Lesson 1.6.1

1.6.1 Issues and debates in social psychology Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Psychology, Unit 1

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson 1.6.1, Issues and debates in social psychology: 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel Psychology (9PS0), Unit 1: Social psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. Which issue in psychology concerns explaining behaviour by its simplest components, possibly losing important detail?

    • Determinism
    • Idiographic approach
    • Holism
    • Reductionism

  2. In social psychology, what is the risk of reductionism mentioned in the specification?

    • Using only qualitative data, which means the findings can never be linked to any theory of behaviour
    • Using too many participants in a study, which means the data become too complex to analyse at all
    • Using questionnaires with too few closed questions, which means the data lack any quantitative value
    • Drawing conclusions from social data that ignore the wider social context of the behaviour

  3. Which issue concerns whether a behaviour is caused by genetic inheritance or by learning and experience?

    • Ethical issues
    • Psychology as a science
    • Reductionism
    • Nature-nurture

  4. In social psychology, the nature-nurture issue is illustrated by which example in the specification?

    • The number of electrons in a neuron compared with the number of neurons in a brain region
    • The price of questionnaires compared with the price of interviews in a large-scale survey
    • The speed of the working memory's phonological loop compared with the speed of the visual sketchpad
    • The role of personality in obedience compared with the role of the situation

  5. Which issue concerns whether the social sciences are objective and rigorous in the way natural sciences are?

    • Reductionism
    • Culture and gender
    • Holism
    • Psychology as a science

  6. Which of these illustrates the issue of culture and gender in social psychology?

    • Whether a list of words is better recalled in an acoustic or a semantic memory test in the lab
    • Whether prejudice and obedience are influenced by cultural factors or by gender
    • Whether a neuron fires when its membrane potential reaches a threshold level in the cell body
    • Whether a questionnaire has a higher response rate by post than by email in a university survey

  7. Why is social desirability relevant to 'psychology as a science'?

    • Because it is a type of statistical test that is used to check whether a result happened by chance
    • Because it means that questionnaires can never be used in scientific research of any kind at all
    • Because it ensures that all questionnaire responses are perfectly accurate and never affect the results
    • Because it can distort questionnaire responses, reducing the validity of the data collected

  8. Which issue concerns whether a theory explains behaviour from a particular theme, such as a cognitive or social view?

    • Practical issues in the design of questionnaires, such as the length of the question wording used
    • Comparisons between ways of explaining behaviour using different themes
    • Reductionism in the sense of breaking a behaviour into its smallest biological parts only
    • Nature-nurture in the sense of comparing the genes of identical twins raised in different homes

  9. Which of these is an example of a comparison between two theories of prejudice?

    • Comparing social identity theory and realistic conflict theory in terms of their explanations of prejudice
    • Comparing a laboratory experiment with a field experiment in terms of the cost of equipment used in each
    • Comparing a neuron's action potential with a hormone's effect on the body during a stressful event
    • Comparing the working memory and multi-store models in their accounts of the capacity of the sensory store

  10. Which ethical issue is highlighted in the specification for social psychology?

    • Issues related to the use of genetic testing on children without any consent from their parents at all
    • Issues related to the storage of blood samples, which must be kept at a set temperature throughout the study
    • Issues related to socially sensitive research, such as racism or cultural differences in social psychology
    • Issues related to the choice of statistical test, which must always be a parametric test in every study

  11. Which practical issue in research is noted for social psychology?

    • Choosing the brand of audio equipment used to record interviews, which must be the same across all studies
    • Designing questionnaires and interviews while allowing for social desirability and researcher effects
    • Choosing the number of cups of coffee to offer participants, which must be fixed at the start of the study
    • Choosing the colour of the laboratory walls so that participants are less anxious during the procedure

  12. Which issue concerns whether psychological understanding has changed over time?

    • The use of a single unchanging theory across all decades, which means that the field never develops
    • The use of identical participants in every study, so that the sample never changes between decades of research
    • An understanding of how psychological understanding has developed over time, such as Burger's replication of Milgram
    • The use of blood tests to measure hormone levels, which has never changed since the first studies in the field

  13. Which issue is linked to the use of psychological knowledge to reduce conflict in society?

    • The use of psychological knowledge only in animal laboratories, with no contact with human social groups
    • The use of psychological knowledge only in private clinics, with no link to any wider social issue at all
    • The use of psychological knowledge within society, such as reducing conflict between groups
    • The use of psychological knowledge only in the classroom, to help students learn their times tables

  14. Which of these is an example of an issue of social control in social psychology?

    • Controlling the number of participants recruited each day so that the researchers can finish on time
    • Reducing prejudice, or considering how people obey someone in authority or uniform
    • Controlling the temperature of the laboratory so that the equipment does not overheat during the procedure
    • Controlling the spelling of words in the questionnaire so that the wording is consistent across versions

  15. Which evaluation point links the nature-nurture issue to obedience and prejudice?

    • Explanations must choose either personality or situation entirely, since combining them is never possible
    • Explanations can ignore the situation entirely, since personality fully determines behaviour in all cases
    • Explanations can ignore personality entirely, since situational factors fully determine behaviour in all cases
    • Explanations may combine personality with situational factors, rather than choosing one of the two

  16. Which issue concerns the risk of drawing wide conclusions from data about social behaviour without considering context?

    • Determinism, since social behaviour is always assumed to be freely chosen by each individual at all times
    • Holism, since social behaviour is always considered as a whole system that includes all of its context
    • Reductionism, since social behaviour may be reduced to simple data that ignore the wider context
    • Idiographic research, since social behaviour is always studied through single case studies of individuals

  17. Which issue is illustrated by comparing obedience and prejudice explanations that focus on different themes?

    • Ethical issues, illustrated by comparing the ways that participants are told about a study before it begins
    • Practical design issues, illustrated by comparing the number of questions in two questionnaires for the same study
    • Psychology as a science, illustrated by comparing the colour of the walls in two different laboratory settings
    • Comparisons between ways of explaining behaviour using different themes, such as personality and situation

  18. Which issue concerns whether psychological research is conducted in a way that makes it a rigorous science?

    • Culture and gender, which concerns the differences between men and women in their social attitudes and behaviour
    • Psychology as a science, which concerns the use of valid methods and controls in research
    • Reductionism, which concerns the risk of splitting behaviour into parts that may not be meaningful alone
    • Nature-nurture, which concerns the balance of genetic and environmental influences on social behaviour

  19. Which issue is linked to how the findings of social psychology might influence the reduction of conflict in society?

    • The use of psychological knowledge only in the teaching of statistics in school classrooms for young students
    • The use of psychological knowledge only in the study of the brain structure of animals in controlled settings
    • The use of psychological knowledge only in the design of medical devices, with no link to social groups at all
    • The use of psychological knowledge within society, such as applying findings to reduce conflict between groups

  20. Which example from the specification illustrates the nature-nurture issue in social psychology?

    • Whether the colour of a questionnaire affects the response rate of participants who receive it in the post
    • Whether the temperature of the room affects the time taken for participants to complete the questionnaire
    • Whether the number of switches on a shock generator affects the length of the procedure in the lab
    • Whether obedience is determined by personality or by the situation the person is in

All Pearson Edexcel Psychology quizzes