AQA A-level PSYCHOLOGY Paper 2 Psychology in context FOR MAY 2023

AQA A-level PSYCHOLOGY Paper 2 Psychology in context Thursday 25 May 2023 Materials For this paper you may use: • a calculator. Instructions • Use black ink or black ball-point pen. • Fill in the boxes at the top of this page. • Answer all questions. Afternoon Time allowed: 2 hours • You must answer the questions in the spaces provided. Do not write outside the box around each page or on blank pages. • If you need extra space for your answer(s), use the lined pages at the end of this book. Write the question number against your answer(s). • Do all rough work in this book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked. Information • The marks for questions are shown in brackets. • The maximum mark for this paper is 96. • Questions should be answered in continuous prose. You will be assessed on your ability to: – use good English – organise information clearly – use specialist vocabulary where appropriate. IB/G/June23/E11 7182/2 Section A Approaches in psychology Answer all questions in this section. outside the box Only one answer per question is allowed. For each question completely fill in the circle alongside the appropriate answer. CORRECT METHOD WRONG METHODS If you want to change your answer you must cross out your original answer as shown. If you wish to return to an answer previously crossed out, ring the answer you now wish to select as shown. 0 1 Which of the following statements is correct according to the psychodynamic approach? Shade one circle only. [1 mark] A The ego is present at birth. B The id is based on the morality principle. C The id is part of the unconscious mind. D The superego mediates between the demands of the id and ego. State one assumption of the cognitive approach. [1 mark] Turn over for the next question box Turn over ► Explain one strength and one limitation of using social learning theory to explain the different attitudes of Steph’s and Georgie’s daughters. box [6 marks] In what ways might the biological approach explain the different attitudes of Steph’s and Georgie’s daughters to their schoolwork? [4 marks] Outline and briefly discuss cognitive neuroscience. [8 marks] box Turn over ► box Extra space Section B Biopsychology Answer all questions in this section. outside the box Biological rhythms are influenced by endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers. 0 7 Outline the difference between endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers. Use examples in your answer. [2 marks] Xavier was cycling to school when he fell off his bike into the road. A teacher saw a car swerve, narrowly missing Xavier. The teacher checked Xavier was safe and asked him what had happened. Xavier could hardly speak; his heart was pounding, and his mouth was dry. He felt sick and his hands were shaking. It took Xavier 20 minutes to feel calm again. 0 8 Outline the fight or flight response and use this to explain what Xavier was experiencing. [6 marks] *07* Turn over ► Extra space Xavier was not wearing a helmet. The teacher told him how lucky he was not to have suffered brain damage. She told him about a man who had been cycling without a helmet. He had fallen off his bicycle and now found it difficult to produce speech. Xavier laughed and said, “I am young. If I had an accident, my brain would just recover on its own and get me back to normal.” 0 9 Discuss research into plasticity and functional recovery of the brain after trauma. Refer to the views of the teacher and Xavier in your answer. [16 marks] You may use this space to plan your answer. Turn over ► Extra space Turn over ► Section C Research methods Answer all questions in this section. outside the box A psychologist wanted to investigate whether exercise would affect stress levels in 15-year-olds. Previous research into the effects of exercise on stress in teenagers had shown that exercise decreased stress levels. The psychologist decided to use a repeated measures design to investigate the effects of exercise on stress levels in 20 15-year-old students. All the students were approaching their end-of-year exams. For Condition A, students were required to complete a 2 km run during their morning breaktime each school day for one week. In Condition B, students continued their normal activities in the playground during their morning breaktime each school day for one week. At the end of each week of the investigation, for both Condition A and Condition B, each student was asked to rate their levels of stress on a rating scale of 1–10, where the higher the self-reported rating the greater the stress levels. 1 0 Which of the following types of hypothesis is not appropriate for the psychologist to use in their study? Shade one circle only. [1 mark] A Directional hypothesis B Non-directional hypothesis C Null hypothesis D One-tailed hypothesis Explain why a repeated measures design was more appropriate than an independent groups design in this study. box [2 marks] To improve the validity of the findings, the psychologist counterbalanced the students across the experimental conditions. 1 2 Describe how the psychologist could have counterbalanced the students across the experimental conditions. [3 marks] Students self-reported their stress levels on a scale of 1–10. 1 3 Explain how this might have affected the validity of the data collected. [4 marks] Turn over ► Explain one strength and one limitation of collecting quantitative data in this study. [4 marks] box The psychologist calculated the median and range of stress ratings after each condition. This data is presented in Table 1. Table 1 Median and range of stress ratings reported in each experimental condition Condition A (2 km breaktime run) Condition B (normal breaktime activities) Median stress levels 5 6.5 Range 6 3 What do the median and range values presented in Table 1 suggest about the students’ stress ratings after each condition? Justify your answer. [4 marks] Explain one limitation of using the range to represent the spread of stress ratings. [4 marks] box A Wilcoxon test was used to determine whether differences in stress ratings were significant. The psychologist used a 0.01 level of significance. 1 7 Explain what it would mean if the results in the above study were significant at the 0.01 level. [2 marks] The psychologist found that the difference was not significant at the 0.01 level. The psychologist was concerned that there might have been a type II error. 1 8 Explain what is meant by a type II error in the context of this study. [2 marks] Turn over ►