• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Individual Differences
• Physiological Psychology
• Social Psychology

Past exam short questions

1

(a)

How would you define the term depth cue?

[2]

(b)

Why are cross-cultural studies useful for helping us to understand whether depth perception is learned or innate?

  [2]

1994

2

From the Deregowski paper on perception:

(a)

Give one example of the reports that were made by Western explorers in Africa of how African people responded to pictures or photographs

[2]

(b)

State one problem with this type of anecdotal evidence.

[2]

1995

3

The study by Deregowski (perception) discusses whether there are some features of perception that are common to all cultures (cultural universals).

(a)

Give one piece of empirical evidence which shows that drawings are not a universal means of communication in all cultures.

[2]

(b)

If psychologists find some cultural universals of behaviour what does it tell us about that behaviour?

[2]

1997

4

(a)

The paper by Deregowski describes some different styles of drawing.   Draw a hamster using the split style of drawing.  

[2]

(b)

Outline one advantage of representing an animal in a drawing using this style

[2]

1998

5

(a)

The paper by Deregowski on perception describes the trident test where children were asked to copy two figures: one was a normal picture of a trident (three pronged fork) and the other was an illusion. What was the difference in performance between the two-dimensional perceivers and the three-dimensional perceivers?

 [2]

(b)

Give an explanation for this.

[2]

1999

6

From the paper by Deregowski on perception:

(a)

Identify one cultural difference in perceptual skills

[2]

(b)

Give one problem with interpreting the results of cross-cultural studies

  [2]

2000

7

(a)

From the study by Deregowski on perception, define the term “depth cue”

[2]

(b)

Identify two depth cues that were used in Hudson’s picture of the hunter, antelope and elephant

[2]

January 2001

8

(a)

From the study by Deregowski, how would you define the term “depth cue”?

[2]

(b)

Why are cross cultural studies useful for helping us to understand whether depth perception is learned or innate?  

[2]

Sample 2000

9

The study by Deregowski considers whether some features of perception are common to all cultures.

(a)

Describe one piece of evidence which shows a cultural difference in the perception of participants.

[2]

(b)

If a behaviour is common to all cultures, what does it suggest about that behaviour?

  [2]

June 2001

10

In his study, Deregowski considers explanations for the origins of split type drawings.  Briefly describe one of these explanations and give one criticism of it.

  [4]

January 2002

11

The article by Deregowski reports that the split style of drawing is universal and can be found in the drawings of children in all cultures.  However there are individual and cultural differences in preference for split style.

(a)

Describe one explanation of the origin of split style drawing.

[2]

(b)

Suggest why most societies do not prefer split style drawings.

[2]

May 2002

12

  From the study by Deregowski (perception):

January 2003

[2]

May 2003

Outline the difference in performance in copying this figure, of those participants classed as 3 dimensional perceivers and those classified as 2 dimensional perceivers.

[2]

January 2004

"Picture here"

Identify two depth cues used in this picture.

[2]

May 2004

May 2005

January 2006

[2]

May 2006

(a) outline one example of cultural bias;

(b) suggest one advantage of conducting cross cultural research.

[2]

[2]

January 2007