology's lack of a single agreed paradigm against its broadly scientific use of falsifiable, testable hypotheses. | |
| Question 14[6 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| outlining that the biological approach explains behaviour in terms of genetics, neurochemistry and the nervous system | 1 |
| outlining the use of twin/family/adoption studies to estimate the genetic basis of behaviour | 1 |
| outlining the role of neurochemistry, e.g. neurotransmitters, in influencing behaviour or mental disorder | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. the approach uses objective, scientific methods such as brain scanning, strengthening its scientific credibility | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. it can be seen as reductionist/deterministic, reducing complex behaviour to biological factors alone and understating free will | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. biological explanations have led to effective drug treatments, demonstrating practical real-world value | 1 |
| Final answer: Outline genetics (twin/family/adoption studies) and neurochemistry as biological explanations of behaviour; evaluate with strong scientific credibility from objective methods and useful drug treatments, against the risk of biological reductionism/determinism. | |