AQA Psychology A Level Paper Three: Relationships

Phil Gorman

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000042832
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psicologia
• Subtopic: Storia e teoria della psicologia

The Extending Knowledge and Skills series is a fresh approach to A Level Psychology, designed for greater demands of the new AQA specification and assessment, and especially written to stretch and challenge students aiming for higher grades.

Dealing with the top of AQA's Paper 3: Relationships, this book is deliberately laid out with the assessment objectives in mind, from AO1: Knowledge and Understanding material, followed by AO2: Application material, to AO3: Evaluation and analysis material. Providing the most in-depth, accessible coverage available of individual topics in Paper 3, the text is packed full of pedagogical features, including:

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• Question Time features to ensure that the reader is consistently challenged throughout the book.

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• New research sections clearly distinct within each chapter to ensure readers have access to the most cutting-edge material.

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• A clear focus on the assessment objectives for the paper topic to ensure readers know when and where to apply knowledge.

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• The use of example answers with examiner-style comments to provide greater insight into how to/how not to answer exam questions.

An engaging, relevant and challenging text which broadens student understanding beyond that of the average textbook, this is the essential companion for any student taking the AQA A Level Paper 3 in Psychology.

Chapter 1

Introduction

The aims of this book

This book is intended for A Level Psychology students studying the AQA syllabus and has been developed in order to provide further elaboration for the main Paper 3 topics. This particular book will deal with the optional topic of Relationships from section B of Paper 3.

The book has been deliberately laid out with the assessment objectives in mind, so you will find AO1 – Knowledge and Understanding material first, followed by AO2 – Application material, and then AO3 – Evaluation and Analysis material.

Each of the assessment objectives will have an injunction/command word or some other indication that will give you an idea of the particular objective being assessed and how you are supposed to answer the question.

AO1 will include some of the following injunctions/commands words that will indicate you are required to show knowledge and understanding:

Compare – Identify similarities and differences.

Identify – Name or state what it is.

Name – Identify using a technical term.

Describe – Provide an account of.

Distinguish – Explain how two things differ.

Explain – Show what the purpose or reason for something is.

Give – Provide an answer from memory or from the information shown.

Outline – Provide the main characteristics.

State – Clearly set out.

What is meant by – Provide a definition.

AO2 will open with some kind of stem which might be in the form of some information which you will need to refer to in your answer. For example:

Question 1

Is there such a thing as love at first sight and, if there is, what is it that makes us fall in love with someone? Are there certain features that make some people attractive or is it that some people seem like a good match for us?

With reference to the material above, explain physical attractiveness as a factor affecting attraction in romantic relationships?

Alternatively, AO2 questions will provide a description of a scenario with the names of some fictional characters who are involved in a situation that is relevant to an area of psychology. You could then be asked to explain this situation using knowledge derived from the relevant topic. For example:

Question 2

Bill and Ben have been in a relationship for 50 years and every Friday evening Ben buys Bill a bunch of flowers. Ben has never missed a week in 50 years and every Friday Bill gives Ben a big hug in return.

Using the material above, explain how social exchange theory would explain Bill’s behaviour. Is there any other explanation for it?

Questions with a stem like this, which then ask you to refer to the stem in some way, are looking to assess AO2 and you have to make sure that you make clear reference to the stem by using some of the information as part of your answer. You will see examples of these in the coming chapters with some sample answers to show you how to deal with them.

AO3 will include one or both of the following injunctions/commands words, indicating that you are required to demonstrate skills of analysis and evaluation:

Discuss – Present strengths and weaknesses of a topic (in 16 mark questions, this can also require some element of description and can be taken as similar to describe and evaluate).

Evaluate – Make a judgement about a topic with reference to evidence.

One of the important features of this book and other books in the series is that there is a clear emphasis on the kinds of skills required for the A Level Psychology exam, so the plenary sections use questions that are focused on exam skills and, at the end of every chapter, there are some exam-style questions with advice on how to answer them and examples of the kinds of answers that could be given to gain very high marks. Key words will be presented in bold and placed in a glossary at the end of each chapter, to make it easier to follow what these words mean and be able to use them more readily yourself.

Further features include an emphasis on new research that is both up to date and challenging, so there will be topics that don’t just follow the usual pattern but will make you think again about the kinds of topics that you are studying.

The book also uses the technique of interleaving by bringing back topics from earlier studies to reinforce and consolidate earlier learning. All too often topics that have been studied earlier can be forgotten and it has been shown that by regularly revisiting these topics, it is possible to remember much more easily than by simply trying to cram them all in at the end.

Why are relationships important?

Relationships are important to all of us. They provide us with support and companionship and, in many, cases love and affection. We appear to be driven towards romantic and sexual relationships and the importance of these is highlighted by the amount of time we devote to talking about them, writing books and making films about them, and generally focusing on every detail of our own and other people’s love lives. It seems as though there is something of an obsession with them and that maybe we find it very hard to live without them – but we also seem to find it very hard to live with them.

Question Time

Why do think there is so much time and space in newspapers, magazines and social media given over to discussing celebrity relationships?

Do you think it has an effect on the kind of relationships that ‘real’ people have or is it just a form of escape?

What about other forms of the media, e.g. TV and films? Does the portrayal of romantic relationships in those have an effect?

In order to understand the importance of romantic relationships, it might be worth considering the following question.

Which do you think would be worse, the loss of your job or the breakdown of your romantic relationship?

The answer to this question is likely to create a lot of further questions with regard to how long the relationship has been going, what the job is and the level of investment in each. However, it seems as though romantic relationships are at least as important as a person’s job and probably slightly more important. After all, if you were to ask someone as they approach the end of their working life if they wished they had spent more time at work or more time with their partner, it’s unlikely that they would choose work, unless of course the relationship is quite bad, in which case I’m not sure it counts.

Figure 1.1 Celebrity relationships

What is covered in the Relationships topic?

The first part of this topic considers the evolutionary explanations for partner preferences and whether or not your choice of sexual partner is driven by evolutionary pressures linked to the need to reproduce. Could it be that you are choosing a partner purely because they offer your offspring a better chance of survival? Do men look for a partner who has the best chance of bearing healthy children and do women look for a partner who can best provide for their babies?

However, the main focus of this topic is on romantic relationships and an important part of this relates to the factors affecting attraction, including physical attractiveness, proximity and similarity, and how much a person is prepared to reveal about themselves as a relationship develops.

Activity 1

Put the following in order in relation to how important they are to you when considering starting a romantic relationship:

1. Good prospects as a father/mother for your children
2. Openness and honesty
3. Close to where you live
4. Physical attractiveness
5. Similar type of person to you.

There may, of course, be other factors that affect your attraction to another person, but these are the kinds of factors covered in this topic for this specification.

New research

What Leads to Romantic Attraction: Similarity, Reciprocity, Security, or Beauty? Evidence from a Speed-Dating Study

Shanhong Luo and Guangjian Zhang. University of North Carolina at Wilmington, University of Notre Dame

First publ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Sexual selection and human reproductive behaviour
• Chapter 3: Factors affecting romantic relationships 1: Self-disclosure
• Chapter 4: Factors affecting romantic relationships 2: Physical attractiveness
• Chapter 5: Factors affecting romantic relationships 3: Filter theory
• Chapter 6: Theories of romantic relationships 1: Social exchange theory
• Chapter 7: Theories of romantic relationships 2: Equity theory
• Chapter 8: Theories of romantic relationships 3: Rusbult’s investment model
• Chapter 9: Theories of romantic relationships 4: Duck’s phase model of relationship breakdown
• Chapter 10: Virtual and parasocial relationships
• Index
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