Candidate Number
C8553
THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
BSc Second Year Examination 2015
FORENSIC AND APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
SAMPLE PAPER
DO NOT TURN OVER UNTIL INSTRUCTED
TO BY THE CHIEF INVIGILATOR
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 books provided.
Please use a separate answer book for each question.
[8 choices of essay question]
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C8553 Forensic and Applied Psychology – SAMPLE PAPER
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
c) The quality of CCTV footage was crucial for identification purposes
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
c) That upright faces are involuntarily processed as integrated wholes
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
c) Led to confusion in the participants who were trying to recognise the
face
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)
b)
c)
d)
8-20%
30-40%
40-50%
70-80%
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C8553 Forensic and Applied Psychology – SAMPLE PAPER
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)
b)
c)
d)
6.
The witness' opportunity to view the offender at the time of the crime
Accuracy of the witness' prior description of the offender
The witness' level of certainty at the identification parade
The number of times the witness was interviewed by the police
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
c) Influences witnesses' evaluations of other witnesses
d) Produces verbal overshadowing
7.
Wells and Olson (2003) divided factors affecting eyewitnesses into:
a)
b)
c)
d)
8.
System variables and estimator variables
Internal variables and external variables
Legal variables and perpetrator variables
Systemic variables and environmental variables
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
c) A fairly strong negative 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 witnesses:
a) Tend to overestimate the duration of events, especially when stressed
b) Tend to underestimate the duration of events, especially when stressed
c) Highly susceptible to being misled about the duration of events,
especially when stressed
d) Are highly resistant to being misled about the duration of events,
especially when stressed
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C8553 Forensic and Applied Psychology – SAMPLE PAPER
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
c) A tendency for witnesses to claim falsely that weapons were present at
a crime 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 motorcyclists were more likely to have "looked but failed to
see" accidents with motorcycles
b) Car-driving motorcyclists were less likely to have "looked but failed to
see" accidents with motorcycles
c) Car-driving motorcyclists were less likely to blame car drivers for
"looked but failed to see" accidents
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
c) An inability to cope with changing situations
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
c) 70% of the drivers in their study thought their driving was unaffected by
phone use
d) 70% of the drivers in their study thought their alertness was improved
by phone use
e) 50% of the drivers in their study had been in an accident as a result of
phone use
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C8553 Forensic and Applied Psychology – SAMPLE PAPER
14. Reason (1990) identified three types of mistake that drivers make. Which one
is most associated with accidents?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Errors
Lapses
Violations
Slips
15. Memory is most likely to be impaired if:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Cortisol is elevated during learning/encoding
Cortisol is elevated during retrieval
Cortisol is elevated immediately following encoding/learning
Cortisol is elevated during encoding and retrieval
16. Administration of morphine after a traumatic episode:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Can help protect against getting PTSD
Can increase the chance of getting PTSD
Has no effect on PTSD prognosis
Is associated with poor outcome
17. PTSD is associated with:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Flashbacks of the trauma episode
Nightmares
Hyperarousal
All of the above
[Note: If d is correct, no credit will be given for answering a, b, or c]
18. Memory is most likely to be enhanced if:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Cortisol is elevated during learning/encoding
Cortisol is elevated during retrieval
Cortisol is elevated immediately following encoding/learning
Cortisol is elevated both during and immediately after
learning/encoding
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C8553 Forensic and Applied Psychology – SAMPLE PAPER
19. PTSD tends to be associated with:
a)
b)
c)
d)
A smaller hippocampus
Decreased insula activity
Decreased amygdala activity
No observable brain changes
20. Young, Bernstein and Hugenberg (2010) found that instructions to individuate
faces before encoding:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Reduced the own-race bias
Enhanced the own-race bias
Had little effect on the own-race bias
Reduced the own-gender bias
21. According to Pratt & Cullen’s (2005) meta-analysis, which ONE of these would
NOT be a useful crime reduction strategy:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Tackling economic deprivation
Increasing social support within communities
Increasing public spending on policing
Early health and education interventions
22. Which ONE of the following statements best describes the relationship between
mental illness and violence?
a) Most acts of violence are committed by individuals who are not
mentally ill
b) Most people with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia will be violent if
their condition is not treated
c) Psychiatric medication sedates people so they rarely commit violent
acts
d) There is no relationship between mental illness and violence
23. Which of the following approaches has NOT provided a recognised theory of
sexual offending:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Biological theory
Compensatory theory
Psychodynamic theory
Behavioural theory
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C8553 Forensic and Applied Psychology – SAMPLE PAPER
24. Which of the following is the most accessible form of treatment for sexual
offenders within the Prison and Secure Mental Health systems?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Shame Aversion Therapy
Anti-libidinal medication and chemical castration
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Electro-Convulsive Therapy
25. Which ONE of the following statements is true:
a) Higher rates of personality disorder are found in offenders than in the
general population
b) Offenders and the general population show similar rates of personality
disorder
c) Offenders have lower rates of personality disorder than the general
population
d) All offenders have a personality disorder
26. Offenders with personality disorder are more likely than offenders without
personality disorder to:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Re-offend violently or sexually
Be recalled to prison after release
Complain about professionals
All of the above
[Note: If d is correct, no credit will be given for answering a, b, or c]
27. According to Mullen, Pathe & Parcell (2009) the initial motivation of ‘predatory
stalkers’ is:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Attempting reconciliation or exacting revenge for perceived rejection
The desire for revenge or validation
To establish contact in the hope of a friendship or sexual relationship
To gain information, sexual gratification, or prepare for an attack,
usually sexual in nature
28. Which one of the following techniques would NOT help an interviewer obtain
reliable evidence from a child witness?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Asking the same question repeatedly
Allowing the child to have a friend present during the interview
Developing a rapport with the child
Helping the child to mentally reinstate the context within which the
original events occurred
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C8553 Forensic and Applied Psychology – SAMPLE PAPER
29. Pozzulo and Lindsay (1998) claim that compared to adults, young children are
a)
b)
c)
d)
Poorer at correctly rejecting target-absent lineups
Better at correctly rejecting target-absent lineups
Poorer at correctly identifying a face in a target-present lineup
Better at correctly identifying a face in a target-present lineup
30. In lie-detection research, what is a truth bias?
a)
b)
c)
d)
A tendency to believe that a person is telling the truth
A tendency to believe that a person is telling lies
A tendency to look for facial cues that show a person is telling the truth
A tendency to look for facial cues that show a person is telling the truth
31. What are the two modes of thinking proposed by Kahneman (2011)?
a)
b)
c)
d)
“System 1” (accurate) and “System 2” (inaccurate)
“System 1” (emotional) and “System 2” (logical)
“System 1” (highly selective) and “system 2” (highly unselective)
“System 1” (abstract) and “System 2” (concrete)
32. Which ONE of these factors has been consistently found to have the most
bearing on stalking persistence:
a)
b)
c)
d)
The victim’s prior relationship with the stalker
The stalker's interest in stalking/crime literature and film
The victim's job
The age difference between the stalker and the victim
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
c) Hands-free phones impair driving performance less than hand-held
phones
d) Neither hands-free nor hand-held phones impair driving performance
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C8553 Forensic and Applied Psychology – SAMPLE PAPER
34. Road accident statistics published by the Department for Transport (2012)
showed that in the U.K., drivers aged 70 or more represented:
a)
b)
c)
d)
9% of all drivers and 6% of driver casualties
9% of all drivers and 35% of driver casualties
35% of all drivers and 9% of driver casualties
35% of all drivers and 6% of driver casualties
35. In Chapman and Underwood's (2000) study of how well drivers could
remember past accidents and near-misses, it was found that:
a)
b)
c)
d)
80% of near-accidents were forgotten within a fortnight
20% of near-accidents were forgotten within a fortnight
Only 10% of near-accidents were forgotten within a fortnight
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 or less)
b) Elderly drivers (aged 65 or more) are safer than young drivers (aged 25
or less)
c) Elderly drivers (aged 65 or more) are as risky as 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 yearolds were over twice as likely to be:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Caught speeding
Arrested for drink-driving offences
Found asleep at the wheel
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 they:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Drive very slowly on A-roads and motorways
Tend to drive on relatively high-risk roads (such as urban roads)
Tend to drive on relatively low-risk roads (such as motorways)
Tend to lack driving experience
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C8553 Forensic and Applied Psychology – SAMPLE PAPER
39. Eye-tracking studies suggest that using a mobile phone while driving tends to:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Increase the spread of horizontal fixations in a scene
Reduce the horizontal spread of fixations in a scene
Increase participants' contrast sensitivity
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, lowlevel way?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Executive function
Supervisory attentional system
Contention scheduling
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. “Criminals are born not made”: critically discuss this statement with reference to
psychological theories of criminal behaviour.
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
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