Piliavin et al. (subway Samaritans): past paper questions
Real questions on piliavin et al. (subway samaritans)
The newest 20 of 131 written questions. Open one to see it on the real paper.
- 9990/33 · May/June 2026 · Q14a[2]
Outline what is meant by groupthink in relation to faulty decision making.
See it on the paper → - 9990/33 · May/June 2026 · Q14b[2]
Explain one reason why groupthink is a situational explanation of faulty decision making.
See it on the paper → - 9990/33 · May/June 2026 · Q15a[4]
A manager wants a new marketing team to design an advertising campaign. Using a ‘stages of group development’ model: Suggest two stages that the marketing team will go through as they work together on the advertising campaign.
See it on the paper → - 9990/33 · May/June 2026 · Q15b[2]
Explain one weakness of a ‘stages of group development’ model.
See it on the paper → - 9990/42 · May/June 2026 · Q8a[2]
Identify two types of bullying behaviour at work.
See it on the paper → - 9990/42 · May/June 2026 · Q8b[2]
Suggest one way that bullying behaviour at work could be investigated, other than using a face-to-face interview.
See it on the paper → - 9990/42 · May/June 2026 · Q8c[4]
Explain one strength and one weakness of using a face-to-face interview to investigate bullying at work. Section B Answer one question from this section. Clinical Psychology
See it on the paper → - 9990/42 · May/June 2026 · Q12b(i)[4]
Describe this psychological knowledge.
See it on the paper → - 9990/42 · May/June 2026 · Q12b(ii)[4]
Explain how you used two features of this psychological knowledge to plan your experiment.
See it on the paper → - 9990/42 · February/March 2026 · Q8a[2]
Outline one stage of group development, other than the storming stage.
See it on the paper → - 9990/42 · February/March 2026 · Q12b(i)[4]
Describe this psychological knowledge.
See it on the paper → - 9990/11 · October/November 2025 · Q7[4]
The debate about individual and situational explanations relates to the study by Piliavin et al. (subway Samaritans). Outline what is meant by this debate, including one example from the individual explanation and one example from the situational explanation, each from the study by Piliavin et al.
See it on the paper → - 9990/12 · October/November 2025 · Q3a[2]
Identify two features of the models used in this study.
See it on the paper → - 9990/12 · October/November 2025 · Q3b[2]
Outline one result in relation to the victim acting drunk before any model gave help.
See it on the paper → - 9990/13 · October/November 2025 · Q2a[2]
One conclusion was that, in a natural setting, people do offer spontaneous help to a victim in need. Outline one other conclusion from this study.
See it on the paper → - 9990/13 · October/November 2025 · Q2b[2]
Outline one ethical weakness of this study.
See it on the paper → - 9990/23 · October/November 2025 · Q5a[3]
Describe three ways that the two types of victim differed.
See it on the paper → - 9990/23 · October/November 2025 · Q5b[3]
Explain why it was important that there were also similarities between the two types of victim.
See it on the paper → - 9990/12 · May/June 2025 · Q9a[4]
Describe the two victims used in this study.
See it on the paper → - 9990/12 · May/June 2025 · Q9b[8]
Explain two differences between the study by Piliavin et al. (subway Samaritans) and the study by Perry et al. (personal space). One of your differences must be about the sample of participants.
See it on the paper →
What examiners said
Comprehensive responses • All candidates correctly identified one stage of group development whether it be forming, norming, performing or adjourning. Nearly all candidates could outline what the term meant. Limited responses • Some candidates correctly identified one stage of group development although there was some confusion about what that stage involved.
— Examiner report, February/March 2026, 9990/42 Q8(a) (Cambridge)
Comprehensive responses • Many responses correctly outlined types of bullying (verbal, physical, social isolation, etc) as outlined by Einarsen (1999). Limited responses • Some candidates focused on the causes of bullying and some answers identified one or two types (physical and verbal) rather than identify and provide a brief description of what each involved.
— Examiner report, February/March 2026, 9990/42 Q12(b)(i) (Cambridge)
There were a range of responses to this question. Stronger responses could suggest many reasons why the people on the bus did not help from the newspaper story. Popular choices included if the person who collapsed was drunk, the race of the victim, the sex of the victim, and the number of other people on the bus who could help. Diffusion of responsibility was used quite effectively in stronger res...
— Examiner report, February/March 2025, 9990/12 Q8 (Cambridge)
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