Compare approaches in psychology
Updated: 7 days ago
Question 10 Mark Scheme
Compare approaches in psychology.
In your answer, refer to their assumptions, explanations of behaviour and scientific investigation.
[16 marks]
What is expected in the answer?
The command word “compare” requires students to identify similarities and differences between psychological approaches. Simply describing several approaches in separate paragraphs would not be enough. The strongest responses organise the essay around explicit points of comparison, for example:
what each approach assumes causes behaviour;
whether behaviour is determined or freely chosen;
whether nature or nurture is emphasised;
whether explanations are reductionist or holistic;
how scientifically each approach investigates behaviour.
The current specification requires students to know the assumptions of the behaviourist approach, social learning theory, cognitive approach, biological approach, psychodynamic approach and humanistic psychology, and explicitly includes “comparison of approaches” as part of the Paper 2 content.
Marks for this question: AO1 = 6, AO3 = 10
This is an original 16-mark comparison question. An appropriate allocation is AO1 = 6 and AO3 = 10. Published 8-mark comparison questions use AO1 = 3 and AO3 = 5, for example the June 2024 comparison of operant conditioning and social learning.
The 2021 comparison of the humanistic and psychodynamic approaches was also assessed primarily through the quality of direct comparison, rather than through two separate descriptions.
Level | Marks | Description |
4 | 13–16 | Knowledge of psychological approaches is accurate and generally well detailed. Comparison is thorough and effective, with explicit similarities and differences concerning assumptions, explanations of behaviour and scientific investigation. The answer is clear, coherent and focused, with effective use of specialist terminology. |
3 | 9–12 | Knowledge of approaches is evident but there may be occasional inaccuracies or omissions. Comparison is mostly effective and the required areas are generally addressed. Some points may become descriptive or lack development. |
2 | 5–8 | Limited knowledge of approaches is present. Focus is mainly on separate description. Some relevant similarities or differences are identified, but comparison is of limited effectiveness. |
1 | 1–4 | Knowledge is very limited or muddled. Approaches may simply be described separately with little or no direct comparison. |
0 | 0 | No relevant content. |
Indicative content
Students do not need to make every comparison below. Credit any accurate and well-developed comparison between specification approaches.
A high-level answer would normally select several meaningful dimensions and compare approaches directly.
AO1: Core assumptions of the approaches
Behaviourist approach
Credit relevant knowledge such as:
behaviour is largely learned from the environment;
classical conditioning involves learning through association;
operant conditioning involves learning through consequences;
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