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EnglandPsychology

Paper 1: Foundations in Psychology - Cognitive psychology

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How is memory structured, and why does it sometimes fail?

Cognitive psychology: the multi-store model, the working memory model, the reconstructive nature of memory, theories of forgetting, and key cognitive studies.
An Edexcel A-Level Psychology answer to cognitive psychology, covering the multi-store model, the working memory model, reconstructive memory and Bartlett, theories of forgetting including interference and retrieval failure, and the named cognitive studies with GRAVE evaluation.
14 min answer →

How reliable is eyewitness memory, and how can the police improve it?

Eyewitness testimony: the reliability of memory, the effect of leading questions, post-event information, anxiety and weapon focus, the named contemporary study (Loftus and Palmer), the cognitive interview, and the types of long-term memory.
An Edexcel A-Level Psychology answer to the reliability of eyewitness testimony, covering leading questions and post-event information (Loftus and Palmer, the named contemporary study), anxiety and weapon focus, the cognitive interview, and the types of long-term memory, with GRAVE evaluation.
14 min answer →

How do psychologists design studies, analyse data and decide whether results are significant?

Research methods: experiments and other methods, sampling, experimental design, variables and hypotheses, descriptive and inferential statistics, and the chosen inferential tests.
An Edexcel A-Level Psychology answer to research methods, covering experimental and non-experimental methods, sampling, experimental design, variables and hypotheses, descriptive statistics, levels of measurement, GRAVE evaluation and the Edexcel inferential tests including Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon, Spearman and chi-square.
15 min answer →

Why do ordinary people obey authority and hold prejudiced attitudes towards others?

Social psychology: obedience (Milgram and agency theory), prejudice (social identity theory and realistic conflict theory), individual and situational explanations, and key social studies.
An Edexcel A-Level Psychology answer to social psychology, covering Milgram's obedience study and agency theory, Adorno's authoritarian personality, social identity theory and realistic conflict theory of prejudice, GRAVE evaluation and the named studies Sherif and Milgram.
14 min answer →