OCR GCSE Psychology sample questions and answers (J203)
Guide overview All 7 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
35 sample questions and answers
Taken from every topic of OCR GCSE Psychology, specification J203. The full guide has 577.
Component 01
Criminal Psychology
66 questions in the guide, across 4 subtopics. More from this topic
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Types of crime and how crime is measured
Is anti-social behaviour always a crime?
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Anti-social behaviour is not always a criminal offence. Minor anti-social acts may be dealt with by warnings or civil orders rather than prosecution. -
Types of crime and how crime is measured
What are official crime statistics?
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Official statistics are records of crime collected by the police, the courts and the government. Police recorded crime figures for England and Wales are published by the Office for National Statistics. -
Social learning theory of crime and Cooper and Mackie's study
What is internalisation in social learning theory?
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Internalisation is when a learned behaviour becomes part of a person's own values and attitudes. The person then behaves that way even with no model present and no outside reward. -
Social learning theory of crime and Cooper and Mackie's study
Describe the procedure of Cooper and Mackie's study.
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Children were tested in same-sex pairs, with one child playing a game while the other watched. Each pair had a highly aggressive video game, a less aggressive video game or a paper-and-pencil maze. -
Eysenck's criminal personality theory and Heaven's study
How is the dopamine reward system linked to extraversion?
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The dopamine reward system produces pleasure when a reward is gained. Extraverts are thought to have a more responsive reward system, so they chase rewards and thrills.
Component 01
Development
83 questions in the guide, across 5 subtopics. More from this topic
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Stages of development, the brain and IQ tests
What is adulthood?
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Adulthood is the stage from about 18 onwards, when physical growth is complete. The brain is usually fully mature by the mid-twenties. -
Stages of development, the brain and IQ tests
How do neurons and experience interact in the development of the brain?
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Connections between neurons that are used often are strengthened, while unused ones are pruned away. A child's experiences therefore shape the wiring of the developing brain. -
Structure of the brain
Where is the frontal lobe, and what are its functions?
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The frontal lobe is at the front of the cerebrum, behind the forehead. The frontal lobe controls planning, decision-making, self-control and voluntary movement, and Broca's area, usually in the left frontal lobe, produces speech. -
Structure of the brain
How might damage to the cerebellum affect a person's behaviour?
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A person with a damaged cerebellum may have clumsy, poorly co-ordinated movements and poor balance. Everyday actions such as walking steadily or picking up a cup can become difficult. -
Piaget's theory of cognitive development
What is object permanence?
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Object permanence is understanding that an object still exists when it is out of sight. A baby who searches for a toy hidden under a blanket has object permanence.
Component 01
Psychological Problems
93 questions in the guide, across 5 subtopics. More from this topic
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Mental health, prevalence and changing attitudes
How does the prevalence of mental health problems differ between men and women?
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Women are more likely than men to report common problems such as anxiety and depression. Men are more likely to die by suicide and less likely to seek help. -
Mental health, prevalence and changing attitudes
Give an example of a change in the classification of mental disorders.
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Homosexuality was once classified as a mental disorder. The World Health Organization removed it from the ICD in 1990. -
Stigma, discrimination and the effects of mental health problems
How can discrimination affect a person before diagnosis?
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A person struggling at work may be treated unfairly or dismissed without support. The unfair treatment can make their mental health worse. -
Stigma, discrimination and the effects of mental health problems
What are the benefits of care in the community?
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People can live more independently and stay close to family and friends. People avoid the isolation of long stays in institutions. -
Schizophrenia and its explanations
What evidence supports the dopamine hypothesis?
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Drugs such as amphetamines, which increase dopamine, can produce schizophrenia-like symptoms. Antipsychotic drugs that block dopamine reduce symptoms.
Component 02
Social Influence
70 questions in the guide, across 4 subtopics. More from this topic
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Conformity, crowds and culture
What is collective behaviour?
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Collective behaviour is the way people act when they come together as a group, often spontaneously. People in a collective may act quite differently from how they would act alone. -
Conformity, crowds and culture
When are crowds more likely to bait a person threatening to jump from a building?
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Mann (1981) found baiting was more likely when the crowd was large and when it was dark. Large crowds and darkness both increase anonymity and so deindividuation. -
Obedience and Bickman's uniform study
What was the aim of Bickman's (1974) study?
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Bickman aimed to measure how much social power a uniform gives its wearer to make people obey. Bickman also tested whether the uniform still works when the wearer acts outside their normal role. -
Obedience and Bickman's uniform study
What did Bickman's second experiment show about being watched?
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The experimenter either stayed or walked round the corner after giving the dime order. Obedience to the guard was just as high when he could not see whether the order was carried out. -
Personality, the brain and the August riots
How is hippocampal volume linked to self-esteem?
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Pruessner and colleagues (2005) found that people with higher self-esteem tended to have a larger hippocampus. The link is a correlation, so it does not show whether brain structure causes self-esteem.
Component 02
Memory
69 questions in the guide, across 4 subtopics. More from this topic
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Information processing and the multi-store model
What is decay as a type of forgetting?
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Decay is forgetting because a memory trace fades over time when it is not used. Decay is most often used to explain forgetting from short-term memory. -
Information processing and the multi-store model
How do the three stores of the multi-store model differ in capacity?
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The sensory store has a very large capacity. Miller (1956) found short-term memory holds about 7 ± 2 items. Long-term memory is thought to have an unlimited capacity. -
Amnesia and the Clive Wearing case
What is the difference between episodic and semantic memory?
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Episodic memory is memory for personal events, such as a birthday party. Semantic memory is memory for facts and knowledge, such as the capital of France. -
Amnesia and the Clive Wearing case
Which abilities did Clive Wearing keep after his illness?
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Clive Wearing could still talk, read, write, conduct and sight-read music. Clive Wearing's short-term memory span was normal, and he still knew who he was and that he was married. -
Reconstructive memory and Braun's Disney study
What is memory distortion?
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Distortion is when a memory is changed so that it no longer matches what really happened. Schemas, later information and leading questions can all distort a memory.
Component 02
Sleep and Dreaming
69 questions in the guide, across 4 subtopics. More from this topic
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Sleep stages, functions and body clocks
What is deep sleep?
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Deep sleep, or stage 3, is the stage from which a person is hardest to wake, with slow delta brain waves. Older descriptions divide deep sleep into stages 3 and 4. -
Sleep stages, functions and body clocks
How does the suprachiasmatic nucleus control the sleep–wake cycle?
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The SCN receives information about light from the eyes. The SCN signals the pineal gland to reduce melatonin in daylight and increase it in darkness. -
Freud's theory of dreaming and the Wolfman
How does dream analysis work?
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The patient describes a dream, and the analyst interprets its symbols to find the latent content. Free association about each part of the dream helps reveal hidden links. -
Freud's theory of dreaming and the Wolfman
What was the Wolfman's dream?
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The Wolfman dreamt, shortly before his fourth birthday, that his bedroom window opened by itself. Six or seven white wolves sat still in a walnut tree, staring at him, and he woke screaming. -
Activation synthesis theory and bizarre dreams
Why are dreams often bizarre, according to the activation synthesis theory?
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The signals from the pons are random, so the story the cortex builds from them is often illogical. Sudden changes of scene reflect new bursts of activity.
Component 01, Component 02
Research Methods
127 questions in the guide, across 7 subtopics. More from this topic
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Hypotheses, variables and experimental designs
What is an independent variable, and how is it manipulated?
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The independent variable is the factor a researcher changes to see its effect. The researcher manipulates it by creating different conditions, such as music versus silence. -
Hypotheses, variables and experimental designs
In a memory experiment, some participants are tested in the morning and others late in the evening. Why is this a problem, and how could it be controlled?
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Time of day is an extraneous variable, because tiredness could affect recall. The researcher could control it by testing everyone at the same time of day. -
Sampling and ethical guidelines
How is a random sample selected?
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A random sample gives every member of the target population an equal chance of being chosen. Names can be drawn from a hat or picked by a computer. -
Sampling and ethical guidelines
Why is deception an ethical issue, and when might it be acceptable?
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Deception means misleading participants about the aim, which prevents fully informed consent. Mild deception may be acceptable if the study could not work otherwise and a full debrief follows. -
Experiments, interviews and questionnaires
Give one strength and one weakness of a natural experiment.
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A strength is that variables can be studied that would be unethical or impossible to manipulate. A weakness is that participants cannot be randomly allocated, so other differences may explain the results.
OCR GCSE Psychology Active Recall Guide
The other 542 questions, with the answers printed after each section.