Paper 2.1

Question 1

A hypothesis in a study says ‘Emotions will differ following exposure to a happy or an angry stooge’. Is this a directional (one-tailed) hypothesis or a non directional (two-tailed) hypothesis? Include a reason for your answer.

Answer 1

non-directional/two-tailed (hypothesis), because the direction of change is not specified.

Question 2

Write a null hypothesis that could be used with the hypothesis ‘Emotions will differ following exposure to a happy or an angry stooge’.

Answer 2

there will be no difference between emotions experienced by participants exposed to the happy or angry stooge

Question 3

State two ways in which the research methods of an experiment and a case study are different.

Answer 3

• participants: many in an experiment, one (or a single unit, e.g. a family) in a case study
• controls: many in an experiment, none/few in a case study

Question 4

Explain one advantage of the sampling method used in the study by Milgram (obedience).

Answer 4

the people are willing because they have volunteered so are likely to be prepared to complete the experiment/are unlikely to withdraw

Question 5

From the study by Baron-Cohen et al. (eyes test): Describe two ways in which the study was valid.

Answer 5

• there were important controls between the two conditions, e.g. a glossary to ensure comprehension
• there were two control groups, one matched for IQ so intelligence wouldn’t affect the results in relation to comparing

Question 6

Describe one way in which the Baron-Cohen was not valid.

Answer 6

the eyes test may not be measuring theory of mind it may just be a test of matching pictures to words

Question 7

Bandura et al. (aggression) calculated the mean number of aggressive acts in each condition. Explain how the mean of a data set is calculated.

Answer 7

adding up all the (participants’) numbers/scores etc. in the data set/group and dividing by the number of numbers/scores

Question 8

Identify an alternative measure of central tendency that Bandura et al. could have used.

Answer 8

mode/median

Question 9

Define qualitative data using examples

Answer 9

• definition: descriptive data
• method: interviews using open questions
• data: answers to open questions
• study: Saavedra and Silverman’s descriptions of the boy with the button phobia

Question 10

Define quantitative data using examples

Answer 10

• definition: numerical data
• methods: questionnaires using closed questions
• data: likert scale questions
• study: Andrade’s participants’ recall of names