AQA A-Level Psychology | Paper 2 | 2026 Predicted Paper
- Revision Notes
- Aug 20
- 5 min read
This paper has been rewritten to match the updated AQA 7182 Specification, so that it is useful for all students.
Paper 2: Psychology in Context
Time allowed: 2 hours
Section A - Approaches in Psychology
Answer all questions in this section.
Question 01
Explain what is meant by inference in the cognitive approach.
[2 marks]
Aisha has recently joined a college debating club. At first, she never volunteered to speak because she was worried about making mistakes.
One of the more experienced students, Grace, regularly gives speeches in front of the group. Aisha notices that the teacher praises Grace and that other students congratulate her after she speaks.
Over the next few weeks, Aisha begins watching Grace carefully. She starts copying the way Grace introduces her arguments and eventually volunteers to give a speech herself.
Question 02
Use your knowledge of social learning theory to explain Aisha's change in behaviour.
[6 marks]
Question 03
Describe the psychodynamic approach in psychology.
Compare the psychodynamic approach with the humanistic approach.
[16 marks]
Section B - Biopsychology
Answer all questions in this section.
Question 04
Which two of the following statements about neurons are correct?
[2 marks]
A. Motor neurons carry impulses from receptors towards the central nervous system.
B. Relay neurons are mainly found within the central nervous system.
C. Sensory neurons carry impulses from the central nervous system to muscles.
D. Motor neurons transmit impulses from the central nervous system to effectors.
E. Relay neurons carry impulses directly from sensory receptors to muscles.
Maya is walking home when a large dog suddenly runs through an open gate towards her, barking loudly.
Maya immediately feels her heart beating faster. Her breathing becomes quicker, her mouth feels dry and she begins to sweat. A few moments later, the dog's owner calls it back. After some time, Maya begins to feel calmer.
Question 05
Using your knowledge of the fight or flight response, explain Maya's physiological responses.
[6 marks]
Question 06
Outline one difference between a hormone and a neurotransmitter.
[2 marks]
A psychologist wants to investigate which areas of the brain are involved when people recognise familiar faces.
Participants are shown photographs of people they know and photographs of unfamiliar people while their brain activity is recorded.
Question 07
Explain how functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) could be used in this investigation.
[6 marks]
Question 08
Discuss what research into Broca's area and Wernicke's area has contributed to our understanding of the localisation of language function in the brain.
[8 marks]
Section C - Research Methods
Answer all questions in this section.
A psychologist wanted to investigate whether students' choice of study location was associated with whether they remained focused on their work.
The psychologist conducted a covert naturalistic observation in a sixth-form study centre.
Students could choose to sit in one of two areas:
a silent study area
a social study area, where quiet conversation was permitted.
The psychologist observed students for a 30-minute period.
For each student, the psychologist recorded whether the student showed:
mainly on-task behaviour, or
mainly off-task behaviour.
Examples of on-task behaviour included reading course materials, writing notes and answering questions. Examples of off-task behaviour included using a phone for non-study purposes, talking about non-study topics and leaving the study task for extended periods.
The psychologist had read previous research about study environments, but the findings were inconsistent.
Question 09
Explain why a non-directional hypothesis would be appropriate for this investigation.
[2 marks]
Question 10
Write a suitable operationalised non-directional hypothesis for this investigation.
[3 marks]
The psychologist wanted to select 12 students from a population of 60 students who regularly used the study centre.
Question 11
Explain how the psychologist could obtain a random sample of 12 students from the population of 60 students.
[3 marks]
Question 12
Explain one advantage of using a covert observation in this investigation.
Refer to this investigation in your answer.
[3 marks]
Question 13
What is meant by a behavioural category in observational research?
[2 marks]
Question 14
Explain why it was important for the psychologist to use clearly defined behavioural categories in this investigation.
[2 marks]
The psychologist recorded the results shown in Table 1.
Table 1
Study location | Mainly on-task | Mainly off-task |
Silent study area | 18 | 6 |
Social study area | 10 | 14 |
Question 15
Name an appropriate statistical test that the psychologist could use to analyse the data in Table 1.
Explain three reasons for your choice of statistical test.
[7 marks]
The psychologist carried out the statistical test and obtained a calculated value of 5.33.
Table 2 shows critical values for the statistical test.
Table 2
Degrees of freedom | Significance level 0.10 | Significance level 0.05 | Significance level 0.01 |
1 | 2.71 | 3.84 | 6.64 |
2 | 4.61 | 5.99 | 9.21 |
3 | 6.25 | 7.82 | 11.34 |
Question 16
Using the information above, explain whether the psychologist's result is statistically significant at the 0.05 level.
Explain what the psychologist can conclude.
[3 marks]
The students did not know that their behaviour was being observed during the study.
Question 17
For one of these ethical issues, explain how the psychologist could deal with the issue.
[4 marks]
The psychologist considered carrying out the investigation differently. Instead of observing the students, the psychologist could have asked them to complete a questionnaire at the end of the study period.
One question could have been:
"How focused were you on your work during the last 30 minutes?"
Students would respond on a scale from 1, "not at all focused", to 10, "completely focused".
Question 18
Explain how replacing the observation with this self-report measure might affect the validity of the investigation.
[4 marks]
The psychologist decided to write a scientific report of the investigation.
Question 19
Other than the aim or hypothesis, state one type of information that should be included in the introduction section of the psychologist's scientific report.
Explain how this information could be relevant to this investigation.
[3 marks]
A different psychologist wants to investigate whether the way students revise affects how much information they remember.
The psychologist wants to compare:
retrieval practice, where students repeatedly attempt to recall information without looking at their notes
re-reading, where students repeatedly read the same material.
Question 20
Design an experiment to investigate whether retrieval practice or re-reading leads to better memory for psychological material.
In your answer, you should provide details of:
the experimental design and allocation of participants to conditions
how the independent and dependent variables would be operationalised
the procedure and appropriate controls
ethical issues that should be considered.
[12 marks]
END OF QUESTIONS
TOTAL: 96 MARKS
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