SCSA Psychology Psychological knowledge and understanding
5 sample questions with marking guides and sample answers
When you touch a hot stove, you instinctively pull your hand away. This demonstrates
a polysynaptic reflex.
a monosynaptic reflex.
an involuntary response from the sympathetic nervous system.
an involuntary response from the parasympathetic nervous system.
Which of the following statements best describes semantic memory?
memory of learnt skills and actions
memory of general world knowledge or facts
memory drawn from objects and places experienced
memory drawn from events and the people associated
Julius has recently become worried about changes in the behaviour, of his eight-year-old son, Nick. He has found toys in his room with the stuffing pulled out and the arms cut off and he recently had a fight with another child at school.
The behavioural change began when Nick started playing a new video game called ‘Nicholas the Destroyer’. The game follows the story of a boy called Nicholas, who destroys evil toys, and a girl called Diamond with the power to heal toys.
Nick has been playing the game with his friend Stacy, who has not shown any behavioural changes. However, Julius is convinced that the game has something to do with the change in Nick’s behaviour and is looking to find some research to better understand what has happened and why Nick has been affected, but Stacy has not.
He comes across the work of Bandura but decides that he should not test this on the children as he is worried about some of the ethical practices in the study.
Write an extended answer that demonstrates Science inquiry and Psychological knowledge and understanding in relation to the scenario above.
In your answer you must:
- define ‘social learning theory’
- outline the process of observational learning described by Bandura
- state the aim, describe the method and outline the findings of Bandura, Ross and Ross’ (1961) study
- apply the process of observational learning to Nick
- with reference to observational learning, explain why Nick’s behaviour changed but Stacy’s did not
- outline the ethical guidelines and practices related to human participants in research
- discuss two ethical concerns associated with Bandura, Ross and Ross’ (1961) experiment
- use appropriate psychological terminology
- acknowledge sources of information using appropriate referencing.
When Shauna was five‑years‑old she witnessed her older sister Lola steal a toy animal from the supermarket. She then gave it to her mother as a gift. Not knowing it was stolen, her mother gave Lola a cookie. As her mother gave her sister praise, Shauna thought if she did what her mother wanted her to do, she too would get a reward. Shauna’s mother’s favourite animal was a meerkat. When they went to the zoo the day before Shauna’s sixth birthday, Shauna took a meerkat from the enclosure and hid it in her backpack. When they got home, she proudly gave it to her mother, who was very upset with her and called the police.
Once the meerkat was returned, the police interviewed Shauna to try to understand why she had committed the crime. Shauna explained that she stole the meerkat because she thought it was the right thing to do as her sister got a cookie as a reward after stealing a toy animal and giving it to her mother. The police explained what she had done was particularly bad because it was a live animal, but Shauna kept arguing that her sister had stolen a toy animal, seeming to believe that the stolen toy could think and feel too. She also told the police that she was not worried about getting caught, as no one could have seen her because her eyes were closed.
Following the incident, Shauna never stole again; however, she also became withdrawn. She became unwilling to try anything new, stating that she would not be any good at it and that she was not good at anything.
In your answer, refer to the above scenario by creating a well-constructed response, addressing the following:
- identify the stage of cognitive and moral development displayed by Shauna in the scenario
- outline and apply Piaget’s theory of cognitive development or Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
- explain how your chosen theory (Piaget or Kohlberg) accounts for an aspect of Shauna’s behaviour in the scenario, referring to empirical evidence
- outline Erikson’s stage theory of identity or Bandura’s social learning theory
- explain how your chosen theory (Erikson or Bandura) accounts for an aspect of Shauna’s behaviour in the scenario, referring to empirical evidence
- quality of your response.
The Soaring Bellanita is a famous circus performer who, in a recent rehearsal, fell from the highwire. After the accident, when Bellanita tried to speak, she became frustrated: the words that came out were not fluent, she repeated many words, and speech made no sense. She found it difficult to walk and struggled to stop any movement when asked. Her friends took Bellanita to the hospital, where the doctors ordered a series of tests that included a psychological memory test, a physical examination and brain scans.
The results from the memory tests showed that Bellanita was able to attend to visual stimuli but had difficulty with sound tasks. The psychologist found that she struggled with the process of transferring the information to her long-term memory stores and required lots of repetition with meaning to assist her in this process.
The first brain scan showed damage to the left side of the brain. A more precise scan showed additional damage to an area of the brain that produces a neurotransmitter that is responsible for reward, motivation and movement.
Use your knowledge of the brain, the process of neural transmission and the role of neurotransmitters, and memory, to analyse the scenario and synthesise an explanation for the Soaring Bellanita’s symptoms.
In your answer, refer to the above scenario by creating a well-constructed response, addressing the following:
- identify the area of the brain and lobe that caused the speech issues when damaged
- explain why these speech issues may have occurred, using examples from the scenario
- identify and explain each component of Atkinson and Shiffrin’s (1968) multi-store model of memory
- explain Bellanita’s memory processing issues
- identify the neurotransmitter that has been affected
- describe the process of neural transmission from one neuron to another
- quality of your response.