16-mark essays, marked by Nova

Conformity

Discuss research into conformity. Refer to variables affecting conformity in your answer.

Aim to cover:

• AO1: Asch's procedure and findings, and the variables he tested
• AO3: strengths and limitations of the research, with evidence
• AO3: issues and debates such as culture or historical context

Obedience

Priya works in a care home. When a senior nurse in uniform told her to give a resident extra medication without checking the chart, she did it, even though she felt uneasy. When a new colleague in ordinary clothes gave her the same instruction by phone the following week, she refused.

Discuss situational explanations for obedience. Refer to Priya's experience in your answer.

Aim to cover:

• AO1: agentic state, legitimacy of authority, situational variables
• AO2: link each explanation to what happened to Priya
• AO3: evaluate the explanations with research evidence

The multi-store model

Describe and evaluate the multi-store model of memory.

Aim to cover:

• AO1: the stores, their capacity, duration and coding, and how information moves between them
• AO3: supporting research and its limitations
• AO3: comparison with the working memory model

Eyewitness testimony

After a minor car crash, a police officer asked one witness, 'How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?' The witness later said she was sure she had seen broken glass, although there was none.

Discuss the effect of misleading information on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. Refer to the witness in your answer.

Aim to cover:

• AO1: leading questions and post-event discussion
• AO2: apply to the officer's question and the witness's memory
• AO3: evaluate the research, including validity

Bowlby's monotropic theory

Describe and evaluate Bowlby's monotropic theory of attachment.

Aim to cover:

• AO1: monotropy, social releasers, the critical period, the internal working model
• AO3: supporting and contradicting evidence
• AO3: issues such as the role of the father, or social sensitivity

Treating depression

Discuss the cognitive approach to treating depression.

Aim to cover:

• AO1: CBT, including Beck's and Ellis's approaches
• AO3: evidence for its effectiveness
• AO3: limitations and comparison with other treatments

Plasticity and recovery

Discuss research into plasticity and functional recovery of the brain after trauma.

Aim to cover:

• AO1: what plasticity and functional recovery are, and how recovery happens
• AO3: supporting research and its limitations
• AO3: factors such as age or education that affect recovery

Explaining schizophrenia

Discuss biological explanations for schizophrenia.

Aim to cover:

• AO1: the genetic basis, the dopamine hypothesis, neural correlates
• AO3: research support and its limitations
• AO3: debates such as nature/nurture, or reductionism

Free will and determinism

Discuss the free will and determinism debate in psychology. Refer to at least two topics you have studied.

Aim to cover:

• AO1: hard and soft determinism, types of determinism, free will
• AO3: examples from topics you have studied
• AO3: implications for science, responsibility and treatment

Ethics in research

A researcher wants to find out whether students conform to their friends' opinions about music. She plans to play songs to groups of students in a lunchtime club, where some students are secretly told in advance to say they dislike every song.

Discuss the ethical issues that psychologists must consider when carrying out research with human participants. Refer to the researcher's study in your answer.

Aim to cover:

• AO1: the BPS code of ethics and the main ethical issues
• AO2: which issues the planned study raises, and how she could deal with them
• AO3: evaluate how well the ways of dealing with ethical issues work