ANSWERS TO PROGRESS CHECKS
Chapter One
1.1 Clinical psychology is about mental health, usually
mental ill health, and concerns the diagnosis of,
explanations for and treatments of mental disorders such
as schizophrenia, anorexia nervosa, OCD and unipolar
depression. Treatments can include drug therapy and CBT
(cognitive-behavioural therapy).
1.2 Deviance is characterised by going against social
norms and being disapproved of in society. Paedophilia
is a diagnosis that can illustrate the importance of
deviance in diagnosis of mental disorder. Dysfunction is
characterised by someone not functioning in their life,
often in more than one way. Major depressive disorder
shows the importance of dysfunction in its diagnosis, as
not being able to go to work or go out socially is one
of the symptoms. Distress refers to the individual being
distressed by their situation and hypochondriasis shows
how distress is important as it is about the fear of having
a major illness and focusing on bodily symptoms, which
is very distressing for the individual. Danger refers to
someone being a danger to themselves and/or others and
nicotine dependence is a relevant disorder as it brings
danger to the individual in terms of their own health and
also to others because of second-hand smoke.
1.3 ICD stands for International Statistical Classification
of Diseases and Related Health Problems. DSM stands for
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
1.4 Axis I considers clinical disorders, major mental
disorders, developmental disorders and learning disorders.
Axis II looks at underlying personality conditions,
including mental retardation. Axis III is about medical and
physical conditions. Axis IV focuses on psychosocial and
environmental factors that affect the disorder. Axis V is
an assessment of global functioning. In effect, this means
that Axis I is concerned with the disorder, Axis II brings
in personality, Axis III brings in physical conditions, Axis
IV looks at social and environmental issues and Axis V
considers how the person is functioning.
1.5 Section I is an introduction explaining the DSM-
5 to the user. Section II is the list of mental disorders,
including bipolar and related disorders; depressive
disorders; anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive and
related disorders. Section III is a conclusion that points
to future mental health issues and emphasises issues when
using the DSM-5 for diagnosis, such as being aware of
cultural factors in the clinician and in the patient that
can affect diagnosis. Mental disorders that are likely to
be diagnosed in the future appear in Section III, such as
internet gaming disorder.
1.6 A strength is that the DSM-5 underwent trials where
more than one clinician used the Manual to diagnose the
same patient to make sure the same diagnosis would be
given. There was reasonable reliability, which suggests
there can be confidence in the DSM-5. A weakness is that
the DSM-5 continues to rely on a medical model, where
mental ill health is a disorder that needs to be diagnosed
and treated. It can be claimed that people with features
that characterise a mental disorder if using the DSM–5 are
involved in another way of living, rather than ‘ill’.
The DSM-5 has been criticised because, although there
is some reliability, mental ill health is constructed by the
Manual, which means diagnosing a problem by listing
issues relating to that problem. The problem may not
‘actually exist’ outside the DSM-5.
1.7 If more than one person finds the same results when
repeating a study, that means the results are reliable. It
is the same for reliability of diagnosis. If more than one
clinician gives the same diagnosis from the same Manual
for the same patient (the same set of symptoms and
features) then the diagnosis is reliable.
1.8 Predictive and concurrent validity are very similar.
They are both about taking more than one measure.
Predictive validity is when one measure at one moment
in time predicts the same results from a different measure
later. Concurrent validity is when one measure at one
moment in time is the same as results from a different
measure at the same moment in time.
1
1.9 Construct validity states that two measures measure
the same thing or construct; the findings agree with one
another. For example, if measuring helpfulness, by finding
that males are more helpful in that they open a door for
others more often than females, and then finding that
males are more helpful in that they allow someone to pass
in front of them in the street more than females, then the
two measures seem to have construct validity (they both
measure gender and helpfulness). Convergent validity is
different in that there is more than one set of findings that
measure the same thing and the scores correlate.
For example, if, for a diagnosis, using a score from family
information about someone’s depression and a score from
other symptoms of depression, scores ‘converge’ in that
they correlate, then there is convergent validity.
1.10 One weakness is that co-morbidity is not easy
to diagnose using the Manual. Co-morbidity is when
someone has more than one disease or disorder and the
Manual deals with each one separately. Another weakness
is that people generally understand at least some of the
symptoms of a disorder and can respond to questionnaire
or interview data using that understanding. For example,
Lee (2006) asked teachers about children in terms of
ADHD symptoms and teachers might comment about the
hyperactivity of a child knowing that is something that
links to ADHD. This can affect the validity of findings.
1.11 Lin (1996) found a lot of agreement across cultures
as to what schizophrenia is, including symptoms and
features. There are more similarities than differences,
which suggests validity of diagnosis. Burnham et al.
(1987) found more grandiose ideas in the case notes of
white Americans than in Americans of Mexican origin,
which suggests culture is a feature in symptoms. Kulhara
et al. (2009) found better outcomes for those with
schizophrenia in developing countries, which suggests
some cultural differences in the course of the disorder,
perhaps showing a lack of validity in the diagnosis, or
some cultural differences that affect the outcomes. The
favourable outcome hypothesis in developing countries
might mean treatment is different, which suggests lack of
validity in diagnosis if treatment does not suit the disorder
in the same way across cultures.
1.12 1) The ICD-10 covers all health conditions and it is
category V that covers mental and behavioural disorders,
whereas the DSM covers just mental disorders. 2) The
ICD-10 is translated into many different languages and
used by member states of the World Health Organisation
(WHO), whereas the DSM is published by the American
Psychiatric Association (APA), is in English and is US
based. 3) The ICD is free and open to any member of the
public, whereas the DSM is not free and contributes to the
revenue of the APA.
2 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
1.13 Reliability means that if more than one clinician
carries out a diagnosis on the same person, each clinician
comes to the same diagnosis. Validity means that if two
different systems are used to measure a mental disorder,
they come to the same diagnosis. For reliability, the
diagnosis is done again using different people. For
validity, the diagnosis is done using different measures
(and can be different people). If there is no reliability,
there cannot be validity.
1.14 Offering someone a diagnosis is illness-centred rather
than person-centred. It is about telling someone what is
wrong with them (deficit-based), which is not person-
centred. Not only is diagnosis telling someone what is
wrong with them but it is telling them what they can
do to put it right. This too is not person-centred. With
mental disorders it is possible that a person must live with
them, rather than ‘put them right’, so the medical model,
which includes the idea of diagnosis, might not be the
best approach to use. This is how the recovery model goes
against the idea of diagnosis.
1.15 One symptom is hallucinations. Hallucinations can
be auditory, visual or relate to smell or touch, while voices
are the most common in schizophrenia. Voices can tell
someone what to do or warn someone of danger (not a
real danger – these are hallucinations). Hallucinations are
experiencing something that is not there and are positive
symptoms. Delusions are also a positive symptom. This
is when someone believes they have power when they do
not, or they believe someone is after them and threatening
them, when they are not.
1.16 The difference between a feature and symptom of
schizophrenia is that a feature gives details about the
disorder in the way of percentages experiencing the
disorder. A symptom is not about facts and figures, but is
about what is actually experienced, such as hallucinations
or delusions.
1.17 1) When people with Parkinson’s are given a
drug that leads to more dopamine in the system, such
as Levodopa, they experience schizophrenia-like
symptoms. This is evidence that excess dopamine causes
schizophrenia. 2) Amphetamines increase dopamine too
and they too give psychosis-like symptoms.
1.18 Humans are animals but there are differences
between different species. Some species are closer
to humans than others genetically and in their brain
structure and functioning. Animal studies are done on
rats and mice quite often, because there are similarities
in brain structure and functioning compared to humans
and it could be argued that looking at how rats process
neurotransmitters and looking at their behaviour
(e.g. to see if there is erratic behaviour) might mean
the findings can link to humans and mental disorders.
However, even if animal studies point to areas for
study, animal studies will not be helpful in uncovering
a complete explanation for a mental disorder like
schizophrenia because human cognitive processing
appears to be different.
1.19 There is excess dopamine when PCP is introduced
and there is psychostimulation. PCP is an NMDA
(glutamate) antagonist. Glutamate is limited by PCP.
Glutamate receptor antagonists can cancel out the
psychostimulant effect of PCP but the dopamine remains.
This means lower psychosis but still leaves the dopamine,
so it seems as if it is not just excess dopamine that links to
schizophrenia but there is a role for glutamate too.
1.20 Seventy-nine per cent of MZ twins were rated
abnormal in some way, including being diagnosed with
schizophrenia but also including other ‘abnormalities’;
45 per cent of DZ twins had that rating.
1.21 There might be deletions or duplications that lead to
variations.
1.22 1) Maternal infection, such as inf luenza, affecting the
foetus; 2) smoking cannabis.
1.23 1) With such complexity in gene inf luence on people,
including variations in genes coming from deletions and
duplications, for example, it is very hard to study genetic
factors underpinning schizophrenia. 2) Reducing the study
of schizophrenia to study genes and variations in genes
means not focusing on environmental inf luences, whereas
in practice it would seem that there are both genetic and
environmental inf luences at work.
1.24 Social drift is not a cause or explanation for
schizophrenia. It helps to explain why figures for
schizophrenia are higher in the lower classes and among
people with social issues such as poverty or unemployment.
However, social causation goes further and claims it
is the stress involved when experiencing poverty or
unemployment (as well as issues, such as social isolation, that
can come from urban living) that is a cause of schizophrenia.
1.25 Experiments isolate variables for study, choosing an
independent variable and a dependent variable and then
controlling other variables. Questionnaires target certain
variables for study as well, as do interviews, though they
can explore more than other methods. A difficulty with
choosing a research method for a complex situation is that
the research question is either going to be wide, and so
hard to find targeted results, or narrow, in which case the
interactions between variables are missed. Experiments
rarely study complex variables, while questionnaires
and interviews can do so, but even then interactions
between variables, rather than separate variables, are
hard to consider. This is a similar problem to studying
complex interrelationships between genes and gene
variants. Reducing behaviour to parts can be successful in
finding out about the parts that are studied, but the whole
complexity is hard to study.
1.26 Clozapine seems to work well for both positive
and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and works for
hallucinations and delusions. However, it does have side-
effects, including possible severe ones, such as affecting the
white blood cell count – but it can be helpful for someone
who has not found that other drugs work for them.
1.27 Tardive dyskinesia and extrapyramidal side-effects
both relate to problems with movement. Extrapyramidal
side-effects include tremor or rigidity, while tardive
dyskinesia refers to repetitive, purposeless involuntary
body movements.
1.28 1) Effective: a) Hartling et al. (2012) found that
haloperidol had some benefits for positive symptoms over
olanzapine. b) Meltzer et al. (2004) found that two of the
newer atypical antipsychotic drugs showed improvements
over a placebo in both positive and negative symptoms.
2) Not so effective: a) Hartling et al. (2012) found that
chlorpromazine might give a higher risk for tardive
dyskinesia than clozapine. b) Guo et al. (2011) found that
chlorpromazine and sulpiride showed more extrapyramidal
symptoms.
1.29 It is assumed that biological factors are important
but psychological factors are important too. It is assumed
that psychological factors around symptoms can be
helped using psychological interventions. The way people
experience their symptoms is individual and can be
targeted by therapy that is individual. It is assumed there is
stress involved and CBT can focus on that distress.
1.30 Belief modification, focusing and reattribution,
normalising and cognitive therapy following an acute phase.
1.31 1) Small numbers may affect generalisability. 2) Self-
report data might lack reliability and/or validity. 3) No
control group means no baseline measure of what would
have happened without the intervention. 4) No comparison
group so unable to say CBT is better (or not) than another
therapy. 5) No follow-up study so cannot know how
long any effects lasted for. 6) Not clear about how the
comparison group and treatment group were matched, such
as how long the comparison group had with a therapist, so
it was hard to draw conclusions because the comparison
group’s experiences were not known about.
1.32 1) Treatment of the patient in a real-life setting,
visiting and helping them rather than providing other
treatment. 2) Working with other professionals in a
multidisciplinary way to bring together all those who
Answers to Progress checks 3
would be supporting the individual, to provide a joined-
up approach to the person’s support and treatment.
3) Giving as much time to the individual as they need for
the treatment to work; not limiting the time for any of the
professionals involved.
1.33 1) The client has little power over decisions about
themselves and taking care of themselves because a team
focuses on supporting them and making decisions for
them. 2) ACT works best and is more likely to be found
in heavily populated areas because of cost implications of
providing such therapy.
1.34 1) Serotonin, which has a role in regulating other
neurotransmitters, as well as in moods and sleep patterns.
2) Norepinephrine (noradrenaline), which has a role
in someone being alert and attending to what is going
on around them. 3) Dopamine, which has a role in
motivation and feeling pleasure.
1.35 Some people might be genetically predisposed to
depression, and then environmental stressors are more
likely to trigger depression in that individual. Their
genetic predisposition might link to their immune system
functioning, for example, though that can be affected by
environment too.
1.36 Synaptic plasticity means receptors at the synapse can
change with regard to strength or weakness and that can
depend on usage and neurotransmitter functioning. As well
as synaptic plasticity, there is neurogenesis, including in
the hippocampus, which means neuron generation. These
two features of brain functioning show that it is not fixed;
changes are occurring both in synaptic functioning and in
neuron growth and such changes may relate to depression.
1.37 1) For: a) Krishnan and Nestler (2008) review
evidence for the monoamine hypothesis and use evidence
from people’s brains after death as well as fMRI and PET
scanning. They also suggest that animal models are useful.
There is a great deal of research pointing to issues in
monoamines when looking at depression. b) Both Haase
and Brown (2015) and Delgado (2000) make the point
that as SSRIs and other antidepressants have traditionally
focused on monoamines, such as serotonin depletion at
the synapse, and they work, this is evidence for what they
do (e.g. increase serotonin levels) in relation to the cause
of depression. 2) Against: a) Studies, including using MRI
scanning, have shown smaller volume of the hippocampal
brain region in those with depression (e.g. Campbell
et al., 2004, cited in Haase and Brown, 2015). b) Trivedi
et al. (2006, cited in Haase and Brown, 2015) found only
one third of people using the SSRI citalopram were in
complete remission and studies have found that SSRIs do
not help everyone with depression, suggesting depleted
serotonin is not the only cause.
4 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
1.38 The cognitive triad involves a negative view of the
self, world and future. If someone has a negative view of
their self, which is low self-esteem and low self-perception,
they are likely to show negative thinking about themselves
in all situations. This is likely to mean they will not
present themselves in such a way as to change that view of
themselves. If they have negative ideas about the world,
which will include other people, this is likely to mean
they do not interact with others or with work and other
situations in a way that would change their negative view.
If they have a negative view of the future, that is likely to
prevent motivation to do something about their situation
and again they are not likely to encounter situations that
will provide evidence to counter their negative viewpoint.
Negative views about the self, the world and the future are
likely to be self-perpetuating.
1.39 Schemata are ways of seeing and understanding the
world and come from experience, building organised
patterns about how things work as well as about
information. They give frameworks for representing the
world. Depression can be explained by negative thinking
coming from experiences and expectations. Schemata about
emotions can link to sadness, and schemata about thinking
can link to loss. Motivational schemata can lead to lack of
interest, and behavioural schemata can lead to withdrawal.
1.40 A model is just a suggestion about how things
might work and having biological evidence to support
the suggestion strengthens it. For example, Disner et al.
(2011) say that people with mood disturbance (issues at the
subcortical emotional level) attend to sad stimuli, which
is not the case for others. This sort of evidence suggests
that mood and emotions are involved in sadness, as the
cognitive model predicts. However, when evidence from
brain structure and functioning is offered to support the
cognitive model at some stage perhaps this becomes a
biological model, more than a cognitive model, which can
be seen as a limitation of the cognitive model.
1.41 Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs),
monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), tricyclic
antidepressants (tricyclics) and atypical antidepressants.
1.42 1) Pro effectiveness: Geddes et al. (2003), cited
in the WHO Report (2005), carried out a review and
found that using drug treatment for depression showed a
relapse rate of 18 per cent compared with 41 per cent for
a placebo group, which underlines the effectiveness of
drug therapy. 2) Anti effectiveness: The WHO Report
(2005) suggests that effective strategies for managing
depression include involving clinical education as well as
nurse care management and integration between primary
and specialist health care, which suggests that even if drug
therapy is somewhat effective, more is required.
1.43 1) Catastrophising means taking one event and
blowing it up into something that is going to happen
and is going to make everything terrible, even before the
event has happened (and indeed it might not happen).
It involves not using evidence for thoughts, which leads
to unhelpful and unhappy thoughts. 2) Disqualifying
the positive means focusing on negative things so that
anything positive is not recognised or taken into account.
This means evidence is not balanced because the negatives
will have more inf luence on thinking. 3) ‘Should’
statements, which can be about others, can lead someone
to think someone else ‘should’ do something, which is
thinking for someone else, and is not effective.
1.44 1) Pro CBT: Andersson and Cuijpers (2010) found
that CBT for depression was more effective than control
conditions (cited in Hoffmann et al., 2012). 2) Anti CBT:
Chan et al. (2006, cited in Hoffmann et al., 2012) found that
drug therapy could be useful as an addition to CBT and a
combination was more effective than using just CBT.
1.45
Statement about someone Obsession or
with OCD compulsion?
1 Repeatedly checking that a door is Compulsion
locked
2 Being afraid that there will be a fire Obsession
3 Collecting things even though there is Compulsion
no space for them
4 Worrying that something is dirty and will Obsession
contaminate
1.46 1) Hoarding is one type of OCD and comes from
an obsession. Symptoms include finding it hard to throw
things away, collecting (including adding new things
without throwing old things away) and finding it hard to
organise things, including collections. Hoarding can come
from fear of harm that might come from throwing things
away or a feeling that something might one day be needed,
which can come from having experienced deprivation at
some stage. 2) Contamination is another type of OCD and
is an obsession, leading to compulsive behaviour and rituals.
Fear of being contaminated or of contaminated things leads
to rituals such as hand washing, which can take up a lot of
time and can be hard to stop because it must go on until the
person feels clean, even after they are clean. Contamination
can be about clothes, using public phones, touching doors
or eating out. Contamination is about fear of dirt being the
cause of harm.
1.47 Thought-action fusion is about muddling thoughts
with actions, relating to cognitive biases. For example,
someone might link immoral intrusive thoughts to
believing they are doing immoral actions and they might
think that having unpleasant thoughts will lead to doing
unpleasant things. Both of these biases are about doing
harm; fear and anxiety of doing harm are characteristic
of OCD.
1.48 1) For: a) Libby et al. (2004) found that those with
OCD had higher scores than controls and those without
OCD regarding raised responsibility as well as thought-
action linking. They also had higher scores on concern
over mistakes, which was one aspect of perfectionism,
supporting the cognitive explanation for OCD. b) Tolin
et al. (2006) found that the OCD sufferer has more
obsessive-compulsive cognitions than someone in the
general population and more dysfunctional thinking,
which is evidence for the cognitive model. 2) Against:
a) Rachman (1985) developed exposure and response
prevention therapy (ERP), which focuses on exposing
someone to any situation that triggers obsessions but not
allowing the compulsions that would normally follow,
so the association between obsessions and compulsions is
broken. This is a different explanation from the cognitive
one. b) Abramowitz et al. (2005) found that ERP was
at least as effective as CT (cognitive therapy) and CBT
for OCD and so they concluded that the explanation for
OCD could not be a cognitive one entirely, as treatment
based on learning theory seemed to work.
1.49 Cognitive therapy (CT) and cognitive-behavioural
therapy (CBT) are therapies arising from a cognitive
model of abnormality, including for OCD. For example, if
dysfunctional thoughts such as those around responsibility
are claimed to cause OCD then a therapy focusing on
rebalancing such thoughts should work for OCD. CBT
rebalances thinking using techniques such as getting
evidence for thoughts (e.g. to show that someone is not
100 per cent responsible for something), which seems to
work, and this suggests the explanation is correct. On the
other hand, ERP works for CBT and is about exposing
someone to their anxiety (exposure) and sticking with it
until the response stops (response prevention), so this goes
against there being just a cognitive explanation; it appears
that learning theory explanations can help too.
1.50 1) Basal ganglia; 2) Anterior cingulate cortex;
3) Cingulate gyrus; 4) Thalamus.
1.51 1) For: Hou et al. (2012) found that those with OCD
had increased activity in the bilateral orbitofrontal cortex,
the anterior cingulate cortex and the cerebellum and
parietal cortex (p<.01). 2) Against: Though not against
brain activity explaining OCD, newer scanning studies
have found differences in other brain areas, such as the
parietal cortex and cerebellum (e.g. Sanematsu et al., 2010,
cited in Hou et al., 2012). So brain areas are not fully
known.
Answers to Progress checks 5
1.52
Term Explanation
Postsynaptic neuron The neuron receiving the message from
the synaptic gap by means of receptors
where the neurotransmitter ‘fits’; this is
the postsynaptic neuron as it is after the
neurotransmitter is released.
Presynaptic neuron The neuron taking the message down the
axon to the terminal buttons which will
release neurotransmitter into the synaptic
gap; this is the presynaptic neuron because it
has the message before the synapse.
Synapse The synapse is the gap between two neurons;
the neurotransmitter from the presynaptic
neuron goes into the synapse, ready to be
taken up by receptors of another neuron or
for reuptake.
Reuptake Reuptake is the process whereby the
presynaptic neuron takes the neurotransmitter
back from the synaptic gap. This has the effect
of reducing the quantity of neurotransmitter in
the gap and can mean depleted levels.
1.53 One limitation is that it does not continue to be
effective over time, as shown by both Koran et al. (2002)
and Romano et al. (2001). Both these sets of researchers did
a study where the person with OCD either continued with
their treatment or had a placebo, and in both the studies
there was a fairly high rate of going back to OCD symptoms
if the drug was continued (17.5 per cent and 21 per cent) and
both showed that, if a placebo was taken, relapse was even
higher (38 per cent and 59 per cent). This suggests the drug
therapy is not continuously effective, though it does show it
is more effective than a placebo. Another limitation is that
drugs affect individuals differently and it can be hard to get
the drug and the dosage right for each person. This tends to
be done by trial and error.
1.54 Checking is time-consuming and distressing for
someone with OCD. It can be helpful in alleviating fear
from obsessive thoughts about something bad that might
happen if the checking is not done. However, it can take
over and also does nothing to show the individual that the
‘bad thing’ might not happen. CBT helps by focusing on
the obsessions, such as how likely the ‘bad thing’ is and
what evidence there is for it. This can help to rebalance
thinking. Behavioural experiments can be used to look at
what would happen if the checking did not take place, so
someone can see that without the checking the ‘bad thing’
does not occur.
1.55 1) For: Cordioli (2008) claims that CBT is effective
for around 70 per cent of patients who work with it.
2) Against: the POTS team show that CBT is effective
for OCD; however, they also found that sertraline was
6 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
effective and that combining CBT and sertraline is the
most effective.
1.56 1) Physical symptoms from bad diet and low weight
include exhaustion, sleeping difficulties, difficulty with
concentration, dizziness and feeling cold. 2) Anorexia
nervosa leads people to think they are fat when they are
thin and they have an unrealistic body image regarding
size. The individual with anorexia nervosa has an extreme
fear of gaining weight. An important point is that those
with anorexia nervosa do not see themselves in a mirror as
others see them; they tend to see themselves as bigger than
they are. Self-esteem seems to be dependent on their body
weight and shape.
1.57 Identical twins (MZ) twins are more likely to both
have anorexia nervosa when one has it than are non-
identical twins (DZ) twins. MZ twins share 100 per cent
of their genes and DZ twins share just 50 per cent of their
genes. If MZ twins have a higher concordance rate for a
characteristic than DZ twins do, that suggests there is a
genetic basis for that characteristic. Holland et al. (1988)
found 56 per cent (14) of the 25 MZ twins were concordant
(both had anorexia nervosa) compared with 5 per cent
(1) of the 20 DZ twins. Kipman et al. (1999) give the
concordance rate for MZ twins as about 44 per cent and
for DZ twins about 12.5 per cent. Both these studies, and
others, as reported in Kipman et al. (1999), found a much
higher concordance rate for MZ twins compared with DZ
twins. Twin studies, therefore, support the idea that there is
a genetic explanation for anorexia nervosa.
1.58 1) If not all MZ twins both have anorexia nervosa
when one has it then the cause cannot be purely genetic as
MZ twins share 100 per cent of their genes. A weakness
in the genetic explanation is that it may just show
predisposition, which leaves much about anorexia nervosa
unexplained. 2) It is hard to study genes in disorders
like anorexia nervosa because one gene is unlikely to be
responsible for the disorder; it is more likely that there
are gene variants, as Scott-Van Zeeland et al. (2013/2014)
consider in their study. This complexity is very hard
to study and not enough is known to explain anorexia
nervosa completely using genes.
1.59
Feature ✓ or ✗ Feature ✓ or ✗
5HT2A Family support for being
✗ ✓
thin
Being in a Western Having television
✓ ✓
culture
MZ twins – higher ✗ Serotonin functioning ✗
concordance
1.60 1) There is experimental evidence from Bandura Mitchell et al. (2013) found that antidepressants could
(and others) to show that children imitate what they be effective in bulimia nervosa but less so with anorexia
see, including imitating role models and people of the nervosa. Atypical antipsychotics were found not to be that
same gender. When cultural factors such as being thin useful for anorexia nervosa.
representing being attractive are said to explain anorexia
1.65 100 per cent of people stopped to talk to the student
nervosa, this is an example of social learning and fits well
in the university campus when they were asked a question,
with Bandura’s findings. Having theory that is backed
which was taken as the norm in the outside world. Whereas
by experimental evidence to support an explanation for
with regard to the psychiatrists in the hospital, just 4 per cent
a disorder adds strength to the explanation. 2) There is a
stopped to talk, 71 per cent went on by and 23 per cent just
lot of evidence to show that cultural factors can explain
made eye contact. Similarly, the nurses and attendants did
anorexia nervosa. For example, Garner and Garfinkel
not stop to talk either. Just 0.5 per cent stopped and talked,
(1980) showed that dance and modelling students tended
88 per cent went on by and 10 per cent made eye contact.
more to anorexia nervosa and dieting than ‘normal’ or
The figures show clearly that staff did not interact with
music students. Another piece of evidence is Willemsen
patients, even when asked a question.
and Hoek (2006), who found that a black woman that
grew up in a culture that valued voluptuousness as 1.66 Rosenhan found that, in the hospital, behaviour was
attractive developed anorexia nervosa when she moved to interpreted from the distorted perception that a patient
a culture that valued thinness. had a mental disorder, so, for example, taking notes was
called ‘engaging in writing behaviour’. He found that
1.61 1) Phase one focuses on restoring weight to near
the pseudo-patients had very little interaction with staff
normal and on parents working to restore the weight,
and were depersonalised, which they found hard to deal
though there is collaboration with the individual. 2) Phase
with. These two findings alone suggest that outside the
two focuses on the young person taking back control over
hospital such patients’ behaviour could be interpreted
their eating and this only happens when Phase one has got
more normally and also there would be more interaction
the weight back to near normal. Focus on eating is lifted and
with other people, which would be helpful for their state
tension reduced and ‘normal’ behaviour is encouraged, such
of mind. The pseudo-patients felt they had to ‘personalise’
as the family going out for a meal. 3) Phase three focuses
themselves and no doubt the patients would feel the
on helping the young person to find their identity, such as
same. This might be less necessary outside the hospital
making their own decisions and interacting appropriately
setting. This evidence suggests that treatment away from a
(according to their age, for example) with others.
hospital setting would be better for the individual and that
1.62 Dare et al. (2001, cited in Fairburn, 2005) found that labelling is not helpful.
family-based therapy (FBT) was good for adults
1.67 1) Rosenhan used eight people who individually
(as was psychoanalytic therapy and cognitive analytic
went into 12 hospitals, so there were 12 instances of
therapy). They found that there was a good outcome for
the study, which means the findings are likely to be
13.8 per cent of the sample and a substantial improvement
reliable. 2) Rosenhan’s study, by using 12 hospitals in
for 18.5 per cent of the sample. When using an adolescent
different US states, is likely to be generalisable. He chose
sample in the same study, there was a good outcome for
different types of hospital too, such as whether they were
37.5 per cent, and 25 per cent improved substantially. The
understaffed, whether they were old or new and whether
figures do show improvement, but they are low percentages
they were a research hospital or not. This adds to the
so it seems that they only worked for some individuals.
generalisability of the findings.
Also the figures for young people were double those for
the whole sample, which suggests the psychotherapies 1.68 NMDA receptors are glutamate receptors.
(including FBT) were not as good for adults. Antagonists block the receptors so there is lower
glutamate in the synapse.
1.63 1) Olanzapine (an atypical antipsychotic) gives
weight gain and can help with lowering anxiety and 1.69 Glutamate deficiency can arise from blocking
eating difficulties. 2) Citalopram (an antidepressant) helps NMDA receptors. Glutamate has a role in behaviour,
with depression and obsessions and compulsions that can possibly as a brake to inhibit behaviour, or at least it
go with anorexia nervosa. affects certain pathways in the brain. If there is glutamate
deficiency due to an NMDA antagonist (which blocks the
1.64 1) Crisp et al. (1987, cited in Aigner et al., 2011)
receptors) this would mean failure of the direct pathway
found, using 16 patients with anorexia nervosa, that
(which glutamate serves) and behaviour may be inhibited,
clomipramine (a tricyclic antidepressant) did not give
including ‘lack of reaction’, which might explain negative
significant weight gain compared with a placebo. 2)
symptoms in schizophrenia.

Answers to Progress checks 7

1.70 The questionnaire has to be reliable and that means
answers must be the same, even if the questions are asked
on a different day. This means questions must be asked in
the same way to all respondents, which means training
interviewers.
1.71 Health-related quality of life includes three main
questions. One question asks how good they would
say their physical health has been, one asks about their
mental health and one asks about how limited their usual
activities have been. There are other questions as well.
The aim is to see how far someone’s health affects the
quality of their life according to them.
1.72 The scores are the mean number of days in the past
30 days someone says are impaired for them, considering
issues such as how good their physical and mental health are
and how much their health affects their usual activities.
1.73 The score used was based on the number of days
someone said they experienced certain symptoms, which
is not an absolute measure and might change day-by-
day, yet it was taken as a firm enough score to make a
diagnosis of depression. As Kroenke et al. (2008) said,
from the point of view of the individual, it would be
necessary to follow up on such a diagnosis with a clinical
interview to get more information, to inform treatment
ideas.
1.74 CBM-I uses imagery to train someone to interpret
ambiguous situations in a positive way, which is a direct
focus on parts of depression and on one element. CBT
starts with thoughts, such as negative interpretations of
ambiguous situations, works through the feelings that
arise and then looks at the behaviour that might follow.
CBM-I starts with the elements and CBT starts with the
information processing, so CBM-I is bottom-up and CBT
is top-down.
1.75 The patients are randomly allocated to either the
intervention group or the wait-list group so that there
is a control group and an intervention group. This is an
RCT. For ethical reasons, the wait-list control group has
treatment after the trial is over.
1.76 Standardised means replicable and checked for
reliability, and is used in many studies for that reason.
It also means that comparisons can be made between
studies that use that ‘standard’ measure. Questionnaires
must have identical list items and in the same order, to
preserve the strengths of them being standardised.
1.77 The intervention group is the one having the
treatment and in this study they had seven days of
cognitive-bias modification training and ten weeks of
internet-based cognitive-behavioural therapy. The wait-
list control had no treatment for the 11 weeks of the study
8 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
(but did undertake the questionnaires to measure their
depression and so on). They subsequently received the
ten-week iCBT course.
1.78 A follow-up means going back to the participants
(in both groups) and running the tests with them again to
see whether the reduction in depression symptoms had lasted
over a period of time.
1.79 If individuals have rare and different gene variations,
it is hard to draw general conclusions from those with
anorexia nervosa and those without to say what gene
variants are implicated in the disorder. A study would
need to exclude any individuals with specific differences
in gene variants as it would want to focus on ‘all’ those
with anorexia and their gene variants compared with
many without anorexia (but with no specific differences)
as controls. Any general gene differences might be masked
if individuals have specific gene variations.
1.80 The focus was on the EPHX2 gene, which is the
Epoxide Hydrolase 2 gene. There was also some focus
on the ITPR3 gene and the ESR2 gene. They seemed
to focus a lot on the EPHX2 gene, for example, in their
discussion as well as in the results.
1.81 The ESR2 and EPHX2 genes.
1.82 There is a large sample, for both those with
anorexia nervosa and those in the control group(s), and
this means that findings should be more generalisable to
the target population. However, the target population
is all those with anorexia nervosa, which is a very large
target. When a study focuses on gene variations, a
very large number of people are needed to balance out
individual differences in gene variations and to identify
gene variants that might go with anorexia nervosa.
Scott-Van Zeeland et al. (2013/2014) emphasise their
large sample sizes and see that as necessary and a strength
when generalising their findings. However, they also
show in their discussion that they would need even
larger numbers to obtain more definite findings.
1.83 1) BMI between the two is quite different, with
one being around 15.6 and one nearer 22, which shows
a large difference. The point though is that the controls
have a different body size because it might be actual body
size that causes the problems in judgement in those with
anorexia nervosa. 2) Shoulder width is quite different
between the two groups – 37.6 centimetres compared
with 41.5 centimetres in the controls. Again this might be
expected given that those with anorexia nervosa are going
to be considerably underweight. 3) With regard to score
on the body shape questionnaire, the controls have nearly
half the score compared with those with anorexia, which
again is to be expected as body shape image is likely to be
different between the two groups.
1.84 1PP meant first person perception (of body size) and
Mean score on the CY-BOCS
3PP meant third person perception (of body size). First
person perception meant judging whether their own
body would pass through the opening and third person
perception meant judging whether the experimenter’s
body would pass through the opening. These were the
two conditions of the study.
1.85 Demographic variables are someone’s personal
statistics, such as age, gender, length of time in education,
occupation and marital status.
1.86 p<.0001 means that 1 person in 10,000 might go
against the hypothesis but 9,999 would go along with
the hypothesis. This is a very strong level of significance.
The probability of the results being due to chance is 1 in
10,000. p<.05 means that the probability of the results
being due to chance is 1 in 20. This is the most generous
level of significance that is accepted in psychology, so,
although at p<.05 findings are significant, they are not
‘strongly’ significant.
1.87 By gathering self-report data at one moment in
time in their study, Masellis et al. (2003) found out how
people felt about how their illness affected their quality
of life at that moment. Quality of life is something
that covers time, and at that moment a person might
have been feeling OK about their OCD because it was
not too bad and because the depression (if there was
depression) was under control. At another time they may
feel differently about the illness so a longitudinal design
would be better when measuring something as enduring
as quality of life.
1.88 The four conditions were: 1) the placebo pill for
12 weeks; 2) CBT alone for 12 weeks; 3) sertraline
(an SSRI) alone for 12 weeks; and 4) CBT and sertraline
combined for 12 weeks.
1.89 There were a number of reasons: 1) If they
were already on medication that would affect them
taking the placebo and the SSRI, as the children and
adolescents could not be given medication if they were
already on a treatment plan; 2) If they had already had
CBT and it had not succeeded, as that would affect
their view of it and its likely effectiveness; 3)If they
had a developmental disorder, bipolar disorder or some
other disorder that might affect the effectiveness of
the treatment for OCD (this relates to co-morbidity,
which means having more than one disorder at the
same time).
1.90 The following graph shows how the mean CY-
BOCS scores fall over the weeks of therapy, for the three
conditions (without the placebo condition).
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
CBT-alone Sertraline-alone Combined
sertraline and CBT
Key
Mean CY-BOCS score Mean CY-BOCS score
at baseline at four weeks
Mean CY-BOCS score Mean CY-BOCS score
at eight weeks at twelve weeks
Over the weeks of the therapy, in all three conditions, the
CY-BOCS scores fall (mean scores), showing the success
of each therapy. Sertraline alone is not that much different
at eight and twelve weeks, the other two conditions show
clear falls and a clear trend, though sertraline alone also
falls from baseline to eight weeks.
1.91 The standard deviation shows the spread of scores
around the mean. For example, the mean scores at the
baseline measures do not have a large spread of scores
around the mean (the standard deviations go from 4.7 to
3.0). However, at Week 12 the spread of scores is larger,
in particular for the three main conditions (excluding the
placebo). The three main conditions at Week 12 have a
standard deviation of between 8.6 and 9.5.
1.92 The study looked at effectiveness of treatment for
OCD in young people and the aim was to find out what
would be suitable treatment for that age group. The
focus was on all children and adolescents with OCD
so the findings had to be firm enough to say they were
true of that target population. That means they had to
be generalisable and that is why the team chose three
sites and a reasonably large sample spread across the
age range they were interested in. If the results were
not generalisable to their target population then the
treatments suggested by the study could not be reliably
prescribed.
1.93 1) Luhrmann et al. (2015) found that hearing voices
in the US was seen as a negative experience, whereas
hearing voices in India and in Ghana was seen as more
positive. This suggests the definition of a mental disorder
might be different across cultures. 2) Katz et al. (1988)
thought that differences in schizophrenia in different
countries (e.g. India and Nigeria) came from the idea
that different problems in certain countries guide the
Answers to Progress checks 9
 symptoms of schizophrenia in those countries. This can
mean that mental health is in fact differently defined
(viewing symptoms differently).
1.94 1) Gray (1999) suggests that it is excessive stress in the
workplace that is the issue and psychological effects include
problems with sleep, poor concentration and aggression,
which can lead to accidents at work. Accidents at work can
cost society in terms of productivity and financial issues.
2) Mind reported one in five people have a day off work
because of stress, one in four people have thought about
resigning because of stress and one in ten do resign due to
stress. This is important to society because of productivity
and financial reasons, as well as for the individual.
Chapter Two
2.1 1) The BPS Code of Conduct and Ethics (2009)
mentions competence as a very important ethical principle
and Milgram checked his competence to carry out his study
by asking colleagues what results they would expect from his
study. The HCPC mention competence too and suggest that
if there are issues the individual must consult with another
practitioner. 2) The HCPC guidance suggests that informed
consent must be obtained in order to use a service with
someone and this is very similar to saying informed consent
must be obtained when using someone as a participant in a
study. 3) The HCPC need people registering with them to
keep service users safe, such as from infection and also from
others (supervision is required). Service users must be kept
safe from a professional’s poor judgement due to poor health
and there are other examples about keeping service users safe
(such as confidentiality). The BPS guidance also discusses
responsibility for others.
2.2 In clinical psychology, the focus is likely to be on how
a disorder develops or perhaps how a treatment is effective
over time. A longitudinal design helps because it enables
the same person or group to be followed over time to see
the effects of a disorder or treatment. One problem with
using a longitudinal design in clinical psychology is that
there are special ethical issues when obtaining data from
someone with a disorder. Using a longitudinal design can
be seen as more intrusive than when data are collected just
once because there might be more pressure on someone
to consent when they are part of a study already. Another
problem is that participants are likely to drop out of the
study. This might not be deliberate. Someone might finish
the treatment programme or be put onto another type of
treatment (or choose to change their treatment). Having a
high drop-out rate can be a problem for any longitudinal
study but perhaps especially when someone has a mental
disorder and might not always make their own decisions.
10 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
Vallentine et al. (2010) found they had quite a high drop-
out rate when studying the effect of a psycho-education
group on offenders in a high-security institution suffering
from mental disorder like schizophrenia.
2.3 A cross-sectional design is when someone wants to
look at the development of a behaviour or at the course
of a mental health disorder, for example, and they want
to uncover findings quickly. They would choose two
or more groups of participants to represent the times
they want to know about, and then collect data from the
different groups at one moment in time. Then they can
compare the findings of the different groups to look for
differences or similarities over time, but still doing the
study at one moment in time.
2.4 By choosing every third person, the first and second can
never be in the sample, in the list. This does not mean that
there are important differences in every third person, but
there might be. Random sampling means everyone has an
equal opportunity to be chosen, so the sample is more likely
to represent the population of interest. Taking every third
person diagnosed with schizophrenia means not everyone has
an equal chance of being in the sample, and that can cause
bias. Perhaps there are times of day when people present with
a mental disorder or other reasons for people being sectioned
because of a mental disorder. That might cluster certain
people with schizophrenia in an uneven way. We don’t know
this, but it is a possible cause of bias.
2.5 Standardisation of scales and tests means that they
are checked for reliability, such as using test-retest (using
the same participants and doing the test more than once)
or split half reliability (the scale is split into two halves,
each half having items that measure the same things, and
so the scores for one person on both halves, if the scale is
reliable, should match). This is useful because it means the
scales can be used by other researchers, knowing that the
scale (or test) gives reliable data. Also there can be piloting
of items, to check they are understood. Such a scale or test
must also be valid, and must measure what it claims to
measure. This too can be tested so researchers know they
have a ‘good’ measure of the studied construct. If the same
scale or test is used in different studies, and is reliable and
valid, comparisons between studies are also possible.
2.6 A longitudinal study does not have a cohort effect
in the sense that the same cohort (the same people) is
followed through the study. A cross-sectional study can
have a cohort effect because it uses different people at one
moment in time, often people of different ages in order
to show a pattern; results can come from the participants
being from a different time in a culture. People brought
up in an economic depression might behave differently to
people brought up in a time of plenty, for example, and
if studies use two groups with such different upbringing
they need to take care when comparing the two groups.
2.7 It is hard to study whether a behaviour or characteristic
comes from someone’s nature (biological inf luences) or
nurture (environmental inf luences). Each individual is
affected by both nature and nurture even before birth so
separating the two for study is very difficult. One way of
studying what is ‘natural’ in human beings is to see if all
cultures exhibit the same behaviour or characteristic. If
they do that suggests it comes from our ‘nature’. Differences
shown in behaviour and characteristics between cultures
are likely to come from upbringing and environment. This
is assuming that human nature is the same in all people
and that upbringing and environment is different between
cultures. Cross-cultural studies can examine differences and
similarities between cultures and can help to establish what
is ‘nature’ and what is ‘nurture’ in humans.
2.8 Cultures have in the past (and perhaps currently in some
cultures) preferred to steer children away from writing
with their left hand. This means that any study looking at
handedness, if asking people if they are right- or left-handed
(or mixed), will only find out what hand someone says they
use and if that use was because of pressure in childhood, then
they might be left-handed but not acknowledge that fact,
having been pressured to use their right-hand. If a study looks
at handedness as a feature of an individual, it needs to know
‘true’ handedness, not what someone has learned to do.
2.9 Stafford et al. draw on 27 studies that use the same
method for collecting data (randomised controlled trials)
and focus on the same issues when considering types
of treatments (psychosis and schizophrenia), so that the
studies are comparable. They use a lot of studies and the
findings of the studies, and then draw overall (‘meta’)
conclusions by analysing all those findings, which makes
the study a meta-analysis.
2.10 Primary data are where data are gathered first
hand by the researcher(s) using research methods such as
observation, questionnaire, case study or experiment. The
data come directly from participants that take part in the
study. Secondary data are already gathered, possibly for
some other purpose, and are there ready to be analysed.
They are not gathered by the researcher(s) directly.
2.11 A main weakness is that it is hard to generalise from
findings from a case study to say they are true of other
situations. A case study is so focused on an individual or
a small group that claiming the results show something
about other people can be difficult. However, a strength
is that, even without generalisability, the detail that is
gathered about the individual or small group is so rich and
in depth that, with triangulation to examine the strength
of the data, being gathered from different sources and in
different ways, credibility can be claimed. The strength
is that this is such a good way, in terms of both reliability
and validity, to find in-depth information about someone,
indeed it is ‘the’ way of doing so.
2.12 Lavarenne et al. (2013) are looking to see if one session
of the Thursday group, which is a group for those with
psychosis (out-patients), shows that the group offers the
boundaries that people with fragile ego boundaries require.
The researchers are looking for evidence that the group
members talk about things that show they are using the
group and the group’s members as a boundary in their lives.
They find that the group acts as a boundary between the
member’s self and other people. An issue here is that there is
a clear aim, focus on the analysis comes from that aim, and
they find what they were looking for. Analysing the data
looking for issues that can relate to lack of boundaries is likely
to mean that is what is found. This can cause bias in findings.
2.13 1) The focus is on one small group only; 2) The data
are detailed and in depth focusing on that one small group.
2.14 A psycho-education programme might include how
to deal with a disorder, such as coping strategies, including
how to go out or what to eat. It is likely to include
information about the disorder, such as how it can be
explained, what symptoms and features are likely, as well
as possible treatments and their implications. A psycho-
education group might also focus on how to interact with
others and other such issues about communication.
2.15 Vallentine et al. (2010) used questionnaires to
gather quantitative data but they did not enable each
participant to give detail about their experiences of the
psycho-education programme they had attended. The
interviews enabled them to gather qualitative data, which
were detailed and in depth, coming directly from the
participants, regarding their feelings about the psycho-
education programme they had attended.
2.16 Goldstein (1988) used the number of times someone
went back into hospital (re-hospitalisations) and the length
of time they stayed in hospital each time (length of stay)
when drawing conclusions about whether females had
a different course in their illness than males. Both these
scores come from data already gathered by someone else
for some other purpose, so they are secondary data.
2.17 Content analysis involves going through data,
counting the number of times a category, theme or idea
occurs; this is, like thematic analysis, driven by theory.
The theory puts forward an idea of what is likely to occur
and thematic analysis is done with this idea in mind.
Grounded theory involves sorting the data from what
is found rather than with a theory in mind. This is like
thematic analysis, driven by the data, without a theory,
deriving categories from what the data offer.
Answers to Progress checks 11
 2.18 Strengths: 1) Participants can verify the data, which
gives validity, because they can read the analysis without
training and can comment. 2) Thematic analysis can be
used if a theory is driving the research question and so the
researcher knows the issues they want to use to categorise
the data or it can be used to develop themes and ideas
from the data without being theory-driven, so there is
f lexibility. Weaknesses: 1) There might be subjectivity
because without a theory to drive them the researcher will
generate themes from the data directly and has to make a
judgement about what makes a theme. 2) Data often come
from questions, such as questionnaire or interview, so they
would already be driven into themes by those questions.
It is hard to separate themes that are driven by the data-
gathering from themes arising from the data.
2.19 Memoing means the researcher making notes about
their choices and judgements when using grounded
theory, so there is a record of how the process took place
in a given study.
2.20 1 and 2 are examples of inductive reasoning and
3 is an example of deductive reasoning. For example, if
social support helps with schizophrenia and Henry has
schizophrenia, then some support for Henry will help.
2.21 Coldwell et al. (2011), in their title, claim their
study uses grounded theory and mention it too in their
procedure. They said that the focus of the first interviewing
came from a literature review in the field of interest (how
people with schizophrenia can contribute to the family),
which is against grounded theory in that it suggests a theory
guided the interview questions. However, the researchers
coded the data they gathered through the interviewing.
They used one another to check for reliability, and when
they put forward ideas about themes, they re-interviewed
the participants to check that their themes were consistent
with the data. Their study is, therefore, an example of
moving from data to themes and from that to a framework
for further ideas. The researchers also used memoing and
a ref lexive journal to chart their decision-making, in
accordance with how grounded theory takes place.
2.22 No, 5 per cent is the most generous level of
significance that is accepted – 5 in 100 and not 10 in 100,
which is too generous to be a useful finding.
2.23 One-tailed, as it predicts direction (higher).
2.24 A Wilcoxon test.
2.25 Because you need to know whether the hypothesis
was one- or two-tailed.
2.26 Type I error (If I wrongly rejected the null hypothesis).
2.27 A = directed; B= summative; C= conventional.
12 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
Chapter Three
3.1 1) Formulation to put together a treatment plan for an
offender, which is part of the clinical role. 2) Offering advice
about an offender, such as regarding parole. 3) Carrying out
research, such as considering interventions, as in Nagi and
Davies (2015).
3.2 1) Sampling techniques; laboratory experiments; field
experiments; analysis of quantitative data using descriptive
and inferential statistics; analysis of qualitative data using
thematic analysis; BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct (2009);
risk management; issues of reliability, validity, objectivity,
credibility and ethics in research in psychology; amygdala
and aggression; possibly CBT; some ideas about case
studies. 2) Analysis of qualitative data using grounded
theory; HCPC and its principles; case studies.
3.3 Anti-social behaviour refers to acts that upset others
and that tend to be referred to as nuisance or harassment.
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 describes it as acting in
a manner ‘that caused or was likely to cause harassment,
alarm or distress’. Examples are loud music at night or
drinking in the street.
3.4 If an explanation for crime is that it is about copying
criminal behaviour, then that relates to social learning
theory and the idea that people imitate what they observe,
particularly what they observe in role models. If an
explanation for crime is that it might be encouraged, that
can relate to operant conditioning, which suggests that
people do again what they are rewarded for. If crime is
rewarding, then the behaviour might be repeated.
3.5 Criminological psychology is the study of crime and
anti-social behaviour, looking at these from a psychological
viewpoint. An example is the study of influences that might
affect sentencing, including eyewitness testimony unreliability
and factors affecting juror decision-making, considering how
bias might be introduced by such factors. Another example
is the study of explanations for crime and how it might come
about, including biological explanations, such as personality
and brain structure, and social explanations, such as labelling
and the self-fulfilling prophecy.
3.6 1) The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and
Children found that more males than females reported
being involved in anti-social behaviour and males
reported being involved in more anti-social (and problem)
behaviours than females. 2) Moffitt et al. (2003) report
that, in a longitudinal study, for every ten males that show
a pattern of persistence regarding anti-social behaviour,
there is just one female. 3) Government statistics on
women and the criminal justice system in 2013 (reported
in 2014) consistently show more issues linked to aggression
and anti-social behaviour in males than females in custody.
3.7 According to Brower and Price (2001), aggression refers
to threatening behaviour and can include physical assault
directed at someone or at the environment. Violence refers
to inflicting physical harm in a way that goes against social
norms. The difference here is that someone who is aggressive
can hit out and shout but might not harm someone or break
social norms, whereas aggression becomes violence when
someone is hurt and such norms are broken.
3.8 Case studies give good detail and tend to be able to
cover many aspects of someone’s functioning, which
means they are less reductionist in that they capture whole
functioning. This tends to mean data are valid. However,
they are studies of just one person (or sometimes a small
group), which means the findings are hard to generalise
from. For example, a brain injury is specific to an
individual and generalising from how their injury affects
them might not be suitable.
3.9 Elbogen et al. (2012) found many factors related to
war veterans being arrested, including PTSD and anger
and irritability factors. However, they did not find that
arrests in war veterans were related to traumatic brain
injury. Labbette et al. (1997, cited in Brower and Price,
2001) reported on two cases where frontal brain injury
improved impulsivity and anti-social behaviour, going in
the opposite direction to the findings from most studies.
3.10 There were participants in the experimental
condition – in Yang et al., these were 27 people who
were psychopaths. There were also 32 controls, which
means that 32 people acted as a control group and were
not psychopaths. Controls tend to be matched in a lot of
ways so that they differ only in terms of the independent
variable, which in this study is psychopathy. It is good
to use a control group of people without the IV so
there is baseline information against which the group
of interest can be measured. When Yang et al. (2009)
found that psychopaths had 17.1 per cent less volume in
the left amygdala and 18.9 per cent less volume in the
right amygdala, it is important to know what this volume
was ‘less than’ and it is the control group that gives the
‘normal’ amygdala volume. That is its purpose.
3.11 Pardini et al. (2013) found that a lower amygdala volume
meant more aggressive and violent behaviour and psychopathic
traits at a three-year follow-up than a control group of men
with normal sized amygdala. Glenn et al. (2009) found that
more ‘psychopathic’ individuals had reduced amygdala activity
during moral decision-making. These are different findings
because one study looks at amygdala volume and the other
looks at amygdala activity. They are related findings because
both reduced volume and reduced activity relates to the issues
studied. They are different because Glenn et al. look at moral
reasoning being reduced and Pardini et al. look at violence and
aggression as well as psychopathy. They are related findings
because low moral reasoning can depict a psychopath and can
mean more anti-social behaviour.
3.12 1) Scanning can be useful in showing size of the
amygdala in offenders, for example; however, claiming
that amygdala size causes a certain behaviour is not easy
to show as behaviour incorporates many variables, not
just brain region, including environmental factors. 2) The
amygdala seems implicated in anti-social behaviour and
there is evidence to show this; however, other brain regions
will be operating as well and are shown to relate to anti-
social behaviour, such as the prefrontal cortex. Isolating
brain regions takes a reductionist view, studying just parts
of behaviour and brain activity, and brain regions interact
through neurotransmitter functioning so separating just one
region out as a cause of anti-social behaviour is probably
not the complete story.
3.13 The ‘47’ part means that the person has 47
chromosomes instead of the 46, made up of 23 pairs. A male
usually has ‘XY’ as the pattern and a female has ‘XX’. ‘XYY’
refers to a male with an additional Y chromosome.
3.14 Witkin et al. (1976) found differences between XY
and the other two patterns when looking at crime and
found a larger percentage of XYY and XXY had been
involved in criminal behaviour than XY in their sample.
However, that was not the conclusion they drew. They
looked again at the data taking background variables
into account, so, for example, they looked to see if the
environmental inf luences on the groups being compared
were the same. If everything was the same except for the
chromosomal pattern, then their conclusion might be
that genes caused the difference in criminality. However,
they said that when they did control for background
variables, there was very little difference. This means
background variables seem to have caused the differences
in criminality. This is evidence that environmental factors
are an explanation for crime and anti-social behaviour.
3.15 1) Lower intelligence and a social reaction this might
produce (Witkin et al., 1976). 2) Being taller and again a
social reaction affecting behaviour (Witkin et al., 1976).
3) Education (Stochholm et al., 2012). 4) Fatherhood
(Stochholm et al., 2012). 5) Retirement (Stochholm
et al., 2012). 6) Cohabitation (Stochholm et al., 2012). 7)
Unfavourable living conditions (Stochholm et al., 2012;
Re and Birkhoff, 2015). 8) Dysfunctional families (Re and
Birkhoff, 2015). 9) Deficits in IQ (Re and Birkhoff, 2015).
10) Language and speech delays, learning disabilities, poor
writing ability and social and emotional problems (Re and
Birkhoff, 2015).
Answers to Progress checks 13
 3.16 The amygdala explanation of crime and anti-social
behaviour. Yang et al. (2009) discussed the role of the amygdala
in conditioning, including being conditioned to fear. If
someone’s biology makes it harder for them to be conditioned
to fear, that can lead to crime and anti-social behaviour.
3.17 Introverts with a low threshold for activity in the
RAS would be expected to feel pain more quickly and
have a low pain threshold, whereas extraverts, having a
higher threshold for activity, would feel pain less quickly.
This is indeed what is found, such as by Smith (1968).
3.18 According to Eysenck et al. (1977), where those with
a neuroticism type personality have a high incidence in
a category of residual or inadequate crime, those with an
extraversion type personality have a low incidence. There
was enough difference to suggest that personality affected
type of crime. Extraversion, for example, meant violent
or property crime and neuroticism meant the residual or
inadequate category.
3.19 McGurk and McDougal (1981) compared non-
delinquent and delinquent college students so they had
two clear parts to their independent variable, which
was delinquency. Then they measured Eysenck’s three
dimensions of personality and used the same measure for
all the students. Finally, they could split the scores into
the two groups and compare them. This meant there was
a clear control group to give a baseline measure, to which
they could compare the delinquent group’s scores. This
was the advantage of using the control group, which was
the ‘non-delinquent’ group.
3.20 The study used just college students, which
limited the generalisability of the findings. Another
limitation might be the way the students were sorted into
‘delinquent’ and ‘non-delinquent’. It would be important
to know how ‘delinquent’ was operationalised, which
means how it was made measurable.
3.21 Strengths:
● Tiwari et al. (2012) found the EPI to have consistency
with regard to extraversion and neuroticism, though less
so with regard to psychoticism – so there is reliability.
● There is biological evidence for all three dimensions,
such as Smith (1968) showing introverts have a lower
pain threshold, suggesting quicker activation in
introverts.
● Experiments, such as in the area of conditioning,
support Eysenck’s theory; data from experiments are
objective and, if repeated, can show reliability.
14 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
Weaknesses:
● Tiwari et al. cite Katz and Francis (2000) and Ivkovic
et al. (2007), and others, as also finding low internal
consistency regarding psychoticism, and they found low
reliability in that dimension as well.
● There is a question over the model as impulsivity was
moved from extraversion to psychoticism and, if a trait
can be moved, that puts its validity into question.
3.22 To be diagnosed with anti-social personality
disorder, someone has to be aged 18 or over and must not
have a different disorder that might explain the features
being considered as showing anti-social personality
disorder. After that, a diagnosis is given if someone fits
into three of the list of features given. These are: breaking
the law repeatedly; repeatedly being deceitful; showing
impulsivity and not planning ahead; being irritable and
aggressive; showing a disregard for their own safety or
the safety of others; showing irresponsible behaviour
consistently; not showing remorse.
3.23
Name of the Findings
study
Davison and Specific disorders seem to relate to personality
Janca (2012) disorder, such as stalkers and men who kill
their children. There are a lot of variables that
go with personality traits to explain anti-social
behaviour.
Perez (2012) In psychopathy, there is brain dysfunction, such
as impairment in the orbital frontal cortex,
which is an area for executive functioning so
problems there can relate to problems with
impulse control.
Moss et al. Altering serotonin functioning was associated
(1990) with aggression in those with anti-social
personality disorder.
3.24 Stigma is a negative label that affects someone’s self-
esteem. This can mean someone is less sociable and less
confident, which can confirm the label, such as someone
being labelled as anti-social. There can be retrospective
labelling to re-interpret past behaviour, such as saying
they were always anti-social and uncaring about how
their behaviour affected others. There can be projective
labelling, which is about predicting future behaviour
from a current label, such as saying they will ‘turn out
badly’.
3.25 the teacher ‘giving’ the expectations. Madon et al. (2003)
used a naturalistic setting looking at mother expectations
Statement An example of a SFP? of child alcohol use and child’s actual alcohol use. Jahoda
You expect the brother of Yes. This is a false belief and (1954) looked at people in Ghana who named their children
someone who has an ASBO to the brother fulfils the false label according to the day of the week on which they were born,
show anti-social behaviour, so because of the behaviour the which was thought to give them a type of personality. They
you avoid him and tell others label leads to. used names and convictions for crimes against the person as
you think he will be aggressive, measures. One strength of the context of Jahoda is that it was
though unknown to you he is natural and their study was about real convictions so there
much quieter than his brother.
was validity in their claims. However, there were sure to be
He is aggressive because of
feeling left out.
other factors involved that were not considered. One strength
of Rosenthal and Jacobson was the experimental nature
Tom has a bad experience when No. Tom has learned through of their context and the controls put into place, though a
he goes to a football match negative reinforcement that weakness when using the findings to discuss crime and
because some fans by the side football matches can give a
anti-social behaviour is that the study was in an education
of him support the other team negative experience so he does
so he does not go again. not go again. setting. One strength of Madon et al.’s study was that this was
a naturalistic study looking at children’s alcohol intake and,
A teacher does not expect the Yes. The teacher thinks, wrongly, separately, their mother’s expectations of that. However, they
class to do well at a test because that the class have not done any
had to estimate the effect of other variables that would give
she thinks they have not been revision and she labels them as
revising, though they have. She ‘going to fail’. So she does not a true prediction of the child’s alcohol intake (a self-fulfilling
does not encourage them and encourage them or help, and prophecy must start with a false expectation) and that was
work with them to prepare for the they fail because of her false hard to do. The mother would have a lot of that ‘true’
test and they do badly. belief. information to rest their prediction upon.
3.26 Rosenthal and Jacobson give evidence for 3.29
there being a self-fulfilling prophecy in that a false
expectation led to a change in behaviour that fulfilled Term referring to the Explanation Order of the
the expectation. Their study was experimental, with modelling process of the term process
careful controls, which added to the credibility of There must be a good Motivation 4
the findings. However, their study was in the area of reason to imitate the
education and involved a teacher in an education setting, behaviour.
whereas criminal and anti-social behaviour might not The modelled behaviour Retention 2
be affected by labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy has to be remembered.
quite so readily. Their education setting was ‘closed’ and
The modelled behaviour Attention 1
like a small society, whereas when looking at criminal
has to be noticed.
and anti-social behaviour it can be claimed that there are
more inf luences than a teacher’s expectations. The behaviour has to be Reproduction 3
able to be copied.
3.27 The self-fulfilling prophecy suggests that people
respond to a false expectation and behave according to 3.30 Social explanations relate to people insofar as they
the false expectation, making it true. This explanation interact with others and how they behave in groups.
for criminal and anti-social behaviour does not take In your course, social psychology is defined as the
into account individual differences. Madon et al.’s individual’s relationship to other people, groups and
findings help to show that high self-esteem and positive society, including cultural inf luences on behaviour.
expectations seem to be what lead to the self-fulfilling Labelling involves someone or other people giving
prophecy, which suggests it is helpful. This goes against someone a label, which is often negative and a stigma, and
the idea that a negative false label can lead to criminal involves considering how that label can affect someone’s
behaviour, so their findings, though supporting the development. Self-fulfilling prophecy is about someone
self-fulfilling prophecy as an explanation of behaviour, having a false expectation of another person which that
do not really support the idea that it can lead to criminal person then fulfils so it becomes a true expectation.
and anti-social behaviour. In both cases, it is someone else (or a group of people)
that is ‘giving’ the label or the false expectation so the
3.28 Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) did their study in an explanation focuses on interactions between people and so
education setting, in the classroom over one year with is a social explanation.

Answers to Progress checks 15

 3.31 1) Reinstating the context, including the cognitive
environment at the time of encoding. 2) Recalling
everything no matter how insignificant it might seem.
3) Recalling from different starting points, which should
generate more information and different information. 4)
Taking the viewpoint of different people in the event,
again to generate more and different information.
3.32 1) Closed questions are avoided in a cognitive
interview, so ‘Was the person tall?’ would not be
included. This means focus is on qualitative not
quantitative data. 2) There is not much time spent
building a rapport between the interviewer and
the witness in a standard interview, whereas it is an
important part of the cognitive interview so that the
witness is more relaxed, which can aid recall. 3) In a
standard interview, there tend to be interruptions as the
interviewer focuses on what they want to know, whereas
in a cognitive interview interruptions are avoided and
every detail, no matter how insignificant it might seem
to the witness (or the interviewer), is required.
3.33 1) Age was an independent variable, with
young and older adults being the two conditions.
2) The modified cognitive interview versus the
control interview with a recognition test was another
independent variable.
3.34 1) In Geiselman et al. (1985), with regard to errors,
there were no significant differences between the different
types of interviewing so cognitive interviewing did not
lead to fewer errors (though it did lead to more correct
details being recalled). 2) However, in Köhnken et al.
(1999), there was a small significant effect showing that
there were more incorrect details from the cognitive
interview, which is interesting and suggests not that
cognitive interviewing does not show fewer errors
compared with other interview types but that, in this
example, there were actually more errors (though a low
significant difference).
3.35 p=.02 means that the exact probability level is given
and the ‘more than’ or ‘less than’ comment is not applied.
It is often the case when using a statistics package (such
as SPSS, which is a software package used for statistical
analysis in higher education and research) that the exact
probability level is used. p=.02 means the probability
of the results being due to chance is .02, which is 2 per
cent, meaning that two people in every 100 are likely to
go against the hypothesis, but 98 people are likely to go
with the alternate hypothesis. The null hypothesis can be
rejected at 2 per cent.
3.36 This paragraph summarises what the cognitive
interview is rather than, in particular, a strength of the
technique.
16 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
3.37 Planning (P), engage and explain (E), account (A),
closure (C) and evaluate (E).
3.38 Ethical interviewing came about in response to
concerns about standard police interviewing because it
was found to be both accusatory and persuasive. A problem
was that those being interviewed did not know what
would happen to them or what the police wanted and
this may have moral and ethical implications but also has
implications with regard to an interview getting a lot of
correct details as stress can affect recall. Interviewers should
treat suspects with respect, as equals and with the same
rights to dignity, self-determination and choice and it was
thought using the PEACE model of ethical interviewing
would achieve this.
3.39 1) Active listening and focus on respecting the
person’s data and opinion. 2) An attempt to rebalance
power, including frequently offering and explaining
the right to withdraw. 3) A rapport built up with the
interviewee from the start so that they understand what
they are consenting or assenting too and are freely
contributing their data.
3.40 1) It is more ethical to use interviews that have been
carried out because participants do not have to undergo any
procedures especially for a research study. However, it is
only ethical if those interviewed gave their consent for their
interview to be used in research. 2) The interviews would
be carried out in real life so there is validity in the data.
The researchers access what was said and done, though
audio tapes as Walsh and Milne (2010) used might not give
all that sort of information. The interviewers would not be
affected by a researcher being present. 3) Having taped
data means more than one researcher can analyse the tapes
and this can give inter-rater reliability if two or more
people come to the same conclusions regarding the coding
of the data.
3.41 Offenders self-report on their state of mind and
on their offence. This may not be valid data as they
may give the data they think suits their purpose, which
is likely to be avoiding detection regarding risk of
re-offending. If they give the data they think makes
someone judge them as less at risk of re-offending, this
is not valid data on which to make judgements about
such risk.
3.42 The function of an offence for the offender can
be to relieve a certain psychological state of mind and
different offences may work in relieving that state so
different offences can have the same function for the
offender. Knowing the function of an offence can help to
explain the offence and can help in suggesting an effective
treatment as well as in assessing risk.
3.43 A forensic psychologist would have information
from the assessment and the case from which to draw a
formulation. They would have quite a bit of information,
which might include reported low moods or low
motivation to be sociable in an institution. The offence
might be out of character perhaps, rather than the case
being someone who re-offends and might have involved
a family history of low moods or psychiatric diagnoses
of depression. The psychologist would draw together
key features of a case and might have a formulation of
depression, suggesting medication, as well as in their
formulation relationship problems, so treatment for those
might also be in the treatment plan.
3.44 1) When standard treatment, such as recommended
by NICE guidelines, has not worked so something new
is needed. 2) When there is more than one problem
behaviour and it is not clear which behaviour to treat first
or which treatment to recommend. 3) When offenders are
disruptive in group work and do not show motivation to
improve then a treatment plan might need to be inventive.
3.45 The RNR model is about looking at risks of re-
offending and giving intensity of treatment to match
the intensity of the risk of re-offending. The model also
focuses on criminogenic needs of the offender, which
refers to causes of their offending. The final part of the
model is that it is responsive in adapting to the offender’s
learning style, their motivation and other issues, such as
skills they need to acquire.
3.46 The GLM model of re-offending is about focusing on
what the good life would be for the offender in terms of their
personal goals and then working towards those. The idea is
to promote a lifestyle that will reduce the risk of re-offending
and focusing on what the individual offender needs in the
way of skills and attitudes to achieve their personal goals.
3.47 Social learning theory is used when commenting
about Mr C’s role models and the behaviour he saw
modelled. Operant conditioning is used when considering
his experiences and how they were reinforced, such as
sexual arousal. Though not mentioned directly, schema
theory could be used to explain his understanding of the
world and of others, coming from his experiences. He
had no good models for loving intimate relationships and
this relates to Freud’s ideas and Bowlby’s ideas building on
Freud’s approach that early attachments and relationships
are used as working models for later ones. Mr C drew on
his experiences and what he found rewarding, as others do,
though his experiences and what he found rewarding was
of course, for society, offending behaviour.
3.48 A formulation needs to be individualised, generative
and have a factual foundation, according to Hart et al.
(2011). A factual foundation means having breadth and
depth, and individualised means focusing on an individual,
which requires qualitative data as well as quantitative data.
If it is to be generative, a formulation needs to be valid.
A case study is a good way to get qualitative data that are
valid and focus on an individual and also to make sure
there is both breadth and depth in the data gathered.
3.49 Cognitive issues include coping with anger by
thinking about it in a specific way, and considering
negative cycles and how to break them. Negative cycles
are kept going because of thinking patterns, which is
‘cognitive’. How to stop taking things personally can
involve changing thinking. Behaviour issues include
coping with anger too as there can be behavioural
responses such as removing oneself from a provoking
situation. How to express anger clearly can be related to
behaviour as well as using words.
3.50 Howells et al. (2005) compared a treatment group with
a control group and one issue they had was that the control
group showed some improvements even without the
treatment. They felt that doing the assessments had helped
the control group to learn about anger management ideas
and techniques, which featured in the items in the scales
used. This suggests that the statement is wrong and there
can be effective outcomes from such programmes, if there
is the assessment involved and the programme is evaluated.
Nonetheless, in general, Howells et al. (2005) did not find
the anger management programme they used to be effective
as many of the anger variables were not significantly
changed from pre- to post-treatment assessment measures.
This means Howells et al. (2005) offer support for the
statement that anger management programmes do not
have strong positive outcomes for offenders. Other studies
also did not find many if any successful outcomes from
anger management programmes. Watt and Howells (2010)
compared a treatment and a control group when looking at
the Skills Training for Aggression Control programme and
found no differences between the treatment and control
groups after the treatment. This too is support for the
statement that anger management programmes do not have
strong positive outcomes for offenders. In the case of Watt
and Howells (2010), these were violent offenders and, in
Howells et al. (2005), they looked at high-risk offenders so
it might be that the statement is only true for those groups
of offenders.
3.51 Self-report data have validity as they come directly from
the offenders rather than from observation or another source
like a staff member. The offender can answer freely and there
are many items; usually, some will repeat items to test for
reliability. If a repeat item is answered in the same way, that
is ‘retesting’ and shows reliability. However, a weakness of
self-report data is that they can show social desirability, as
Novaco’s scale (1997, cited in Howells et al., 2005) suggests,
Answers to Progress checks 17
 and it requires scoring to counter social desirability. Self-
report data can be answered untruthfully too and perhaps
offenders do not want to share their emotions in a study
because of implications for them. There are likely to be
demand characteristics because offenders would know what
‘anger management’ would entail and might respond to a
pre-treatment and/or a post-treatment assessment accordingly.
3.52 1) Anti-androgens – for example, cyproterone acetate,
CPA. Two side-effects are liver dysfunction and adrenal
suppression. 2) The other type are not anti-androgens
– for example, medroxyprogesterone acetate, MPA/
Depo-Provera (luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone is
another). Two side-effects are weight gain and decreased
sperm production.
3.53 1) Federoff et al. (1992, cited in Perkins et al., 1998)
looked at MPA and found that 15 per cent of those using
MPA re-offended compared with 68 per cent of non-users.
2) Emory et al. (1992) evaluated Depo-Provera (MPA) and
concluded that such treatment lowered the sexual interest
of the patients and was useful in allowing engagement with
psychotherapies.
3.54 Recidivism was measured qualitatively by the
judgement of ‘doing well’ or not and there were
three times as many said to be ‘doing well’ in the
group receiving the medication (70) than in the group
recommended the medication but not receiving it (24).
Recidivism was also measured by new sexual offences,
and there were none for those receiving MPA, 10 for those
recommended it but not receiving it and 21 for those not
recommended it. This suggests that hormone treatment
works, although it is not clear why those recommended
treatment but not receiving it committed a lower
number of new sexual offences compared with those not
recommended it. This suggests that the recommendations
were not right. The pattern for sexual violations, also
showing recidivism, was the same as for new sexual
offences and again those not recommended the treatment
committed more sexual violations compared with the
other two groups, though it is the group receiving MPA
that do best regarding recidivism in this area.
3.55 There was a large number of offenders in the study
and quite a good number in each of the three groups
so generalising might be possible. However, this was
just in one state and it was a state with a law about
hormone treatment being given, so that means it might
differ from other states and other cultures. This limits
the generalisability. Also there is no placebo group in
that those receiving the medication may have felt more
supervised as they had to have their injection every other
week. There might have been something other than the
hormone that led to them doing better with regard to
18 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
re-offending. This limits the validity of the findings.
There was subjectivity as well, both in how the
judgement was made about ‘doing well’ and in how the
recommendations were made in the first place – as well as
possibly whether the medication was received.
3.56 Both methods manipulate one or more independent
variables and measure one or more dependent variables.
However, a field experiment works with an independent
variable or more than one, in a naturalistic environment
for the participant. The laboratory experiment takes
place in an artificially set-up situation in an artificial
environment. The field experiment aims for ecological
validity so the findings represent ‘real life’ but the lab
experiment aims for reliability as there is control in the
situation and setting that is lacking in a field experiment.
3.57 1) The target had to be the same for all participants as
then their results could be compared fairly so race and gender
needed to be controlled for. 2) However, if two women were
used there might have been differences between them that
affected the eyewitness, such as, for some reason, one of the
targets making the encounter more stressful, which Valentine
and Mesout (2009) showed was important.
3.58 A reliable study is one where the findings will be
found again if the study is repeated so the findings are
consistent. If they are not consistent, then conclusions
cannot be drawn from them and applied to other
situations. A valid study is one where results come from
some real-life situation and what is being measured (such
as eyewitness memory) is really what is being measured.
If results are valid, then they can be applied to real-life
situations, such as eyewitness testimony in court.
3.59
Study giving Factor affecting eyewitness
evidence for the testimony
factor
Valentine and Mesout Stress
(2009)
Loftus and Palmer Word used
(1974)
Yarmey (2004) Eyes and hairline
Yarmey (2004) Going over an event before recall
3.60 1) The ‘broken glass study’ hypothesis: more
participants will ‘remember’ broken glass if they are asked
about a car smashing into another than if they are asked
about a car hitting another. The ‘stop/yield sign study’
hypotheses: participants given the suggestion that there was
a yield sign are more likely to ‘remember’ a yield sign than
those not given that information. Those not given the ‘yield
sign’ information are more likely to remember the stop
sign than those given the yield sign information. The ‘barn
study’ hypothesis: participants asked about a barn that was
not there will ‘remember’ a barn more than those not asked
about a barn. The ‘time before recall study’ hypothesis:
those participants given longer between seeing the film
and being asked to recall it, when given misinformation,
are more likely to be swayed by this than if they are not
given as long before being asked to recall. 2) The ‘broken
glass study’ IV is whether the participant was asked about
the car being ‘smashed’ or ‘hit’, and the DV is whether he
or she says there was broken glass or not. The ‘stop/yield
sign study’ IV is whether the participant is given the ‘yield’
sign misinformation or not. The first DV is whether he or
she recalls a yield sign or not and the second DV is whether
he or she recalls a stop sign or not. The ‘barn study’ IV is
whether or not the participant is asked about a barn that
was not there and the DV is whether he or she ‘remembers’
a barn or not. The ‘time before recall study’ IV is whether
the participant is given more or less time after seeing the
film and the DV is whether he or she is more or less swayed
by the misinformation. 3) The experimental design for the
‘stop/yield sign study’ is independent groups, as half were
told there was a yield sign and the other half were not, so the
two groups contained different people.
3.61 An independent variable is whether the material
being asked about is central or peripheral and the
dependent variable is how many of such features were
recalled in the free-recall condition.
3.62 1) Whether the account of the eyewitness is about
recognition of events or recall of them (recall is more
reliable). 2) Whether the information being asked about was
central to the event for the witness or peripheral (testimony
about central information is more reliable). 3) Whether the
post-event information is neutral, leading or misleading
(leading post-event information can improve accuracy of
testimony, misleading information leads to more errors).
4) Whether the post-event information was a false memory
(false memories can be incorporated into a memory).
3.63 Of the 280 participants, 57.5 per cent were female,
which is 161 female participants; 42.5 per cent were
male, which is 119 participants. The usefulness of having
a percentage is that the proportion is then given. Saying
there were 119 males and 161 females does not give such a
good understanding of the proportions of each.
3.64 p>.05 means that the probability of the results being
due to chance (p) is greater than (>) .05, which is 5 per
cent. In psychology, 5 per cent is the most generous level
of significance at which the null hypothesis is rejected
and p>.05 means the level is over 5 per cent, so the null
is accepted. Similarly with p>.10, the null is accepted,
because there is a greater than 10 per cent possibility that
the results are due to chance.
3.65 1) They suggested another experiment similar to
theirs but replacing the gun with a banana to see if it
was the unusual nature of the gun that led to its being
focused on more than the fact that it was a weapon. 2)
They also suggested looking at whether the weapon
effect was present only when the weapon was in view
in a scene and not in any other part of the action in a
scene. This might be studied by having a single picture
with a weapon in the scene rather than a series of slides.
3) There was some suggestion that they could have
measured stress to see if there was higher anxiety when a
weapon was visible in a scene.
3.66 Although quite a few of the studies use college
participants, some studies have used other participants,
which adds to the generalisability of the results. This is
because the studies do not just use students so the sample
taking the studies together is more varied and so more
generalisable.
3.67 They used different students in the two conditions.
Different people saw the syringe from those seeing
the pen, which is an independent groups design. They
were not matched so it was not a matched pairs design.
Repeated measures means each participant does all the
conditions, which does not apply.
3.68 In the target-present condition where the target
is identified, in the ‘during’ condition the figure is .53
compared with .79 and .72 in the other two conditions,
showing lower identification when the face and object are
presented together (.53). In the target-present condition
where the target is not identified, in the ‘during’ condition
the figure is .34 compared with .12 and .12 in the other
two conditions, showing more rejection of the target so
again lower identification.
3.69 The chicken (6.38) and gun (6.59) were paid
more attention to than the glass (4.96) and were paid
reasonably equal attention, suggesting there is a novelty
effect not a threat effect. The gun was what most people
were more afraid of. The gun figure was 5.53, the
chicken gave a fear rating of 2.00 and the glass gave a
fear rating of 1.76.
3.70 1) Devine et al. (2000) suggest that studies have not
looked much at the gender of the defendant regarding
bias in jury decision-making. 2) Race is suggested as
a characteristic of the defendant that does affect jury
decision-making and there is racial bias. However, not all
studies have a straightforward finding that being black is
negative for the defendant when it comes to a jury decision
(Shaw and Skolnick, 1995, cited in Devine et al., 2000).
Answers to Progress checks 19
 3) Socioeconomic status of a defendant has been shown
to affect jury decision-making. However, Gleason and
Harris (1976, cited in Devine et al., 2000) found no effect
for socioeconomic status of the defendant in a laboratory
experiment.
3.71 The advantage is validity. When real data are used
from actual trials and verdicts, there is a realism that is not
there in mock jury trials.
3.72 Race of jurors affects racial bias depending on the
race of the defendant; the year a study was published in is
important, such as work in the 1970s finding more bias;
where the study is carried out affects findings; whether
there is specific mention of the race of the defendant affects
bias and also whether there is specific mention of the race
of the victim. The crime affects jury decision-making
and racial bias and so does how the dependent variable is
measured, such as whether the defendant is shown using
words or pictures in a study. Gender also affects jury
decision-making and resulting racial bias.
3.73 No racial bias: Williams and Holcomb (2001) found
defendant race did not predict death sentence in Ohio.
Racial bias: Mitchell et al. (2005) found that there is a small
but significant effect of racial bias in decision-making and
the effect is more pronounced in certain situations.
3.74 1) Stereotyping might suggest that there are more
black offenders on death row so, when the death penalty
was the maximum sentence, that triggered that stereotype
in the minds of the participants. 2) Blacks are seen as
more violent than whites perhaps, again according to a
stereotype, so the harsher sentence suggested ‘guilty’ more
for blacks than it did for whites.
3.75 1) Voss and van Dyke (2001) found that female jurors
look at the wider picture, beyond the evidence, including
at emotions in the situation and trial, whereas males focus
directly on the evidence. This suggests that the gender of
the defendant, which may well relate to different displays of
emotion given different gender stereotyping between males
and females, may affect female jurors more than male jurors.
This seems to suggest gender of the defendant may affect jury
decision-making. 2) Thomas (2010) found women jurors
more ready to change their mind than male jurors, which
suggests male jurors are more open to using stereotypes
and might be less swayed by arguments in court against
stereotypes. Assuming male jurors have stereotypes for the
different genders as defendants, this suggests the gender of
the defendant can affect jury decision-making. However, the
links in these two examples are assumptions and more studies
need to be done, as Devine et al. (2000) suggested.
3.76 Pilot testing is done before the study is carried out.
It is used to check that what the researchers think they
20 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
have manipulated as the independent variable has been
manipulated. In Schvey et al., they wanted two males and
two females and for each gender one lean and one obese
image. They wanted to control for age and ethnicity. So they
had to check that all four pictures seemed to be the same age
and race and that the pictures they said showed obesity did
so, and the same with the lean pictures. If the pictures did
not show what was required, the study findings could not be
confirmed as relating to the independent variable.
3.77 According to Schvey et al. (2013), if I was female and
overweight I would definitely be worried, but weight
did not seem to affect decisions about male defendants
so I would not be worried if I was male. However, male
defendants have been shown to get higher sentences
in studies (e.g. Mossière and Dalby, 2008), though the
difference was not significant. Also female jurors relate
more to emotions in the situation (Voss and van Dyke,
2001) and so if I were a male defendant I might worry
that females would side with my victim (if there was one)
and in any case give me a higher sentence because of there
being fewer perceived emotions in my case.
3.78 1) Male defendants were found guilty more often
than female defendants and were given harsher sentences.
However, the differences were not significant ones (Mossière
and Dalby, 2008). 2) In Schvey et al. (2013), the obese female
defendant was judged more guilty and more harshly by
male participants, though male defendants were not judged
differently according to their body weight. 3) Voss and
van Dyke (2001) found that men and women responded
differently to the emotional contents of different stories.
Women responded more to emotional statements related to
the defendant. Men focused on the actual evidence. Female
defendants might link to emotions in a situation in a juror
more than male defendants so differences between male
and female jurors might be linked to effect of gender of the
defendant on juror decision-making.
3.79 As well as attractiveness of the defendant, it seems that
a jury takes into account the type of crime. For example,
according to Sigall and Ostrove (1975), swindle or fraud
means an attractive defendant is likely to be treated more
harshly, though burglary means attractiveness of the
defendant leads to leniency.
3.80 The independent variables are defendant race (black
or white) and defendant attractiveness (attractive or not).
However, in the study, details are collected about the
juror’s (participant’s) race and gender too, so when they
are being analysed they are independent variables. The
defendant is always a woman and 25 years old so the
gender and age of the defendant are controlled for.
3.81 When a study is set up to measure a dependent
variable after careful manipulation of an independent
variable, such as writing out a story of a crime and just 3.84
changing one or two of the variables in the story, that
shows good control and cause-and-effect conclusions can Evaluation comment General Specific
be drawn because of the control over extraneous variables. about Steblay et al.
This is a strength of using scientific methods. A problem (1999)
is always going to be ecological validity because the story There might be interpretation ✓
of a crime is not going to be a naturalistic replication of of data when putting the data
the crime and the defendant is just in the story not in the into categories.
courtroom. Many variables are present in a courtroom, The three coders might have ✓
including the race of both defendant and juror, their interpreted the data in the
gender, their level of attractiveness, the crime itself and same way because they were
characteristics of the victim. In a mock jury study, these all researchers in the study.
variables are either controlled or manipulated, whereas in Inter-rater reliability is found ✓
life they are not. when more than one person
rates the data.
3.82 As the focus is on problems with jury decision-
making and how such problems might mean a trial is not
fair, the interest would be on pre-trial publicity that was 3.85
negative for the defendant. However, positive pre-trial
publicity (i.e. ‘in favour’ of the defendant) would, if it Information Affective/ Factual
was found to affect the guilty verdict, also mean a trial’s evaluative
fairness was affected. The focus seems to be on how pre- This was a brutal, despicable ✓
trial publicity is prejudicial for the defendant, which is assault.
understandable from a psychology point of view. However, The victim was murdered ✓
one would think that any effects from pre-trial publicity and dismembered.
(or any sources) would affect jury decision-making.
The man was a serial killer in ✓
3.83 Experiments carefully manipulate the independent the making.
variable and measure the dependent variable, keeping
all other variables controlled. The ‘other’ variables are 3.86 1) Two coders were used when putting recall of the
extraneous variables, including situational variables case into categories of factual and affective/evaluative
such as noise and heat and participant variables such as material because then the results of the two coders
tiredness and reading ability. If extraneous variables are could be checked one against the other to make sure the
all controlled for, then there are no confounding variables categorising was reliable, which it was. 2) Interviewers had
because confounding variables are extraneous variables to be trained so that they were asking the same questions
that have affected the results. Surveys do not use controls. in the same way, not discussing answers with participants
They usually gather self-report data without any controls. and not being judgemental about participants’ answers. If
They tend to measure variables and then see which ones participants were treated differently in their interviews,
go together (correlate). This means that there can be that could affect the results. 3) The same questions were
confounding variables. For example, someone might asked about case knowledge so that scores from the
know a lot about a defendant from pre-trial publicity and answers could be compared with one another.
might give a high rating of guilt using a Likert scale. This 3.87 Separating out an independent variable for study and
can show a correlation. However, the cause of the guilty operationalising it (making it measurable), with a clear
verdict might be from knowing the defendant’s family dependent variable that is thought will change because of
and nothing to do with pre-trial publicity. Their personal the independent variable and that is measurable. Another
experiences (e.g. knowing a member of the defendant’s part of an experiment is the control over extraneous
family) would be a confounding variable that could have variables so that there are no confounding variables.
been controlled in an experiment.

Answers to Progress checks 21

 3.88 The study looked at memory of eyewitnesses but
not using an IV and a DV. The main approach was to ask
questions about the shooting and then to compare the
answers with the answers given by the same people to the
police at the time of the shooting, and the question was
‘what had been forgotten’? There was no staged incident
or manipulated independent variable so this was not an
experiment.
3.89 The main difference is that a field experiment takes
all the elements of a laboratory experiment except for
the artificial environment because it is carried out ‘in the
field’, which has to be a natural setting for the participant
and as natural a situation as possible.
3.90 1) Participants did not know that they were being
asked about a barn that was not there, so they may have
been made to look silly, which might distress them.
They were deceived, so they did not give informed
consent. 2) Participants did not know at first that the
woman was not a member of the public, so they were
deceived, and they did not know that the syringe
was not real, so they could have been distressed. 3)
Participants did not know that they were going to have
to describe the woman, and they may have thought,
when questioned, that they should have recalled more.
This could have caused distress. They were not asked
for consent to take part in the study until afterwards, so
they did not give informed consent.
3.91 1) They are used to examine eyewitness testimony
by looking at a particular case in depth to understand
more about the reliability or unreliability of eyewitness
testimony. Yuille and Cutshall (1986) had elements of
a case study and showed that the testimonies were not
unreliable. As experiments tend to show the unreliability
of eyewitness testimony, perhaps using in-depth and
detailed data from interviewing gave more valid findings
and eyewitness testimony is more reliable than is thought.
2) They are used in assessing and putting together a
formulation of an offender, in order to put together a
treatment plan. Arsuffi (2010) used a case study in this
way. The usefulness of a case study approach is the depth
and detail in the data that are obtained and treatment
needs to be tailored to the individual, so the case study
approach is useful.
22 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
3.92
Statement about the case True False
study research method
Case studies are replicable and ✗
can be shown to be reliable (false
because they are unique and hard
to replicate).
Case studies use more than one ✗
research method, which helps with
triangulation, thus helping to show
validity (true because triangulation
means cross-checking data and if
they are the same from different
methods that suggests they are
‘true’ and ‘real life’).
Case studies take a nomothetic ✗
approach to understanding
people (false because they take
an idiographic approach, wanting
to understand the uniqueness of
someone or a small group).
Case studies tend to use qualitative ✗
data most because of aiming to
gather rich, in-depth data (true,
but they can involve quantitative
data, such as from a repertory
grid; however, as detail is required,
qualitative data can help).
Case studies are useful for ✗
reducing real-life behaviour into
small parts to explain it (false
because case studies take a more
holistic view, not a reductionist one,
and do not reduce behaviour into
small parts).
3.93 Random sampling means that everyone in the
sampling frame has a chance of being chosen, which is
representative because it means there is no deliberate bias
in favour of males or females, or with regard to age or
other characteristics. Each time someone is picked out,
they can have any characteristic and, if enough people are
used, characteristics should spread across the sample.
3.94 Reliability means repeating a study to make sure
the results are the same and a study is replicable if the
same situation can be repeated. Controls and planning
make a study replicable. Validity means getting real-life
information that is useful and predicts real-life situations.
Validity is found by doing a study in someone’s natural
surroundings and letting variables ‘happen naturally’. The
more natural a situation and setting, the less it is controlled
and so the more valid findings are, the less likely they are
to be reliable (or for reliability to be shown).
3.95 Whether you find something ‘credible’ might depend on
your personal view and your view might differ from someone
else’s. We see the world using schemas and expectations, for
example. We might find the result of a study showing that
a gun in a situation gives fewer identifications of the person
pointing the gun than if a cheque is being held out (Loftus
et al., 1978). However, if someone says that people identify the
person less if they are holding out a rubber chicken when at
the bar than when holding out a glass (Erickson et al., 2014),
that sounds less credible. There can be personal judgement
about what is believed. That is why evidence has to be put
forward to show that findings are credible no matter what an
individual believes.
3.96 An experiment requires an independent variable to be
manipulated. The independent variable has one or more
conditions and interest is in how those different conditions
affect the dependent variable, which is what is being
measured. If the participants know what the conditions of
the independent variable are, then that is likely to prepare
them and to affect their responses. The same is usually the
case for the dependent variable. They might know when the
measurements are being taken what the dependent variable
is, such as being asked to estimate speed or describe a ‘scary
person’. However, they do not know what the implications
of their responses are. If they knew that it was the word, for
example, that would affect their estimate of speed (Loftus
and Palmer, 1974) then that knowledge is likely to affect their
responses. If they knew that they were expected not to be able
to identify a face if a gun is in the scene, they are likely to focus
on the face not the gun (Erickson et al., 2014). There has to be
deceit for the participants to be naive and give ‘real’ answers.
3.97 1) The inferential tests are the Mann Whitney U,
Wilcoxon, Spearman’s and Chi squared. 2) Analysing
qualitative data can be done using thematic analysis, or
grounded theory can be used when gathering qualitative
data. 3) Three levels of measurement are nominal, ordinal
and interval/ratio.
3.98 Marshall (1969, cited in Loftus and Palmer, 1974) used
air force personnel and asked them to estimate the speed of
a car they watched. They were aware they would be asked
about the car’s speed. Estimates ranged from 10mph to
50mph, which was a very wide range, especially as the car
was going at only 12mph. This shows that people are not
good at estimating the speed of a car they have watched.
3.99 Leading questions are where something in the
question leads someone to answer in a particular way.
An often used example is ‘Have you stopped beating your
wife?’ as it can only be answered if someone has been
beating their wife so it puts something in the mind of
someone listening. Answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ will not work
(assuming the person has not been beating their wife).
Loftus and Palmer used estimate of speed as the dependent
variable in their study, knowing speed is hard to estimate.
Then they guided the estimate by using ‘emotive’ words
to describe the accident, including ‘smashed’ and, less
emotively, ‘hit’. A leading question might ask ‘How fast do
you think the cars were going when they smashed into one
another?’ and a different question would be ‘How fast do
you think the cars were going when they hit one another?’
Loftus and Palmer felt that the changed verb represented
a ‘leading question’ in that it would affect eyewitness
testimony (in terms of estimate of speed).
3.100
Response ‘Smashed’ ‘Hit’ Control Total
(not
asked
about
speed)
Yes 16 (55.2%) 7 (24.1%) 6 (20.7%) 29
No 34 (28.1%) 43 (35.5%) 44 (36.4%) 121
The advantage of percentages is that they make the scores
directly comparable. It is hard to compare 16 ‘yes’ with 34
‘no’, for example, as the totals are so different. There are
29 ‘yes’ answers and 121 ‘no’ answers. Percentages take the
different totals into account. You can see that just about
double the percentage in the ‘smashed’ condition said they
saw broken glass compared with those who said they did
not. Whereas in the ‘hit’ condition there were fewer saying
they saw broken glass than saying they did not. It was
interesting that in the ‘hit’ and in the ‘control’ condition
there were still quite a few who said they did see broken
glass, which suggests it was because they saw a car accident,
which suggests broken glass. Or it was because the question
was leading and suggested there was broken glass.
3.101 1) Validity: the films of the accidents were not
real accidents and the witnesses were not present at the
car accident so the emotions of an event like that were
probably not present either. This means the findings lack
ecological validity. 2) Reliability: The study was a well-
controlled experiment with carefully set up independent
variables (such as the changing verbs) and dependent
Answers to Progress checks 23
 variables that were quantitative and easily measurable.
This means the findings were likely to show reliability
and Experiment 2 in fact repeated some of Experiment
1 with similar results regarding speed estimates. 3)
Generalisability: The study used just students and so
strictly speaking generalising the findings should only
be to students. There may be something about students,
such as their relative lack of driving experience perhaps,
that makes them give different results from the general
population.
3.102 Mock trial jurors are not in the serious position that
‘real’ jurors are, in that they are not responsible for what
happens to the ‘defendant’, who is not a real defendant. If
the emotions of a juror in a mock trial are different from
what they would be in a ‘real’ trial situation, then findings
from a mock jury study can be said to lack validity. They
are not measuring what they claim to measure, which
would be juror decision-making, because jurors in a mock
trial are not ‘real’ jurors. Findings from mock jury trials
are not generalisable either, for the same reasons. There is
no external validity and so findings cannot be said to be
true for a ‘real’ external situation.
3.103 The dependent variable is what is measured as a
result of manipulation of the independent variable. It is
the score that is measured and recorded. The independent
variable is what the experimenter manipulates and
changes. It is what the experimenter is interested in
finding out about and is the variable whose effect in terms
of the dependent variable is of interest.
3.104 A confounding variable is something that has caused
the results other than the independent variable. Such
variables, before they become confounding, are extraneous
variables and they must be controlled for to stop them from
becoming confounding variables.
3.105 1) Peters (1988) found that the more someone
experienced arousal before an injection, the less they could
identify the nurse giving the injection. Also they had
more problems in identifying the nurse than a researcher
who, though they did not give an injection, was with
the participant the same amount of time as the nurse.
2) Morgan et al. (2004) used soldiers who experienced
two conditions, one where there was interrogation
with physical confrontation, which was the high-stress
condition, and one where there was interrogation but
without physical confrontation, which was the low-stress
condition. Identification of the interrogator was poorer in
the high-stress condition. 3) Ihlebaek et al. (2003) showed
some participants a realistic but staged robbery that they
watched ‘live’ and others saw the same situation but on
video. Those in the real situation recalled less than those
watching the scenario on video.
24 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
3.106 The people were categorised as having high or low
anxiety and they fitted into the category of ‘yes’ or ‘no’
when considering whether they had identified the ‘scary
person’ in the line-up. Each person’s score would just be
in one of the categories each time, so this would be an
independent groups design. They either identified the
person or they did not and they were either in the high
anxiety group or the low anxiety group. A test for nominal
data (categories) and an independent groups design is the
Chi squared test.
3.107 Dependent variables: 1) The identification of the
‘scary person’ in a ‘line-up’ using nine photos, one of
which was a photo of the ‘culprit’ (to look at eyewitness
identification). 2) Descriptions of the ‘scary person’ (to
look at eyewitness memory). Independent variables: 1)
Gender of the participant (to see if females have more state
anxiety in the situation than males). 2) State anxiety (to see
if there is relationship between score of state anxiety and
number of correct descriptors, for example).
3.108 In psychology, p<.05 is the most generous level
of significance at which an alternate or experimental
hypothesis would be accepted. .059 is higher than .05, so
at p<.059 the null hypothesis would be accepted, as in
Valentine and Mesout. However, 0.059 is very close to
0.05, which is what they meant by saying the finding was
not quite significant.
3.109 First, set out the observed values, label the cells
‘abcd’ and then work out the expected values. Expected
values are calculated by multiplying the row total by the
column total and dividing by the overall total for each cell.
a = 26 × 28 ÷ 56 = 13; b = 26 × 28 ÷ 56 = 13;
c = 30 × 28 ÷ 56 = 15; d = 30 × 28 ÷ 56 = 15.
The table gives the expected and observed values for each cell.
Categories Low state High state Total
anxiety anxiety
Correct Cell a Cell b 26
identification O = 21 O=5
E = 13 E = 13
Incorrect Cell c Cell d 30
identification O=7 O = 23
E = 15 E = 15
Total 28 28 56
Then O − E is worked out and squared before dividing
that squared difference by E, and this is done for all the
cells.
a = (21−13)2 = 82 = 64, which is then divided by 13 = 4.92*
b = (5−13)2 = −82 = 64, which is then divided by 13 = 4.92*
c = (7−15)2 = −82 = 64, which is then divided by 15 = 4.27*
d = (23−15)2 = 82 = 64, which is then divided by 15 = 4.27*
Total the answers for the four cells(*). χ2 = 18.38 (this is a
significant value. It is not the same as shown in Valentine
and Mesout but they may have put scores together a bit
differently).
3.110 1) Reliability: Having two judges to decide which
replies from participants were ‘correct’ descriptors and
which were ‘incorrect’ descriptors helped to show
reliability because the two judges, working independently,
agreed in their decisions. The reliability of the self-report
data regarding state anxiety is also supported because the
heart rate measures, also measuring state anxiety, were
associated with the self-report measures. 2) Validity: The
heart rate measure was a physiological one and so valid
because it directly measured anxiety, whereas the self-
report data might not have had validity. However, as the
two lots of data matched, this validated the state anxiety
inventory used to measure state anxiety. The scenario
was set up to be valid, choosing people who were going
on a tour of the London Dungeon in any case and not
interfering with the tour except to introduce one meeting
with a ‘scary person’. There was ecological validity.
3.111 Meta-analysis is a research technique that involves
drawing together results of other studies to come to overall
conclusions about a topic. The other studies have to have
gathered their data using similar means and have to be
comparable in what they are measuring. Primary data are
not gathered. This is analysis of the analysis that other
studies have done into the area of interest.
3.112 An issue with longitudinal designs is that there
can be drop-out from the study that can affect the
results. Those that drop out, for example, can lead to a
biased sample as possibly only those interested in a study
carry on with it, or those with conscientious or well-
motivated characters, or perhaps just those who had not
moved away from the area or who were not unwell.
The point is that those that stay might be different in
some way than those who leave the study. Howells et al.
(2005) were emphasising that it was not that a lot of the
prisoners dropped out of the study but that it was decided
that a small number for the follow-up sessions would be
enough.
3.113 The SOAS was used to collect information about the
aggression of each participant from the view of staff. Two
members of staff from the prison completed data for the
prisoners in the sample and one member of staff from the
community completed ‘aggression’ data for the community
participants. This data could be used to check the self-
report data.
3.114 The control group prisoners were on a waiting
list for the programme. This might have led them to
improve their understanding of anger, being stimulated
to do so by anticipation of the programme. Alternatively,
as the control group completed a lot of scales before the
treatment, perhaps the questions themselves prompted
them to consider their anger issues more so they became
more interested and knew more at the post-treatment
point. Perhaps they talked with those on the treatment and
gained knowledge that way.
3.115 The table shows that ** means the probability of the
results being due to chance (p) is less than (<) 0.01, which
means one in 100. This is a high level of significance and
the null hypothesis (that readiness correlates with change
in anger expression) would be rejected. There is a minus
sign, which means a negative significant correlation.
Therefore, the score shows that there is a significant
negative correlation in that the higher a readiness score
for an anger management programme, the lower the
anger expression in someone as measured by scoring anger
expression before and after the treatment and using the
change as the indicator.
3.116 One idea would be to reduce the number of the
assessments so that the control group did not have as
much information to focus on and to avoid assessments
that are based on anger management programmes and so
use similar material. This would take away the variable
that the control group were themselves ‘educated’ about
anger. Similarly, if the measures were less about statements
about anger (which are themselves informative) and more
ratings of emotions, behaviour and thoughts, without
much information given, that too might take away the
confounding variable of the control group being educated
in anger issues.
3.117 Yes, it is in many ways. 1) If there is a weapon
present or an unusual object, identification of a suspect
should be used very carefully. 2) Any questions in a police
interview should not give information in the question,
whether leading or misleading, as that can sway someone’s
testimony. It is hard to be sure that leading or misleading
information would not be given. 3) If a weapon or unusual
object is present at the same time as the witness sees the
face of the person holding it, attention is likely to be on the
object and not on the face, so identification should not be
accepted as fact. 4) Juries tend to see eyewitnesses as being
right, but memory is not like a tape-recorder – it involves
reconstruction from existing schemas. A jury needs to
know about this tendency so they can perhaps counteract
Answers to Progress checks 25
 it. Any conviction based on eyewitness testimony alone
is in doubt given the evidence shown in studies in
psychology.
3.118 1) Mock jury trials do not involve the emotions of
a real trial and jurors will not have the responsibility with
regard to sentencing a person, which will affect their life.
There is a lack of ecological validity. 2) Also the mock
‘crime’ is likely to be presented brief ly, whereas a trial has
a lot of documents and evidence for a jury, so again there is
a lack of validity.
Chapter Four
4.1 1) Child psychology focuses on children and young
people from 0 to 18 years old. It is the UNCRC (1989)
that defines a child as a person up to 18 years old. 2) Child
psychology can inform later experiences, such as Bowlby’s
theory of attachments being important when considering
either young people or adults. Early attachments can affect
later relationships. For example, Bevington et al. (2015)
suggest that attachments help a child experience their own
mental states and have their mental states communicated
to them. Not receiving this communication can affect a
person when they are older.
4.2 An infant needs someone to care for them and the
attachment process might be a way to ensure that a child
is cared for. The attachment figure provides a secure base
as attachment is about trust and so the child can explore
knowing there is a safe base to return to. Similarly, having
separation anxiety can be an innate tendency as it will
lead the child back to the attachment figure so that they
are safe. This means the attachment figure, because of the
two-way bond, is there to care for the child and survival is
more likely.
4.3 Mental tests and tests about emotional attitudes to
the tests, carried out by a psychologist; preliminary social
history noted down by a social worker; interviewing the
child and mother, including using the reports from the
social worker and psychologist, carried out by Bowlby;
case conference involving all the professionals; possibly
more interviewing and psychotherapy and the mother
talking to a social worker.
4.4 1) 23 out of 44 as a percentage = 52 per cent; 2) 14 out
of 44 as a percentage = 32 per cent
4.5 1) Bowlby would have liked a normally functioning
control group as well as one from the clinic. This would
give another baseline measure. 2) Bowlby would have
liked to have used a larger sample so generalising would
have been easier.
26 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
4.6 Goldfarb (1955) showed that children adopted later
were more likely to have problems with interacting with
others than those adopted earlier (before the age of three).
Olsavsky et al. (2013) showed that maternally deprived
children showed less differentiation (linked to amygdala
functioning) between mothers and strangers than controls
and also were rated as having more indiscriminate
friendliness than controls.
4.7 1) One reaction is protest and distress, if there is short-
term separation, which can be helped by letting the child
get used to the new routine beforehand and the mother
being involved in that preparation. 2) Another reaction,
if the separation is longer term, is detachment; in which
case the caregiver should expect to be rejected and for
the child to be angry and would have to work through
those feelings providing support throughout. Longer-
term deprivation is harder to prepare for. Stimulation
and individual care can help to alleviate distress through
separation and can help to prevent detachment.
4.8 Step 4 is when the mother has left the child with the
stranger in the room attempting to interact with the child
and Step 5 is the first reunion, when the mother comes
back into the room and comforts the child. Step 8 also
involves the mother coming back into the room with the
stranger and child there, and is the second reunion. In
Step 8, the mother picks up and greets the child.
4.9 Anxious resistant.
4.10 For a securely attached child, it would be expected
that there would be sensitive mothering. This means the
mother is in tune with the baby’s signals and needs and
responds to them quickly and in a caring way.
4.11 1) They felt the strange situation might not have
been a valid procedure in Korea because the mothers went
straight to the infants on reunion and did not leave the
children to use proximity-seeking behaviour. 2) They also
thought that more home observations should be done,
suggesting naturalistic observations would have had more
validity.
4.12 Strength: Genie was clearly privated – that is well-
documented – and she did not get to a ‘normal’ state
of development even though there were some apparent
improvements, so it seems credible to claim that privation
effects are not reversible. The case study gathered in-
depth detailed qualitative data so there is validity in the
claim. Weakness: A difficulty is in being sure that there
were no developmental issues for Genie from the start.
There was some suggestion that this might have been the
case. This was not definite but perhaps enough to make
the evidence less secure that it was the privation that
caused the developmental delay and difficulties and not
something else.
4.13 The twins had some attention at first, though there
is doubt over whether they formed an attachment with a
main caregiver, so deprivation, which is being deprived of
such an attachment, seems not to suit the situation. They
were sufficiently badly treated from the start that the
study is offered as an example of privation.
4.14 1) Not enough was known about the children when
they were in the institutions as these were very varied,
such as staff–child ratios and what was done there. It
was hard to draw conclusions except for the effects of
‘institutionalisation’ in general, which might be about the
stress of the privation/deprivation but might be about lack
of stimulation, such as not hearing as much language spoken
as children outside an institution would hear. 2) Biological
inheritance for the adopted children was not known about
so measures like IQ and language ability were not easy to
put down to them being institutionalised. The environment
might have had assumptions made about it, but their ‘nature’
was not known.
4.15 It should be noted that the SECCYD did not observe
a lot of high-quality day care so they could not draw
firm conclusions about it. They did find that infants and
toddlers showing slow development seemed to benefit
from good-quality care more than other children.
They also found that, regarding social and cognitive
development, there were some benefits of quality day care
for children up to the age of four and a half years, but the
benefits were ‘slight’. They also said that quality day care
did not specifically benefit those with economic or social
disadvantage.
4.16 1) Knowledge of how children learn and develop
was a recommendation with the idea that there should
be training available for staff so that they could reach
understanding about child development; 2) Have a balance
of adult-initiated and child-initiated activities in the day
care setting because both have advantages for the child;
3) Encourage sustained shared thinking and adult–child
interactions. Sustained shared thinking means the adult
being aware of the child’s interests and understanding and
the child and adult working together to develop an idea.
4.17 The percentage difference is 57 per cent (17.45 – 11.1
= 6.35. 6.35 as a percentage of 11.1 = 57). The conclusion
is that the mean on the ToMI for children with ASD is
around 50 per cent lower than for typically developing
children and that difference is maintained up to nine years
old. As the theory of mind is meant to explain autism in
suggesting children with autism do not have theory of
mind, and the ToMI is measuring theory of mind, then
you would expect the children with ASD to get much
lower scores on the ToMI, and that is what happens. It is
interesting to see that as children get older they do better
on the ToMI, including the children with autism.
4.18 Pellicano (2010) suggests underpinning cognitive
skills and issues with executive functioning, like planning,
underpin problems with theory of mind and that there
are individual differences in people with autism. Sheeren
et al. (2013) found that high-functioning people with
ASD did as well as controls on theory of mind tasks,
again raising queries about theory of mind being the only
explanation. Though Hutchins et al. found those with
ASD did a lot worse on theory of mind measures than
typically developing children. There seems to be evidence
for theory of mind being an issue in autism but it may not
be the explanation.
4.19 1) Females are empathising: females can decode facial
expressions better than males. 2) Males are systemising:
map reading is about systems such as 2D representations
and males are better at map reading than females.
Evidence is from Baron-Cohen (2002).
4.20 1) Males pay more attention to detail and are better
on tasks involving focused perception, which is required
for systemising ( Joliffe and Baron-Cohen, 1997, cited in
Baron-Cohen, 2002). People with autism or ASD have
faster, more accurate visual searching than females or
males and males are better than females (O’Riordan et al.,
2001, cited in Baron-Cohen, 2002). 2) Some people with
autism have special abilities and they tend to be in ‘highly
systemisable domains’, like maths and chess (Baron-Cohen
and Bolton, 1993, cited in Baron-Cohen, 2002).
4.21 The theory of mind suggests that those with autism
do not have empathy and are not able to understand that
others have feelings and thoughts (minds) that think
differently from the person observing them. The extreme
male brain theory suggests that females have empathising
brains and males have systemising brains, with those
with autism being ‘even more’ systemising. Both theories
have the underpinning idea that autism is about lack of
empathy. However, this is more of a description of autism
than an explanation or cause. The extreme male brain
theory uses two pieces of biological evidence. One is
differences in the amygdala in those with autism, with the
amygdala being about recognition of emotion, and the
other difference is about finger length, which indicates
testosterone levels. These biological underpinnings might
well be causes but not enough is known to claim such
biological causes of autism.
4.22 1) Parents of a child with autism tend to report
more stress according to Cebula (2012) and as parents
Answers to Progress checks 27
 reported either less stress (Smith et al., 2000, cited in 4.27 Slatcher and Trentacosta (2011) carried out two
Cebula, 2012) or at least no more stress when their child naturalistic observations of 35 children who were under
was undergoing an ABA programme (Remington et al., school age. They carried out the observation over one day
2007, cited in Cebula, 2012), that is taken as evidence and then one year later repeated the observation, so they
for its effectiveness at least in helping the family. 2) had two lots of data. They used an electronically activated
Cebula (2012) did not directly gather evidence about the recorder (EAR) to gather the data so they gathered sounds
effectiveness of the ABA programme for the child, but did while participants went about their daily lives. This meant
get such data in the course of the study, so there was the the children were not interrupted by observers, which
general finding of effectiveness. meant the data were likely to have ecological validity as the
behaviour and language that was heard was not affected by
4.23 1) Every behaviour would have to be ‘programmed’
the research situation.
using a system of rewards because there seems to be no
mechanism for generalising. 2) The programme is about 4.28
shaping someone’s behaviour, which does not leave room
Name of study Data collection Initials of the
for choice perhaps, and might be seen as unethical. tool used/ data collection
4.24 Similarities: 1) Both rely on rewards to achieve modified tool
change in a child with ASD, giving reward in response Dodge et al. (1983) Video recording –
to attempts as well as success. 2) Both focus on similar Pepler and Craig Video cameras and –
features of autism, including social skills, communication (1995) wireless microphones
and language skills, and behaviour. Differences: 1) PRT Slatcher and Electronically activated EAR
involves natural play and natural situations, whereas ABA, Trentacosta (2011) recorder
even if carried out in the home, involves planned activities Campos et al. (2009) Video recording –
and behaviour to be rewarded; it is structured rather than
natural. 2) PRT includes child choice regarding activities 4.29 p<.01 means that the probability of results being due
and rewards, whereas ABA does not. Giving the child to chance is less than 1 in 100 (1 per cent), which shows
choices helps to avoid issues around social control that Ponitz et al. (2009) found a strong link.
ABA has. Giving choices also helps to focus on pivotal 4.30 Ponitz et al. (2009) used a structured situation to
skills because they will arise in the natural situation with observe children regulating their behaviour. They set up
the child making choices for themselves and this is more a Heads-Toes-Knees-Shoulders situation where the child
likely to lead to generalising what they learn. had to act differently from the command. For example,
4.25 These are qualitative data as the children will explain a command to ‘touch your head’ needed the child to
things like the colours on the walls or the size of the touch their toes. This was to show how far they obeyed
classroom or perhaps they like looking outside because commands and also how much they could pay attention
they can see the play area. and control their behaviour. The observation was done
in a pre-schoolsetting with three to four year olds in the
4.26 The data were gathered using a recording device that USA, using two settings. It was found that behavioural
recorded sound directly from the child and the child was control in the autumn of a term related to academic
doing their everyday activities, so to that extent there is achievement in the spring – in particular, in maths.
ecological validity. However, the data had to be coded,
which challenges external validity, because the coding 4.31
might shape the data, taking away validity. In practice, their Name of Data collection tool Initials of the data
study showed high reliability and they used more than one study used/modified collection tool
coder. However, just because they tested for reliability does
Ainsworth Strange situation SSP
not mean the data were valid. All the coders might have (1970s) procedure
showed the same subjectivity in interpreting the data. Also
Ponitz et al. Heads-Toes-Knees- HTKS
the recorder only picked up sound so expression between
(2009) Shoulders task
parents and child was not picked up. As the study was about
the effects of parental depression on a child’s everyday Johnson et al. Standardised SOAP
(2009) observational analogue
activities, some of the required data were not gathered and
procedure
this could affect the validity of the study. If the study is not
gathering ‘real’ data, then the findings are not generalisable 4.32 1) Validity: Naturalistic observations are carried out
– this is about low external validity, though this usually in the participant’s natural setting and observe natural
refers to non-naturalistic studies. behaviour because of that. Structured observations are set up

28 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2

rather than naturally occurring. They can be in the natural
situation, such as a preschool, so can have ecological validity.
However, they may not have construct validity because
what is set up might not represent real behaviour. External
validity can be found in either a naturalistic or a structured
observation because both can represent real behaviour
enough to generalise to wider situations. Structure is usually
such that it represents real life, as Johnson et al. (2009) argue,
so observations tend to have validity, both naturalistic and
structured. 2) Reliability: Structured observations can be
done more than once, which strengthens the reliability if
the same results are found. Naturalistic observations are
less repeatable because they are likely to be at one place in
one time with specific events occurring. However, use of
recording (video or audio) can help with reliability because
there can be more than one coder and the results can be
analysed more than once. Observations can be reliable,
however, as observation tends to be of complete interactions
(for both structured and naturalistic observations), which
may be one-off situations, reliability can be in doubt.
4.33 Self-report data can be gathered by questionnaire
where someone can give their own thoughts and feelings
about self-discipline. You could argue that it is one of the
only ways of finding out data about the individual that
only they can know, though interviewing could also be
helpful. Parents and teachers were asked as well, and could
perhaps make some judgements about self-discipline;
however, self-report data are going to be the most valid
as only the individual can know about their own levels
of self-discipline. However, there are issues like social
desirability and demand characteristics to consider, as a
student might want to present themselves in a positive
light. Duckworth and Seligman used 140 students, and
a questionnaire is an efficient way of getting a lot of
data reasonably quickly. Also questionnaire data can be
compared because all participants are answering the same
questions. This can help with reliability. A questionnaire,
therefore, for this purpose had some reliability and validity,
which makes it a good choice.
4.34
Name of Data collection tool Initials of the data
study used/modified collection tool
Heflinger et al. Attitudes about ACMHQ
(2014) Child Mental Health
Questionnaire
Esbjørn et al. Metacognitions MCQ-C30
(2013) Questionnaire for Children
(Also the Penn State Worry
Questionnaire for Children
[14-item] and the Screen
for Child Anxiety Related
Emotional Disorders
(Revised) [69-item])
4.35 Sampling is done when not everyone in the target
population can be chosen. This means the sample has
to represent the target population or the results of a
study cannot be said to apply to the target population. If
sampling is not done well, generalisability of the findings
is limited. A limited sample means limited generalisability.
For example, if Hef linger et al. (2014) used just white
females from a rural setting then only their views are
represented. It might be fair to say that males might give
different findings when talking about people’s attitudes
to children with mental health issues, as might someone
from a different ethnicity or from the city. Studies using
volunteers may help with ethics; however, volunteers
are people that are available and interested and perhaps
a specific type of person, so volunteers do not represent
the whole population well. Hef linger et al. (2014) used
volunteers – they left a package for everyone in the
clinic and whether someone took the questionnaire was
voluntary, as was whether they returned it.
4.36
Name of Data collection tool Initials of the data
study used/modified collection tool
Staal et al. Structured Problem Analysis of SPARK
(2011) Raising Kids
Venta et al. Child Attachment Interview CAI
(2014)
Leyfer et al. Kiddie Schedules for Affective KSADS
(2006) Disorders and Schizophrenia
4.37 Validity is a strength of interviews in general
because interviews can gather qualitative, in-depth and
detailed information about a topic. They can be one-
to-one and unstructured, which means the interviewee
can guide what data are collected. This does not happen
in many other research methods, such as questionnaires,
with forced-choice items and experiments. 1) In child
psychology, as elsewhere, they are valid because the
interviewee responds and questions can be in response
to their answers, so, for example, finding out about how
developmental issues in a child can affect parenting can
be in the depth required. 2) A difficulty with interviews
is that a researcher/interviewer can have ‘answers’ in
mind that can guide the interview because the schedule
is prepared in order to cover required areas. There can be
limited validity because issues are missed, such as missing
maltreatment using the SPARK (Staal et al., 2011) or
focusing on specific attachment types and issues using the
CAI (Venta et al., 2014) and missing others.
4.38 1) To have a naturalistic observation and the ecological
and external validity that goes with it, it is hard to get
informed consent because knowing about the observation
Answers to Progress checks 29
 might affect the data gathered. Using a recording, which is
likely to be forgotten after a while, can help in that there is
no observer there to disrupt normal behaviour. 2) Another
ethical issue that can be difficult is privacy, and that applies
to both a structured and a naturalistic observation. Though
any report does not have to give names and to an extent
there can be confidentiality, data have to be shared with
participants. Behaviour might be, for example, in a day
care setting where a parent would not see it, so the child’s
privacy in this way can be breached. Presenting data too can
be difficult for the researcher without showing data, and
if data are recorded this can involve breaching privacy for
individuals.
4.39 Children up to the age of 16 years, according to
the BPS Code of Human Research Ethics (2010), are
vulnerable, and one of the reasons for this vulnerability
is their understanding of the research and their rights. It
is particularly important that their consent is informed
and this can mean using a language level they understand
and/or visual aids or other ways of explaining the study
and what it will entail, as well as how the results might be
used. Also with the right to withdraw, children might not
realise they can withdraw without adverse consequences
and the power of the researcher (in their minds) can affect
their rights. Researchers must make sure children know
they can withdraw from the research without penalty,
otherwise they do not truly have the right to withdraw.
4.40
Term Definition
Emic Inside a culture using the meanings of the culture
Etic Generating a theory from comparing data across
different cultures
Ethnography A research method looking in depth and in detail,
gathering a great many types of data, to uncover
valid data about people’s real interactions and
behaviour. It means the researcher immerses
herself in the whole situation.
4.41 1) Research methods are observation, interview
and questionnaire. 2) Data collection tools include
questionnaires, interview schedules and tally sheets.
4.42 Generalising from longitudinal research is generally
hard because individuals are tracked over time and this tends
to mean a relatively small or focused sample. However,
there are a few longitudinal studies, such as the NIHCD
Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, where
numbers are large, and generalising is one of the purposes of
using such a large study. Often though, as such large studies
need a lot of funding and work, longitudinal studies have a
narrow focus. Nakahara et al. (2010) felt that, as they only
looked at public day care, they could not generalise beyond
30 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
that as private day care was likely to show differences in
prioritisation. They also note that their study took place
in Pokhara city so generalising beyond the city was not
appropriate either. However, they felt that their findings
about caste and ethnicity and priority day care places would
probably generalise as the same caste and ethnicity issues
were found across Nepal.
4.43 Longitudinal studies follow the same person over a
period of time so there are no individual differences and
any changes can be said to be developmental or affected
by intervention. If different people are used, comparisons
are not so easy because of individual differences. A
longitudinal design can track changes or behaviour over
time so findings are not a snapshot, which can be useful.
4.44
Example of a study Research method
Children’s behaviour in the playground Naturalistic observation
was watched by two observers, tallying
behaviour according to whether it was
aggressive or not.
A culture in Africa was studied by someone Ethnography
who lived with them for a year and made
detailed notes from many different
activities and sources.
A task involving play materials was Cross-cultural study
carried out in three different countries to
see whether young children understood
someone else’s point of view, in order to
discover if the findings were the same in
each country.
Ten children aged from six months to six A longitudinal study
years were studied by observing them
and interviewing their parents periodically,
to see how their language patterns
developed.
4.45 A longitudinal design compares the same person at two
(or more) different moments in time on a particular variable
of interest. A cross-sectional design compares different people
at one moment in time on a particular variable of interest.
4.46 A standardised test is one where questions are set
and delivered in a consistent way with the same scoring
procedures. A standardised test will have been developed
with great care and trialled a number of times to make
sure all the procedures are standard. A large representative
sample is usually used to standardise a test so that norms
regarding the test results can be produced. If test norms
are known, then someone taking the test can be measured
against such norms, which helps in analysis. Standardised
tests have reliability in that they will have been repeated
to check the same results are achieved. There can be
difficulties, such as when a sample in a study using
standardised testing does not match the sample the test
was standardised on, as was the case in Kover et al. (2013).
4.47 Publication bias refers to how studies are chosen
for publication. A meta-analysis is done by searching for
relevant studies and only published studies are likely to
be in the sample of studies that are used. If there is bias
in what is published and what is not published, that can
affect the meta-analysis as some results from studies in the
area of interest would not be included if not published.
Studies with results that go against expectations and
studies that have non-significant results are less likely to
be published, which leads to publication bias.
4.48 Article 36 states that children should be protected
from any activity that takes advantage of them or harms
their development, and research could be seen as just such
an activity.
4.49 Article 12 states that the views of the child must be
respected, which in research can be about ‘hearing the
voice of the child’. Article 13 states that the child has
the right to freedom of expression and can share their
information in a way that they choose, including talking,
drawing or writing. This means research must gather data
from the child if research is about the child and also must
use means of gathering data that suit the child and that the
child would choose.
4.50 Alderson says all children have the right to
participate in research that concerns them and Abebe and
Bessell say that all children who are involved in research
must have their rights respected. These are not the same
thing. Abebe and Bessell leave researchers able to choose
their sample and possibly exclude vulnerable children in
sensitive research, for example, or young children where
consent is difficult, whereas Alderson’s view is that all
children have the right to be included.
4.51 1) The inferential tests are the Mann Whitney U,
Wilcoxon, Spearman’s and Chi squared. 2) Analysing
qualitative data can be done using thematic analysis or
grounded theory can be used when gathering qualitative
data. 3) Three levels of measurement are nominal, ordinal
and interval/ratio.
4.52 1) They included only studies that used the strange
situation procedure to gather the data as then the
procedure of each study was kept similar and controlled
and that meant the data could be more fairly compared. If
different procedures were used, there could be different
sources of bias affecting results. 2) They included only
studies that used the ABC types of attachment because
then the data were categorised in the same way and again
this meant the results could be compared. Even if, for
example, Type B is not about being securely attached, it
is measuring the same behaviour, given the steps of the
strange situation, and so the findings can be compared.
4.53 1) They found that there was differences within a
country in distribution of attachment types as much as
there were between different countries. For example,
in Japan, the Tokyo sample was more similar to two
US samples than it was to the Japanese sample from
Saporo. 2) They found that there were significant
differences between the studies done in Germany. They
also found significant differences between the studies
done in the USA. Differences between studies done in
the Netherlands and studies done in Japan were much
smaller. So within a country it is not that there are similar
distributions in attachment types.
4.54 The strange situation procedure was developed in the
Western world and may only measure attachment types in a
Western-style culture. The studies used by van IJzendoorn
and Kroonenberg (1988) all found the secure attachment
type to be the most common (except one in Germany).
Perhaps it was the finding that children tend to cry and
seek comfort when their mothers return after leaving them
in a ‘strange situation’ that was the most common. It is
hard to show the validity of the whole idea of attachment
types. The meta-analysis looked at studies using the same
procedure, which is a strength, with regard to comparing
the findings. However, it might not help with validity.
4.55 A problem with claiming universality of any behaviour
or characteristic is that proof in psychology is hard to find. It
would never be possible to look at all cultures to see if they
have secure as the most common attachment type. All that
can be said is that in all cultures that have been studied secure
attachment is the most common and it is likely, therefore, that
this is a universal principle or law. All that would be needed
is for one culture to show secure attachment not as the most
common to ‘disprove’ the claim of this being a universal
finding. Popper talked about falsifiability and thought
science should be looking to falsify claims. However, getting
empirical data (data from the senses) tends to mean building
up ideas about what ‘is’ rather than what ‘is not’. If many
different cultures are studied and the same attachment types
are found (which tends to be the case), then this suggests there
is something about attachment and attachment types that is
universal in humans, but it does not say more than that.
4.56 In the main findings in the US sample, 21 per cent
were in the avoidant category and in the Italian sample
there were 33 per cent in the ‘avoidant’ category. In the
non-clinical Italian children, 28 per cent (33 per cent if just
ABC is used) were in the avoidant category, which again is
more than the US norm of 21 per cent. There were 40 per
cent in the avoidant category looking at the ‘clinical/at
risk’ sample. Then looking at maternal risk, 43 per cent
Answers to Progress checks 31
 were Type A (avoidant) and child risk gave 36 per cent as
Type A. These figures show that all the figures for child
attachment types have Type A with a higher percentage
than the US norm.
4.57 With regard to child attachment types, Cassibba et al.
(2013) in general found similar distribution of types as in
a US norm created by van IJzendoorn et al. (1992). They
found the highest percentage was securely attached. This
led them to conclude that attachment types are universal
and it is a universal finding that the largest type in
children is secure attachment. However, they also found a
lot of cultural differences in attachment type distribution
in Italy compared with the US norm. There were more
‘avoidant’ types in Italy perhaps because of the mothering
style used, which encourages independence. With regard
to adult attachment types in Italy they found a low
percentage in the unresolved category in adolescents and
linked this to Italy’s religion focus. In the adults too there
were more fathers in the ‘dismissing’ category, which
might again be about cultural norms. They concluded
that a lot about attachment is universal but specifics in
attachment type distribution come from cultural norms.
4.58 The mothers and children might say the same things
regarding externalising problems because they are observable.
However, internalising problems are not observable and the
mothers might not know about internal issues for the child,
whereas that child has that data to draw on.
4.59 p.002 means that 2 in 1,000 results are likely to be
due to chance but 998 out of 1,000 results are down to
what is being claimed. This is a good level of significance
as p.05 is the most lenient (5 in 100), and 2 in 1,000 is
much better than that.
4.60 1) Small head circumference on arrival positively
correlated with conduct disorders, part of the
externalising symptoms, and the significance level is
p<.01. 2) Weight/height ratio negatively correlated with
specific phobia, part of the internalising symptoms, and
the significance level is p<.05. The lower the weight/
height ratio, the more the specific phobia symptoms.
4.61 1) The internationally adopted children clearly
had more specific phobia than the non-adopted peers.
The number of children presenting specific phobia was
higher in the adopted children (χ2=9.79, p=.002). 2) The
mothers’ reports correlated with the self-report data for
the externalising symptoms but not for the internalising
symptoms.
4.62 Li et al. (2013) wanted to see if high-quality care
in the infant/toddler period leads to better language,
cognitive and pre-academic skills and to see if high-
quality pre-school day care does the same. However, an
32 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
important focus was to see how the quality of day care
in the two periods chosen affected the children overall.
‘Complementarity’ refers to the idea that ‘skills beget
skills’. Li et al. (2013) wondered whether the quality of
care in the infant/toddler period interacted with the
quality of care in the pre-school period (which it can be
assumed it would) and what the effect of the different
quality of care in the two periods would be on the
cognitive, language and pre-academic skills of the child.
4.63 Hypothesis 1 states that children with high-quality
care in the infant/toddler period have better cognitive
outcomes. The second part of Hypothesis 1 is that such
better outcomes do not continue into the pre-school
period and after the pre-school period children who had
high-quality infant/toddler care will not differ with
regard to cognitive, language and pre-academic outcomes
from those who had low-quality infant/toddler care
(unless they have high-quality pre-school care too).
4.64 Li et al. (2013) used data that the SECCYD
longitudinal study had already gathered, ready for such a
purpose. As they did not get primary data by using their
own questionnaires, observations, interviews and so on,
this is ‘secondary data’. A limitation is that there might be
some variable they want to control or measure that was
not considered in the study where data were collected, so
they would not be able to include that information.
4.65 ‘High-low’ meant the quality of day care in the two
periods was high in the infant/toddler period and low
in the pre-school period. ‘Early high’ meant the infant/
toddler day care was of high quality and does not include
quality of pre-school care.
4.66 52 per cent.
4.67 1) When looking at the quality of day care in the
pre-school period there are differences that are significant
at p<.001. One is in maths ability, which is the problem
solving category, where those with high-quality pre-school
day care do significantly better than those with low-quality
pre-school day care. 2) There is also significance in the
difference in language ability when comparing the children
who have high-quality day care in both the infant/toddler
and the pre-school periods compared to those who have
low-quality day care in both periods.
4.68 1) It would be important, according to evidence from
studies, including the two large longitudinal studies, the
EPPE and the NICHD SECCYD, to choose high-quality
day care. Some things to look out for would be a good
adult–child ratio, evidence of good staff qualifications and
training, a lot of stimulation available for the child and
evidence that parental involvement is welcomed. Li et al.
(2013) found that high-quality care both at the
infant/toddler stage and in the pre-school period was
best and having low-quality care in either period could
remove the benefits of the high-quality care that had been
experienced. 2) It would be useful to consider how long
a child needed to be in day care as the EPPE study found
that full-time care was not better than part-time care so
there would be no benefit in full-time day care. Also under
the age of one, it seems that spending too long in day care
can be detrimental, according to Belsky. The period of
day care can also be important, as high-quality day care in
the infant/toddler period, according to Li et al. (2013), can
improve memory and the inf luence can be long lasting.
However, any other improvements, such as in language
development, can be lost if the high-quality care is not
maintained through the pre-school years as well.
4.69 1) The twins that Koluchová studied were privated
and behind in their developmental milestones. Then they
were adopted and cared for by someone who gave them
a lot of attention and care. The effects of their privation
were reversed as far as it is known, so adoption can be
good for the child. International adoption could, therefore,
be good for the child and help to reverse any effects of
privation. 2) Gagnon-Oosterwaal et al. (2012) found that
most of the internationally adopted children were well-
adjusted, agreeing with Juffer and van IJzendoorn (2005).
Unlike Wiik et al. (2011), Gagnon-Oosterwaal et al. (2012)
did not find more internalising, externalising and ADHD
symptoms in the internationally adopted sample compared
with the non-adopted children.
4.70 If all the items in a scale point in one direction,
such as all the ‘strongly agree’ items mean someone is
securely attached, a respondent might get into the habit
of answering in one way, which gives a response bias. If
each respondent is likely to be using the whole range of
scores, that is a less biased way of getting the data. There
is something called ‘acquiesence bias’, which means people
can tend to ‘agree’.
4.71 The target population is all adults so not all could
be available to be in a sample. A sampling frame could
be a workplace, perhaps a busy office with both males
and females of a wide range of ages. Then all the names
of people in that office could be put into a box and one
drawn out until the required number of participants was
found. Adding a few more would be useful in case some
did not want to participate. Random sampling is the
best way of avoiding a biased sample as everyone has the
chance of being chosen (though of course if some do not
want to do the task, that may lead to bias).
4.72 The data are ordinal because they are self-report
rankings. A relationship is looked for; the hypothesis does
not claim a difference between scores, so the design is a
correlation. A correlation when data are ordinal uses a
Spearman’s test.
4.73 There is some discussion about whether the mean of
ordinal data is useful. Scales do use the mean, however, and
that is used here when getting each participant’s score on the
Adult Attachment Scale. Then when it comes to offering the
mean of the ‘means’, that seems to be going a bit far so is not
done here. The mean figure should be used for interval or
ratio data when scores have equal intervals between them.
Just the mode and median are offered.
Chapter Five
5.1 1) Biological psychology is involved in explaining
substance misuse, including issues of addiction, tolerance
and dependence. 2) Social psychology is involved in looking
at how other people can affect the health behaviour of an
individual and how health behaviour can be affected by
interactions between health professionals and patients.
5.2 1) Health psychology tends to focus on individuals,
including biological, psychological and social aspects
of their life when considering how to promote good
health and offer treatments for poor health. This is the
biopsychosocial model. 2) Health psychologists are
involved in health campaigns, which can be government
funded. Campaigns can be to avoid health problems and
to maintain good health or they can focus on supporting
people with specific health issues.
5.3 1) There may be a depletion in neurotransmitters
caused by repeated taking of the drug. 2) There may be
reduced receptors and so neurotransmitter functioning is
affected. 3) There may be receptor desensitisation as the
drug is used more and more.
5.4 1) One feature is the craving for a drug, which will
mean behaving in a way to get the drug over and above
all else. 2) Another feature that relates to the craving is the
seeking of the drug in a way that means other features of
one’s life are abandoned.
5.5 Addiction is a behaviour and involves: 1) compulsions
to get the drug even though acting out these compulsions
can put the person in some danger or have negative
consequences for them; and 2) obsessions about the drug,
such as thinking about it to such an extent that work and
family commitments and social activities are no longer
adhered to or sought out.
5.6 Heroin is turned into morphine in the brain.
Morphine fits the opioid receptors in the brain (on the
post-synaptic neuron) and this stops the inhibitory effect
of GABA. The inhibitory effect is to suppress dopamine
Answers to Progress checks 33
 at the synapse so without that there is more dopamine. levels of dopamine and low numbers of dopamine
Dopamine acts on the reward system and gives feelings receptors in the pathway. This does not mean alcohol
of pleasure so more of it enhances such pleasure feelings. causes these low levels and low numbers. They are found
in people with a certain gene structure relating to the
5.7 1) Selecki et al. (2006) carried out a study on rats
DRD2 gene, which is the gene that seems to give fewer
to look at the role of opioid and GABA mechanisms in
dopamine receptors and less dopamine. There tend to
heroin usage and found that inhibiting GABA reuptake
be more people with that genetic structure who are
(at the synapse) would help to treat heroin abuse.
alcoholics and so it is thought that alcohol might affect
2) There might be genetic differences in individuals
the dopamine transmission in those people and so give
that lead some into addiction but not others, and genes
reward particularly to such people. This is how there is a
though a biological explanation might not relate to a
dopamine explanation with a genetic underpinning; the
neurotransmitter explanation. Selecki et al. (2006) used
two explanations are not separate.
rats but Li et al. (2014) used the genotype of humans and
found that GABA A receptor genes had a role but there 5.12
were different variants. This suggests that individuals
Statement about a type of Write ‘heroin’, ‘nicotine’
with specific GABA A gene variants might be more addiction or ‘alcohol’ to show which
affected than others, giving evidence for the suggestion each statement applies to
that there are individual differences in brain processing Individuals with specific GABAA gene Heroin
linked to heroin addiction. It is clear in fact that a genetic variants might be more likely to
explanation can fit in with a neurotransmitter explanation show addiction than others.
so though there seems to be a contradiction between the There can be decreased level of The smoke from cigarettes/
two explanations, in fact, this is not the case. monoamine oxidase (MAO), which is Nicotine
an enzyme that works to break down
5.8 Nicotine acts in different ways in the brain and body. dopamine. This can help to explain
One way is to stimulate acetylcholine receptors, which the high dopamine.
releases acetylcholine into the synapse, and then blocking There can be effects on GABA so Alcohol
acetylcholine receptors, which means the acetylcholine that it increases its inhibiting effect
remains in the gap and there is more activity than without on brain activity as well as effects
on glutamate so that there is a
the nicotine. This can enhance memory.
decrease in glutamate – both effects
5.9 Strength: There is evidence for the neurotransmitter leading to lower brain activity.
explanation and it is from well-controlled animal studies, This drug stimulates the Nicotine
which means confounding variables are likely to have been acetylcholine receptor then blocks
controlled for and results have credibility and reliability. it, which affects signalling ability.
Acetylcholine levels rise.
For example, evidence comes from Yu et al. (2010) that
There can be a gene that means Alcohol
glutamate and GABA are involved in nicotine addiction.
fewer dopamine receptors and less
Weakness: Evidence often comes from studies using animals, dopamine in the reward pathways in
such as Yu et al. (2010) using rats, because that is how the brain.
neurotransmitter functioning can be studied more directly GABA is not inhibiting the dopamine Heroin (and can relate to
and in a controlled way. However, this does mean that neurons, so there is more dopamine alcohol)
conclusions from studies of the working of the brains of rats released into the synaptic cleft,
are used to explain human functioning and that might not which leads to feelings of euphoria.
be a fair generalisation to make. Human brains are different,
5.13
such as in the use of the prefrontal cortex, as Brown and
Bowman (2002, cited in Dalley et al., 2004) suggest. Unconditioned stimulus  → Unconditioned
5.10 If alcohol reduces glutamate activity at the NMDA (UCS) is the drug response (UCR) is the
glutamate receptor and also increases the inhibiting effect pleasure from the drug
of GABA at the GABA A receptor, and knowing that Neutral stimulus (NS)  → Unconditioned response
GABA is inhibiting with regard to brain activity, then is the cue(s) + UCS, (UCR) is the pleasure
that shows that alcohol is a depressant of brain activity. which is the drug from the drug
It reduces activity and increases the inhibition of activity.
5.11 Dopamine works in the brain’s reward pathways Conditioned stimulus   → Conditioned response
to give pleasure and reward. Alcohol can relate to low (CS) is the cue (CR) is the pleasure
from the drug

34 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2

5.14 There is a statistically significant difference in the
number of rats that die after a very large heroin dose
depending on whether the rats have the very large dose
in the same room as they were used to having heroin in
or a different room, one without cues. This hypothesis is
non-directional as it does not say whether more of those
in the ‘different’ room will die compared to those in the
‘same’ room. In fact, the study expected more to die if the
very large injection was given in the different room, so
the hypothesis could have been directional.
5.15 Peters and De Vries (2014) measure pressing of
a lever – that is the dependent variable. They set up
apparatus where there is an audiovisual cue to signal
heroin release and the rats learn to press the lever when
the cue is shown, because that is when heroin is given.
The independent variable is whether the audiovisual cue
is shown or not.
5.16 Cues that are present when a drug is taken can be
associated with the pleasure that comes from the drug and
so, perhaps after someone has stopped taking the drug, the
cues can trigger the craving and lead to relapse and drug
use. This is a classical conditioning explanation about
association of stimuli (cues) with response (drug-taking
and the pleasure given). Operant conditioning would
suggest that when a behaviour gives pleasure, which
would be a reward (such as in the reward pathways of the
brain), that behaviour would be repeated. The cues could
be reinforcing and could lead to the behaviour that gives
the reward.
5.17 1) Guy and Fletcher (2014) used 39 rats, which
is quite a large number, but they did say that food
was readily available and they did adhere to Canadian
guidelines regarding how animals in experiments were
treated in a humane way. However, they did make the
animals thirsty for the purposes of the experiment,
which could be argued not to be giving them the best
care. The experiment provided water, however. As far
as can be ascertained from the evidence given here, the
study did adhere to the requirement that the animals
should be given the best care. 2) With regard to the
place being licensed, this was not clear. However, an
ethics committee approved the study and it can be
assumed that the right licensing for Canadian rules was
put in place.
5.18 When a lot of studies come up with the same or
very similar findings as evidence for an explanation then
that is like a study being repeated often and that gives the
findings reliability. When there is reliability, there is also
credibility because the findings have been found over and
over again in different studies.
5.19 A double-blind technique means neither the
participant nor the person running the experiment
knows which group someone is in. The advantage is
that there can be no experimenter bias in the recording
of dependent variables because the experimenter
cannot implement what the hypothesis ‘expects’, even
unknowingly. The participant cannot easily respond to
demand characteristics either, though knowing they are in
a study might itself mean there is a willingness to respond
positively, whichever condition the participant is in.
5.20 1) Field and Duka (2002) showed that unknowingly
alcohol gave physiological responses and drew someone’s
attention to it once they had consumed it. 2) Willner
et al. (1998, cited in Field and Duka, 2002) found that social
drinkers report more craving for alcohol when cues related
to alcohol are present. 3) McCusker and Brown (1995, cited
in Field and Duka, 2002) also found psychophysiological
reactions in drinkers when in the presence of alcohol-
related cues.
5.21 Positive reinforcement can explain how, when
drug use is rewarding for an individual, then it is likely
to be taken again. Negative reinforcement can explain
how, when a drug has been taken for a while, and if it is
stopped it will give withdrawal symptoms, the drug might
be taken not because of it being rewarding but to avoid
getting the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.
5.22 1) The person was attentive to what is taking place,
which is a cognitive process. This could be watching
a parent light up and smoke a cigarette. 2) They must
then remember what they paid attention to, which is
about memory, another cognitive process, which means
remembering the process and what happened, perhaps
including an expression of pleasure, if there was one.
3) They must reproduce the behaviour, which means
imitating it, which means they light up and smoke a
cigarette themselves. 4) They must be motivated and
have a good reason to reproduce the behaviour, which
means perhaps they want to be like their parent because
their parent is someone they look up to, or they want the
reward that they have seen their parent get from smoking.
5.23 The person has seen someone rewarded for smoking
and the reward is something they would like. If the person
then starts smoking, that can be explained using social
learning and in particular vicarious reinforcement. The
young person observed someone being rewarded for a
behaviour and so behaved in the same way.
5.24 Methadone is an opioid agonist that acts slowly.
Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist. Naltrexone is an
opioid antagonist.
Answers to Progress checks 35
 5.25 1) Woody et al. (2008) compared a short programme
using suboxone and an extended programme, both having
counselling as well as the drug. It was the extended
suboxone treatment that gave better control over
withdrawal symptoms and a reduction in drug use. There
was also better retention on the extended programme.
People felt alert on the drug and people showed good
daily functioning. This is evidence for the effectiveness
of a combination of buprenorphine and naxolone in
treating heroin addiction. 2) Mattick et al. (2009) found
that methadone seemed to be significantly more effective
than therapies that did not use drugs. More people on the
methadone programme stayed on the treatment and more
came off heroin according to self-report data and urine/hair
analysis. However, with regard to mortality or criminal
activity, methadone was not a more effective treatment.
5.26 Drug therapy replaces heroin and does not give
the same problems with withdrawal symptoms that
stopping using heroin would give, so it is useful. Studies
show that drug therapy, such as suboxone, helps addicts
to stop taking heroin and gives better control over
withdrawal symptoms (Woody et al., 2008). Mattick
et al. (2009) found similar results with methadone,
which led to less drug-taking and fewer problems with
withdrawal. Another advantage is that drugs to replace
heroin are manufactured under regulation and so are
not as dangerous as heroin, which can involve filler if
obtained on the streets, and also being on a drug therapy
programme means an addict would not have the stress and
anxiety that goes with finding sufficient heroin, so they
could focus on improving things for themselves in other
areas of living.
5.27 McGill and Ray (2009) found that CBT was
effective and they reviewed a lot of studies (53) so their
finding was secure. They said, however, that there was a
small significant effect. They found, however, that as time
went on the effect of CBT was lower, up to a 12-month
follow-up. They found that as more sessions of CBT were
attended, the effectiveness was lower, and they found that
CBT seemed to be more effective in women than in men.
5.28
Study – CBT Study – CBT effectiveness
effectiveness focusing focusing on substance
on heroin misuse in general
Fiellin et al. (2013) Rawson et al. (2006)
McHugh et al. (2010) McGill and Ray (2009)
Petry and Martin (2002)
5.29 Nicotine replacement therapy uses different products
to introduce nicotine into the bloodstream to replace the
nicotine someone would get from smoking cigarettes,
36 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
which can help with nicotine withdrawal when giving up
smoking cigarettes. NRT can help with the cravings and
with controlling mood. The nicotine consumption is at
a lower rate than would occur when smoking cigarettes
and it is released into the bloodstream more slowly, so it is
less harmful. The products include gum, patches, tablets,
mouth spray and nasal spray. E-cigarettes can be seen as a
form of replacing nicotine as they give nicotine in a spray.
5.30 1) Nicotine replacement/e-cigarettes is effective:
Hughes et al. (2011, cited in Hughes et al, 2012) and
Polosa et al. (2011, cited in Grana et al., 2014). 2) Nicotine
replacement/e-cigarettes are not effective: Grana et al.
(2014, cited in Grana et al., 2014) and Bunnell et al. (2014).
5.31 The pre-synaptic neuron releases neurotransmitter
into the synaptic gap between the pre-synaptic and post-
synaptic neurons. The neurotransmitter is taken up by
receptors of the post-synaptic neuron if the fit is right and if
the receptors are not already filled so that they are blocked.
Any neurotransmitter left over is in the synaptic gap and the
pre-synaptic neuron takes up that excess neurotransmitter
so it can be reused at another time. If reuptake is blocked
the neurotransmitter stays in the gap and can be taken up
by the receptors when there is space. Blocking reuptake
means more of the neurotransmitter is available so there can
be more activation of the post-synaptic receptors.
5.32 The placebo group is a control group. It means the
participants have everything the same as the drug treatment
group except for the drug itself. Without the placebo group
it would not be known whether just being part of a study
would be enough to affect smoking habits. It is likely that
this is the case. However, as long as more of the treatment
group stop compared with the placebo group, this can help a
cause-and-effect conclusion that the drug itself is effective.
5.33 It was important to include the self-administration
of food as a control. So when the noradrenaline blocker
Prazosin stopped self-administration of nicotine but not
self-administration of food it could be concluded that the
noradrenaline receptors are important in the effects of
nicotine specifically, as rats continued to self-administer
food. The food-use was a control.
5.34 The figures are 23 per cent for varenicline, 14.6 per
cent for bupropion and 10.3 per cent for the placebo group.
Percentage differences require the difference to be calculated
and then worked out as a percentage of the lowest. There is
a 4.3 per cent difference between the placebo group and the
bupropion group and an 8.4 per cent difference between the
bupropion group and the varenicline group. There is a
12.7 per cent difference between the varenicline group and
the placebo group. This means that the bupropion group
is 41.7 per cent ‘better’ with regard to stopping smoking
compared with the placebo group (4.3 ÷ 10.3 × 100) and the
varenicline group is 123.3 per cent ‘better’ than the placebo
group with regard to stopping smoking (12.7 ÷ 10.3 × 100).
These figures show clearly not only how much better both
bupropion and varenicline are for stopping smoking but also
how much better varenicline is than bupropion, according to
this study.
5.35 1) Double-blind means neither the person running
the study nor the participant knows which group a
participant is in. 2) Single-blind means the participant
does not know which group they are in but the person
running the study does know.
5.36 Kotz et al. (2014) show that varenicline is better than
nicotine replacement therapy in the short-term, with
participants stopping smoking 1.76 times more when
varenicline was used than when NRT was used. In the
long-term, however, there was little difference. NRT is said
to be effective only in the short-term in any case, so this is
not very good evidence for the effectiveness of NRT. Zincir
et al. (2013) found smoking cessation rates were 54.8 per cent
in the NRT group, 57.1 per cent in the bupropion group
and 72.3 per cent in the varenicline group. This shows that
varenicline is more effective. However, there were high rates
of quitting using NRT and bupropion as well, suggesting
that they are both effective. They both led to less depression
too, which is something to take into account.
5.37
Unconditioned stimulus  → Unconditioned response
(UCR) is the pleasure
(UCS) is nicotine
from the drug
Neutral stimulus (NS)  → Unconditioned response
(UCR) is the pleasure
is the cue(s) + UCS,
from the drug
which is the drug
Conditioned stimulus  → Conditioned response
(CS) is the cue (S) (CR) is the pleasure
from the drug
5.38 The two processes are very different. One process
is to get someone to the end of their alcohol addiction,
which means to help them through withdrawal symptoms
and to feel better. Drugs tend to focus on helping with
depression and symptoms that might come from having
to live through withdrawal. The other process is where,
after someone has experienced detox, they are helped not
to relapse back into alcohol misuse. Drugs to help with
prevention of relapse need to do a different job. There will
not be withdrawal symptoms but there are likely to be
temptations and focusing on the pleasure experience that
alcohol gives (to turn it into a negative experience) might
be a successful way of avoiding relapse.
5.39 Detoxification means coming off a drug and
getting the drug out of the system. With regard to
alcohol addiction this can mean taking drugs for
depression and emotions that go with detox, such as
chlordiazepoxide. Prevention of relapse is a different
part of giving up alcohol; it is about not relapsing and
not turning to alcohol again. There is a different focus.
Drugs are different because they are not focusing on
supporting someone through withdrawal symptoms,
as in detox, they are supporting someone through
a change of lifestyle – not drinking, for example.
Disulfiram works by making drinking alcohol a lot
less rewarding as it brings feelings of nausea if alcohol
is drunk while on the drug. Disulfiram works using
classical conditioning principles to avoid relapse.
Disulfiram also relates to aversion therapy as it is a drug
that can be paired with alcohol to mean the response to
alcohol is unpleasant.
5.40
UCS (imagined situation)   → UCR (unpleasant
experience)
NS (craving alcohol) + UCS  → UCR (unpleasant
(imagined situation) experience)
CS (craving alcohol)  → CR (unpleasant
experience)
5.41 Strength: Aversion therapy includes a covert form,
called covert sensitisation, which gives more power
to the client than other therapies and also can involve
imagining positive results of not drinking, so is more
ethical. Weakness: Watson and Rayner (1920) found that
conditioning Little Albert to fear his pet rat did not last
and they had to renew the association. It is likely that
using classical conditioning principles, as both overt and
covert sensitisation do, means renewing the association
between alcohol and craving alcohol and the unpleasant
consequences (imagined or real), which questions the
effectiveness of the therapy.
5.42 Strength: Animal laboratory experiments use
careful controls and it is possible to isolate variables for
study so when looking at something like alcohol-related
cues and their effect on relapse to alcohol drinking such
cues can be carefully conditioned and then extinguished,
before looking at relapse. Weakness: A problem with
being able to use such control is that humans in their
lives would not have one controlled cue that could be
conditioned, extinguished and then studied to see its
power regarding relapse. There would be multiple cues
that would be related to one another and also extinction
Answers to Progress checks 37
 would be more complex as it would not be focused on in 5.47 The Toxic Cycle campaign might have given new
a controlled way. information to some people about the harmful effects
of smoking and is likely to have given new visual
5.43 1) Rewarding behaviour that is not related to the
information to quite a few people seeing the campaign,
addiction (or that relates to avoiding the addiction)
which suggests it would be successful. The campaign
positively is one feature of CRA. The person can be
does not refer to enforcement and does not use a role
rewarded for avoiding alcohol by being praised or by
model but these two issues were not thought to be
enjoying something they would not have been able to
important for the success of a campaign. The campaign
enjoy because of their drinking. 2) Another feature is the
does promote a service, though that too was not
use of negative reinforcement in not rewarding behaviour
thought to be that important. It has a very wide reach,
that is alcohol related or showing displeasure in the face
which is considered important, so that supports the
of alcohol-related behaviour, so that the person avoids the
view that it would be successful. It is not a very long
alcohol-related behaviour in order to avoid displeasure or
campaign but that does not seem to be very important
lack of being rewarded.
as both long and short campaigns have been found to
5.44 1) The therapy suits everyone as rewards are be effective. Overall it is the long reach and the new
tailored to individual requirements and are something information that are the two features likely to make the
the individual likes. This is ethical. 2) Peirce et al. campaign successful.
(2006) showed that continuous abstinence from drug
5.48 In Olds and Milner (1954), the IV is the region
use was twice as likely for the group that had the
the stimulation is targeted at, such as the septal area or
chance to win prizes than for the control group. There
a different brain area in the thalamus, and the DV is the
is evidence that token economy works. Skinner’s
amount of pressing for stimulation.
operant conditioning theory shows that people do again
what they are rewarded for, which backs up the claim 5.49 ‘Cause and effect’ means that it can be claimed that
that token economy is successful as a therapy for drug what was changed in a study, which is the independent
misuse. variable, caused the different effect in what was measured,
which is the dependent variable. A causal relationship
5.45 1) A hard-hitting TV advert lasting 30 seconds
claims that every time that change happens that effect
and giving a strong visual message about the physical
will occur. This is different from a correlation, which just
damage smoking does. 2) Posters showing the same
says that two variables change together but one may not
message and displayed prominently. 3) The engagement
cause a change in the other. They may just co-vary with
of pharmacies in England; 75 per cent took part in
something else causing that co-variation. For example, ice
the campaign. 4) An NHS website called ‘Smokefree’,
cream sales and car hooting might both rise together in
which gave advice about why to quit. 5) Stories
a city over a period of time; however, one does not cause
and videos from people who had stopped smoking,
the other; they are both caused by the temperature of the
including their reasons, to give examples (on the
day. Animal lab experiments (and experiments in general)
website). 6) Advice about treatments for stopping
are good at giving cause-and-effect conclusions because
smoking, including drug therapies (on the website).
of the strong controls over other variables that might have
7) Quit Cards available in the pharmacies, giving
caused the results.
information. 8) Radio adverts.
5.50 They are extraneous variables and are only
5.46 For: Bandura’s idea that people are more likely to
confounding variables if they are found to have caused
make a health change if the message comes from a model
the change in the dependent variable and are not the
that they identify with and so might imitate suggests that
independent variable of interest.
this is a good campaign. Eighty-four per cent of people
seeing the TV advert said they felt the message was 5.51 1) There must be three licences for research: one
aimed at them, which suggests they would identify with for the project itself, one for the place and one for the
the advert and the message and so would be likely to researcher. 2) Animals must be cared for according to
copy the behaviour and give up smoking. Against: The the best ‘standards of modern husbandry’, which means
‘fear’ part of the message is negative, giving negative the best conditions possible. 3) Any procedure using
emotions, which do not improve self-efficacy. As self- protected animals that might cause pain, suffering,
efficacy is necessary for change to occur, the ‘fear’ distress or lasting harm to the animal must have the right
message is not thought of as useful according to social licences in place.
cognitive theory.

38 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2

5.52 Virtual reality is ‘virtual’, which is a problem when
it comes to validity. Cues in a natural situation would
include sights, smells, sounds, touch and taste, whereas
virtual reality is not likely to recreate all that. Also in
reality there is 3D in someone’s world, which is hard to
recreate in a virtual environment. Another issue is that
someone will know the environment is ‘virtual’, which
is knowledge that will be used in their decision-making.
These ideas suggest that cue exposure therapy using
a virtual environment to expose someone to cues to
‘de-condition’ them might not be an ecologically valid
procedure. There can be good controls over what is in the
environment, so internal validity in a study looking at the
effectiveness of such therapy would be good. There might
be predictive validity too because cue exposure therapy
has been found to be effective.
5.53
Term Explanation
Internal validity In an experiment confounding variables do not
cause the results, they are down to the independent
variable being studied.
Generalisability Results can be applied to the target population
because of careful sampling. It also can mean that
findings are valid in settings other than those used
in the study.
Reliability Results are found consistently each time the study
(or a similar study) is carried out.
Subjectivity Results are affected by someone’s own opinion or
feelings rather than being objectively measured as ‘fact’.
Scientific Firstly, showing results are reliable and objective and
credibility so ‘scientific’ and, secondly, showing that scientific
findings can give reliable information about the world.
5.54 Randomised controlled trials tend to be used to test a
treatment. The control group will not receive the treatment,
at least not immediately. If the treatment is effective then the
control group misses out, which has ethical implications.
5.55 If the person administering a study knows which
group a participant is in they may treat them differently and
cues from the researcher might be picked up to show the
participant what their expected responses should be. This is
a form of bias and can be avoided if the person running the
study does not know which group a participant is in. In both
a single- and a double-blind situation the participant does
not know which group they are in so both techniques should
help to avoid the placebo effect, apart from, in the double-
blind technique, the cues from a researcher if they give the
information away unintentionally.
5.56 Ethical approval for the study was obtained from a
Research and Ethics Committee and from the hospital
itself. If the intervention was found to be effective, then
the control group would have been offered a delayed brief
alcohol intervention. However, it was not found to be
effective so this did not happen. Nonetheless there was
provision for the control group participants to receive the
therapy and not to miss out. Research assistant 1 asked for
consent from all patients visiting the hospital out-patients
department regarding taking part in the study, so it was clear
they gave consent, though informed consent was not fully
obtained because the control group would not know about
the intervention. People with a score of 20 and over were
referred on, which was ethical because a score that high
indicated a problem with alcoholism. Participants were given
40 South African Rand each time for transport for turning
up at the two follow-up sessions and completing them, which
was more about refunding them for costs than about reward,
which seems an ethical thing to do.
5.57 ‘Ten-week’ meant the trial lasted for ten weeks.
‘Randomised’ meant that the 58 people with schizophrenia
were allocated to the combined treatment group or the
single treatment group randomly to control for differences
between participants in the two groups. ‘Placebo’ meant
the group without the bupropion had a sugar pill or some
pill without the substance in it. ‘Controlled’ meant that
all variables were kept the same and controlled for except
for the difference in the treatment provided. ‘Trial’ means
a study. ‘Double-blind technique’ means that neither the
participant nor the person running the trial knew whether a
participant was in the placebo or the bupropion group.
5.58 The treatment group and control group must be
randomly allocated to the two conditions, one of which is
getting methadone treatment as well as visiting a clinic to
get counselling help and the other condition is just getting
the counselling help. The trial would last for 16 weeks and
after that time the control group would get the methadone
treatment, assuming it is found to be effective. Young
heroin addicts would be recruited onto the study when they
turned up at the clinic for help, which is why both groups
would get counselling so that the control group didn’t get
no treatment at all. Just the treatment group would get the
methadone. Measures of taking heroin would be taken every
month using a questionnaire and physiological measures as
well, involving taking a urine sample. The hypothesis would
be that the group having methadone as well as counselling
would be using heroin less after the 16 weeks of the trial than
the group having just counselling. The addicts would know
whether they were having methadone or not; a placebo is not
suggested. Those running the treatment would also know, so
this would be an open trial. This means that the clinic staff
can monitor the health of all of the participants equally, which
would be necessary for young people on such a programme.
5.59 Self-report data can be valid because they come
directly from the individual. However, with a topic like
alcohol, especially when Muslims can be asked and they
Answers to Progress checks 39
 do not drink alcohol, the respondents may not have given
true answers, which means there is a lack of validity.
Social desirability means giving responses that are socially
acceptable and suit the social norms. Again, this is likely
to mean people do not admit to alcohol use, perhaps in
front of their family or because of religious reasons. This
would mean data show bias, which is the difficulty.
5.60 Drug addicts who were injecting themselves with
drugs and had done so at least once over the previous
six months were considered ‘heavy’ addicts and would
probably have been on the sort of treatment programme
that is immediately available to them. Their lives would
tend to be unstable in such a situation. Addicts who
had been on a longer-term programme over time and
may not have been free of drugs for at least six months
might have had a better chance to get into stable housing
because their life was becoming more stable perhaps.
That is what Palepu et al. (2010) seem to have meant.
They had a biased sample and so could not generalise to
‘all addicts’ in Vancouver.
5.61 They might use the term ‘questionnaire’ to refer to
the data collection tool, where data were recorded and
where the required questions were listed. However, if they
have someone administering the questionnaire, such as
reading out the questions and explaining what the study
is about, as well as possibly explaining the questions, then
they are likely to call their overall method an ‘interview’.
This is not so much a problem as it is about labelling
the research method. The idea is that someone is there
administering the questions and they are set out in a
questionnaire. It is what is done that is assessed when it
comes to judging the results rather than what the research
method is called.
5.62 The researchers wanted to compare the answers over a
length of time so this part of the study gathered longitudinal
data. If the questions at the two stages of the study were
even slightly different it would be hard to fairly compare the
data.
5.63 Social desirability refers to the way people might
respond to items in a questionnaire according to how they
think they should answer, which is likely to be according to
social norms. A questionnaire about drug use, for example,
might well mean respondents play down any use of illegal
substances.
5.64 Participant variables are things about the participants
that might affect a study, such as whether they are hungry
or the mood they are in, or their gender or age.
5.65 The study using rats was able to place electrodes
directly to stimulate specific brain regions, whereas using
PET scanning the exact activity in the brain could not be
40 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
so accurate. However, a strength of the PET scanning study
is that it looks at human brain processing when choosing
to generalise to humans and smoking. The study using
rats might not be so easily generalisable to the reward
pathways of humans because humans and rats do have some
differences in brain processing, such as in decision-making
and problem-solving.
5.66 All but one used independent groups designs because
they involved either comparison groups or control groups
as well as an experimental group so the participants were in
different conditions. The one that used repeated measures
was when there was no control and experimental group; all
participants did all conditions. 1) Fishbein et al. (2007) used
heroin and alcohol addicts as one group and non-abusers as
the other group, which was an independent groups design.
2) Geha et al. (2013) used smokers and non-smokers to
look at differences in the hypothalamus that might explain
why stopping smoking is associated with weight gain. Each
person was either a smoker or a non-smoker so there were
different people in the two groups, which means this was an
independent groups design. 3) Field and Duka (2002) used
a repeated measures design with counterbalancing. All 20
participants drank both drinks so they did both conditions,
and this was repeated measures.
5.67
Ethical principle/ Example of a study giving
guideline evidence for or against this
guideline/principle
Informed consent George et al. (2009) got written
informed consent.
Right to withdraw Palepu et al. (2010) may have put
addicts in a position where they did
not feel they could withdraw.
Respect (using fair practices) Pengpid et al. (2013) made
provision for the control group to
have the treatment if effective.
Confidentiality Dixit et al. (2012) said they ensured
and explained confidentiality and
kept data secure.
5.68 As any translation of an assessment tool for diagnosis of
issues such as alcohol and drug abuse would be the same each
time the tool was used, data are likely to be similar each time
a respondent gives data, so there appears to be reliability.
The problem is that the translation might not be finding out
about feelings and issues the person is experiencing and there
might not be validity in the data. What ‘hangover’ means
in Korea (it refers to how someone feels with a lot of alcohol
still in the blood the next morning) and what it means in
Bangalore (it refers to what in the Mediterranean would be
a small dose of alcohol) is different, and a translation of the
word might not capture those differences.
 5.69 5.73 1) The septal area was one where the rats pressed
most for the stimulation so it was thought to be the most
Graph to compare living arrangements in the US drug-using offenders
and Taiwan drug-using offenders according to Deng et al. (2001) rewarding area. The scores ranged from 75 per cent to
70 92 per cent of the time pressing in the condition where
Percentage

60 Key the lever press gave electrical stimulation. 2) In the

50 USA
40 Taiwan
30
20
10
0 primary reinforcers are food, drink, shelter and so on, and
Mother Father Both Grandparents Other
only only parents
5.70 Social constructionism goes against the idea that there
are facts in the world. Instead, social constructionism holds
that reality is constructed in a society and by that society.
An understanding of drug use in Taiwan might have been
constructed from how society was after the ending of martial
law in the country, and from how others see drug use. For
example, the increase in imprisonment following the launch
on the ‘war on drugs’. This would mean that being an
‘offender’ comes from what a society sees as being an offence
rather than from someone’s innate criminal character or from
influences in their upbringing, such as parental use of alcohol.
5.71
Issue Study that
involves this
issue
Targeting temperament, such as impulsivity, can Gullo et al. (2011)
help in early prevention of substance misuse
and this might apply cross-culturally, possibly
showing nature issues involved in drug misuse.
Considering treatment for drug-using offenders is Deng et al. (2001)
likely to require considering a lot of cultural issues
around family and social structures in a specific
country. In the US focusing on family issues early
on can be useful; in Taiwan focusing on how drug
use is seen in the society can be useful.
Using diagnosis tools in different countries Room et al. (1996)
might seem to have reliability but because
concepts and terms are hard to translate in
different cultures, there might not be validity.
Generalisability is difficult because the sample Gullo et al. (2011)
was limited by being mainly female and not
being diagnosed drug abusers.
cingulate cortex there was an acquisition score of 37 per
cent and an extinction score of 9 per cent, which suggests
the stimulation of this area was rewarding, though not as
rewarding as the septal area.
5.74 According to the principles of operant conditioning,
secondary reinforcers are other rewards, such as money
to buy food – secondary reinforcement is something
that leads to primary reinforcement but is not directly
about drives. The researchers gave the rats food, water
and shelter. They felt that the pressing for the stimulation
would not link to any such drives so was not secondary
reinforcement. So they felt they had found another
primary drive, which was the reward system in the brain.
5.75 Strengths: 1) Used animals and so could use strong
controls in order to claim cause and effect. 2) Showed
reliability in some findings, such as in the septal areas there
was repetition. Weaknesses: 1) They used findings from
rats’ behaviour and brains to draw conclusions about human
brain functioning. 2) An alternative explanation might be
that the rat pressed for electrical stimulation to avoid pain.
5.76 1) The inf luence explanation is that adolescents adjust
their alcohol use to the peer group, being inf luenced by
the peer group with regard to their drinking behaviour.
2) The selection explanation is that adolescents choose
their friends based on similarities with themselves,
including similarity in their alcohol consumption.
5.77 The main question/item was that they had to name
their five best male and five best female friends both at the
start of the study and after about one year.
5.78 1) The response to the scale of 1 to 5 asking about
having fun together as a family gives quantitative data and
links to family bonding. 2) The question ‘how often did
you consume alcohol in the past year?’ giving a response
of ‘never’ through to ‘more than once a week’ would give
quantitative data as the responses were set ones and could
be scored.
5.79

5.72 Explanation Term

Three-person friendships 3-cycles
Levels of Levels of Measures of
significance measurement central tendency When friends are friends of friends Transitive triplets
p>.05 nominal mode When someone nominates as a friend someone Reciprocity
who has nominated them as a friend too
p<.05 ordinal median
p<.01 interval mean

Answers to Progress checks 41

 5.80
Statement Percentage found
by Mundt et al.
(2012)
Difference in percentage reporting no 4%
alcohol use in Wave 1 compared to those
reporting no alcohol use in Wave 2
Percentage of those starting Wave 1 found 89.3%
to be in Wave 2
Percentage of boys in the sample in Wave 1 51%
Percentage of adolescents reporting family 70%
bonding
5.81 p<.006 means that the probability of the results
being due to chance is less than .006, which means fewer
than 6 in 1,000 results might be due to chance. This
means that the result – being chosen as a friend by others
does relate to alcohol use – is strongly significant.
5.82 Mundt et al. (2012) used very large samples,
which added strength to their findings in that they are
generalisable. The original sample came from stratified
sampling, then there was random sampling. The original
sample included more than 90,000 students, the random
sampling then included more than 20,000, with the final
analysis being of over 2,500 students. The two sampling
techniques should have achieved a representative sample to
help generalisability.
5.83 1) an independent groups design; 2) nominal data.
5.84 1) The probability of the result being due to
chance was greater than 5 per cent so the result was not
significant (p<0.05 was chosen in the study). 2) The
probability of the result being due to chance was less than
1 per cent so the result was significant (p<0.05 was chosen
in the study). 3) The probability of the result being due to
chance was less than 1 in 1,000 so the result was highly
significant (p<0.05 was chosen in the study).
5.85 1) One-tailed because the statement says that those
in the intervention group will reduce drinking much
more, which gives direction for the results. 2) One-tailed
because the direction of change over the 12-month
period is given. It is said that the drinking patterns will
reduce.
5.86 Longitudinal designs have difficulties with drop
out because the participants left at the end of the study
might show bias in being those who have not moved area
or those who are interested enough to keep up with the
study. It is important to avoid drop out as much as possible
to avoid such bias in the participants used in the study to
show, in this case, effectiveness of the intervention.
42 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
5.87
Statement/question Answer
Regarding the heavy episodic 1.9 to 1.1 means the difference
drinking score what is the is 0.8.
difference in the intervention
group between their baseline
mean score and their mean score
at the 12-month follow-up?
Regarding the AUDIT total score At six months, the means were
explain how far the control group 6.3 and 7.0 respectively (control
and intervention group differed condition first) and at 12 months
in respect of the mean scores the means were 7.3 and 7.2.
at the six-month and 12-month These four figures are very similar
follow-ups. and this helps to show that there
was no significant difference
between the control group and
experimental group scores.
5.88 1) Using nicotine replacement therapy and e-cigarettes
can mean the pleasure obtained from the nicotine in a
cigarette is not completely lost and positive reinforcement,
which is so powerful a way of getting required behaviour,
is still offered. 2) Anti-smoking campaigns that give new
information and reach a wide audience have been found to
be effective (Snyder and Hamilton, 2002). 3) Cue exposure
therapy, possibly using a virtual environment to expose
someone to the cues, has been found to be effective (e.g.
Culbertson et al., 2012 and Park et al., 2014).
5.89 Shafer (1974) says individuals will be served by their
government but that government is not in the best position
to dictate behaviour related to drug misuse; individuals
and more local support networks are better placed to
support individuals in making good health-related choices.
Government is too far away to deal with individual health-
related behaviours and also by taking over issues like drug
addiction they have removed support from local institutions
and the family, which now does not exist, so it would have to
be encouraged again with government withdrawing slowly.
5.90 Theories: classical conditioning and operant
conditioning. Concepts: positive reinforcement and
negative reinforcement. Studies: Park et al. (2014) and
Culbertson et al. (2012).
5.91 If one person reads through the lyrics of popular
songs, as is done in this practical investigation, then there
might be personal bias in what is noted or there might
be data missed. Subjectivity can be an issue. If another
person analyses the data separately and comes up with the
same figures and data, then that gives the data reliability.
In a content analysis, a specific research question is
focused on and if just one person gathers the data there is
a possibility of researcher bias and subjectivity.
5.92 1) It is not possible to know who has rated the songs
as ‘most popular’ according to their age or gender so it
cannot be assumed that these are ‘youth culture’ songs.
As they are ‘most popular’ they may well not represent
a certain sub culture. 2) It is not possible to know that
the lists are ‘true’; they might be affected by factors other
than popularity. However, they are in the lists and the
lists themselves might mean they get downloaded so there
is some validity in the sampling.
5.93 The data are nominal because they are in categories
and numbers are just numbers of instances in a category.
Each piece of data is just in one category, which is like
an independent groups design, and the test is about
looking for a difference between the categories. The test,
therefore, is a Chi squared test.
5.94 There will be no difference with regard to drug
references or no reference to drugs whether the song is
popular (appears three times or every time in the four lists) or
not so popular (appears one or two times in the four lists).
5.95 The dependent variable is whether there is no drug
mention or whether there is a drug mention (other drug,
alcohol or place). The independent variable is whether the
song is in the four lists of Top 10 singles used three times
or four times (popular) or whether it is in the four lists one
or two times (less popular).
Chapter Six
6.1 Sherif et al. claimed validity because they used
observation, experiment and other measures when
collecting their data and the findings agreed, so the data
were thought to be both valid and reliable. Also they set
the study up in the boys’ natural environment – Summer
Camp is a usual activity.
6.2 The first four recalls, which each participant did,
involved one participant in each of the four conditions so
was an independent group design, which requires a Mann
Whitney U test (number of words recalled in the right
order is interval data). The recall after 20 minutes, when
compared with those first four recalls, was a repeated
measures design (also interval data and looking for a
difference), so a Wilcoxon test was required.
6.3 The control group is a baseline measure. Without it,
Raine et al. would not have any way of measuring ‘normal’
functioning and would have nothing with which to
compare brain functioning of the ‘murderers’. This is the
purpose of having an experimental and a control group.
6.4 Though they were criticised ethically, it could be
said that they tried hard to find a child who was placid
and played happily, so he seemed not to be an emotional
child who would easily become distressed. They took
care to let him play happily with blocks too, so that he
was not continually afraid while playing. So a strength
might be about the study’s ethics, though there were areas
of questionable ethics too, such as carrying the study
out at all and scaring the child. Using today’s ethical
principles it is clear that there are problems with the study.
For example, Little Albert was clearly distressed by the
procedures and yet the study was not stopped. Another
weakness is that the study lacks ecological validity. The
fear response to the loud noise can be seen as valid as
it does seem to have naturally given a fear response.
However, the setting is not natural and the sequence of
events – such as bringing in a dog, a rabbit and a rat – are
not usual ones for a baby.
6.5 Rosenhan found out that once diagnosed and
hospitalised people become labelled and seen according to
the diagnosis. Writing notes becomes ‘writing behaviour’
and questions posed to staff are not answered. If someone
shows a symptom of schizophrenia like hearing a voice in
one’s head, then they are diagnosed with schizophrenia
and treated differently. They are ‘seen as’ their diagnosis.
Though to be fair the pseudo-patients did say they heard
‘thud’ or something similar in their head, which was
not ‘normal’, even though afterwards they had behaved
normally. Rosenhan found that staff found it hard to
differentiate between ‘sane’ and ‘insane’. In another part
of the study, they were told that there would be some
pseudo-patients and they duly uncovered some, even
though there were none.
6.6 There was responsibility in that the boys in the
Robbers Cave study were not known to people, so there
was confidentiality involved. There was perhaps not
enough respect for Little Albert in that he was distressed
in the study, which was then repeated, so his distress
might not have been sufficiently taken into account.
6.7 Rosenhan’s study was not an experiment; it gathered
qualitative data in the form of notes made by the pseudo-
patients about their experiences in the hospital(s).
Rosenhan’s study picked one symptom of schizophrenia
to gain admittance into the hospital, which tended to
reductionism as the pseudo-patients did not give a whole
Answers to Progress checks 43
 picture of someone with schizophrenia. However, the
study itself was not focusing on part of the hospital
workings or part of staff behaviour and, as such, a holistic
view of the functioning of the hospital was perhaps found.
6.8 Rosenhan’s study of ‘being sane in insane places’
focused on hospitals in different US states and so might
have been gathering data about interactions between
staff and patients with schizophrenia in the USA rather
than worldwide. The findings might be limited in their
generalisability to other cultures.
6.9 1) Nature was involved in Raine et al., when they
looked at brain functioning and how, for example, the
prefrontal cortex seems to be for control and executive
functioning, and so perhaps dysfunction in the prefrontal
cortex might link to violence and lack of control. Raine
et al. assumed that it is universal that the prefrontal
cortex (functioning appropriately) relates to executive
functioning. 2) Nurture is seen in Watson and Rayner’s
conditioning of Little Albert to have a phobia of his pet
white rat. Little Albert was shown in the study not to have
a ‘natural’ fear of the rat and then he was conditioned
through his experiences to have a fear of the rat.
6.10 1) Diagnosis and labelling is shown as a form of social
control by Rosenhan’s (1973) study. The pseudo-patients,
just by saying they heard ‘thud’ or something similar
in their head, were diagnosed with schizophrenia in
remission, hospitalised and given medication. This can be
seen as a form of social control. 2) Watson and Rayner’s
study using Little Albert shows that the principles of
classical conditioning work to instil learning in someone.
Advertising uses the same principles – pairing a product
with an unconditioned stimulus that gives a ‘happy’
response so that the product gives the ‘happy’ response.
The individual being conditioned might have no control
over the situation and this can be seen, therefore, as social
control.
6.11 Sherif et al. used an experiment in their study to
gather data and also set up their study in an experimental
way, with controls such as matching the participants and
controlling the situation at all times (e.g. keeping the two
groups apart at first). However, they gathered qualitative
data and used tape recordings and participant observation,
so their study was more than an experiment. Watson
and Rayner also have elements of an experiment in their
study, because they too carefully controlled the situation
and the setting. However, they recorded qualitative data
in recording Little Albert’s reactions to the situations they
44 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
put him into and there is a longitudinal element to their
study as well as a case-study element.
6.12 Raine et al. (1997) used PET scanning of an active
brain and got each person to do the same task as a control.
However, other thoughts and emotions, including the stress
of being scanned (and the stress of being in the situation
where someone was pleading NGRI), are also likely to
affect brain activity so could be a confounding variable
in the study. This would especially be the case if the
‘murderers’ were more stressed than the controls, which
is possible. Little Albert in the Watson and Rayner study
was faced with two adult strangers carrying out tests with
him and he was quite a young baby. He can be seen to look
around and look scared, which might be because of the
strange situation rather than the conditioned fear. Though
in fact Watson and Rayner did show that he played happily
with blocks so they did aim to control for the explanation
of his crying being his fear of the situation.
6.13 d) The sample used, including the sampling
technique.
6.14 The control group was there to show what someone
without a phobia of computers would be like with regard to
an anxiety score and a phobic belief score. A mean average
of those in the control group should give a ‘normal’ score
against which the treatment groups’ scores can be assessed.
6.15 The qualitative data at the end of the study can
be used to get people’s experiences of the programme.
If the quantitative measures show that the programme
worked to reduce the anxiety and improve coping with
the phobia, but qualitative data suggest the programme
did not work, that would suggest that the quantitative
measures have no validity. If the qualitative data back the
quantitative data (as they did) then that strengthens the
claim that the data have validity.
6.16 Reliability is found when a study is carried out
again and the same results are found. A study must be
replicable so that it can be repeated and then tested for
reliability.
6.17 It is hard if not impossible to test what aspect of a
person is from nature and what comes from learning from
the environment. Twin studies go some way towards
controlling genes, which helps when studying the element
of nature in a characteristic or behaviour and can help
to show environmental inf luences too. The important
point is that psychology looks at the mind and behaviour,
both of which have biological and environmental aspects
so nature and nurture are both important focuses in
psychology.
6.18 Unseen Study One illustrates psychology as a science
because it uses a scientific method. There is, for example,
a treatment group and a control group and the control
group gives baseline measures. There are before and
after measures too, to measure the change in anxiety and
phobic beliefs before and after the treatment, which is a
procedure that has scientific credibility. The control group
is fairly well matched with the treatment group and data
are gathered empirically, directly from the participants.
The study has an aim which is falsifiable too in that the
programme of treatment might not have yielded positive
results for the participants.
6.19
Amount of internet use Numbers of respondents
(%). N=475
Moderate or serious over-users 115 (24.21)%
Mild over-users 292 (61.47%)
Normal use 68 (14.32%)
6.20 Ordinal data (though such ratings have been used as
interval data in analysis).
6.21 Using volunteers is more ethical because they have
had the chance to put themselves forward and there is
more likely to be informed consent because the study is
more likely to have been explained to them so that they
could volunteer. Also they might be more interested in
the study and so more likely to stick with it, such as, in
this case, completing the questionnaire.
Chapter Seven
7.1 1) Milgram gave the right to withdraw by allowing
participants to leave the study. However, he used verbal
prods to persuade them to stay when they showed signs of
distress and wanting to leave. This goes against the ethical
principle of giving the right to withdraw. 2) Milgram
asked for consent from the volunteers; however, it was
not informed consent because he said the study was about
memory and he indicated that the ‘victim’ was a fellow
participant. 3) The principle of respect is an issue as the
study caused harm and distress. However, Milgram did ask
colleagues and others before the study whether they thought
people would give shocks to the maximum voltage and
none of them believed people would go to the end of the
study. He did not realise the harm that would be caused.
However, he did continue with 40 more participants after
he found that harm and distress was experienced by the early
participants.
7.2 The cost to the animal must be considered in terms
of harm, distress and pain, as well as restricted movement
perhaps and loss of freedom. The benefit to humans must be
considered because the study must be worthwhile to justify
it taking place. In addition, the strength of the study must be
judged in terms of the validity, reliability and generalisability
of the results. If the results are not credible, the findings will
not be accepted and the study cannot be justified.
7.3 Qualitative data are useful for exploratory research
as they give depth and detail so that a study can inform
later research questions. Quantitative data are useful if
explanations are sought as they can be analysed in a way
that can show level of significance. Both qualitative and
quantitative data are useful when description is the focus.
7.4 Variables of interest arise from the research question. In
a situation there are usually many variables. Sometimes they
are all of interest as a research question focuses on exploring
an area of interest and in that case variables would not be
controlled, as there would be interest in the whole situation.
However, if a study looks for explanations in a situation then
some variables might be controlled and others manipulated.
It is hard to control all extraneous variables as controlling
outside noise, the weather or whether participants are
hungry is not always possible. In research it is often
important to do all that is possible, however, to control
such variables so that the variable that is manipulated (the
IV) can be said to have caused any change in the variable
being measured (the DV). This might mean a controlled
environment for the study, with all testing taking place in
one room at the same time of day, and so on. Such issues
can be very difficult to plan. In practice a study is usually
a lot harder than it might seem when first considered. For
example, writing out a list of words that have a similar
meaning and then a list that matches but the words do not
have a similar meaning is hard to do in practice.
7.5 If there is bias in a study then results will lack credibility
and will not be sound enough to draw conclusions from.
If data might be affected by bias, they will not inform the
research question and a body of knowledge about the area of
research cannot then be built.
7.6 1) Pavlov had to make sure the dogs did not experience
any stimuli other than the unconditioned and neutral
stimuli, so that he could pair the two and make sure no
other association occurred that could have led to the
conditioned response and so that he could eliminate
confounding variables. 2) Steyvers and Hemmer asked
Answers to Progress checks 45
 people to note down what they saw in the pictures that were 7.11 1) Some societies have a multicultural approach to how
used so that they knew what people ‘should’ remember other cultures live in society, living with all the variety of
having seen the pictures. norms and beliefs that the various cultures bring. Some
societies use an assimilation approach, which means other
7.7 Reducing behaviour or brain processing to parts in order
cultures are assimilated into main social norms and beliefs.
to study it is likely to mean that the behaviour or processing
Guimond et al. (2013) found that multicultural societies have
that is being studied lacks the complexity of real-life
less prejudice. 2) Becker et al. (2012, cited in Guimond et al.,
behaviour and processing. When something studied lacks
2013) looked at data from 21 cultural groups and found that
real-life features, then the results will show a lack of validity.
there were effects of cultural norms with regard to prejudice
7.8 Reliability means a study is repeated and the same that were over and above personal beliefs and attitudes. This
results are found. This can happen over and over again. suggests that culture affects prejudice.
However, just because something is repeated and the same
7.12 Culture has been shown to affect behaviour and
results occur does not mean that real-life behaviour is
attitudes, such as prejudice (e.g. Guimond et al., 2013).
being tested. For example, Bandura’s Bobo doll studies
Culture in the form of language use has been shown to
were repeated, and it was found that the children did
affect digit span (Sebastián and Hernández-Gil, 2012)
indeed imitate the aggression they saw. However, this
and also to guide schemas, which in turn affect memory
was ‘set up’ aggression and the child was imitating acts,
(Bartlett, 1932). If culture is a variable that can affect results
which might not have been the same as showing real
of research then it needs to be controlled as otherwise it can
aggression in an emotional sense. Also, they had watched
be a confounding variable.
an adult performing those acts so they may have thought
they were supposed to hit the doll, especially as a doll 7.13 Bandura did not just find that children imitated what
and the equipment were provided for them. The results they saw, especially focusing on aggression. He also found
were replicated but it can be argued that this was not ‘real’ gender differences in what was imitated – for example,
aggression so perhaps the results were not valid. boys tended to copy a male model more and girls showed
more verbal aggression than physical aggression; this was
7.9 Not scientific: 1) Rosenhan’s study took place in a
not the case for boys. If Bandura had not considered gender
real hospital so the setting had ecological validity and the
as a variable, these differences in the results would not
situation was not controlled. 2) Rosenhan’s participants
have been uncovered. Similarly, though Milgram did not
made notes about the whole situation that they were in
find gender differences in obedience (when he repeated
rather than what was being studied being reduced to
his study with female participants the findings were the
parts. Scientific: 1) Rosenhan did make sure that all the
same – 65 per cent obedience), it was important that he
participants were admitted to the hospital for the same
considered gender differences. In many cultures, gender
reason, having presented with the same symptoms, so that
differences are considered to be important and so gender is
there could be comparability in the diagnosis and results
seen as a variable in studies that have to be either studied or
could, therefore, be compared. 2) Related to the idea of
controlled.
comparability, Rosenhan repeated the study 12 times using
eight people so he could claim reliability of findings. 7.14 Role for nature: 1) Gottesman and Shields found a
42 per cent concordance rate in MZ twins for schizophrenia
7.10 Wang et al. (2010) manipulated an independent variable
and a 9 per cent concordance rate in DZ twins, suggesting
by setting up three clear conditions, which were a profile
a role for genes in schizophrenia. 2) It seems likely that
with no photo, one with an attractive photo and one with
aggression links to brain structure and functioning – for
an unattractive photo. For each of the three conditions,
example, the limbic system and prefrontal lobe – and
they used a male profile and a female profile. Gender and
that they have the same function in everyone (and to
type of photo were the only things that varied with the
an extent in animals). This is evidence for biological
profile; everything else was kept the same. Then they
underpinnings for aggression. Role for nurture: 1) Bandura
operationalised ‘willingness to be friends with someone
showed that aggression comes from watching others and
on Facebook’ using a questionnaire and four Likert-type
imitating them, which suggests aggression comes from the
items. When an independent variable is manipulated and a
environment. 2) If  twin studies only show that 81 per cent
dependent variable measured as a result with a lot of control
of schizophrenia might be down to nature, that still leaves a
built in, this is ‘doing science’. Befriending on Facebook
percentage being due to the environment – and figures from
is reduced to a few answers on a questionnaire, so there
some studies are, in fact, lower than 81 per cent, adding to
is reductionism as well, which science requires so that
the idea that the environment has a role.
reliability and objectivity can be established.

46 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2

7.15 Therapy helps the individual: 1) SSRIs are helpful
for people with depression and have fewer side-effects
than older drugs. 2) Clozapine is an atypical antipsychotic
used in schizophrenia, which can improve delusions and
hallucinations and seems to be helpful if someone does not
respond well to other drugs. This sounds as if it is helpful
for the individual. Therapy as a form of social control: 1) In
his 1973 study, Rosenhan showed how the patients in the
hospital were given drugs they did not want and this was
shown by the participants finding drugs hidden away. 2) In
aversion therapy, the individual is made to face their fear
and to stick with their anxiety, which is very uncomfortable
for them. Society gains in terms of perhaps improved
productivity if people’s phobias are dealt with (a fear is only
a phobia if it prevents normal living) and in terms of savings
if a phobia is dealt with. The individual, however, is very
distressed, at least in the short term. This sounds like social
control as the power is with the therapist.
7.16 One way would be to carry out a study asking the
individual how effective they felt a therapy was or had been
for them. If the individual has had a good experience, in
that the treatment has helped them, then it could be claimed
that the therapy was not about social control but was about
helping the individual. A case study would be a good way
to get information as it would be in-depth, detailed and
a full account of one person’s experiences. However, case
studies do not generate generalisable findings, so perhaps
interviewing a number of individuals would be better.
7.17 Sherif et al. (1954/1961) showed that prejudice can
come from conflict over resources in a society and from
competition. A way to reduce prejudice is getting different
groups to work together to achieve something they both
need to achieve, which is working towards ‘superordinate’
goals. For example, in Sherif et al.’s (1954/1961) study, the
boys had to repair the water supply and when they did, it
was found that their friendships in the ‘other group’ had
increased. Before working together they gave out-group
choices of friends at 6.4 per cent for the Rattlers and 7.5 per
cent for the Eagles, and after the stage where they worked
towards superordinate goals they gave out-group choices
of friends at 36.4 per cent for the Rattlers and 23.2 per
cent for the Eagles. Though it seemed that most of their
friendships were in their own group for both groups of boys,
the number of friends from the out group had increased a
lot after they worked together. This suggests that getting
opposing groups to work together will decrease hostility
between groups and society can use this sort of information
to reduce tension.
7.18 Bartlett’s (1932) War of the Ghosts study; Sebastián and
Hernández-Gil’s (2012) study about the development of
digit span with age; Baddeley’s (1966b) study of how STM
relies on acoustic coding and LTM uses semantic coding;
Steyvers and Hemmer’s (2012) study showing how prior
knowledge can help recall by triggering memory.
7.19 Bandura used social learning theory to explain how people
imitate behaviour that they observe. This can also be called
observational learning. People do not imitate everyone, they
imitate in particular role models. Learning can take place
using vicarious learning, which means watching someone
else being rewarded for their behaviour and so reproducing
it to get rewarded. This links to operant conditioning,
which explains the idea of positive reinforcement – we repeat
behaviour we have been rewarded for.
7.20 Socially sensitive research is research that has
implications beyond the study itself. These tend to be
negative implications, which is why the research is called
‘sensitive’. The implications can be for the individuals
outside the research itself, for the researcher themselves, and
importantly for groups in society. An example of socially
sensitive research is Rosenhan (1973), who found that once
someone was diagnosed with a mental disorder, staff in
hospitals treated that person accordingly. There was no
recognition by staff that the pseudo-patients did not have a
mental disorder, which was a worrying finding.
7.21 1) Posing a research question can in itself be harmful to
individuals or groups. For example, just asking whether IQ
differs between racial groups can suggest that it does, which
of course is a socially sensitive area. Even writing that here
might make you think about IQ, race and genes, which is
not the intention of course, but does make the point. As
students of psychology, you will realise the implications.
2) How the findings are used can show the sensitivity of
the research. For example, if it is found that older people
have the same digit span as six or seven year olds, that
can be upsetting for older people. This is the finding of
Sebastián and Hernández-Gil (2010), cited in Sebastián and
Hernández-Gil (2012). This information can affect members
of society and so is socially sensitive.
7.22 1) Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) used the
experimental method to show that children copied
aggression when they watched it and there were gender
issues. 2) Milgram (1963) used the experimental method
to show that someone would give what they thought
were electric shocks to someone else in response to wrong
answers. It seemed that they went against their own moral
code because of being given orders from an authority figure.
3) Baddeley (1966b) studied memory using experiments and
found that long-term memory, unlike short-term memory,
did not use acoustic coding, it used semantic coding. This
was evidence for the different stores.
Answers to Progress checks 47
 7.23 The scans are all interpreted by a computer and suggests that it is not just having a group that leads to
images are computer-generated, so it is the development of prejudice, it is the issue of competition over resources
computers that has helped to develop neuroimaging as a tool between groups that is important.
for seeing the brain in action.
7.28 1) A strength of having different ways of explaining
7.24 1) The use of grounded theory as a way of building aggression is that different aspects of aggression can be
knowledge. 2) The idea that qualitative data come more explained. Theories can look at how the brain is working
directly from real life and are more about real life so have when there is aggression as well as how far aggression might
more validity than quantitative data. 3) The use of thematic be innate and how much learned from the environment.
analysis and in such analysis the idea of keeping a journal so 2) A weakness of having more than one way of explaining
that the way data are analysed can be documented. aggression is that it cannot be fully explained using one
integrated theory and so actions that a society might take to
7.25 Developed over time: In the study of the influence
reduce aggression are not as informed as if ‘aggression’ was
of genes on brain and behaviour, advances have been
fully explained.
made because of the discovery of the human genome and
because of advancement in methods. Scott-Van Zeeland 7.29 1) Cognitive – Steyvers and Hemmer (2012) and
et al.’s (2013/2014) study used analysis of DNA and gene Williams et al. (2013). 2) Social – Lavarenne et al. (2012)
sequencing to find genetic information relating to anorexia and Sherif et al. (1954/1961). 3) Biological – van den Oever
nervosa. ‘Old’ ideas used today: Social identity theory was et al. (2008) and Raine et al. (1997). 4) Behaviourism/neo-
developed in the 1970s and is still used to explain intergroup behaviourism – Skinner (1948) and Bandura et al. (1961).
relationships. For example, Ison and Kent in 2010 used
semi-structured interviewing to get qualitative data from
eight females with anorexia and used social identity theory Appendix
to explain out-group influences in the illness.
A.1
7.26 1) The biological approach uses the theme of genes to
explain behaviour. Twin studies show that monozygotic Research question Qualitative or
quantitative?
(identical) twins share characteristics more than dizygotic
(non-identical) twins. For example, Brendgen et al. (2005) How is CBT effective for individuals’ Qualitative because it is how
OCD compulsions? they feel about CBT
found that physical aggression seemed to have a strong
genetic element, whereas social aggression was more Do boys play more outdoors in a Quantitative because the
nursery than girls? number of times they play
socially given. 2) The cognitive approach uses the theme of
outdoors can be counted
information processing to show how, for example, memory
How is quality of life affected in Qualitative because it is about
works. The multi-store model of memory shows how
people with Alzheimer’s? how they measure their quality
information comes into the sensory memory through the of life
senses and then, unless lost, goes into short-term memory.
How is STM affected in people with Quantitative because STM
If rehearsal takes place, memory then goes into long-term Alzheimer’s? experiments can be done and
memory and it can be retrieved from there. The multi- digit span and so on counted
store model shows how memory is processed in the brain.
3) The behaviourist approach uses the theme of operant A.2
conditioning, including shaping, to show how behaviour Definition Sampling technique
comes from interactions with the environment. For Has the least bias as everyone in Random
example, aggression might be reinforced by being rewarded, the target population/sampling
even if it is rewarded by attention when the attention is frame has a chance of being
meant to be punishment. 4) The psychodynamic approach chosen
has a main theme of the power of unconscious thoughts. Can be biased because choosing Opportunity
For example, aggression can come from instincts in the anyone available in a town on a
unconscious. Saturday afternoon means limiting
the sample a lot
7.27 1) The theories are similar because both focus on
Ethically this is good because Volunteer
the power of the group to explain prejudice. 2) They are people have shown interest and
different because social identity theory has the idea that the participants put themselves
just having groups leads to prejudice because people need forward
to raise their self-esteem; realistic group conflict theory

48 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2

A.3 Open question: What are friends for? Closed being one of those involved, though it could be said that
questions: 1) Have you ever argued with a close friend? the participants did show some distress at their treatment
Yes/No. 2) Rank order from 1 to 5 your liking of the and there was some element of harm. However, they did
following (5 is liked most, 1 is liked least): Being with not take their medication (they disposed of it), so there
just one friend. Being alone. Being with a large group was no harm in that sense; also they did agree, being
of strangers (four or more). Being with a large group of fully aware of what the study entailed. With regards
friends (four or more). Being with two or three friends. to respect, there was care in keeping the identity of the
participants secret, though details about them were
A.4
published and those reasonably close to them would
Research situation Type of interview probably have worked out the identity of some of them.
Wanting to find out about Unstructured because this is a They did give informed consent and had the right to
what it is like to be the sensitive area and it is not really withdraw, in a way, but of course they could not easily
sibling of someone with known what it would be like for the withdraw from the institution so in that regard they
schizophrenia. sibling; cases are different.
could not withdraw from the study.
Wanting to find out when Structured because this could be by
males help others and when telephone and specific statements A.11 1) directional; 2) non-directional.
females help others. asked as well as whether someone is
A.12 The IV is whether the words are presented in
male or female.
categories or randomly and the DV is accurate recall of
Finding out from clinicians Semi-structured because the
the words. There are two conditions: one is whether
how they diagnose a chosen clinicians are the professionals and
disorder (anorexia nervosa, it would be good to get their ideas as
the words are random and one is whether they are in
depression or OCD). well as to be able to compare their categories.
replies. A.13 1) Independent groups (gender). 2) Independent
groups (unless you leave time between the two conditions
A.5 1) The mode is 7 (there are three scores of 7). 2) and then can use repeated measures). 3) Matched pairs
The median is 7 (both the sixth and the seventh score are design (has to be different people in the two conditions
7 so the calculation for the midway point between the but they could be matched for education, gender, age and
sixth and seventh score is 7). 3) The mean is 7.33 (to two other variables).
significant figures).
A.14 It is only in a repeated measures design that there
A.6 1) bar chart; 2) scatter diagram. would be order effects because in matched pairs and
A.7 The mean is 4.92, the median is 5 and the mode is 3, so independent groups different people do each condition
this set of scores would show skewed distribution to the left. anyway so the order of the conditions does not affect the
individual.
A.8 Mean = 4.83. n−1 = 11. ∑ (sum of the squared
differences from the mean) = 53.68. Variance (∑ ÷ 11) A.15
= 4.88. Standard deviation (√ of the variance) = 2.21. Situation Likely form
(Note that this is worked out to two significant figures of bias
throughout and this might give a slightly different result, Verbal prods from an experimenter signal the Demand
so if yours is different take that into account.) expectation that shocks are to be given. characteristics
A.9 The table shows preferences for same-gender or Someone helps when they see someone on the Social
mixed friendships by gender and age. street needing assistance. desirability
An experimenter signals by leaning forward Experimenter
Aged around seven Aged around
expectantly when giving out letters with meaning bias
years 12 years
(e.g. FBI) and sits back when giving out ‘random’
Same-gender friends Girls – 79.5% Girls – 19.4% letters to learn (e.g. IFB).
Boys – 76.9% Boys – 57.7%
A.16 1) Participant; 2) Situational; 3) Situational.
Mixed group of Girls – 20.5% Girls – 80.6%
friends Boys – 23.1% Boys – 42.3% A.17 A laboratory experiment has good internal validity
because of the controls and a field experiment has the best
A.10 Rosenhan was one of the participants and had ecological validity because it is done in the participant’s
a responsibility to the others. He took responsibility by natural environment.

Answers to Progress checks 49

 A.18
Uses Uses Uses Can ‘see’
magnets and injected x-rays and activity at
monitors radioactive sometimes an receptors
oxygen levels tracers injected dye
fMRI PET CAT/CT PET
A.19 I would choose twin studies because it is the best
way of finding out about the inf luence of genes. Twin
studies involve comparing twins who share 100 per cent
of their genes and twins who share 50 per cent of their
genes. Only MZ twins share 100 per cent of their genes.
The advantage is that twins (both MZ and DZ) tend
to share their environment so such issues are accounted
for (kept stable). If MZ twins differ on a characteristic
less than DZ twins, that suggests a genetic factor in the
characteristic.
A.20 1) Good choice: Pavlov’s use of dogs meant he
could develop and use specialist equipment to catch and
measure their saliva. He could not do this with humans
(ethically) and the careful repeatable way of measuring
the DV gave his studies reliability and objectivity. 2) Not
a good choice: Dogs are not the same as humans as they
do not have the same executive function and decision-
making ability/tendency. Humans may also learn
through classical conditioning principles; however, such
principles only relate to ref lex behaviour and dogs may
have proportionately more ref lex behaviour, and humans
are likely to have more consciousness and thinking. So
generalising from dogs to humans might not be a credible
thing to do.
A.21 1) Validity; 2) Reliability; 3) Generalisability.
A.22 1) Difference; 2) Difference; 3) Relationship;
4) Relationship.
A.23 1) is a positive and very strong correlation. 2) is
a negative and fairly weak correlation. 3) is a positive
and weak correlation. 4) is a negative and very strong
correlation.
A.24 Title, abstract, introduction, method, results,
discussion, references.
A.25 1) The situation is sure to occur as it has been set up,
whereas with a naturalistic observation it might not occur at
all or might take time. This can have cost implications. 2) It
is easier to get inter-observer reliability if categories are set
up beforehand so that more than one observer can be trained
and their data compared. 3) It is replicable because of the
careful setting up of the situation, and perhaps apparatus, as
well as behavioural categories to record, so other studies can
be done using the same structured setup. However, this can
pose problems if it is used in different cultures or subcultures
50 Edexcel Psychology for A level Book 2
where even given the same structured situation behaviour
and reactions to it might be different.
A.26 A covert observation has the advantage of not
affecting what is happening and so will gather more valid
data, and a non-participant observation has the same
advantage. A covert observation means someone can take
on another role outside the situation and that might enable
thorough notes to be taken, which would be much harder
for an overt or a participant observation. A non-participant
observer has more time to record what is happening than a
participant observer.
A.27 A conventional content analysis takes a lot of data
and looks carefully to identify categories, then counts to
see how often that category occurs. A directed content
analysis is different from a conventional one because
there is ‘direction’ taken from previous theory or research
findings, which gives the codes or categories of interest.
A conventional content analysis takes the categories from
the data. What is different about a summative content
analysis is that there is interpretation and comparison done
after the counting of keywords or themes has taken place,
so the data are summarised, with some conclusions drawn,
unlike a conventional content analysis.
A.28 An example of doing a content analysis is taking
two different newspapers on one day and going through
all the text to look for how mental health issues are
portrayed. For example, noting down how mental
disorders are referred to, for example, using adjectives and
nouns, and/or looking directly for mention of ‘stigma’.
A.29
Data Level of
measurement
Number of words that someone with depression Interval
recalled from a list of words with sad meaning
(e.g. ‘down’) compared to the number they
recalled from a list of words with happy meaning
(e.g. ‘joy’)
Scores that people with depression give when Ordinal
rating how far they felt CBT benefited them (1 is
no help at all and 7 is very helpful indeed)
Number of people who have depression who say Nominal
they have benefited from CBT compared to those
who said they did not
A.30 1) Chi squared because the data are categories
(aggressive or not) and the design is independent groups
(boys and girls). 2) Spearman because this is a correlation
(suggesting that as one score rises the other does too, and
at least one level of measurement is ordinal – also you
are using Spearman in your course even if the data are
interval).
A.31 1) Not significant (greater than 5 per cent due to
chance). 2) Significant (less than 1 per cent being due to
chance is fine). 3) Significant (less than 5 per cent can be
accepted in psychology). 4) You do not know as you do
not know whether ‘less than 10 per cent’ means ‘less than
5 per cent’ as well. You would have to say ‘not significant’
as you cannot say it is ‘significant’.
A.32 1) This was making a Type I error as they wrongly
rejected the null hypothesis; the results could not be
replicated. 2) This was making a Type II error as they
wrongly said there was no difference between the two
therapies. Two other studies found there was a difference.
A.33 At N=7, two-tailed, p<.05 the critical value of T
is 2. In this test the observed/calculated value has to be
equal to or less than the critical value and 4 is more than 2
so the null hypothesis is accepted.
A.34 When the number of participants in list A is 8 and
the number in list B is 8, one-tailed, p<.05, the critical
value of U is 15. In this test the observed/calculated value
has to be equal to or less than the critical value and 12 is
less than 15 so the null hypothesis is rejected.
A.35 When the number of participants is 7 and the
number, p<.01, one-tailed, the critical value of r s is 0.786.
In this test the observed/calculated value has to be equal
to or greater than the critical value and 0.802 is greater
than 0.786 so the null hypothesis is rejected.
A.36 When df = 2, p<.01, one-tailed, the critical value
of χ2 = 7.38. In this test the χ2 value has to be equal to or
greater than the critical value and 7.694 is greater than
7.38 so the null hypothesis is rejected.
A.37 Grounded theory does not have a theory to guide
the coding, whereas thematic analysis is f lexible and can
be used for any theory. The theory in thematic analysis
can guide what codes are used and what themes are of
interest. However, in grounded theory that is definitely
not the case. The ideas must come from the data, not from
theory.
A.38 A personal licence covers what species can be used,
the place the experiment must take place in and the
techniques that are permitted.
A.39 1) Animals are different from humans, such as
regarding emotions and consciousness, and so findings
from animals have limited generalisability to humans. 2)
Animals being experimented on are not going to be the
same as when in their own habitat; they are likely to be
suffering from stress because of their situation. This means
that findings are not likely to be valid so not useful in any
case, notwithstanding any ethical arguments about the use of
animals in such studies.
A.40 1) Secondary data (based on Becker et al., 2002,
a contemporary study in biological psychology in your
course). 2) Primary data. 3) Primary data (to an extent
based on Raine et al., 1997, the classic study in biological
psychology in your course).
A.41 In a longitudinal design, the people studied are
the same individuals and so there are controls over
individual variables. However, in a cross-sectional design
different people are compared, which means it is hard
to draw cause-and-effect conclusions because individual
differences might be biasing the results.
A.42 One advantage is that it is a way of unpicking what
in our behaviour is from our nature and what is from
our nurture. This is because looking at different cultures
and so different nurture can mean that similarities
between them are due to nature as nature is the same
in the different cultures and nurture is different. One
disadvantage is that it is hard to pick out what is ‘one’
culture because within a country there are likely to
be a lot of different cultures and research can make
assumptions using a country (e.g. US norms) when in fact
within that country there are many different cultural ideas
and values.
A.43 A meta-analysis is useful for getting a large sample
size (because of using a lot of other studies) and pooling
data from other studies so that firm conclusions can be
drawn. This is useful as it not only helps to show what
findings there are in an area of interest but it is more
ethical because there is no need to ask more participants.
(Although the participants may have given permission for
the results to be used in the original study, they might
not want their results to be used again in a meta-analysis,
which does not give them the right to withdraw and for
which they cannot give informed consent.)
A.44 One disadvantage is that a case study is a study of a
unique individual or special small group and so it is hard to
generalise from one unique sample to the general population
because generalising from a unique occurrence would not be
helpful. Another disadvantage is that a case study can lack a
scientific element because there are no controls. Qualitative
data are likely to be the main type of data and the immersion
of the researcher in gathering data for the case study might
mean there is subjectivity. Quantitative data and objectivity
are among the hallmarks of science.
Answers to Progress checks 51