Exam Questions

1. Outline what is meant by a contribution to society ( 2 marks):

A contribution to society is anything that has affected society in some ways and has helped society to function well, for example: Milgram’s study on obedience to an authority figure has contributed to society as it helped individuals to understand obedience and that individuals are more likely to act as agents in society to authority figures rather than acting autonomously. This has helped people in society to understand brutal acts that have happened recently to prisoners of war.

2. Outline two contributions to society from the biological approach ( 6 marks):

Biological psychology has contributed to society by offering various explanations of human behaviour that helps society to function well. For example, it explains gender behaviour by looking at incorrect sex assignment and by explaining autism by studying brain differences between autistic and non-autistic people.

Autism is a developmental disorder which affects male children more than females. Features of an autistic child is that it affects a child’s ability to interact and builds relationships with others, including parents, some autistic children can have extraordinary talents such as outstanding mathematical, artistic or musical ability, however, this does not apply to everyone with autism.

An explanation to autism is that it can be related to the brain structure, in particular, to what is thought of as an ‘extreme male’ brain. Male brains in part tends to be less lateralized than female brains such as those related to language skills, which suggests that females use both sides of the brain more than males and produce less understanding ability. The normal male brain is heavier than a female brain, as males on the whole are heavier than females. In people with autism, the brain is even heavier than a normal male brain. The extreme male brain theory of autism was developed by Baron-Cohen et al in 2005; he suggested that...