This unit examines your knowledge and understanding of the core studies. It also examines your ability to make evaluative points about the studies and your ability to see the studies in the wider perspective of psychological concepts and methods.

In particular you are questioned about:

the information in the studies

the methods used in the studies

the way the results are analysed and presented

the conclusions that can be drawn from the studies

the context of the studies

the general psychological issues illustrated by the studies

evaluation of all of the above

The exam paper is made up of one section comprising 16-20 compulsory short answer questions

Here are some tips for answering questions

Unit 2541: Core Studies 2 (1 hour)

The core studies 2 paper covers the same 20 core studies as Core studies 1 but tests your understanding of research methods, themes and perspectives. You have one hour to answer one question from section A and one question from section B.

A summary of the method, themes and perspectives are given in the list below.

The examination paper is made up of two sections:

Section A: Choice of one from two structured essays.  Questions relate to methods, themes and perspectives applied to ONE core study (52%).  Tips on how to complete this paper are here.

Section B: Choice of one from two structured essays.  Questions relate to methods, themes and perspectives raised by Core Studies (48%).  Tips on how to complete this paper are here.

Application of psychology to everyday life

Determinism

Ecological validity

Ethics

Ethnocentric bias

Individual and situational explanations

Nature and nurture

Psychometrics

Qualitative and quantitative measures

Reductionism

Reinforcement

Reliability and validity

Social control

Usefulness of psychological research

Laboratory experiments/apparatus

Controls

Samples/sampling

Case studies

Observation studies

Self report measures

Longitudinal studies

Snap shot studies

Generalisations

Approaches in psychology