Formula sheets, the key method steps for every topic and 8 practice problems, with full solutions at the back.
Loftus and Palmer's car crash study showed that:
In Luchins' water jar problems, after solving several problems with the formula B − A − 2C, many participants kept using it even when a simpler solution (A − C) worked. This shows:
Shown 7 roses and 3 tulips, a 5-year-old says there are more roses than flowers. Which ability is still lacking?
A child is shown a Smarties tube, guesses it contains sweets, and finds pencils. Asked what a friend who has not looked will think is inside, a typical 3-year-old says "pencils". This shows:
Only Jo laughs at a comedian, Jo laughs at every comedian, and Jo always laughs at this one. Using Kelley's model, people will most likely explain the laughter by:
In Reicher and Haslam's BBC prison study, guards did not form a strong shared identity, while prisoners did and challenged the guards. What does this suggest about the Stanford prison experiment?
Which defence mechanism is shown when someone with strong hostile feelings towards a colleague acts in an excessively friendly way towards them?
A client with OCD checks the stove twenty times before leaving home. Why does checking maintain the disorder, according to the cognitive-behavioural model?
Answer: D · The wording of a question can change eyewitness memory
Participants who heard "smashed" estimated higher speeds and were more likely to falsely remember broken glass, showing that leading questions alter memory.
Answer: A · A mental set (Einstellung) that hides simpler solutions
Einstellung is a mental set: prior success with one method makes people repeat it and miss easier alternatives. Functional fixedness concerns objects' uses, not methods.
Answer: C · Class inclusion
Class inclusion is understanding that a subclass cannot be larger than the class that contains it. Piaget found it is usually mastered in the concrete operational stage.
Answer: B · Difficulty understanding false beliefs
Like the Sally–Anne task, the Smarties task tests false-belief understanding. Most 3-year-olds fail, while most 4–5-year-olds pass.
Answer: D · Something about Jo
Low consensus and low distinctiveness with high consistency lead to an internal (person) attribution: Jo simply laughs a lot.
Answer: D · Behaviour depends on shared identity, not automatic role-taking
Reicher and Haslam argued that people do not passively accept roles; behaviour depends on whether they identify with their group, supporting social identity theory.
Answer: B · Reaction formation
Reaction formation turns an unacceptable impulse into its opposite, often in an exaggerated form.
Answer: B · Relief after checking reinforces it and blocks learning that the fear is unfounded
Compulsions are negatively reinforced by short-term relief and stop the person learning that anxiety falls on its own. This is why ERP blocks the ritual.
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