OCR Psychology For A Level Book 1 sample

Practical application of developmental core studies 3 and 4 In Section C of the Component 02 exam you will be required to apply your knowledge and understanding of psychology to a novel source. On this spread we consider two novel sources related to core studies 3 and 4. You should take around 40 minutes in the A level exam to complete Section C. Think of spending just over one minute for each mark. Notice that the questions scoring the most marks are at the end. Pace yourself when you practise so that you don’t run out of time. In your exam Section C is the practical application question. This question is worth 33% of your mark for Paper 2 (35 marks out of 105). This makes it VERY important. Learn how to do this by producing your own answers to the questions on this spread. Source A Exchange between siblings a) Outline one psychological issue raised by the above source. Support your answer with evidence from the above source. [5] b) Explain how the above source is relevant to the developmental area of psychology. Support your answer with evidence from the source. [4] c) Outline one piece of psychological research that links to the above source and justify how it relates to the above source. [8] d) * Using the above source and your understanding of psychology, write a detailed article of your own that could be presented to the parents of Selina and Guy to explain their children’s behaviour. [8] e) * Evaluate your article in (d). [10] Note: Quality of extended responses will be assessed in questions marked with an asterisk (*). Preparing an answer for Source A Answering part (a) One psychological issue that could be raised is that of moral development. You should define your issue. When supporting your answer with evidence from the source is it helpful to use quotes, explaining how the quote relates to moral development. For example, point out that Guy is younger and his morality is focused on punishment as he says, ‘You could get into trouble’. Selina, on the other hand, has morality driven by what is fair – ‘I think it’s only fair if I keep it because I found it’. These points could then be related to Kohlberg ’s stages . Answering part (b) This is relatively straightforward. You may even use similar material here as you did in your answer to (a) – though obviously this will depend on the issue you chose in (a). For example, you might explain how moral development is relevant to the developmental area of psychology. Answering part (c) Kohlberg ’s study seems the most obvious study to use as it clearly looks at stages of development and you can look at how the stages of development relate to what the children in the source say. This is a question carrying 8 marks. It is looking for twice the detail of (b). Answering part (d) This is another question of 8 marks, which gives you an indicator of how much to write. Remember that you are writing for a particular audience – parents. It may help you to think of how you will evaluate your suggestion for (e), and this may help point the way when answering (d). Answering part (e) This question part carries the most marks and is a chance for you to apply your understanding of psychology to your own article. Look for positive and negative evaluation points. How useful is your article? Did you write something that can help the parents’ understanding of their children’s behaviour? How have you considered ethics and social sensitivity ? Have you written in a way that criticises the parents too much? Has your approach been holistic or reductionist , and what is the value of these two alternatives? Is the behaviour of Guy and Selina determinist ? Remember that examiners will be looking for fine detail in your answer. Selina is 10 years old and Guy is 7. Selina: Look Guy, I found some money! Guy: Where? Selina: You don’t need to know. Guy: How much money? Selina: It’s a ve pound note. Guy: You can’t keep it. You must tell mum. Selina: I can keep it because I found it, so there! Guy: But that’s wrong. You could get into trouble. Selina: I don’t care about getting into trouble. I think it’s only fair if I keep it because I found it. You should now be very familiar with the types and varieties of questions that you could be asked in this section of the examination. You could try to make up some different questions for the sources on this spread and prepare some further answers. You could share questions with a fellow student and compare suggested answers. Chapter 4: Developmental psychology 214 A level only