Cambridge A Level Psychology 9990: Health Psychology — Practice Questions

These are original practice questions written in the style of Cambridge AS & A Level Psychology (9990) assessment objectives. They are not taken from any past paper and are not endorsed by Cambridge International.

This practice set covers all five topics of Specialist Option 3, Health Psychology, in Cambridge International A Level Psychology 9990 (syllabus for 2024 to 2026). Section A follows the Paper 3 pattern (short answers, then a 6-mark describe and 10-mark evaluate essay). Section B follows the Paper 4 pattern of applying content, key studies and research methods. All scenarios are fictional.

Related: Health Psychology revision notes · Health Psychology study guide

Section A: Paper 3 style questions

1. Explain the difference between a false positive and a false negative diagnosis. [2]

2. (a) Outline the findings of Savage and Armstrong (1990). [3]

2. (b) Explain one reason why these findings may not generalise. [2]

3. Describe the gate control theory of pain. [4]

4. Outline the three stages of the General Adaptation Syndrome. [3]

5. (a) Describe two strategies for promoting health. [6]

5. (b) Evaluate strategies for promoting health, including a discussion of individual and situational explanations. [10]

Section B: Paper 4 style questions

6. Dr Okafor’s clinic finds that many teenagers with asthma do not use their inhalers as prescribed.

(a) Suggest one objective and one biological way of measuring the teenagers’ adherence. [2]

(b) Explain one strength and one weakness of the objective measure you suggested. [4]

(c) Using research, suggest one way the clinic could improve adherence. [2]

7. Yokley and Glenwick (1984) compared ways to increase immunisation.

(a) Explain why the study included two control groups. [2]

(b) Identify the most cost-effective intervention and explain why it is useful to know this. [2]

8. A nurse wants to measure pain in a 4-year-old after an injury.

(a) Suggest a suitable measure and justify your choice. [3]

(b) Using Brudvik et al. (2016), explain why the nurse should also ask the parent. [2]

9. A psychologist wants to test whether biofeedback reduces stress in office workers. Describe how she could measure stress using salivary cortisol, and explain one control she should use. [4]

Answers

1. Up to 2 marks. A false positive is diagnosing an illness the patient does not have (1). A false negative is failing to diagnose an illness the patient does have (1).

2. (a) Up to 3 marks. Patients given the directing (doctor-centred) style reported significantly higher satisfaction on almost all measures than those given the sharing style (1). The difference was especially strong for patients with physical problems (1) and those who received a prescription (1). No significant difference for psychological or chronic problems, longer consultations or advice-only treatment (credit as an alternative third mark).

2. (b) Up to 2 marks. Only one GP took part (1), so satisfaction may reflect his personal manner rather than the style itself; or patients came from a single inner London practice, so results may not apply to other areas or cultures (1).

3. Up to 4 marks. Melzack and Wall proposed a “gate” in the spinal cord that controls whether pain signals reach the brain (1). Small fibres carrying pain signals open the gate (1). Large fibres, stimulated by touch or rubbing, close it (1). Messages descending from the brain, such as attention, mood or expectations, can also open or close the gate, so psychological factors change how much pain is felt (1).

4. One mark each. Alarm: the body detects a stressor and the fight-or-flight response raises arousal (1). Resistance: the body adapts to the continuing stressor, with stress hormones still raised (1). Exhaustion: resources run out and the risk of illness rises (1).

5. (a) Up to 3 marks per strategy. Fear arousal: messages that frighten people about the consequences of unhealthy behaviour (1); Janis and Feshbach (1953) gave dental-hygiene talks with strong, moderate or minimal fear (1); minimal fear produced the most change in reported behaviour (1). Providing information: giving people knowledge and steps to improve health (1); Lewin et al. (1992) gave heart attack patients a self-help rehabilitation manual (1), which improved psychological adjustment (1). Credit school (Tapper et al., 2003) or worksite (Fox et al., 1987) strategies.

5. (b) Level-based: 9–10 marks for well-developed, balanced evaluation including the named debate and a conclusion. Indicative content:

• Individual vs situational: fear arousal and information assume behaviour is driven by individual beliefs and knowledge; but situational factors (cost of healthy food, workplace culture) also matter, which school and worksite programmes target (Food Dudes rewards; token economies in mines).
• Individual differences: unrealistic optimism (Weinstein, 1980) means some people discount risk messages, so a single campaign does not fit all.
• Evidence: Janis and Feshbach measured self-reported behaviour shortly afterwards, which may not show lasting change; Fox et al. found long-term reductions in lost days.
• Ethics: strong fear appeals can cause distress; information is less harmful.
• Cultural differences: messages may work differently in other cultures.
• Conclusion: combining information with changes to the situation is more effective than fear alone.

6. (a) Objective: pill or dose counting, or an electronic inhaler monitor that records each use (1). Biological: a blood or urine test for the drug (1).

6. (b) Strength: the electronic monitor does not rely on the teenager’s honesty or memory, so it is more valid than self-report (1+1). Weakness: it records that the inhaler was used, not that the dose was inhaled correctly, or a teenager could fire it without using it (1+1).

6. (c) Up to 2 marks. Make the device child-friendly or rewarding, as Chaney et al. (2004) found adherence improved with a toy-like spacer (1+1). Credit prompts (text reminders), contracts or customising treatment, linked to research or the syllabus.

7. (a) Up to 2 marks. A contact control showed whether simply being contacted (without the interventions) changed attendance (1); a no-contact control gave a baseline of what happens with no action at all (1).

7. (b) Up to 2 marks. Specific prompts alone (1). Health services have limited budgets, so knowing which method gives the most improvement per unit of cost helps them decide what to use widely (1).

8. (a) Up to 3 marks. An observational measure such as the UAB pain behaviour scale, or an age-adapted faces scale (1). A 4-year-old may not understand a numerical scale or have the vocabulary for the McGill questionnaire (1), so observing behaviour or using pictures gives a more valid measure (1).

8. (b) Up to 2 marks. Brudvik et al. found physicians underestimated children’s pain, while parents’ ratings agreed more closely with the child’s own (1). So the parent’s view gives a more accurate picture when the child cannot self-report (1).

9. Up to 4 marks. Collect saliva samples from each worker before and after the biofeedback programme (1) and analyse cortisol levels, with higher cortisol indicating more stress (1). Control: take samples at the same time of day each time, because cortisol varies across the day (1+1). Credit controlling food, caffeine or exercise before sampling.

Frequently asked questions

How are Paper 3 and Paper 4 structured? Each is 1 hour 30 minutes and 60 marks. On Paper 3, each of your two options has three short-answer questions (14 marks) and a structured essay (6-mark describe, 10-mark evaluate). On Paper 4, Section A has two structured questions on each option, and Section B is one planning question from a choice of four: plan a study (10 marks), then evaluate the plan (14 marks).

Will Paper 3 and Paper 4 test the same topic? No. The 9990 syllabus says the topic areas assessed for an option on Paper 3 will be different from those assessed on Paper 4, so revise the whole health psychology option.

What makes a Paper 4 planning answer score well? Specify the general features (aim, hypothesis, sample, procedure, ethics, validity, reliability, data) and the features of your chosen method in enough detail for someone to replicate the study.

Where marks are usually lost

• Writing the reverse result for Savage and Armstrong.
• Describing gate control as “the brain blocks pain” without the spinal gate and fibre types.
• Suggesting a measure without explaining why it suits the person in the scenario.
• Evaluating with generic points (“it lacks ecological validity”) that could apply to any study.

Next steps

Go back over weak areas in the Health Psychology study guide, and practise planning questions with the Paper 2 Research Methods practice questions.

Official syllabus

Cambridge International AS & A Level Psychology 9990 syllabus for 2024, 2025 and 2026, Specialist Option 3: Health Psychology, and section 4 Details of the assessment — cambridgeinternational.org.