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Cambridge International AS & A Level Psychology (9990), examination year 2027: AI-assisted conceptual alignment to official sources, not teacher or exam-board certification. Syllabus mapping and remaining coverage.
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Exact English revisions checked in an AI-assisted academic review; independent teacher approval is still pending.
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Original targeted practice for selected 2027 content; indicative answers, not complete syllabus coverage or teacher approval.
Subtopics in this topic (3)
Holzel structural MRI
Andrade attention task
Bandura modelling and Milgram obedience
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Question 1Holzel et al.(2011) scanned16 MBSR completers before/after an8-week course and compared them with17 waiting-list controls. The primary paper reports increased left-hippocampal grey-matter concentration. Explain the design advantage and two limits of claiming mindfulness alone caused a universal brain improvement.4 indicative marks
Analyse / Explain4 indicative marksNo calculator
Holzel et al.(2011) scanned16 MBSR completers before/after an8-week course and compared them with17 waiting-list controls. The primary paper reports increased left-hippocampal grey-matter concentration. Explain the design advantage and two limits of claiming mindfulness alone caused a universal brain improvement.
Cambridge 2027: Partial conceptual match
Primary manuscript abstract,methods2.1/2.4,results3.3 checked:16completers,17controls,8weeks,structural MRI,left hippocampus; no invented cognitive test result.
The paper's methods2.1 describe course recruitment and16 completers; controls were rescanned rather than treated as a second unrelated time point. Its methods2.4 use structural T1 MRI and morphometry, not the BOLD face-recognition task in the enrichment bank. A regional association supports further testing but does not establish universal mental-health or intelligence effects.
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Pre/post measurements track within-person structural change; controls help assess changes over the same interval without the course.
Recruitment from people enrolling in MBSR was not random assignment of the general population, so selection and group differences can remain.
The course combined multiple activities and social contact; waiting-list comparison cannot isolate meditation from every other component.
Structural MRI concentration is not a direct test of every cognitive skill or a guarantee of improvement in all people.
Examiner tip
Distinguish structural MRI change from functional activation and from measured cognitive improvement.
Question 2Andrade(2010) randomly allocated40 participants to shade printed shapes or not while monitoring a monotonous telephone message, followed by a surprise recall test. Explain one design strength and evaluate the claim that this proves free drawing always improves classroom learning by preventing daydreaming.4 indicative marks
Analyse / Explain4 indicative marksNo calculator
Andrade(2010) randomly allocated40 participants to shade printed shapes or not while monitoring a monotonous telephone message, followed by a surprise recall test. Explain one design strength and evaluate the claim that this proves free drawing always improves classroom learning by preventing daydreaming.
Cambridge 2027: Partial conceptual match
Plymouth author PDF methods/results/discussion inspected:40,random allocation,shape shading,surprise recall,proposed not established daydreaming mechanism.
The author-version methods describe20 per group and the controlled shape-shading task. The result favoured the shading group in this task, but the discussion treats reduced mind-wandering as a hypothesis for future work. Distinguish evidence of a performance difference from evidence for its mechanism and scope; no extra experimental data are invented here.
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Random allocation helps reduce systematic participant differences between the two conditions.
Shading supplied shapes is not identical to unrestricted free drawing during lessons.
The primary task was a specific brief auditory monitoring task, limiting generalisation to every classroom or learning outcome.
Daydreaming was a proposed mechanism, not directly measured as the cause of the recall difference.
Examiner tip
A plausible mechanism is not automatically a measured mediator.
Question 3Bandura,Ross and Ross(1961) matched children on baseline aggression ratings before allocation to aggressive-model, non-aggressive-model and no-model conditions. Later observations recorded imitation without the model present. Explain matching and controlled observation, and one limit of inferring inevitable adult violence.4 indicative marks
Analyse / Explain4 indicative marksNo calculator
Bandura,Ross and Ross(1961) matched children on baseline aggression ratings before allocation to aggressive-model, non-aggressive-model and no-model conditions. Later observations recorded imitation without the model present. Explain matching and controlled observation, and one limit of inferring inevitable adult violence.
Cambridge 2027: Partial conceptual match
Original York transcription methods/design/observation inspected; no fabricated modern violence statistics or claim all raters were perfectly blinded.
The original method reports matching in triplets followed by allocation and a later observed play session. Match the outcome to the actual coded behaviours, not a diagnosis or adult crime rate. Even a controlled difference needs age, context and duration limits before wider causal claims.
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Baseline matching reduces pre-existing aggression differences as an alternative account of condition differences.
Predetermined behaviour categories make measured imitation more explicit and repeatable than an undefined impression of aggression.
Testing with the model absent examines reproduction beyond immediate copying in the exposure setting.
A short artificial play test in nursery children cannot establish inevitable long-term violence in every exposed child or adult.
Examiner tip
Do not turn a group-level laboratory effect into an unavoidable individual destiny.
Question 4In Milgram's1963 report,26 of40 participants continued to the maximum450-volt-labelled switch; the learner was a confederate and the shocks to him were simulated. Explain how obedience was measured and evaluate both a universal-obedience claim and a no-harm claim.4 indicative marks
Analyse / Explain4 indicative marksNo calculator
In Milgram's1963 report,26 of40 participants continued to the maximum450-volt-labelled switch; the learner was a confederate and the shocks to him were simulated. Explain how obedience was measured and evaluate both a universal-obedience claim and a no-harm claim.
Cambridge 2027: Partial conceptual match
Original8-page primary PDF abstract/method/results inspected:26/40,max450-labelled switch,simulated learner shocks,distress; original syllabus notes no voice-feedback variant.
Use the original1963 study rather than mixing later voice-feedback variants into its procedure. The maximum switch is an operational behavioural measure, not a direct reading of conscience. No current experiment is being proposed or ethically authorised. The report's distress observations make 'nobody was shocked, therefore nobody was harmed' unsound.
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Obedience was operationalised by the highest shock setting the participant was willing to administer before refusing.
The26 continuing participants and14 stopping participants demonstrate variation, not that everyone obeys.
Simulated shocks mean the confederate was not receiving the described series, but participants could believe they were causing harm.
Reported tension and deception create participant-welfare concerns even without real learner shocks; sample and setting restrict generalisation.
Examiner tip
Historical publication is not contemporary permission to repeat a stressful procedure.
Question 5Fictional teaching analogue of a modelling task, NOT results of Bandura or another named core study: consenting adults observe a model demonstrate a novel hand sequence and later attempt it. Two observers agree on18 of20 binary behaviour ratings;90% agreement is supplied. Explain how an operational behaviour category supports reliability, whether90% establishes validity, and why these observations cannot replace knowledge of a required core study.4 indicative marks
Analyse4 indicative marksNo calculator
Fictional teaching analogue of a modelling task, NOT results of Bandura or another named core study: consenting adults observe a model demonstrate a novel hand sequence and later attempt it. Two observers agree on18 of20 binary behaviour ratings;90% agreement is supplied. Explain how an operational behaviour category supports reliability, whether90% establishes validity, and why these observations cannot replace knowledge of a required core study.
Cambridge 2027: Partial conceptual match
Checked supplied18/20=90% and agreement-versus-validity distinction; partial placement deliberately covers methods only, not any required core-study findings.
A category such as 'all three target hand movements in the specified order during a trial' gives observers a repeatable decision rather than an undefined judgement of imitation.
The supplied90% describes agreement on these ratings. Both observers could consistently count an irrelevant movement, so agreement is not proof of construct validity or of an unmeasured psychological mechanism.
This analogue practises evaluating evidence, but its adult sample, task and ratings are fictional. Actual required-study knowledge still needs the specified study's genuine methods, findings and evaluation; the supplied18/20 must never be attributed to Bandura.
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Defines observable criteria such as completing the three specified moves in order within one trial.
Shared criteria help observers apply the same rule consistently.
High agreement does not prove the category captures the intended construct or rule out shared bias.
Fictional adult data do not establish procedures/results of a named required core study.
Examiner tip
Keep fictional practice data distinct from genuine named-study findings.
