2009 Psychology Exam

Post Mortem -Section A

Questions 1-12

January Summer School

2009 Geoff Slater

2

Exam Means

• Section A was quite challenging and provided a mix of questions that distinguished the less able from the more able.

• Questions which required an application of knowledge pose a problem for many students who focus on content rather than understanding and application.

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General comment

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Mean Mark 1.24 1.25 2.41 1.46 1.17 1.14 1.69 1.47 5.09 2.61 2.03 1.18 3.49 1.58 3.12 0.7200000000000

01

1.35 2.13 1.99 0.79 1.23 1.52 0.6700000000000

01

Maximum Mark 2 2 4 4 4 2 2 2 8 4 4 2 8 4 6 2 2 4 4 2 4 2 2

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

5.5

6.5

7.5

8.5

Mean mark for questions 1-23 of Section A

Mea

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Delp

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Cont

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Psyc

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Trai

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Ethi

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Pers

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Basic

Pro

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TOPIC COMMENT

LEARNING

INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY A lack in the understanding of qualitative investigation designs

PSYCHOBIOLOGY OF ALTERED STATES OF AWARENESS

Lack of knowledge on the social issues related to sleep and stress

SOCIAL COGNITION

HEALTHY MINDS Difficulty in applying knowledge of the topic within the framework of the four levels of explanation.

ETHICAL ISSUES Questions relating to ethical research bring out answers centred on well understood concepts such as informed consent and striving to ‘do no harm’ to participants.Answers falter when applying ethical issues in the application of psychological principles

PERSONALITY Difficulty discriminating between the three basic conceptions i.e. psychodynamic, humanistic and trait.

4 LEVELS OF EXPLANATION A general lack of understanding that students have of the four levels of explanation of behaviour and how they apply to different parts of the curriculum or to scenarios

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Topics- performance

Common errors in interpretation• Describe

eg-: Question 2 (disadvantage of exp design)– Stated a disadvantage , but failed to express how it is a

disadvantage• eg ethical concerns

– Ethical concerns can be a disadvantage as participants may be exposed to some degree of harm when randomly assigned to groups.

6

Common errors in interpretation• Identify

eg-: Question 9(a) , 9(b) (Classical Conditioning)– Recognised the correct stimulus or response, but then

added incorrect information– eg CS = Satay chicken or food made with chicken

• Explaineg: Question 9 (c) (Stimulus generalisation-classical cond.)– Providing a description of stimulus generalisation without

giving a reason to account for how it is illustrated– ie- Initial S-R link between satay chicken and nausea

and then CS generalised to all chicken

7

Common errors in interpretation• Discuss

eg-: Question 11 (animals and experimental research on learning)

– Recognised an ethical issue, without any relevant communication about the issue to an example

– ie: Marttin Seligman conducted research with dogs in which they were harnessed and electric shocks administered under certain conditions. This inflicted unnecessary pain and harm, causing distress to the dogs to the point where they demonstrated learned helplessness.

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9

Other commentsProblems

1 Focus Group- Design type

Adding ‘subjective’, or ‘objective, experimental’ to QUALITATIVE

3Objective quantitative measure to measure stress levels

•Confusing objective with subjective measures

4 Delphi Technique

• incorrect terminology ( Surveys instead of questionnaires)• lack of understanding re the iterative process and

consensus• content analysis not part of Delphi Technique• use of ‘experts or stakeholders”• Misconception about when data is analysed

10

Problems

5 Content analysis

• little understanding of the coding process• use of excerpts from data to illustrate themes in summary table• ‘categories’ often used instead of ‘themes”

6Why median is a more accurate representation of the IQ than the mean

• Just describing definitions of mean/medians• Lack of understanding as to why outliers in data affect these measures of central tendency•Lack of understanding how to “explain why”

7Behaviour of wild baboons at researchers’ closest zoo

• Observer bias is not a limitation in this instance• Need to make a connection re ‘wild baboons and those in captivity” or sample size

Other comments

11

Problems

8 Aim of punishment

• inclusion of incorrect information (negative reinforcement)

10 Systematic desensitisation

• lack of connection in associating relaxation within levels of a hierarchy of fears and the progression to the next level without fear

Other comments

12

Problems

11Experimental research on learning using animals

• informed consent, voluntary participation, debriefing are irrelevant issues• example often not given• examples (unconnected to experimental research on learning) often given…not penalised as question asked to discuss “this type of research”• invented their own experiments, rather than focus on ‘learning experiments• focus on ‘researcher’ not animals!!!• Pavlov has a lot to answer for….he would be amazed at how many different experiments were attributed to him

12

Observational learning and exposure to cartoons displaying aggressive behaviours

• describing issues about watching cartoons rather than describing one of the 4 factors (ARRM) eg like the cartoon characters, enjoyed watching it etc. and so hence model behaviour

Other comments

2009 Psychology Exam

Post Mortem -Section A

Questions 13-23

January Summer School

2009 Zena Abiad-Tan

General Comments

Section A –Part 2• provided added challenges for students.• All three topics (Personality, Altered States and

Healthy Minds) provided a range of questions that required different thinking skills:

-discuss one difference-illustrate your answer with reference to a graph-using the information displayed in graph-describe a theory using a detailed scenario (Obama).

Common errors in interpretation• Describe

eg-: Question 13 (a + b) Describe one trait conception of personality and one weakness.

– (a) Described a trait but failed to provide 3 valid well-expressed ideas for 6 marks.

– (b) Described a weakness but not one that was exclusive to trait theory.

e.g. relies on self-reporting (also valid for psychodynamic)

15

Common errors in interpretation• Describe

eg-: Question 16 Describe one ethical issue associated with using behavioural observation

Again, an ethical issue that is specific in the area of observation was needed with a description of the issue- not just stated.

e.g. Intrusion on privacy-person may not have given consent to be watched in this way

16

Other Comments• Describe

– Question 15 Use a humanistic conception of personality to describe Obama’s personality.

– A large range of students were able to demonstrate their knowledge of the humanistic conception and for some their application skills.

Less able – described a Humanistic conception only (typically Maslow)

More able – described the theory and applied every point to the scenario

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Other Comments• Describe

Question 20 Using the basic processes level, describe one factor that can contribute to anxiety

– Question required knowledge of ‘the levels’ and the risk factors of anxiety as well as the ability to identify which of the factors is a basic process.

e.g. irrational thoughts or phobias acquired through operant conditioning, etc.

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Common errors in interpretation• DiscussQuestion 14 ‘Discuss one difference between psychodynamic

and humanistic conceptions of personality’.

– Requires knowledge of both conceptions and the ability to extract one difference and discuss two points on each.

– The discussion needed to focus on the difference not a point on each theory that were unrelated.

e.g. optimistic vs. pessimistic with a point on each conception.

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Common Problems• Discuss

eg-: Question 18 Discuss the relationship between arousal and task performance as it relates to Freda. Illustrate your answer with reference to one time on the graph.

- some students were unable to interpret the graph, did not relate arousal levels to task performance and did not refer to a particular time on the graph in their answers.

- assumptions were often made about task complexity/simplicity or Freda’s stress levels.

- some students implied that task complexity drives arousal levels.

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Common Problems• Discuss

eg-: Question 19 Using information displayed in the graph, discuss one social issue in families with babies.

- often identified irritability, fatigue and sleep deprivation as consequences of interrupted sleep and failed to explain the social consequences of these.

- Needed to demonstrate an understanding that a social issue requires involvement of, or impact on, other people not just the individual involved.

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Common Problems• Explain

eg-: Question 21 Using the sociocultural level of explanation, explain how anxiety influences behaviour.

Students often described behaviours that could cause anxiety, rather than explaining how anxiety influences behaviour.

– This question required the knowledge of ‘the levels’ as well as the behaviours associated with anxiety.

– ‘Explaining how’ requires identifying a ‘socio-cultural’ behaviour that is caused by the anxiety and explaining how it is influenced by the anxiety

e.g. Individuals that suffer from anxiety can often feel judged or stigmatised when symptoms are present. To avoid this feeling, some may withdraw from or avoid social situations. 22

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