Features of Science (AQA A Level Psychology)

Outline and evaluate Wundt’s role in the emergence of psychology as a science.

The psychologist decided to conduct an experiment to investigate the effect of watching horror films before going to bed.

A volunteer sample of 50 university students consented to take part in the experiment.

The 50 students were randomly split into two groups. Group 1 watched a horror film before going to bed each night for the first week then a romantic comedy before going to bed each night for the second week. Group 2 watched the romantic comedy in the first week and the horror film in the second week.

When the students woke up each morning, each student received a text message that asked if they had had a nightmare during the night. They could respond ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

Write a brief consent form that would have been suitable for use in this experiment. The consent form should:

• include some detail of what participants might expect to happen
• refer to ethical issues
• be in an appropriate format/style.

A psychologist wanted to test whether listening to music improves running performance.

The psychologist conducted a study using 10 volunteers from a local gym. The psychologist used a repeated measures design. Half of the participants were assigned to condition A (without music) and half to condition B (with music).

All participants were asked to run 400 metres as fast as they could on a treadmill in the psychology department. All participants were given standardised instructions. All participants wore headphones in both conditions. The psychologist recorded their running times in seconds. The participants returned to the psychology department the following week and repeated the test in the other condition.

Table 1 Mean number of seconds taken to complete the 400m run and the standard deviation for both conditions

What is meant by a Type II error? Explain why psychologists normally use the 5% level of significance in their research.

The report was submitted for peer review and a number of recommendations were advised.

Describe the process and purposes of peer review.

In 1992, a book about human relationships was published in London. The book was written by Steve Duck from the University of Iowa. The title was ‘Human Relationships’. The book was published by Sage.

A researcher needs to modify the above information to include Duck’s book in the references section of a scientific report.

Write the full reference for this book as it should appear in the reference section of the researcher’s report.

In 1993, a book about gender was published in New Haven. The book was written by Sandra L Bem from Cornell University. The title was ‘The lenses of gender: transforming the debate on sexual inequality’. The book was published by Yale University Press.

A researcher needs to modify the above information to include Bem’s book in the references section of a scientific report.

Write the full reference for this book as it should appear in the reference section of the researcher’s report.

In 1980, a book about social cognition was published in New York. The book was written by Robert L. Selman from Harvard University. The title was ‘The growth of interpersonal understanding: developmental and clinical analyses’. The book was published by Academic Press.

A researcher needs to modify the above information to include Selman’s book in the references section of a scientific report.

Write the full reference for this book as it should appear in the reference section of the researcher’s report.