Example questions and answers Marker’s comments Unit 1: Tahlia wants to buy some wireless earphones but she doesn’t know which ones are best. She saw an advert for Airbuds which showed lots of happy people enjoying the product. But Tahlia has noticed that the music students in the college seem to prefer Earpods. Explain how social proof might influence Tahlia’s decision on the earphones she will buy. (2 marks) Answer: Tahlia is unsure so she looks to others for guidance about which earphones to buy. Music students have more knowledge about music than the average, so Tahlia will trust their opinions and buy Earpods. Comments: The first sentence shows correct understanding of social proof, related to the scenario. The second sentence is a linked explanation of how this affects Tahlia’s decision. 2 marks. Unit 1: There are several different approaches in psychology. They differ in terms of how they explain behaviour. Compare the biological approach with one alternative approach in psychology. (3 marks) Answer: One alternative is the cognitive approach. A similarity is both approaches look at how activity in the mind/brain affects behaviour. Both approaches also use brain scanning methods to investigate what is going on in the mind or brain. Comments: The student gets 1 mark just for identifying an alternative approach. The ‘rule’ for a Compare question is that the answer should include both a similarity and a difference. But the student has given two similarities. Both of them are appropriate but only one can gain the second mark. Because the answer does not include a difference, it cannot get the third mark. This is a non-scenario question, so no application is needed. The marks are for evaluation/AO3. 2 marks. Unit 3: Rajul knows she is addicted to smoking. Her friends have pointed out that she might get lung cancer or heart disease. Rajul knows she is at risk and would like to stop. Her friends have bought her nicotine patches but she doesn’t use them and hasn’t done anything else to give up. Rajul seems to believe she is powerless to change her own behaviour. Her attitude is one of, ‘Whatever will be will be, there’s nothing I can do about it.’ Explain how Rajul having an external locus of control affects the likelihood of her giving up smoking. (2 marks) Answer: Rajul believes she is powerless and that her smoking is determined by external factors outside her control. Therefore, she does not believe she can do anything to give up smoking, which is why she didn’t use the nicotine patches. Comments: The student gets 1 mark for identifying a feature of external LoC in Rajul. The second mark is for applying this to Rajul’s chances of giving up smoking. This is done well and even uses a specific example from the scenario. The key words in the answer are ‘she does not believe’ because this shows the link between external LoC and behaviour. It is not enough to say ‘Therefore, she will not give up smoking.’ 2 marks. Unit 3: Noah has an early memory of his parents having a party where lots of people were smoking. As a teenager his group of friends all smoked. He watched carefully how they did it. Everyone cheered when Noah smoked his first cigarette. That was when he really became part of the group and he’s still friends with most of them. Now he is trying to give up and hasn’t smoked for two days. He is keeping his lighter in his pocket ‘for good luck’. Explain one way in which learning may play a role in the initiation of Noah’s smoking addiction. (2 marks) Answer: A smoking addiction like in Noah can be started by social learning such as vicarious reinforcement. A child might see someone else smoking so this person is a role model (could be a parent). The child feels the model’s pleasure from smoking so they imitate it and believe they will get the same experience and rewards from doing it. Comments: The student has given a generic answer with no application to Noah at all. So although the answer is ‘correct’ (and quite detailed for 2 marks), it is not appropriate because it completely ignores all the useful information in the scenario. This is a pity because the answer only has to have some context somewhere (although more than just Noah’s name). 0 marks. Introduction Assessment advice 8 Copyright: Sample material
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Nzc1OTg=