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Issues and Debates AQA ExamPro Questions by Topic
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1 Which two of the following statements describe a strongly deterministic view? Write the letters ofyour chosen answers in your answer booklet.
A People are always responsible for their own actions
B People behave in a random fashion
C People’s behaviour always has a cause
D People exercise full choice over how they behave
E People have no choice about how to act
(Total 2 marks)
2 Name two types of determinism.
(Total 2 marks)
3 Briefly outline one problem associated with alpha bias in psychological research, and one
problem associated with beta bias in psychological research.
(Total 4 marks)
4 Briefly outline what psychologists mean by ‘levels of explanation’.
(Total 2 marks)
5 Read the item and then answer the question that follows.
A prison psychologist used an idiographic approach to study offending. He
asked two offenders to record their thoughts about their childhood and their
offending behaviour in a journal over a period of four weeks.
Qualitative analysis of the journals showed that the offenders often thought
about sad childhood events and believed that their childhood experiences had
influenced their offending.
Findings from idiographic research like the study described above are often
used as a basis for other investigations.
Explain how the researcher might develop the above investigation through taking a nomothetic
approach.
(Total 6 marks)
6 What is meant by the ‘nature-nurture debate’ in psychology?
(Total 2 marks)
Page 1 of 28
,7 Read the item and then answer the questions that follow.
Researchers used a test to measure the mathematical reasoning ability of pairs of identical and
non-identical twins. If both members of a pair had a similar score on the test, they were said to be
‘concordant’. This type of study is known as a concordance study.
Outcome of the research with the concordance rates expressed as a percentage
Genetic relationship Concordance rate
group for mathematical
reasoning ability
Identical twins
58%
(100% shared genes)
Non-identical twins
14%
(50% shared genes)
(a) Briefly explain the outcome of the study in relation to the nature-nurture debate.
(2)
(b) Some ways of establishing validity involve the use of a statistical test.
Outline how these researchers could have used a statistical test to establish concurrent
validity of the mathematical reasoning ability test.
(4)
(Total 6 marks)
8 Which of the following statements best describes a nomothetic approach in psychology? Shade
one box only.
Psychologists taking a nomothetic approach…
A study single cases and do not formulate general laws.
B study groups of people and do not formulate general laws.
C study groups of people and formulate general laws.
D study single cases and formulate general laws.
(Total 1 mark)
9 Read the item and then answer the questions that follow.
Extract from a newspaper article
Page 2 of 28
, Coping with Life’s Pressures
Depression often runs in families, but many depressed people have serious social
problems or have experienced traumatic events in the past. However, many
people find ways to cope. What we need is the will to overcome our problems.
(a) With reference to the item above, explain what is meant by ‘determinism’. Refer to three
types of determinism in your answer.
(6)
(b) With reference to the item above, identify one influence of nature on our behaviour and
one influence of nurture on our behaviour.
(2)
(Total 8 marks)
10 Read the item and then answer the questions that follow.
In a study of antisocial activity and social background, researchers interviewed
100 children aged 14 years. They then classified each child according to their
level of antisocial activity. They concluded that 26 were ‘very antisocial’, 40 were
‘mildly antisocial’ and 34 were ‘not antisocial’. The researchers found that the
majority of the ‘very antisocial’ children attended Crayford secondary school,
whereas most of the other two groups of children attended another local school.
(a) The study on the opposite page is an example of socially sensitive research.
Briefly explain how the researchers could have dealt with the issue of social sensitivity in
this study.
(4)
(b) What level of measurement is being used in this study?
(1)
(c) Explain one limitation of the level of measurement you have identified in your answer to (b).
(2)
(Total 7 marks)
11 Outline and evaluate reductionist explanations in psychology.
(Total 8 marks)
Page 3 of 28
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