Section C
You may
have or may not have already come across the section C in your core studies
paper. You see the trick with AS Psychology exams is that 50% of the marks
account for your knowledge of the core studies, the other 50% comes from your
exam technique - your ability to answer the answers properly.
Section C
is one of those exam sections were it can be tricky but as you practice them
more and more you become used to answering these style questions and become to
love them. So the time starts now as your exam is on the 11th of May 2015 which
from today is 63 days away and this is not long considering we have a two week
Easter holiday.
Section C
is a 4 part question were it asks you about the approaches and perspectives in
psychology( I will be making Section C information pages for all of the
perspectives and approaches so you don't have to worry.)
Section C: Part (a)
The first
part of the section is is part (a) this question is worth two marks and it asks
you about the assumptions of an Approach or Perspective which you have covered.
An
example of this question would be:
(a)
Outline one assumption of the Developmental Approach. [2]
The developmental approach states that our cognitive, emotional and
behavioural development is an on-going process throughout one’s life due to our
interaction with nature or nurture. For example the cognitive mathematical
skills that one person learns develops through their life time, first you learn
the numbers then you expand your knowledge with learning how to add, subtract,
multiply and divide etc. it is not something that we automatically know.
- the
answer above is worth more than two marks, you would be accounted your two full
marks for stating the first sentence of the example :The developmental approach states that our cognitive, emotional and
behavioural development is an on-going process throughout one’s life due to our
interaction with nature or nurture.
- However just that sentence above does not prove to the examiner that you
fully understand the approach or perspective which is why using a general
example that links in with the approach is great as it does allow the examiner
to see your understanding of the approach.
How do I
answer part (a) ?
1. State
what the approach or perspective is
2. Give a
general example that links to the approach.
Section C: Part (b)
Part (b)
is worth four marks, it asks you about how your approach or study can deal with
a problem from that particular approach.
An
example of this question would be:
Explain
how the cognitive approach could explain the inaccuracy of eyewitness
testimony. [4]
The cognitive approach believes that our thought processes is just
information we input, store and output but thinking is not directly seen but we
can try and guess what a person is thinking due to their behaviour. For example
people that witness and event or a crime would have seen the event by watching
it storing it in their memory and recall it when ask questions about it but
they may not remember every single detail of that event which makes the results
inaccurate. In Loftus and Palmers study participants were inputting the
information by watching a series of video clips which they then stored but they
then went away for a week and were asked about a specific detail that did not actually
occur in the clip they may have forgotten about the information in a week so
they would have guessed the answer which means that we may not be able to
recall the information correctly which proves that eyewitness isn't always
accurate.
How do I answer part (b)
- state what the approach or
perspective says
- give an example
- state what the particular
study says about that issue
- Give an example from that
study of that issue.
Section C: Part C
This
section is worth six marks it is asking you about the similarity and a
difference between two studies in an approach.
An
example of this question may be:
Describe
one similarity and one difference between any social approach studies. [6]
* Similarities and differences between Piliavin and Milgram.
One similarity between Piliavin and Milgram is that they both have
ethical issues in their studies, which means that at some point participants
could have been put through a negative experience. For example in Piliavin’s
study participants weren't aware that they were being studied on , meaning that
deception and protection from harm rules were broken where as in Milgram’s
study deception was broken as participants thought that they were doing a study
on learning behaviour , where as they were actually doing a study on obedience.
One difference between Piliavin and Milgram is that they both used a different
experimental design, what we mean by this is that both studies were conducted
in a different way. Milgram used a lab experiment method in an artificial setting
which was highly controlled with the environment not familiar to participants
where as Piliavin used a naturalistic controlled observation method, the set up
experiment is a type of event that could have possibly happened in real life in
the participant’s naturalistic environment
How do I answer part (c)
1. State which studies you will be comparing
2. State the similarity between the studies
3. Say what you mean by this similarity
4. Give an example from each study
5. State the difference between the studies.
6. Say what you mean by the difference
7. Give an example from each study.
Section C: Part (d)
This
section is worth twelve marks and it asks you about the strengths and
weaknesses on an approach or perspective.
An
example of this question may be:
State the strengths and weaknesses of the
Psychodynamic Perspectives.[12]
One strength of the psychodynamic perspective is the way it can be used
to explain a whole variety of phenomenon. This is strength because it helps us
to understand the more unusual conditions of the human psyche. For example in
Thigpen and Cleckley's study helped to offer explanations for the cause of
multiple personality disorder. Strength of the psychodynamic perspective is
that it has led to the invention of therapies for treating mental disorders.
This is the strength because Freud believed that once unconscious conflicts and
emotions were made conscious they could be discussed and resolved. For example
in Thigpen and Cleckley's study they showed us how hypnosis could be used to
treat multiple personality disorder. One weakness of the psychodynamic perspective
is that its ideas are hard to test scientifically. This is a weakness because
it means that it is very difficult to replicate research, thus reliability is
low. For example in Freud’s study he argued that Little Hans' phobia was a
product of his unconscious mind which we are unaware of so were unable to study
it. Another weakness of the psychodynamic perspective is that research is often
only based on a very small sample. This is a weakness as it means it is unable
to make generalisations about behaviour. For example in Freud’s study only one
participant was studies who was Little Hans.
How do I answer part (d)
1. State
one strength
2.Say why
it’s a strength
3. Give
an example from a study in the approach or perspective
4. State
another strength
5. Say
why it’s a strength
6. Give
an example from a study in the approach or perspective
7. State
one weakness
8. Say
why it’s a weakness
9. Give
an example from a study in the approach or perspective
10. State
another weakness
11. Say
why it’s a weakness
12. Give
an example from a study in the approach or perspective
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