C8553 Forensic and Applied Psychology SAMPLE PAPER

C8553 Forensic and Applied Psychology – SAMPLE PAPER

Candidate Number

C8553

THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

BSc Second Year Examination 2014

FORENSIC AND APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

SAMPLE PAPER

DO NOT TURN OVER UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO BY THE CHIEF INVIGILATOR

INSTRUCTIONS

Answer ALL parts of Section A and TWO further questions from Section B.

Section A carries 40% and Section B carries 60% of the marks.

Do not write your name anywhere on the answer sheet.

Do not tear off any part of the answer sheet.

Do not remove the question paper, answer sheet or answer book, used or unused, from the examination room; they will be collected before you may leave.

Time allowed: 2 hours

It is to your advantage to attempt every question and use the time available. Be sure to write your candidate number in the space provided.

SECTION A

The answers to this section, one to each question, should be marked on the

answer sheet.

[40 multiple choice questions each with 4 alternatives]

SECTION B

Answer TWO questions from this section in the answer book provided.

[8 choices of essay question]

SECTION A

1. In their study of how well people could be recognised from surveillance videos, Burton, Cowan and Bruce (1999) found that:

(a) Participants performed well only if they were familiar with the person shown in the video

(b) Participants' accuracy ratings were a strong predictor of their recognition performance

(d) The quality of CCTV footage determined participants' accuracy ratings.

2. What does Young, Hellawell and Hay's (1987) "Composite Face Effect" show?

(a)That upright faces are processed as a collection of individual facial features

(b) That systems such as Identikit and Photofit produce unrecognisable composites

(d) That face recognition is quite good, as long as the face is shown upright

3. Brace et al (2006) found that presenting participants with four composites of the same face:

(a) Increased the likelihood that the face would be recognised

(b) Decreased the likelihood that the face would be recognised

(d) Led to greater confidence in the participants trying to recognise the face

4.According to Frowd et al (2013), what percentage of Evo-Fit composite can be recognised after a 3-4 hour delay between seeing the face and making the composite?

(a)8-20%

(b) 30-40%

(d) 70-80%

5. Which one of the following is not one of the recommended criteria for evaluating eyewitnesses, as established by the Neil vs Biggers (1972) case?

(a)The witness' opportunity to view the offender at the time of the crime

(b) Accuracy of the witness' prior description of the offender

(d) The number of times the witness was interviewed by the police

6.Research on the effects of post-identification feedback suggests that it:

(a)Makes jurors more uncertain about whether a witness is reliable

(b) Influences witnesses' evaluations of how confident they were at the time of the identification

(d) Produces verbal overshadowing

7. Wells and Olson (2003) divided factors affecting eyewitnesses into:

(a)System variables and estimator variables

(b) Internal variables and external variables

(d) Systemic variables and environmental variables

8. For participants who actually chose a suspect from a lineup, Bindemann, Brown, Koyas and Russ (2012) found that there was:

(a)A fairly strong positive correlation between lineup and face identification test performance

(b) No correlation between lineup and face identification test performance

(d) A strong effect of the suspect's ethnic grouping on lineup and face identification test performance

9. Loftus, Schooler, Boone and Kline (1987) found that:

(a) Witnesses tend to overestimate the duration of events, especially when stressed

(b) Witnesses tend to underestimate the duration of events, especially when stressed

(d) Witnesses are highly resistant to being misled about the duration of events, especially when stressed

10. What does the "weapon focus" effect refer to?

(a) A tendency for attention to be directed away from weapons, to somewhere else in a scene

(b) A tendency for attention to be directed towards weapons, rather than elsewhere in a scene

(d) A tendency for witnesses to claim falsely that other-race criminals possessed weapons

11. Brooks and Guppy (1999) found that:

(a)Car-driving motorcyclistswere more likely to have "looked but failed to see" accidents with motorcycles

(b) Car-driving motorcyclistswere less likely to have "looked but failed to see" accidents with motorcycles

(d) Car-driving motorcyclists were more likely to blame car drivers for "looked but failed to see" accidents

12."Inattentional blindness" refers to:

(a) A failure to detect changes in a scene unless they receive focused attention

(b) A failure to detect changes in a scene due to poor eyesight

(d) A failure to perceive that the traffic lights have changed from red and amber to green

13. In a study of the effects of mobile phone use on driving, Strayer, Drews and Johnston (2003) found that:

(a) 10% of the drivers in their study thought their driving was impaired by phone use

(b) 50% of the drivers in their study thought their driving was unaffected by phone use

(d) 50% of the drivers in their study had been in an accident as a result of phone use

14. Reason (1990) identified three types of mistake that drivers make. Which one is most associated with accidents?

(a) Errors

(b) Lapses

(d) Slips

15. Memory is most likely to be impaired if:

(a) Cortisol is elevated during learning/encoding

(b)Cortisol is elevated during retrieval

(d)Cortisol is elevated during encoding and retrieval

16. Administration of morphine after a traumatic episode:

(a)Can help protect against getting PTSD

(b)Can increase the chance of getting PTSD

(c)Has no effect on PTSD prognosis

(d)Is associated with poor outcome

17. PTSD is associated with:

(a) flashbacks of the trauma episode

(b) nightmares

(d) all of the above

[Note: If d is the correct answer, no credit will be given for answering a, b or c]

18. Memory is most likely to be enhanced if:

(a) Cortisol is elevated during learning/encoding

(b) Cortisol is elevated during retrieval

(d) Cortisol is elevated both during and immediately after learning/encoding

19. PTSD tends to be associated with:

(a) A smaller hippocampus

(b) Decreased insula activity

(d) No observable brain changes

20. Young, Bernstein and Hugenberg (2010) found that instructions to individuate faces before encoding:

(a) Reduced the own-race bias

(b) Enhanced the own-race bias

(d) Reduced the own-gender bias

21. According to Martin et al (2004), perception of the mentally ill as dangerous is:

(a) Decreasing

(b) Remaining the same

(d) Becoming more positive

22. Which of the following is NOT a confounding variable which can complicate the relationship between mental illness and crime?

(a) Drugs used to treat the mentally ill cause aggression.

(b) One of the symptoms of mental illness is violence

(d) Mentally ill people are introverted.

23.What can we correctly state about the relationship between mental illness and violent crime?

(a) Rates of mental illness among killers can be up to 90% in some studies

(b) The public's attitude to the mentally ill becomes more positive after increased media attention to violent crime

(d) All mental illness is inherited

24. Meissner (1986) explored the relationship between crime statistics and public viewing of media violence in different U.S. States. What was found?

(a) The more television violence watched, the less violence in the community. The hypothesis that media violence causes violence was not true.

(b) What children watched at 8 years old predicted actual crimes and motor traffic offences later in adulthood. The hypothesis that media violence causes violence was true.

(c) Girls' viewing of television violence was associated with adulthood aggression. The hypothesis that media violence causes violence was only partly true.

(d) The more television violence watched, the more violence in the community. The hypothesis that media violence causes violence was true.

25.Intra-sexual homicide (young men are more likely to kill young men than females are to kill females) would offer support for:

(a) The biological basis of aggression

(b) Homicidal protest

(d) The "media cause violence" hypothesis

26.To which one of the following does the legal term ‘Mens Rea’ refer?

(a) That the criminal's behaviour was involuntary

(b) That the criminal intended to commit the offence

(d) That only men have criminal intent

27. There are two key principles of the McNaughton rule in regard to legal pleas in court. One is “It must be proved that, at the time of the crime, the accused was labouring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature of the act, or not to know that he/she was doing wrong”. What is the other principle?

(a) That every man is presumed sane until proven insane.

(b) That defendant's sanity is decided by the judge or jury.

(d) That the sanity of all defendants is questionable.

28. Which one of the following techniques would NOT help an interviewer obtain reliable evidence from a child witness?

(a)Asking the same question repeatedly

(b) Allowing the child to have a friend presentduring the interview

(c)Developing a rapport with the child

(d)Helping the child to mentally reinstate the context within which the original events occurred

29.Pozzulo and Lindsay (1998) concluded that compared to adults, young children are

(a) Poorer at correctly rejecting target-absent lineups

(b) Better at correctly rejecting target-absent lineups

(d) Better at correctly identifying a face in a target-present lineup

30. In lie-detection research, what is a truth bias?

(a) A tendency to believe that a person is telling the truth

(b) A tendency to believe that a person is telling lies

(d) A tendency tolook forfacial cues that show a person is telling the truth

31. What are the two modes of thinking proposed by Kahneman (2011)?

(a) “System 1” (accurate) and “System 2” (inaccurate)

(b) “System 1” (emotional) and “System 2” (logical)

(d) “System 1” (abstract) and “System 2” (concrete)

32.What is meta-cognition?

(a) Frequent distressing thoughts

(b) Systematic processing of thoughts

(d) Knowledge and beliefs we have about the actions of others

33. Research on the effects of using a mobile phone while driving has consistently shown that:

(a)Hands-free phones impair driving performance more than hand-held phones

(b) Hands-free and hand-held phones impair driving performance to similar extents

(d) Neither hands-free nor hand-held phones impair driving performance

34. In the RAC Foundation (2008) survey, what percentage of British drivers admitted to texting whuile driving?

(a)15%

(b) 45%

(d) 75%

35. In Chapman and Underwood's (2000) study of how well drivers could remember past accidents and near-misses, it was found that:

(a) 80% of near-accidents were forgotten within a fortnight

(b)20% of near-accidents were forgotten within a fortnight

(c)Only 10% of near-accidents were forgotten within a fortnight

(d) Drivers seldom forgot near-accidents

36.After taking annual mileage into account, U.K. accident statistics suggest that,:

(a)Elderly drivers (aged 65 or more) are riskier than young drivers (aged 25 orless)

(b) Elderly drivers (aged 65 or more) are safer than young drivers (aged 25 or less)

(d) Elderly drivers (aged 65 or more) are as safe as young drivrers (aged 25 or less)

37.According to Preusser et al (1998), compared to 40-49 year olds, 65-69 year-olds were

(a) Over twice as likely to be caught speeding

(b) Over twice as likely to be arrested for drink-driving offences

(d) Over twice as likely to be involved in a crash at an intersection

38. The "low mileage bias" suggests that the reason why elderly drivers seem to have a higher rate of accidents per unit distance travelled is that:

(a)They drive very slowly on A-roads and motorways

(b) They tend to drive on relatively high-risk roads (such as urban roads)

(d) They tend to lack driving experience

39.Eye-tracking studies suggest that using a mobile phone while driving tends to

(a)Increase the spread of horizontal fixations in a scene

(b) Reduce the horizontal spread of fixations in a scene

(d) Increase the size of participants' pupils

40. In Norman and Shallice's (1980, 1986) model of information processing, what system is responsible for controlling behaviour in a relatively automatic, low-level way?

(a)Executive function

(b) Supervisory attentional system

(d) Inattentional blindness

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C8553 Forensic and Applied Psychology – SAMPLE PAPER

SECTION B.

Answer any two of the following essay questions:

1. How might stress affect the memory of an eyewitness?

2.Should a judge take account of an eyewitness' confidence when assessing the accuracy of their evidence?

3. Why do own-race biases occur, and how might they be overcome?

4.To what extent are modern composite face construction systems (such as E-Fit and Evo-Fit) a significant improvement over the original systems (such as Photofit and Identikit)?

5. “All sexual offending is innate behaviour”. Using relevant psychological theories and evidence, critically evaluate this statement in regard to either a) paedophilia OR b) rape.

6. Why does using a mobile phone increase the risk of a driver having an accident?

7.Does psychological research support the notion that elderly drivers should be periodically retested?

8.What research evidence is there to suggest that mentally ill patients are more likely to commit violent crimes?

End of Paper

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C8553 Forensic and Applied Psychology – SAMPLE PAPER

ANSWERS TO MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

Q / A
1 / a
2 / c
3 / a
4 / a
5 / d
6 / b
7 / a
8 / a
9 / a
10 / b
11 / b
12 / a
13 / b
14 / c
15 / b
16 / a
17 / d
18 / d
19 / a
20 / a
21 / c
22 / d
23 / c
24 / a
25 / c
26 / b
27 / a
28 / a
29 / a
30 / a
31 / b
32 / c
33 / b
34 / b
35 / a
36 / b
37 / d
38 / b
39 / b
40 / c

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