AQA A level Psychology - Paper 3 topics
QUESTIONS AND VERIFED CRRECT
ANSWERS GRADED A+ LATEST 2026-
2027 100% GUARANTEED PASS
Environmental determinism
Popularised by behaviourist approach
Skinner: all result of conditioning
Choice = total sum of reinforcement contingencies acted upon during lives
Illusion of free will, shaped by environmental events/agents of socialisation (e.g. parents,
teachers, institutions)
Psychic determinism
Flreud: free will = illusion, emphasis on biological drives/instincts underpinning responses
Determined/directed by unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood
E.g. 'slip of the tongue' determined by unconscious
Science seeks causal explanations
Basic principle: every event has cause, can be explained with general laws
Allows predict/control
One thing determined by another
Lab experiment: remove extraneous variables to demonstrate causal effect
,Free will/determinism (+ determinism consistent with aims of science) - CORRECT ANSWER-
Human behaviour = orderly/obeys laws
Greater scientific credibility
Predict/control behaviour led to development of treatments/therapies (e.g. psychoactive drugs
for schizophrenia)
Schizophrenia = some behaviour determined (loss of control over thoughts/behaviour, no one
chooses)
Free will/determinism (- hard determinism not consistent with legal system) - CORRECT
ANSWER-Offenders held morally accountable
Act with leniency only in extreme circumstances (e.g. mental illnesses)
Determinism not falsifiable (causes will always exist even if not yet found, impossible to
disprove, not as scientific as it appears)
Free will/determinism (+ free will - choices in everyday life) - CORRECT ANSWER-Face validity:
everyday experience gives impression that we constantly make choices
Makes logical sense
Even if do not, thinking we do may have positive impact on mind/behaviour
E.g. Roberts et al: adolescents with strong beliefs in fatalism more at risk from depression
Free will/determinism (- free will - not supported by neurological evidence) - CORRECT
ANSWER-Decision making brain studies: evidence against free will
Libet/Soon: brain activity relating to decision to press button with left/right hand occurs up to
10s before being consciously aware of making decision
Even most basic experiences of free will are determined
Nature/nurture debate - CORRECT ANSWER-Nature: behaviour is product of innate
biological/genetic factors
,Result of heredity (transmission of mental/physical characteristics from one generation to
another)
Heritability coefficient (0-1) shows to what extent has genetic basis
E.g. Plomin: IQ around 0.5
Genetic explanations: family/twin/adoption studies show link between genetic similarity and
shared characteristics
Evolutionary explanations: aid survival = naturally selected, passed on
Nurture: behaviour product of environmental forces
Behaviourism: mind = blank slate at birth on which experience writes
Lerner: different levels of environment
Prenatal: mother's physical/physiological state during pregnancy
Postnatal: social conditions grown up in
Exapmles:
Behaviourism: attachment explained in terms of classical/operant conditioning
Relative importance of nature & nurture
Impossible to answer - environmental influences begin at conception
Little sense to separate two (eg. concordance rates: result of shared genetics or shared
upbringing?
Interactionist approach
How interact/influence each other
E.g. attachment = 'two way street'
Childs innate temperament influences how parents behave towards them, parent's responses
affect child's behaviour
, Nature creates nurture
Interactionism: diathesis-stress model
Biological vulnerability only expressed when coupled with environmental trigger
Tienari et al: orphan study, high risk of schizophrenia = biological relatives with history +
dysfunctional adoptive family
Interactionism: epigenetics
Change in genetic activity withought change in genetic code
Lifestyle/events leave 'marks' on DNA: tell bodies which to ignore/use, influence genetic code of
offspring
E.g. Dias + Ressler: mice given electric shock when smelt chemical, fear response, also present
in children/grandchildren who never experienced shocks
Introduce
Nature/nurture debate (- confounding factor of shared environments) - CORRECT ANSWER-
Research trying to 'tease out' environmental influences complicated by fact that even identical
twins will not have identical upbringings
Shared/unshared environments
Dunn & Plomin: individual difference, siblings experience life events differently (e.g.
age/temperament)
Explains why MZ twins reared together don't show perfect concordance rates
Nature/nurture debate (+ gene-environment interactions explained by constructivism) -
CORRECT ANSWER-Create own nurture by actively seeking environments appropriate for their
nature (constructivism)
E.g. naturally aggressive child feel more comfortable around similar children and choose
environment accordingly, effects development
Plomin: niche picking & niche building
QUESTIONS AND VERIFED CRRECT
ANSWERS GRADED A+ LATEST 2026-
2027 100% GUARANTEED PASS
Environmental determinism
Popularised by behaviourist approach
Skinner: all result of conditioning
Choice = total sum of reinforcement contingencies acted upon during lives
Illusion of free will, shaped by environmental events/agents of socialisation (e.g. parents,
teachers, institutions)
Psychic determinism
Flreud: free will = illusion, emphasis on biological drives/instincts underpinning responses
Determined/directed by unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood
E.g. 'slip of the tongue' determined by unconscious
Science seeks causal explanations
Basic principle: every event has cause, can be explained with general laws
Allows predict/control
One thing determined by another
Lab experiment: remove extraneous variables to demonstrate causal effect
,Free will/determinism (+ determinism consistent with aims of science) - CORRECT ANSWER-
Human behaviour = orderly/obeys laws
Greater scientific credibility
Predict/control behaviour led to development of treatments/therapies (e.g. psychoactive drugs
for schizophrenia)
Schizophrenia = some behaviour determined (loss of control over thoughts/behaviour, no one
chooses)
Free will/determinism (- hard determinism not consistent with legal system) - CORRECT
ANSWER-Offenders held morally accountable
Act with leniency only in extreme circumstances (e.g. mental illnesses)
Determinism not falsifiable (causes will always exist even if not yet found, impossible to
disprove, not as scientific as it appears)
Free will/determinism (+ free will - choices in everyday life) - CORRECT ANSWER-Face validity:
everyday experience gives impression that we constantly make choices
Makes logical sense
Even if do not, thinking we do may have positive impact on mind/behaviour
E.g. Roberts et al: adolescents with strong beliefs in fatalism more at risk from depression
Free will/determinism (- free will - not supported by neurological evidence) - CORRECT
ANSWER-Decision making brain studies: evidence against free will
Libet/Soon: brain activity relating to decision to press button with left/right hand occurs up to
10s before being consciously aware of making decision
Even most basic experiences of free will are determined
Nature/nurture debate - CORRECT ANSWER-Nature: behaviour is product of innate
biological/genetic factors
,Result of heredity (transmission of mental/physical characteristics from one generation to
another)
Heritability coefficient (0-1) shows to what extent has genetic basis
E.g. Plomin: IQ around 0.5
Genetic explanations: family/twin/adoption studies show link between genetic similarity and
shared characteristics
Evolutionary explanations: aid survival = naturally selected, passed on
Nurture: behaviour product of environmental forces
Behaviourism: mind = blank slate at birth on which experience writes
Lerner: different levels of environment
Prenatal: mother's physical/physiological state during pregnancy
Postnatal: social conditions grown up in
Exapmles:
Behaviourism: attachment explained in terms of classical/operant conditioning
Relative importance of nature & nurture
Impossible to answer - environmental influences begin at conception
Little sense to separate two (eg. concordance rates: result of shared genetics or shared
upbringing?
Interactionist approach
How interact/influence each other
E.g. attachment = 'two way street'
Childs innate temperament influences how parents behave towards them, parent's responses
affect child's behaviour
, Nature creates nurture
Interactionism: diathesis-stress model
Biological vulnerability only expressed when coupled with environmental trigger
Tienari et al: orphan study, high risk of schizophrenia = biological relatives with history +
dysfunctional adoptive family
Interactionism: epigenetics
Change in genetic activity withought change in genetic code
Lifestyle/events leave 'marks' on DNA: tell bodies which to ignore/use, influence genetic code of
offspring
E.g. Dias + Ressler: mice given electric shock when smelt chemical, fear response, also present
in children/grandchildren who never experienced shocks
Introduce
Nature/nurture debate (- confounding factor of shared environments) - CORRECT ANSWER-
Research trying to 'tease out' environmental influences complicated by fact that even identical
twins will not have identical upbringings
Shared/unshared environments
Dunn & Plomin: individual difference, siblings experience life events differently (e.g.
age/temperament)
Explains why MZ twins reared together don't show perfect concordance rates
Nature/nurture debate (+ gene-environment interactions explained by constructivism) -
CORRECT ANSWER-Create own nurture by actively seeking environments appropriate for their
nature (constructivism)
E.g. naturally aggressive child feel more comfortable around similar children and choose
environment accordingly, effects development
Plomin: niche picking & niche building
