A Level Psychology

[AnyOldThings]

DD just got her mock results and she lost points on one question because she used the word ‘evoke’ instead of the word ‘illicit’.

e.g. the actions were designed to ‘evoke’ emotions vs the actions were designed to ‘illicit’ emotions. Just an example - not the actual answer.

The rest of her mock answer was correct and I’m struggling to believe markers are this specific.

Does anyone know if this is the sort of specificity that A Level Psychology markers are looking for?

DD is now pretty despondent about how it’s possible to pass if they are so specific for exact wording.

It should be elicit

What were the words? If she used evoke in place of illicit I can see why she was marked down.

Illicit = illegal

Illicit means sneaky or underhand - e.g. the maths teacher and the French teacher were having illicit encounters round the back of the bike sheds.

If she’d written elicit she probably would have been fine, but they can only mark what they see one the page.

I think because its Psychology they will be looking at the actions of say the therapist... to elicit something will be talking about skills/ techniques used to encourage the other party to talk/engage/assess. They probably wouldnt want a therapist to evoke a reaction eg an emotional reaction like anger or upset, rather you would want to elicit information about why the person had that emotion in the past for example.

I'm a Psychology examiner. Without knowing the vocab in question (and I know others have picked up on the words in your OP but you said they are not the words used?), I think it's likely to be either that your daughter has used a word incorrectly (so she thinks the two words mean the same but they don't), she has misused a subject-specific word, or she has not used a subject specific word when it is specified on the mark scheme. Using an alternative non-subject specific word would not lose marks. She needs to clarify with her teacher.

Oh, I misread and it is evoke vs elicit. In which case,I assume it's about conditioning? Same advice though - talk to the teacher for an explanation.

Sorry yes ‘elicit’. Got that wrong in my OP. Good job she’s smarter than me ha ha!

DD wrote ‘evoke’

Teacher said she should have used ‘elicit’ to get the mark.

The teacher feedback was that she should have used the word elicit. When she asked for more feedback she has been referred to online PEEL Structure Resources for answer structure if that makes sense to anyone.

I used to be an exams officer so I understand mark schemes generally, I’m just puzzled that evoke gets no points but elicit would when they come up for each other in the thesaurus and infer the same when used how she used them.

Her answer was correct but her choice of a single word wasn’t it seemed.

Thanks for all the advice though and sorry for my use of wrong word in my OP. Definitely meant elicit 🤦🏻‍♀️

@TheFallenMadonna yes thanks I believe it was a question about conditioning from what DD told me.

P- point
E- evidence
E- explain
L- link back

I am assuming elicit is a specific term in psychology. Evoke sounds like a woolly, pretty word that students who are good at English use. Part of the skill will be using precise language of the subject.

She needs to ask the difference between evoke and elicit, with respect to conditioning. Signposting her to a way of structuring an answer doesn't help with that, so it's possible she also lost marks because she didn't hit the assessment objectives in an extended answer.

Evoke tends to be in reference to triggering a memory or a feeling. Elicit is more about triggering a response.

Eg the psychotherapist's conversation topic of summer holidays evoked a memory of warm sunny days, and the sensation of cold ice cream. His comments elicited a smile from the patient as he remembered happier times.

DD is doing Psych Alevel and did very well in her mock.
I asked her and she thinks Elicit is a specific term that they have been taught to use.