OCD (AQA A Level Psychology): Exam Questions

Outline two cognitive characteristics of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Describe the biological approach to treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

A biological psychologist wanted to see if there was a positive correlation between heart rate (measured in beats per minute) and levels of a stress hormone (measured in micrograms) in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). She wrote a directional hypothesis and collected data from 20 people with OCD.

The psychologist chose to use the Pearson’s r test to analyse the data because she was testing for a correlation.

The calculated value of r for the Pearson’s test was +0.42.

The researcher used the following table of critical values.

Table 1 Critical values of r for Pearson’s test

Calculated value of r must be equal to or more than the critical value for significance to be shown Degrees of freedom (df ) = N – 2

Is the psychologist’s calculated value significant? With reference to Table 1, explain your answer.

Outline and evaluate one or more neural explanations of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Discuss the genetic explanation for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Discuss the biological approach to treating OCD.