2023 + 2024

• (b) Describe the medulla during brain development.

  The medulla begins to form around the 6 th to 7 th week of gestation (1). The medulla controls involuntary responses, such as breathing (1).
• Explain one way that Martha could praise Emily to try to encourage a growth mindset. (2 marks)

  To develop a growth mindset a child should be praised for their effort and not for their ability (1), so Martha could praise Emily’s effort during the maths puzzle by saying ‘I like how hard you’re trying’ to encourage Emily to persevere and develop a growth mindset (1).
• Explain what Javier’s son would say about the woman’s actions if he is in the conventional stage of morality. (2 marks)

  Individuals in the conventional stage of morality will want to maintain social order by obeying authority and see themselves as a good member of society (1), so if Javier’s son is in this stage he will say that the women should not have stolen the food as people stealing food does not maintain social order in society (1).
• Explain two conclusions that could be made from Figure 2 regarding the role of practice and effort in learning a new skill.

  One conclusion is that practice and effort improves juggling skills (1), which is shown by Sergio’s niece being able to juggle for 10 seconds longer by day 7 (14 seconds) compared to day 1 (4 seconds) (1). • A conclusion could be that getting supportive messages praising effort helps to encourage practise and learning to juggle (1) which is shown by his niece being able to juggle for 10 seconds longer than his nephew by day 7, who did not get any messages (1).
• Explain two weaknesses of Sergio’s investigation into the role of practice and effort in learning a new skill. (4 marks)

  Weakness 1 :

  • Sergio only used his own niece and nephew so the investigation lacks generalisability as they may not reflect others when juggling (1) as his niece may have been naturally gifted at juggling and her improvement may not have been shown by other individuals within the same time period (1).
• Explain two weaknesses of Sergio’s investigation into the role of practice and effort in learning a new skill. (4 marks)


  Weakness 2 :

  • Sergio did not specify exactly how long his niece should practise for or check that his nephew did not practise juggling (1) so the lack of controls used in his investigation means that it is difficult to infer cause and effect as the practice and praise may not have actually caused his niece’s improvement (1).
• 6 State one feature of each of the following as part of short-term memory. Duration , Capacity

  Duration :

  • The duration of short term memory is said to be 15-30 seconds (1).

  Capacity :

  • The capacity of short term memory is usually between 5-9 units (1).
• 7) Define the term ‘holism’ as used in psychology.

  Holism is the focus upon the interactions between the individual parts so that the whole is greater than simply a sum of the parts
• Explain what Ivana is likely to find if the patient has retrograde amnesia. (2 marks)

  Retrograde amnesia is when an individual cannot remember information and events from before the onset of their condition (1), so Ivana is likely to find the patient having difficulty in recognising many of the faces of famous people from the past five years if they have retrograde amnesia (1).
• Explain two improvements that could have been made to the test Ivana gave to the patient with potential retrograde amnesia.

  Ivana could have used more than 20 famous faces, such as 200 faces (1) which would give a more representative understanding of who they remember from the past five years because they may just have not been familiar with the 20 Ivana chose (1).
• Explain two improments that could have been made to the test Ivana gave to the patient with potential retrograde amnesia. (4 marks)

  • Ivana could have chosen to test them on things other than just faces, such as world events that happened in the past 5 years too (1) which would give her a better assessment of what they can remember than just famous faces as they may not have engaged with celebrity news so would give a more valid assessment (1).
• Explain why Leah’s memory of the event at the park could have changed. You should refer to the Theory of Reconstructive Memory in your answer.

  Reconstructive Memory Theory states memory is malleable and recall is influenced by schemas (1), so Leah may have a schema of dogs barking and being large which causes people to get upset which is why her recall of the event changed (1).