Lesson 6.6.1

6.6.1 Issues and debates in criminological psychology Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Psychology, Unit 6

20 questions

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Lesson 6.6.1, Issues and debates in criminological psychology: 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel Psychology (9PS0), Unit 6: Criminological psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which ethical issue in criminological psychology concerns field experiments on eyewitness testing?

    • The colour of the field experiment's report
    • Possible lack of debriefing after a field experiment that tests eyewitness unreliability
    • The number of hours in the day
    • The time of year the experiment began

  2. Which practical problem in criminological research is named in the specification?

    • Having to pay participants in coins
    • Having to choose a font for the report
    • Having to use mock juries and artificial situations because real trials cannot be manipulated
    • Having too many participants to store on a computer

  3. Which issue is raised by biological explanations of criminal behaviour in the reductionism debate?

    • They are impossible to test with any method
    • They rule out any influence of the environment
    • They may reduce complex criminal behaviour to a single biological cause
    • They always explain every case of crime fully

  4. Which debate is illustrated by the comparison of different explanations of criminal behaviour?

    • Gender differences in dress codes in courts
    • Comparisons between ways of explaining behaviour using different themes, such as biology and learning theory
    • The number of pages in the criminal code
    • Differences between two court buildings

  5. Which debate concerns whether criminological psychology is a science?

    • Whether all courtrooms should have the same layout
    • Whether lawyers should use a specific font
    • Whether judges should wear robes in every case
    • Psychology as a science, for example through using experiments and biological explanations

  6. Which issue is raised by the nature-nurture debate in criminological psychology?

    • Whether crime is always caused by weather
    • Whether courts should use computers
    • Whether crimes happen mainly at night
    • Whether crime has biological or social and learning causes

  7. Why are mock juries used in criminological research?

    • Because mock juries are always more accurate than real ones
    • Because real trials cannot be manipulated for research purposes
    • Because mock juries never need consent
    • Because mock jurors are cheaper to pay in every case

  8. Which ethical concern arises from research on the unreliability of eyewitness testimony with real people?

    • Possible harm if witnesses are misled about events and not debriefed
    • That participants will become too good at identifying faces
    • That the study will take too little time
    • That the researcher will need too many pens

  9. Which issue of culture and gender may affect jury decision-making?

    • Cultural or gender differences that have no link to jurors
    • Cultural or gender differences only in animal research
    • Cultural or gender differences that always help the defendant
    • Cultural or gender differences that might lead to bias against a defendant

  10. Which point about development in criminological psychology is an example of an issue that has changed over time?

    • The unchanging number of courts in the country
    • The constant price of stationery in courts
    • The fixed colour of police uniforms
    • The way psychological understanding of crime has developed, such as the changing study of eyewitness testimony

  11. Which argument about social control in criminological psychology is most relevant?

    • Policies are unrelated to the law in any country
    • Policies for offenders can be a form of social control that enforces norms
    • Policies only matter to the police and not to society
    • Policies never affect the behaviour of offenders in any way

  12. Which practical problem arises when research tries to test how a witness responds under stress in a real trial?

    • Witnesses always enjoy being tested in trials
    • Trials are always too short to include any witnesses
    • Trials never involve any stress at all
    • Ethical and practical limits prevent manipulating real trial conditions for research

  13. Which evaluation of biological explanations of crime is most appropriate?

    • They can be tested only by reading legal texts
    • They offer useful insights but may overlook social and learning factors that also influence offending
    • They are complete and need no other explanation
    • They have no value for understanding crime

  14. Which statement describes the ethical debate about labelling offenders?

    • Labelling always reduces offending in everyone
    • Labelling has no ethical implications at all
    • Labelling may stigmatise people and encourage further offending, which raises ethical questions
    • Labelling is only relevant to the design of courts

  15. A researcher uses an artificial situation in a study of jurors. Which issue from the specification does this illustrate?

    • Issues of architectural style in courtrooms
    • Issues of traffic management near courts
    • Practical issues in the design and implementation of research in criminological psychology
    • Issues of religious belief in trials

  16. Which statement about the 'Issues and debates' section is most accurate?

    • It is only relevant to research on animals
    • It asks students to memorise a list of court addresses
    • It asks students to discuss the ethical, practical and theoretical debates across criminological research
    • It asks students to design a new courtroom

  17. Which balanced conclusion best fits a discussion of the reliability of criminal investigations?

    • Unreliable evidence is a serious risk, so safeguards and ethical research should be prioritised
    • Investigations are always unreliable and should stop
    • Investigations are always reliable and need no research
    • Investigations are unrelated to psychology

  18. What is a practical issue in measuring jurors' decisions in simulated trials?

    • Participants know the case is not real, which may change the decisions they make
    • Mock trials cannot involve any written material
    • Verdicts in mock trials are always unanimous
    • Participants have too much experience of real trials

  19. Why should a researcher be cautious when drawing conclusions from a meta-analysis of eyewitness research?

    • Meta-analyses have no statistical basis at all
    • Meta-analyses never include more than one study
    • Meta-analyses combine studies of varying quality and design, so the pooled result depends on the included studies
    • Meta-analyses always produce identical results whatever the studies

  20. Which issue relates to whether eyewitness research counts as psychology as a science?

    • Writing reports in a formal style
    • Naming a courtroom after a famous judge
    • Using controlled experiments to produce measurable findings about memory
    • Choosing a title for a research paper

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