AQA A Level Psychology Approaches Exam Questions
Page | 1
and Answers (Verified and Updated).
Description:
This exam-focused resource covers the psychology approaches section of the AQA A
Level syllabus. It includes detailed Q&A on Wundt, introspection, behaviorism,
classical and operant conditioning, and Bandura’s social learning theory. With
verified and updated answers, the material is highly reliable for exam preparation.
The content balances theory with evaluation, helping students achieve strong
assessment results.
Who was Wundt and what did he do - answer✔✔He is known as the father of
Psychology opening the first institute for experimental psychology in Germany in
1879. He separated psychology from philosophy and focused on studying the mind.
He took a very reductionist approach where he simplified everything down to cause
and effect. Outline introspection and problems with it - answer✔✔Introspection is
a psychological method to analyse someones thoughts and feelings internally, this
was done as there were no brain scans or computers at the time and thus they used
this technique of presenting a stimuli and asking how they felt after seeing it.
, Problems with it include how it does not explain how the mind works it simply relies
on peoples subjective thoughts. Secondly it doesn't provide data that can be used
with certain reliability. What are the 5 factors that need to be looked at when
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deciding whether psychology is a science - answer✔✔Objectivity Control
Predictability Hypothesis Testing Replication Evaluate the strengths and limitations
to a scientific approach in psychology - answer✔✔:) - Due to its reliance on
objectivity and scientific methods knowledge acquired is more than just the passive
acceptance of facts :) - Because scientific methods believe in determinism they are
able to establish the causes of behaviour through the use of methods that are
replicable :) - If scientific methods no longer fit the facts then they can easily be
refined or abandoned meaning that scientific knowledge is self corrective :( - Be
focusing on objectivity and control in experiments they tend to be too unrealistic and
we lack an insight into natural behaviour :( - A lot of psychological behaviour is
unobservable and thus cannot be measured with much accuracy meaning that the
gap between actual data and theories put forward is quite large :( - Not all
psychologists believe that human behaviour can be viewed scientifically as it is not
subject to laws and regularities that science implies The first worldwide accepted
approach was behaviourism, outline this - answer✔✔Behaviourism, also known as
learning theory, started in the early 1900's by Watson who believed that
psychological research before this wasn't scientific enough. There are three
assumptions behaviourism makes: 1) All behaviour is learnt (exception of inborn
reflexes) 2) Animals and humans learn in the same way 3) The minds is irrelevant
Page | 1
and Answers (Verified and Updated).
Description:
This exam-focused resource covers the psychology approaches section of the AQA A
Level syllabus. It includes detailed Q&A on Wundt, introspection, behaviorism,
classical and operant conditioning, and Bandura’s social learning theory. With
verified and updated answers, the material is highly reliable for exam preparation.
The content balances theory with evaluation, helping students achieve strong
assessment results.
Who was Wundt and what did he do - answer✔✔He is known as the father of
Psychology opening the first institute for experimental psychology in Germany in
1879. He separated psychology from philosophy and focused on studying the mind.
He took a very reductionist approach where he simplified everything down to cause
and effect. Outline introspection and problems with it - answer✔✔Introspection is
a psychological method to analyse someones thoughts and feelings internally, this
was done as there were no brain scans or computers at the time and thus they used
this technique of presenting a stimuli and asking how they felt after seeing it.
, Problems with it include how it does not explain how the mind works it simply relies
on peoples subjective thoughts. Secondly it doesn't provide data that can be used
with certain reliability. What are the 5 factors that need to be looked at when
Page | 2
deciding whether psychology is a science - answer✔✔Objectivity Control
Predictability Hypothesis Testing Replication Evaluate the strengths and limitations
to a scientific approach in psychology - answer✔✔:) - Due to its reliance on
objectivity and scientific methods knowledge acquired is more than just the passive
acceptance of facts :) - Because scientific methods believe in determinism they are
able to establish the causes of behaviour through the use of methods that are
replicable :) - If scientific methods no longer fit the facts then they can easily be
refined or abandoned meaning that scientific knowledge is self corrective :( - Be
focusing on objectivity and control in experiments they tend to be too unrealistic and
we lack an insight into natural behaviour :( - A lot of psychological behaviour is
unobservable and thus cannot be measured with much accuracy meaning that the
gap between actual data and theories put forward is quite large :( - Not all
psychologists believe that human behaviour can be viewed scientifically as it is not
subject to laws and regularities that science implies The first worldwide accepted
approach was behaviourism, outline this - answer✔✔Behaviourism, also known as
learning theory, started in the early 1900's by Watson who believed that
psychological research before this wasn't scientific enough. There are three
assumptions behaviourism makes: 1) All behaviour is learnt (exception of inborn
reflexes) 2) Animals and humans learn in the same way 3) The minds is irrelevant
