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EnglandPsychology

Component 3: Applied psychology - Option: Child psychology

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How does psychology explain children's attachment, development and the influences that shape them?

Child psychology option: attachment and deprivation, intelligence and development, autism, and external influences such as advertising and day care, with background, key research and application.
An OCR A-Level Psychology answer to the child psychology option, covering attachment (Bowlby, the strange situation), deprivation and privation, intelligence and development, autism, the impact of advertising and day care, key research, and application to novel scenarios for Component 3.
15 min answer →

What makes someone commit crime, and how can psychology improve evidence, courtrooms, prevention and punishment?

Criminal psychology option: explanations of offending, collecting and processing evidence (eyewitness testimony, interviews), psychology in the courtroom, crime prevention and the effects of imprisonment, with background, key research and application.
An OCR A-Level Psychology answer to the criminal psychology option, covering biological and social explanations of offending, eyewitness testimony and the cognitive interview, jury decision-making, crime prevention, the effects of imprisonment, key research, and application to novel scenarios for Component 3.
16 min answer →

How has society understood mental health, and how is one specific disorder defined, explained and treated?

Issues in mental health: the historical context of mental health, defining and diagnosing abnormality, and the characteristics, incidence, explanations and treatment of one specific disorder.
An OCR A-Level Psychology answer to the compulsory issues in mental health topic, covering the historical context of mental health, definitions and diagnosis of abnormality, and the characteristics, incidence, explanations and treatment of a specific disorder such as schizophrenia, for Component 3.
16 min answer →

How do arousal, motivation, personality and the presence of others affect sporting performance and exercise?

Sport and exercise psychology option: arousal and anxiety, motivation, personality, performing with an audience and others, and exercise and mental health, with background, key research and application.
An OCR A-Level Psychology answer to the sport and exercise psychology option, covering arousal and anxiety theories, motivation, personality, social facilitation and audience effects, exercise and mental health, key research, and application to novel scenarios for Component 3.
15 min answer →

Is mental illness best understood as a physical disease, or do psychological and social models explain it better?

The medical model of mental health and its alternatives: biological, behavioural, cognitive, psychodynamic and humanistic explanations and treatments, and their evaluation.
An OCR A-Level Psychology answer to the medical model of mental health and its alternatives, covering the biological/medical model and drug treatment, behavioural, cognitive, psychodynamic and humanistic explanations and therapies, the diathesis-stress model, and their evaluation for the compulsory Component 3 mental health topic.
15 min answer →