A psychology trainee is testing a rule for sorting fictional records that are already known to show depression:
“If a record contains a low period, sort it as unipolar depression.”
The trainee applies the rule to Record Q. Scores range from −5 (much lower than usual) through 0 (usual) to +5 (much higher than usual).
| Period | Mood score | Energy score | Activity score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | −4 | −4 | −3 |
| 2 | +5 | +4 | +5 |
| 3 | −4 | −3 | −4 |
Explain why applying the trainee’s rule to Record Q would produce an incorrect classification.
144 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Psychology 3.2 Theories/Explanations, covering 3.2.1 Clinical characteristics of schizophrenia, 3.2.2 Key statistics of schizophrenia, 3.2.3 Dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia, 3.2.4 Brain structure and function in schizophrenia; criticisms, 3.2.5 Social drift theory of schizophrenia, 3.2.6 Schizophrenia research study: Daniel et al. (1991), 3.2.7 Clinical characteristics of clinical depression, 3.2.8 Key statistics of clinical depression, 3.2.9 Social rank theory of clinical depression, 3.2.10 ABC Model of clinical depression, and 3.2.11 Clinical Depression research study: Tandoc et al. (2015). Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.