Mark Scheme (Results)

Summer 2018

Pearson Edexcel International GCE

In Psychology (WPS01)
Paper 1: Social and Cognitive Psychology
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Summer 2018
Publications Code WPS01_01_1806_MS
All the material in this publication is copyright
© Pearson Education Ltd 2018
General Marking Guidance

 All candidates must receive the same treatment. Examiners

must mark the first candidate in exactly the same way as they mark
the last.
 Mark schemes should be applied positively. Candidates must be
rewarded for what they have shown they can do rather than penalised
for omissions.
 Examiners should mark according to the mark scheme not
according to their perception of where the grade boundaries may lie.
 There is no ceiling on achievement. All marks on the mark
scheme should be used appropriately.
 All the marks on the mark scheme are designed to be awarded.
Examiners should always award full marks if deserved, i.e. if the
answer matches the mark scheme. Examiners should also be
prepared to award zero marks if the candidate’s response is not
worthy of credit according to the mark scheme.
 Where some judgement is required, mark schemes will provide
the principles by which marks will be awarded and exemplification
may be limited.
 When examiners are in doubt regarding the application of the
mark scheme to a candidate’s response, the team leader must be
consulted.
 Crossed out work should be marked UNLESS the candidate has
replaced it with an alternative response.
 Section A: Social Psychology

Question Answer Mark

Number
AO1 (4 marks)
1(a) (4)
Credit up to four marks for an accurate description.

For example:

 Participants were shown 36 slides of different shades of

blue and asked to say what colour the slide was (1).
There were two confederates and four participants in each
condition (1). In the consistent condition confederates
answered green for all 36 slides (1). In the inconsistent
condition confederates answered green 24 times and blue
12 times (1).

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Question Answer Mark

Number
AO1 (2 marks), AO3 (2 marks)
1(b) (4)
Credit one mark for accurate identification of one strength and
one weakness (AO1).
Credit one mark for justification of each strength and each
weakness (AO3).

For example:

Strength

 Moscovici et al. (1969) controlled for extraneous variables

such as lighting levels which may affect judgement of
colour (1) so the results were a more reliable measure of
minority influence being the cause of decision making (1).

Weakness

 The sample is unrepresentative as only female

participants were used (1) therefore the results lack
generalisability to the influence of a minority on male
decision making (1).

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Question Answer Mark
Number
AO2 (3 marks)
2(a) (3)
One mark for appropriate title.
One mark for appropriate labelling of axes.
One mark for correct plots in two bars.

For example:

Title: A bar chart to show the median scores for presence

of authority figure and proximity of the authority figure

20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
Median Score

12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Condition A presence of authority Condition B proximity of authority
figure being an important factor figure being an important factor
Conditions

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Question Answer Mark
Number
AO1 (1 mark) AO3 (1 mark)
2 (b) (2)
Credit one mark for accurate identification of one strength
(AO1).
Credit one mark for justification of strength (AO3).

For example:

Strength

 The median is not affected by extreme scores because it

is the middle score in a set of ranked data (1), so the final
result is less likely to be distorted by outliers and is more
representative of the majority of scores (1).

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Question Answer Mark

Number
AO2 (2 marks) AO3 (2 marks)
2 (c) (4)
Credit one mark for accurate identification of one strength and
one weakness related to the scenario (AO2).
Credit one mark for justification of each strength and each
weakness (AO3).

For example:

Strength

 Michelle’s qualitative data about the factors affecting

obedience will be high in validity (1) as the data will
provide descriptive, detailed and realistic comments about
obedience (1).

Weakness

 Michelle’s thematic analysis of the qualitative data from

her questionnaire may be subjective (1) which could lead
to a biased analysis of the factors that influence
obedience (1).

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Generic answers score 0 marks.

Question Answer Mark
Number
AO1 (1 mark)
2 (d) (1)
Credit one mark for accurate definition.

For example:

 Quantitative is numerical and statistical data (1)

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Question Indicative content Mark
Number
AO1 (4 marks), AO3 (4 marks)
3 (8)
AO1
 Milgram’s agency theory suggests that people obey an
authority figure and give up their free will.
 The agentic state shows that people are more likely to
obey without questioning the authority figure and do as
they are told.
 Agency theory explains most people will behave
agentically when ordered by an authority figure they
believe to be legitimate.
 Agency theory suggests that when the authority figure
takes responsibility people are more willing to obey.

AO3
 Supporting evidence comes from Milgram’s (1963) study
which showed that 65% of his participant behaved
agentically and shocked the learner to 450 volts.
 Agency theory can be applied to explain the acts of
genocide like the Holocaust in which the soldiers behaved
agentically and blindly obeyed without question and
murdered millions of Jews.
 Charismatic leadership (House, 1976) suggests that it is
the traits of the leader that are important in gaining
obedience and not just the presence of the authority
figure as agency theory suggests.
 Milgram’s agency theory does not consider individual
differences in personality therefore it is an incomplete
explanation of what influences a person to obey.

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Level Mark Descriptor
AO1 (4 marks), AO3 (4 marks)
Candidates must demonstrate an equal emphasis between knowledge and
understanding vs evaluation/conclusion in their answer.
0 No rewardable material.

Level 1 1-2 Demonstrates isolated elements of knowledge and understanding.

(AO1)
Marks
A conclusion may be presented, but will be generic and the
supporting evidence will be limited. Limited attempt to address the
question. (AO3)

Level 2 3-4 Demonstrates mostly accurate knowledge and understanding.

(AO1)
Marks
Candidates will produce statements with some development in the
form of mostly accurate and relevant factual material, leading to a
superficial conclusion being made. (AO3)

Level 3 5-6 Demonstrates accurate knowledge and understanding. (AO1)

Arguments developed using mostly coherent chains of reasoning,
Marks
leading to a conclusion being presented. Candidates will
demonstrate a grasp of competing arguments but evaluation may
be imbalanced. (AO3)

Level 4 7-8 Demonstrates accurate and thorough knowledge and

Marks understanding. (AO1)
Displays a well-developed and logical evaluation, containing logical
chains of reasoning throughout. Demonstrates an awareness of
competing arguments, presenting a balanced conclusion. (AO3)
 Section B: Cognitive Psychology

Question Answer Mark

Number
AO2 (1 mark)
4(a) (1)
Credit one mark for an accurate dependent variable.

For example:

 number of words recalled out of a list of 20 (1)

Answers must relate to their cognitive practical.

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Generic answers score 0 marks.

Question Answer Mark

Number
AO2 (3 marks)
4(b) (3)
Credit up to three marks for an accurate description of
results from their cognitive practical.

For example:

 Our mean results showed 18 words recalled from the

acoustically similar group (1) which was 4 words more
than 14 from the acoustically different group (1). The
acoustically similar word group only had a standard
deviation of 1.2 (1).

Answers must relate to their cognitive practical.

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Generic answers score 0 marks.

Question Answer Mark
Number
AO2 (2 marks)
4(c) (2)
Credit up to two marks for an accurate description of one
control.

For example:

 We made sure the word lists matched (1) by using the

same number of words in each word list (1).

Answers must relate to their cognitive practical.

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Generic answers score 0 marks.

Question Answer Mark

Number
AO1 (1 mark)
5(a) (1)
Credit one mark for an accurate statement.

For example:

 Schmolck et al. (2002) found that medial temporal lobe

damaged patients scored 78.1% for pointing/naming
pictures (1).

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Question Answer Mark
Number
AO1 (2 marks) AO3 (2 marks)
5 (b) (4)
Credit one mark for accurate description of one strength and
one weakness (AO1).
Credit one mark for justification of each strength and each
weakness (AO3).

For example:

Strength

 Schmolck et al. (2002) used inter-rater reliability having

14 raters to check definitions on test 8 (1).This reduces
bias and subjectivity in the interpretation of the data
making any conclusions more reliable (1).

Weakness

 Schmolck et al. (2002) used an artificial task where

participants had to name 48 items shown to them as a
picture (1). This task lacks validity as it does not
represent semantic recognition of items in real world
scenarios (1).

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Question Answer Mark
Number
AO2 (2 marks)
6(a) (2)
Credit two marks for a fully operationalised non-directional
null hypothesis.
Credit one mark for a partially operationalised non-
directional null hypothesis

For example:

 There will be no significant difference in the accuracy

of recall score out of 30 of a poem when participants
were 20 to 25 years of age compared to 60 to 65
years of age and any difference will be due to chance
(2)
 There will be no significant difference in the accuracy
of the recall score out of 30 when the groups are
different ages. Any difference will be due to chance.
(1).

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Generic answers score 0 marks.

Question Answer Mark

Number
AO2 (1 mark) AO3 (1 mark)
6 (b) (2)
Credit one mark for accurate identification weakness in terms of
scenario (AO2).
Credit one mark for justification of weakness (AO3).

For example:

Weakness

 Advertising for volunteers in a memory study may result

in people with only good memory skills agreeing to take
part (1). This may have resulted in an unrepresentative
sample of people with specific memory characteristics or
skills, so skewing the data (1).

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Generic answers score 0 marks.

Question Answer Mark
Number
AO1 (1 mark)
6(c) (1)
Credit one mark for an accurate definition.

For example:

 Discrete data such as categories/classifications. (1)

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Question Answer Mark

Number
AO2 (1 mark)
6(d) (1)
Credit one mark for correct calculation.

For example:

 24

Reject all other answers.

Question Answer Mark

Number
AO2 (1 mark)
6(e) (1)
Credit one mark for an accurate statement.

For example:

 Older people have a marginally better memory recall than

younger people (1).

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Generic answers score 0 marks.

Question Indicative content Mark
Number
AO1 (4 marks), AO3 (4 marks)
7 (8)
AO1
 Reconstructive memory suggests that when information is
absent we fill in the gaps.
 Schemas are units of knowledge that we use to help us fill
in the gaps in our memory.
 Reconstructive memory is supported by evidence from a
number of studies conducted by Bartlett.
 Memories are part traces that we encoded at the time of
the event and part schemas of an event.

AO3
 Bartlett in the War of the Ghosts study (1932) found that
participants filled in gaps in recall with their own schema
for example, boats became a substitute for canoes.
 Bransford and Johnson (1972) showed how schemas help
to encode and store difficult to understand or ambiguous
information.
 Bartlett’s research had minimal standardised controls
when recalling was taking place, therefore the evidence
underpinning the reconstructive memory theory lacks
scientific rigour.
 Reconstructive memory simply describes memory traces
that we encode at the time of event rather than
explaining how it is reconstructed.

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Level Mark Descriptor
AO1 (4 marks), AO3 (4 marks)
Candidates must demonstrate an equal emphasis between knowledge and
understanding vs evaluation/conclusion in their answer.
0 No rewardable material.

Level 1 1-2 Demonstrates isolated elements of knowledge and understanding.

(AO1)
Marks
A conclusion may be presented, but will be generic and the
supporting evidence will be limited. Limited attempt to address the
question. (AO3)

Level 2 3-4 Demonstrates mostly accurate knowledge and understanding.

(AO1)
Marks
Candidates will produce statements with some development in the
form of mostly accurate and relevant factual material, leading to a
superficial conclusion being made. (AO3)

Level 3 5-6 Demonstrates accurate knowledge and understanding. (AO1)

Arguments developed using mostly coherent chains of reasoning,
Marks
leading to a conclusion being presented. Candidates will
demonstrate a grasp of competing arguments but evaluation may
be imbalanced. (AO3)

Level 4 7-8 Demonstrates accurate and thorough knowledge and

Marks understanding. (AO1)
Displays a well-developed and logical evaluation, containing logical
chains of reasoning throughout. Demonstrates an awareness of
competing arguments, presenting a balanced conclusion. (AO3)
Question Indicative content Mark
Number
AO1 (4 marks), AO2 (4 marks), AO3 (4 marks)
8 (12)
AO1
 Field experiments take place in a more natural
environment for the participants.
 In laboratory and field experiments, researchers
manipulate the independent variable.
 Field and laboratory experiments allow researchers to
measure a cause and effect relationship between the IV
and DV.
 Laboratory experiments take place in artificial, non-
natural setting.

AO2
 Damon conducted his experiment in a local school where
the children were in their familiar environment for
learning.
 Elisa’s and Damon’s independent variable was the number
of digits in each list.
 Elisa would find out if the change in digits had an effect
on recall of numbers from the list.
 The children would not be used to the university research
laboratory they were brought to for Elisa’s investigation.

AO3
 A field experiment may be higher in ecological validity
than a laboratory experiment so more natural behaviour
is likely to be recorded.
 Manipulation of the independent variable can lead to
artificial tasks which reduces the validity of the results.
 Cause and effects relationships could be considered more
accurate from laboratory experiments as a result of the
controls so results are more reliable than a field
experiment.
 For certain participants like children, a laboratory
experiment may be a distressing and uncomfortable
environment making it less appropriate.

Look for other reasonable marking points.

Level Mark Descriptor
AO1 (4 marks), AO2 (4 marks), AO3 (4 marks)
Candidates must demonstrate an equal emphasis between knowledge and
understanding vs application vs evaluation/conclusion in their answer.
0 No rewardable material.

Level 1-3 Demonstrates isolated elements of knowledge and understanding.

1 (AO1)
Marks
Provides little or no reference to relevant evidence from the context
(scientific ideas, processes, techniques & procedures). (AO2)
A conclusion may be presented, but will be generic and the
supporting evidence will be limited. Limited attempt to address the
question. (AO3)

Level 4-6 Demonstrates mostly accurate knowledge and understanding.

2 (AO1)
Marks
Line(s) of argument occasionally supported through the application
of relevant evidence from the context (scientific ideas, processes,
techniques & procedures). (AO2)
Candidates will produce statements with some development in the
form of mostly accurate and relevant factual material, leading to a
superficial conclusion being made. (AO3)

Level 7-9 Demonstrates accurate knowledge and understanding. (AO1)

3 Line(s) of argument supported by applying relevant evidence from
Marks
the context (scientific ideas, processes, techniques & procedures).
Might demonstrate the ability to integrate and synthesise relevant
knowledge. (AO2)
Arguments developed using mostly coherent chains of reasoning
leading to a conclusion being presented. Candidates will
demonstrate a grasp of competing arguments but evaluation may
be imbalanced. (AO3)

Level 10-12 Demonstrates accurate and thorough knowledge and

4 Marks understanding. (AO1)
Line(s) of argument supported throughout by sustained application
of relevant evidence from the context (scientific ideas, processes,
techniques or procedures). Demonstrates the ability to integrate
and synthesise relevant knowledge. (AO2)
Displays a well-developed and logical evaluation, containing logical
chains of reasoning throughout. Demonstrates an awareness of
competing arguments, presenting a balanced conclusion. (AO3)