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Formative Assessment: Model answers 1. What is the availability heuristic and how might it lead to biases in perception (3 marks)? · * This is where the probability of an event is judged by the ease with which instances of the event can be brought to mind (1 mark). · * However, even rare events may be easily brought to mind if they are recent or emotionally disturbing, therefore probability judgements made on the basis of availability are vulnerable to bias (2 marks). 2a) In terms of classical conditioning, define extinction. (2 marks) · * A conditioned response will gradually diminish if conditioned behaviour (salivation to sound of a bell) is not reinforced (by presenting the unconditioned stimulus i.e. food) (1 mark). This is done by repeatedly omitting the unconditioned stimulus (i.e by presenting the bell but not the food) (1 mark). 2b) Explain how systematic desensitisation works in the treatment of phobias (4 marks). · * In systematic desensitisation, hierarchies of anxiety producing situations are imagined (or sometimes confronted in reality) while the patient is in a state of relaxation (2 marks). · * Gradually the previously learned associations between the situation and the anxiety response are extinguished i.e. the stimuli that once evoked anxiety e.g. spiders is connected with a new response of relaxation that is incompatible with anxiety (2 marks). 3a) Distinguish between explicit and implicit memory. (4 marks) •Implicit memory refers to memories that are not consciously processed/retention without conscious recollection e.g. memory for skills (e.g., driving a car) that cannot be easily described in words (2). •Explicit memory refers to memories of facts and experiences that the individual is fully aware or conscious of (e.g. a car is a motor vehicle) (2) 3b) What mechanisms are thought to underlie the primacy and recency effects (4 marks)? •Primacy effect: tendency to recall the first information given (e.g. in free recall tasks) due to the individual having more opportunity to rehearse the information (thereby encoding it into LTM) (2). •Recency effect: tendency to recall last information given, due to this information still being available in the STM/working memory. (2) 4) Psychological research has demonstrated that memory abilities change as people age. Identify and briefly explain four ways in which memory changes with age. (8 marks) Any 4 of (2 marks per point) * Evidence suggests that general memory abilities start to decline from about 30 years of age (though there is variation around this depending on which particular abilities are being tested). · * Memory for personal events (episodic memory) shows a slow but steady decline from 20 years onwards · * Remembering to do things (prospective memory): evidence from lab-based research suggests this also declines with age · · 4) Psychological research has demonstrated that memory abilities change as people age. Identify and briefly explain four ways in which memory changes with age. (8 marks) Any 4 of (2 marks per point) However there is evidence for “real life” research to suggest older people may perform better than younger people at prospective memory tasks because they use memory aids · * Memory for general knowledge (semantic memory) shows a decline in speed. (This may be due to a failure to inhibit irrelevant material rather than a failure of access) · * Older people compensate for their memory decline through their greater knowledge and increased use of memory aids and strategies 5a) Over recent decades, various strategies have been used to encourage people to adopt healthier lifestyles. Identify one problem associated with health promotion messages that rely largely on fear or shock as a means of promoting health? [2 marks] Any one of: ·* Little evidence that fear approaches are effective · * For some people the messages may evoke so much fear that they deny that the message applies to them · * “Forbidden fruit effect” – deliberate defiance of health warnings · * Warning fatigue – individuals may gradually become desensitised to health messages · * Risk factor phobia – some individuals may become increasingly fearful of health hazards and over react 5b) In general terms, what do proponents of psychological theories of health related behaviour hope their approaches will achieve? [2 marks] · * To maximise the effectiveness of the communication of health messages by appropriate targeting and customisation of information (and to provide support to individuals over time in to help them maintain changes in their lifestyles) 6) Briefly outline some of the relevant problems that may be experienced by women when they undergo cervical screening, including at the time of receipt of results (6 marks). · * Hazard of being screened (study examining women’s experiences of cervical screening Crombie et al 1995) includes embarrassment (20%) and pain (20%) reported pain during the screening procedure (1mark) * Unnecessary anxiety for proportion of women at receipt of invitation (study of 1200 women invited for breast screening Swanson et al 1996). On receipt of invitation some women reported increased anxiety (25%) however most reported reduced anxiety (40%) or no effect (35%) (1mark) · * Inadequate or unsatisfactory smear - possible anxiety generated by need for a repeat smear (1mark) * For women receiving an abnormal result: ·* this may be false positive generating unnecessary anxiety (1mark) ·* longer morbidity for true positive where prognosis is unaltered (1 mark) * False reassurance – for the small number of women who receive false negative (1mark)