A Level
A Level Psychology Paper 4
Covers Conformity and Minority Influence, Obedience and Social Change, Memory Models and Multi-Store Memory and 9 more.
Questions
Question 1 [2 marks]
Conformity and Minority Influence
Define informational social influence (ISI) as an explanation for conformity.
Give one example of a situation where ISI might lead someone to conform.
Question 2 [4 marks]
Research Methods and Statistics
Outline the difference between a random sample and an opportunity sample.
Question 3 [4 marks]
Depression and OCD
Outline cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) as a treatment for depression, with reference to Beck's approach.
Question 4 [4 marks]
Issues and Debates in Psychology
Outline the difference between hard determinism and soft determinism.
Question 5 [4 marks]
Definitions of Abnormality and Phobias
Jamal has an intense fear of buttons. He crosses the street to avoid shops with button displays and feels his heart race and his hands shake whenever he sees one.
Using your knowledge of the behavioural characteristics of phobias, explain Jamal's reaction.
Question 6 [4 marks]
Eyewitness Testimony and Forgetting
Explain how misleading information can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony, with reference to leading questions.
Question 7 [4 marks]
Explanations of Attachment and Cultural Variations
Explain two criticisms of Bowlby's maternal deprivation hypothesis.
Question 8 [4 marks]
Caregiver-Infant Interactions and Attachment Types
Explain one strength and one limitation of Schaffer and Emerson's sample in terms of generalisability.
Question 9 [4 marks]
Biopsychology: Nervous System and Brain
Explain the difference between the somatic and autonomic nervous systems.
Question 10 [4 marks]
Obedience and Social Change
Explain how a disobedient peer can reduce obedience, with reference to a variation of Milgram's study.
Question 11 [4 marks]
Depression and OCD
Explain how Ellis's ABC model was extended into ABCDE and rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) as a treatment for depression.
Question 12 [6 marks]
Approaches in Psychology
Discuss the humanistic approach in psychology.
Question 13 [6 marks]
Memory Models and Multi-Store Memory
Discuss the multi-store model of memory as an explanation of human memory.
Question 14 [6 marks]
Definitions of Abnormality and Phobias
Discuss systematic desensitisation as a treatment for phobias.
Model solutions
| Question 1[2 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying ISI as conforming because we believe others have more knowledge/information and are more likely to be right, especially in an ambiguous or novel situation | 1 |
| a suitable example, e.g. following the crowd out of a building when an alarm sounds because you assume they know there is a real emergency | 1 |
| Final answer: ISI is conforming because we believe others have better information and are more likely to be right, e.g. following others out of a building during an alarm because you assume they know it is a real emergency. | |
| Question 2[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 3[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying CBT as aiming to identify and change negative or irrational thoughts and beliefs | 1 |
| outlining that, in Beck's approach, client and therapist work together to identify negative automatic thoughts linked to the cognitive triad | 1 |
| outlining that these thoughts are then tested against evidence, with the client acting like a scientist testing a hypothesis | 1 |
| noting the aim is to replace negative thinking with more balanced, realistic thoughts to reduce depressive symptoms | 1 |
| Final answer: CBT, following Beck's approach, identifies negative automatic thoughts linked to the cognitive triad and tests them against evidence, aiming to replace them with more balanced, realistic thoughts. | |
| Question 4[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying hard determinism as the view that all behaviour is entirely caused by internal or external factors, with free will an illusion | 1 |
| a suitable example of hard determinism, e.g. a strict biological account of behaviour | 1 |
| identifying soft determinism as the view that behaviour is caused but some scope for personal, conscious choice remains within those constraints | 1 |
| a suitable example of soft determinism, e.g. the cognitive approach's view of thought as caused but still allowing active choice | 1 |
| Final answer: Hard determinism sees all behaviour as fully caused with no real free will, e.g. a strict biological account; soft determinism allows some conscious choice within causal constraints, e.g. the cognitive approach. | |
| Question 5[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying avoidance as a behavioural characteristic, since Jamal crosses the street to avoid the stimulus | 1 |
| identifying a physiological or emotional response, since his racing heart and shaking hands are consistent with an anxiety/panic response | 1 |
| identifying this as an excessive, disproportionate response, a defining feature of a specific phobia | 1 |
| noting that Jamal's phobia would likely be classified as a specific phobia, a fear of a particular object | 1 |
| Final answer: Jamal shows the behavioural characteristics of a specific phobia: avoidance of the stimulus and a disproportionate physiological panic response (racing heart, shaking hands). | |
| Question 6[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying misleading information as information supplied after an event that may distort a witness's memory of it | 1 |
| identifying leading questions as one form of misleading information | 1 |
| explaining the response-bias explanation, where the wording of the question influences the answer given without altering the underlying memory | 1 |
| explaining the substitution explanation, where the original memory is altered or replaced by the misleading information | 1 |
| Final answer: Leading questions can distort recall either by biasing the response given (response-bias) or by actually altering the memory itself (substitution). | |
| Question 7[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying that the 44 thieves study, Bowlby's key supporting evidence, has been criticised on methodological grounds | 1 |
| elaborating, e.g. Bowlby himself carried out both the interviews and the diagnosis of affectionless psychopathy, risking researcher bias | 1 |
| identifying that later research suggests good-quality substitute/later care can prevent much of the harm Bowlby predicted | 1 |
| elaborating that this questions Bowlby's claim that early deprivation inevitably causes serious, lasting damage | 1 |
| Final answer: Criticisms include potential researcher bias in the 44 thieves study, and later evidence that good-quality substitute care can prevent much of the predicted harm, questioning the claim that damage is inevitable. | |
| Question 8[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying a strength, e.g. a reasonably sized sample was followed longitudinally over time | 1 |
| elaborating, e.g. this allowed the stages of attachment to be tracked as they developed rather than relying on a single snapshot | 1 |
| identifying a limitation, e.g. the sample came from a specific social and historical context, working-class families in 1960s Glasgow | 1 |
| elaborating that findings from this sample may not generalise well to families from different cultures, social classes or time periods | 1 |
| Final answer: Strength: a longitudinal design on a reasonable sample allowed the stages to be tracked over time. Limitation: the sample's specific social/historical background (1960s working-class Glasgow) limits generalisability. | |
| Question 9[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying the somatic nervous system as controlling conscious, voluntary movement via the skeletal muscles | 1 |
| identifying that it also carries sensory information from the body to the central nervous system | 1 |
| identifying the autonomic nervous system as controlling involuntary, automatic functions of internal organs and glands | 1 |
| noting the autonomic system is not under conscious control, unlike the somatic system | 1 |
| Final answer: The somatic system controls conscious, voluntary movement and carries sensory information to the CNS; the autonomic system controls involuntary organ/gland function outside conscious control. | |
| Question 10[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying that Milgram ran a variation in which the genuine participant worked alongside two additional 'teachers' who were confederates | 1 |
| identifying that in this variation the two confederates refused to continue at a certain point | 1 |
| stating that obedience fell sharply when the genuine participant saw the confederates refuse | 1 |
| explaining this using social support, since seeing another person disobey makes it easier for an individual to resist the authority figure themselves | 1 |
| Final answer: When two confederate 'teachers' refused to continue, genuine participants' obedience fell sharply; seeing another person disobey provides social support that makes resisting the authority figure easier. | |
| Question 11[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying D as Disputing, challenging the client's irrational belief | 1 |
| identifying E as the (new) Effect, a more adaptive outlook and reduced negative emotion following successful disputing | 1 |
| identifying a disputing technique, e.g. logical disputing, questioning whether a belief logically follows from the evidence | 1 |
| noting REBT aims to change the irrational Belief (B) itself, since Ellis argued this, not the Activating event, causes the depression | 1 |
| Final answer: REBT extends the ABC model with Disputing (challenging the irrational belief) and a new Effect (a more adaptive outlook), since Ellis held the belief itself, not the event, causes depression. | |
| Question 12[6 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| outlining free will and the person-centred, holistic focus on subjective experience | 1 |
| outlining self-actualisation and/or congruence and conditions of worth | 1 |
| outlining person-centred therapy as a real-world application growing from the approach | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. it offers an optimistic, positive view of human nature and potential, unlike more deterministic approaches | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. concepts such as self-actualisation are difficult to operationalise or test scientifically, limiting scientific credibility | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. it has had significant real-world influence, e.g. underpinning person-centred counselling and broader ideas about education and therapy | 1 |
| Final answer: Outline free will, self-actualisation and person-centred therapy; evaluate the approach's optimistic view and real-world influence against its limited scientific testability. | |
| Question 13[6 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| outlining the three stores (sensory register, STM, LTM) and their features, e.g. capacity, duration, encoding | 1 |
| outlining the role of attention and rehearsal in moving information between stores | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. case studies of amnesia showing a double dissociation between STM and LTM support separate stores | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. the model is oversimplified, treating STM and LTM as single unitary stores | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. the working memory model provides a more detailed account of STM, undermining the view of STM as unitary | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. case study evidence lacks the control of experimental research, limiting causal conclusions | 1 |
| Final answer: Outline the three-store structure and rehearsal/attention processes; evaluate with case study support for separate stores, but oversimplification and challenge from the working memory model. | |
| Question 14[6 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| outlining the fear hierarchy, arranging feared situations from least to most anxiety-provoking | 1 |
| outlining relaxation training and reciprocal inhibition as the mechanism of change | 1 |
| outlining counter-conditioning, replacing a fear response with a relaxation response to the same stimulus | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. research support finding systematic desensitisation effective in reducing phobic symptoms, including in vivo studies | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. it may be less suitable for phobias with an evolutionary survival component, such as a fear of the dark or heights | 1 |
| an evaluation point, e.g. it is generally suitable for a wider range of clients than flooding, since it is more gradual and less distressing | 1 |
| Final answer: Outline the fear hierarchy, relaxation and counter-conditioning; evaluate with research support for effectiveness, its lesser suitability for evolutionarily prepared fears, and its comparative acceptability against more intense treatments such as flooding. | |