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A2 - Edexcel Psychology June 2016

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Original post by EmilyPlatypus
My notes for describing it, is just explaining what it means (the fact that it's a nature nurture debate) and saying why it's important to study (to reduce crime/recidivism or create treatments for criminals)

Then this is more for evaluation but studies could then be used (Eysenck, Raine et al, Bandura etc.)
Then you talk about: ethical implications, benefits of this argument, and the issue of free will and determinism :smile:
That's just going from my memory but if you want more in depth notes, just ask and I'll type it once I have time


Yep that would be great if I can have a look at your notes :smile: so say you have to describe it (4/5 marks) and you do include psychological research?
Original post by blinkofaneyee
Yep that would be great if I can have a look at your notes :smile: so say you have to describe it (4/5 marks) and you do include psychological research?


Okay so we had a handout with what we need to put for describing it and I'll just type it out in full:

"This is an important issue for criminological psychologists to study because it relates to the explanation of criminal behaviour and could also be used in the prevention and treatment of crime.
It is a direct application of the nature/nurture debate in psychology with nature suggesting criminals are born and nature suggesting criminals are made.
The issue is also important as it relates directly to the biological explanations of criminal behaviour (e.g. Eysenck) and the psychological explanations of criminal behaviour (e.g. social learning theory).
The issue is also important as it is an issue for research in academic psychology and also applied psychology. Therefore, the methodology used to research this issue is a key focus. As this is an issue for academic and applied psychology it is of benefit to the individual and society to understand whether the criminal is born or made."


Apologies for this post being long, and tbh that seems really long to put in an exam answer; but I don't really think describing it would be worth more than 4 marks?
As for evaluation, although someone previously said it isn't on the spec to evaluate a key issue, I have notes on that too? So I don't know if my teacher has given us too many notes or not.

So evaluating, you obviously use the research evidence. Then aside from that you talk about:
- Ethical implications (if they're born it may lead to looking for a criminal gene and possibly tests to see if unborn babies have it, then if they're made it may put blame on parents or significant people in the criminal's life.)

- Benefits of argument (if criminals are born, treatments can be put into place, if they are made, measures can be put in place to get people out of that situation)

- Free will vs. Determinism (born is deterministic, made relies on free will)

- Then an overall conclusion is to take an eclectic approach which draws on both biological and psychological factors in explaining and treating criminals.

These are pretty much all my notes on the key issue! If you've never heard of some of these/have been taught something different I wouldn't worry too much. This is just everything I've been taught.
In terms of describing it, I don't think you need to mention research in detail, just mention it in passing (as the above paragraph says)
Original post by EmilyPlatypus
Okay so we had a handout with what we need to put for describing it and I'll just type it out in full:

"This is an important issue for criminological psychologists to study because it relates to the explanation of criminal behaviour and could also be used in the prevention and treatment of crime.
It is a direct application of the nature/nurture debate in psychology with nature suggesting criminals are born and nature suggesting criminals are made.
The issue is also important as it relates directly to the biological explanations of criminal behaviour (e.g. Eysenck) and the psychological explanations of criminal behaviour (e.g. social learning theory).
The issue is also important as it is an issue for research in academic psychology and also applied psychology. Therefore, the methodology used to research this issue is a key focus. As this is an issue for academic and applied psychology it is of benefit to the individual and society to understand whether the criminal is born or made."


Apologies for this post being long, and tbh that seems really long to put in an exam answer; but I don't really think describing it would be worth more than 4 marks?
As for evaluation, although someone previously said it isn't on the spec to evaluate a key issue, I have notes on that too? So I don't know if my teacher has given us too many notes or not.

So evaluating, you obviously use the research evidence. Then aside from that you talk about:
- Ethical implications (if they're born it may lead to looking for a criminal gene and possibly tests to see if unborn babies have it, then if they're made it may put blame on parents or significant people in the criminal's life.)

- Benefits of argument (if criminals are born, treatments can be put into place, if they are made, measures can be put in place to get people out of that situation)

- Free will vs. Determinism (born is deterministic, made relies on free will)

- Then an overall conclusion is to take an eclectic approach which draws on both biological and psychological factors in explaining and treating criminals.

These are pretty much all my notes on the key issue! If you've never heard of some of these/have been taught something different I wouldn't worry too much. This is just everything I've been taught.
In terms of describing it, I don't think you need to mention research in detail, just mention it in passing (as the above paragraph says)


Thank you so much! This is really helpful:smile:!!!


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This is probably going to sound stupid but what exactly is in AO1 and AO2?
Some revision notes in case they are of any use to anyone - first two are child and criminal (although I'm not sure what order - hopefully they make sense as well!) and the third one is a table of the 13 contributions to society that I have chosen (around a 4-6 mark description for each one I think and evaluation) :smile:
Original post by willcooke
This is probably going to sound stupid but what exactly is in AO1 and AO2?


It's not stupid! A01 is the description of something and the A02 is evaluation - so if a 12 mark question comes up that is describe and evaluate xyz you need 6 marks worth of A01 and 6 of A02 :smile:
Original post by 08graya
It's not stupid! A01 is the description of something and the A02 is evaluation - so if a 12 mark question comes up that is describe and evaluate xyz you need 6 marks worth of A01 and 6 of A02 :smile:


Thank you!!:smile:
Reply 47
Original post by 08graya
haha thank you - no problem! If there's anything else you need lemmie know and I'll see if I have anything on it :smile:


Thank youuu :smile: I really appreciate your help!
btw i've seen the notes you've made on child+criminal+contributions, they are so good!
Reply 48
Original post by 08graya
we were told to expect novel scenarios and PRACTICALS!!! Apparently practicals are long overdue :frown:


Oh no not practicals- I don't even remember doing them!!! Does anyone have any notes on practicals or how to answer questions on them? That is the one area I was really hoping would not come up haha! :colondollar:
Reply 49
guys do we need a conclusion for 12 mark essays?
Original post by LA2543
Oh no not practicals- I don't even remember doing them!!! Does anyone have any notes on practicals or how to answer questions on them? That is the one area I was really hoping would not come up haha! :colondollar:


I would also benefit from this, I actually lost my practicals :no:

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Reply 51
guys why can't we say that Yullie and Cutshall was a field experiment? Why do we have to say that it is a field study?
Original post by baebae
guys why can't we say that Yullie and Cutshall was a field experiment? Why do we have to say that it is a field study?


It was an event that wasn't conducted, it was just based on a real life incident outside of a gun shop, so it wasn't experiment because they had no actual control over what happened.

It was a study on their memory recall and tested whether anxiety/distress affected their recall
Reply 53
Original post by Trolleybaby
It was an event that wasn't conducted, it was just based on a real life incident outside of a gun shop, so it wasn't experiment because they had no actual control over what happened.

It was a study on their memory recall and tested whether anxiety/distress affected their recall


ahhh it makes so much sense now!!! thank you!!
Any predictions for Child Psychology and Criminal Psychology for Wednesday's exam?
Original post by FemaleBo55
Any predictions for Child Psychology and Criminal Psychology for Wednesday's exam?


It's quite hard to predict but people have said the key issues/practicals are likely to come up :smile:
Original post by FemaleBo55
Any predictions for Child Psychology and Criminal Psychology for Wednesday's exam?


I have a suspicion that practicals may come up as they haven't appeared in a while- as for essays maybe loftus and palmer for crime and genie for child?

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Original post by Mollyql_27
I have a suspicion that practicals may come up as they haven't appeared in a while- as for essays maybe loftus and palmer for crime and genie for child?

Posted from TSR Mobile


we've been told to expect practicals! especially as they came up in both the unit 1&2 resits (I think) - gimme half an hour tops and I'll type up my practicals for everyone :smile:
Here are my practicals: I did a content analysis for child psych and a comparison of 2 articles for criminal :smile: The procedures for my criminal one are really brief so you might want to try bulk them out a bit - I'll try find links to the original articles so you can read them through if that would be useful! :smile: Also, I'll type up key issues for anyone as well as I didn't have to type up practicals :tongue:
Original post by LA2543
Oh no not practicals- I don't even remember doing them!!! Does anyone have any notes on practicals or how to answer questions on them? That is the one area I was really hoping would not come up haha! :colondollar:


I've posted my practical notes - if I have any example answers I'll let you know! But make sure you know the aims for 2 marks, procedures for both 4 and 6 marks (I think), results for 4 marks and conclusions for 2 marks and then be able to evaluate in terms of GRAVE :smile:

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