WJEC A Level Psychology Controversies Exam Questions

About WJEC A Level Psychology Controversies

Section B of WJEC Unit 3 closes the A level with a synoptic essay on one controversy, chosen from two questions. The specification names five: scientific status, sexism, cultural bias, ethical costs of conducting research and non-human animals, each with set points to explore. Because you cannot predict which will appear, prepare all five. WJEC gives you rich material: the five Unit 1 approaches and their classic studies, Milgram (1963) and Kohlberg (1968) from Unit 2, the research methods in Unit 4, and the behaviours from Section A. The best essays weigh both sides and finish with a justified judgement.

What you need to know

• Scientific status Consider the benefits of being a science (credibility, objective evidence, funding) against the costs (reductionism, losing the individual), how ideas of science have changed from Popper's falsification to Kuhn's paradigm shifts, and how each approach's methods compare, from Raine's PET scans to Bowlby's interviews.
• Sexism Ask whether findings reflect real gender differences or gender bias. Kohlberg (1968) built his stages on male participants, which Gilligan (1982) argued undervalued a care-based morality. Explore heterosexism (homosexuality was listed in the DSM until 1973), historical and social context, and the 'invisibility' of women such as Mary Calkins, refused a Harvard doctorate.
• Cultural bias Ethnocentrism means judging others by your own culture's standards. Berry's imposed etic describes applying a Western tool, such as Kohlberg's dilemmas, to other cultures as if it were universal. Weigh difference against bias, use cross-cultural studies, and consider how historical and social context shaped research.
• Ethical costs of research Balance benefits to society against the cost to individual participants (Albert's conditioned fear, the distress in Milgram, 1963) and possible negative consequences for groups in society, such as Raine's findings being used to label people. Evaluate how far ethical guidelines and review now prevent harm.
• Non-human animals Use the BPS guidelines for psychologists working with animals, comparative and ethological work such as Lorenz's imprinting and Harlow's monkeys, animals used as a therapeutic device (for example animal-assisted therapy), and Ryder and Singer's argument that favouring humans is speciesism.
• Building a synoptic answer Plan each controversy with arguments on both sides, each supported by named examples from different units, then reach a conclusion that follows from the evidence you have weighed.

Common mistakes in Controversies

• Treating psychology as either fully scientific or not scientific at all. Methods vary across approaches, and what counts as science has itself changed over time.
• Confusing ethnocentrism with cultural relativism. Ethnocentrism judges other cultures by your own norms; cultural relativism judges behaviour within its own cultural context.
• Leaving heterosexism out of a sexism essay. It is a named WJEC point, and historical diagnosis of homosexuality is a strong example.
• Defining speciesism as cruelty to animals. It is the argument, from Ryder and Singer, that giving lesser moral status to other species simply because they are not human is a form of discrimination.
• Writing a descriptive list of studies. Each example needs to be used to argue a side of the controversy, not just summarised.

Try three Controversies exam-style questions