SUBJECT AS Psychology

TOPIC The Cognitive Approach

ASSIGNMENT Four

STUDENT NAME

SUBJECT-SPECIFIC RUBRIC

• Answer all questions.

• The total number of marks for this assignment is 50 and this will be converted to give a
percentage.
• You are expected to complete this assignment in exam conditions and you may not have access
to your notes and textbook.
• In exam conditions, you would have 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete these questions. You
should be able to complete this assignment in that time. If you run out of time, we recommend
drawing a line across your page when you reach this point and labelling it ‘time limit reached’
before completing the rest of the assignment. This will help you to see how much you need to
speed up in preparation for the final exams. Your tutor will not penalise you for using more
time if you need it.
• You should not use the internet or any electronic study aids to help you.
• Dictionaries are not permitted.
• You may not have access to a calculator.

GENERAL RUBRIC:

• The number of marks is given in brackets at the end of each question or part question.
• Please write your answers by hand in black ink on lined paper, unless you have permission from
the exam board to use a word processor in your exams.
• Make sure you leave enough space between your answers for your tutor’s comments.
• Please scan, and ensure you scan all pages of your work, in the correct order, in a single merged
document, including any diagrams requested in the assignment.
• Scans should be A4 (or letter) size.
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AS PSYCHOLOGY ASSIGNMENT 04

AS Psychology Assignment Four

THE COGNITIVE APPROACH

Please note that some of these questions may have other studies included from different
perspectives in the real examination. They are excluded here simply because you have not studied
them all yet.

1. In Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Hill, Raste and Plumb (Eyes test), a group of participants with
Asperger’s syndrome, or high-functioning autism, were compared to a group of general
population controls and students.

a. The performance of the control group on the Eyes test produced a normal distribution. What
is meant by a ‘normal distribution’? (2 marks)

b. How did the average results of the Asperger’s syndrome or high-functioning autism group
differ from the controls? (2 marks)

2. From the study by Pozzulo et al. (eyewitness memory/line-ups):

a. Outline one aim from the study. (2 marks)

b. Describe two features of either the ‘human’ or ‘cartoon face targets’. (2 marks)

c. Explain why the children were not told the true aim of the study when they arrived at the
laboratory. (3 marks)

3. Evaluate one of the studies listed below in terms of ecological validity.

• Baron-Cohen et al.
• Pozzulo et al.
• Andrade (10 marks)

4. Explain one real-world application based on a finding from Andrade’s study. (2 marks)

5. Studies in cognitive psychology could be used to help workers doing repetitive jobs who find it
hard to concentrate. Describe how the results of the study by Andrade (doodling) could be
applied to help with this problem. (4 marks)

6. The study by Baron-Cohen et al. (Eyes test) used adult participants, although similar studies have
used children.

a. Describe one methodological problem that could arise if child participants were used in this
study. (2 marks)

b. Explain one useful application of the findings, if child participants were used in this study.
(2 marks)

Some materials within this document are republished with permission from CAIE. 1
AS PSYCHOLOGY ASSIGNMENT 04

7. From the study by Baron-Cohen et al. (Eyes test):

a. Describe two ways in which the study was valid. (4 marks)

b. Describe two ways in which the study was not valid. (4 marks)

8. Name one key feature of the cognitive approach to conducting research. (1 mark)

9. Dr Brown was testing false memories in a class of students. He used half the class as participants
in his study. The other half provided true stories about events at school. He used two of these
true stories and one false story. Each participant read all three stories. Dr Brown told them the
events were from their school days and that he was studying friendships. One month later he
asked them to recall the events.

a. Identify the dependent variable in this experiment and suggest how it could be
operationalised. (2 marks)

b. Name the ethical guideline that Dr Brown broke by telling the participants he was
investigating school friendships. (1 mark)

c. Explain why it was important that Dr Brown broke the ethical guideline that you have
identified in part (b). (2 marks)

d. Describe one advantage of using a repeated measures design in Dr Brown’s experiment.

(2 marks)

e. Explain why waiting a month before testing the participants could be a problem. (3 marks)

TOTAL FOR ASSIGNMENT 50 MARKS

Some materials within this document are republished with permission from CAIE. 2