VCE Psychology Question Thread!

[Butterflygirl]

Hey guys!
So i just did a practice exam, and I'm kind of confused about some of the answers to the multiple choice questions. Can someone please explain these to me?

1) Every morning, I let the chickens out of the henhouse where they roost overnight. As soon as they hear me coming, they begin to to scrape and peck at the door. This is likely explained by:
a) operant conditioning - opening henhouse is antecedent
b) classical condition - footsteps are conditioned stimulus
c) classical conditioning - opening door is UCS
d) operant conditioning - footsteps are antecedent
apparently the answer is D? i don't get how tho, I thought it was B.

2) Jimmy is three years old. One day when his mother took him to the supermarket, he noticed a box of Chuppa-Chups and screamed over and over “Want a lollipop; Want a lollipop!” his mother was embarrassed by the noise and gave him a Chuppa-Chup to suck – Jimmy became quiet immediately! After this had happened again, Jimmy becomes excited and yells “Want Lollipop, Want Lollipop!” whenever they approach the supermarket door and his mother gives him a
Chuppa-Chup as soon as she can.
How has conditioning influenced Jimmy's mother?
a) she has been negatively reinforced for the behaviour of giving Jimmy a lollipop.
b) she has been positively reinforced for the behaviour of giving jimmy a lollipop.
c and d are wrong so doesnt matter. I thought it was A, since giving the lollipop to Jimmy removes the negative stimulus of his screaming, increasing the likelihood of his mother performing the behaviour in the future. But apparently its B? i don't get it, pls explain.

3) Jacqui is undergoing an EEG as she attempts to solve complex puzzles. After a while she understands the problem and begins to work faster. Her EEG readings would show:
a) theta and gamma waves
b) beta and theta waves
c) theta and delta waves
d) gamma and beta waves
I circled B since she started working faster and understood the problem i didn't really get how there would be any gamma waves, she'd be more relaxed, but apparently the answer is D?

4) which of these phobias is likely to be resistent to treatment by systematic desensitisation?
a) fear of butterflies
b) fear of lifts
c) fear of failure
d) fear of snakes
i said failure bc how would you increasingly phobic approximations of failure, and you could use systematic desensitisation for snakes, but apparently the answer is D?

5) What does the term "GABA agonist" mean?
a) increases effects of GABA
b) decreases effects of GABA
c) acts as artificual GABA
d) replaces GABA
this might be more simple, but i thought GABA agonists imitate GABA, so it should be C? but apparently its A so.

THANKS GUYS

Just curious, what company paper was this?

[howey]

I asked my teacher (she's a VCAA examiner) and she said that: 1) the parasympathetic is activated as it is associated with calming and relaxing effects, such as those seen in the freeze stage, and 2) if something is in a textbook, VCAA will mark it as correct (even if it really isn't).

Good to hear! Personally, I thought it was when both the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems were in a state of high arousal, but that is just based off the Jacaranda textbook.

[howey]

Hey guys!
So i just did a practice exam, and I'm kind of confused about some of the answers to the multiple choice questions. Can someone please explain these to me?

1) Every morning, I let the chickens out of the henhouse where they roost overnight. As soon as they hear me coming, they begin to to scrape and peck at the door. This is likely explained by:
a) operant conditioning - opening henhouse is antecedent
b) classical condition - footsteps are conditioned stimulus
c) classical conditioning - opening door is UCS
d) operant conditioning - footsteps are antecedent
apparently the answer is D? i don't get how tho, I thought it was B.

2) Jimmy is three years old. One day when his mother took him to the supermarket, he noticed a box of Chuppa-Chups and screamed over and over “Want a lollipop; Want a lollipop!” his mother was embarrassed by the noise and gave him a Chuppa-Chup to suck – Jimmy became quiet immediately! After this had happened again, Jimmy becomes excited and yells “Want Lollipop, Want Lollipop!” whenever they approach the supermarket door and his mother gives him a
Chuppa-Chup as soon as she can.
How has conditioning influenced Jimmy's mother?
a) she has been negatively reinforced for the behaviour of giving Jimmy a lollipop.
b) she has been positively reinforced for the behaviour of giving jimmy a lollipop.
c and d are wrong so doesnt matter. I thought it was A, since giving the lollipop to Jimmy removes the negative stimulus of his screaming, increasing the likelihood of his mother performing the behaviour in the future. But apparently its B? i don't get it, pls explain.

3) Jacqui is undergoing an EEG as she attempts to solve complex puzzles. After a while she understands the problem and begins to work faster. Her EEG readings would show:
a) theta and gamma waves
b) beta and theta waves
c) theta and delta waves
d) gamma and beta waves
I circled B since she started working faster and understood the problem i didn't really get how there would be any gamma waves, she'd be more relaxed, but apparently the answer is D?

4) which of these phobias is likely to be resistent to treatment by systematic desensitisation?
a) fear of butterflies
b) fear of lifts
c) fear of failure
d) fear of snakes
i said failure bc how would you increasingly phobic approximations of failure, and you could use systematic desensitisation for snakes, but apparently the answer is D?

5) What does the term "GABA agonist" mean?
a) increases effects of GABA
b) decreases effects of GABA
c) acts as artificual GABA
d) replaces GABA
this might be more simple, but i thought GABA agonists imitate GABA, so it should be C? but apparently its A so.

THANKS GUYS

Hi Novashock,

I'll have a crack at explaining these. Just out of curiosity, what company/practice paper were these from?

1) I think D is correct. My key reason for this is that the hens scraping and pecking at the door is a voluntary behaviour, and therefore it will be operant conditioning, not classical conditioning. Basically, the antecedent stimulus (A) is the footsteps, the behaviour (B) is scraping and pecking at the door and the consequence (C) is being let out of the henhouse. I don't think B is correct as I would class it as operant conditioning, not classical conditioning.

2) I think you're right, A is correct. In terms of Jimmy's mother, she has undergone negative reinforcement, whereas Jimmy has undergone positive reinforcement.

3) You don't need to know about gamma waves at all, so don't worry about this question. We only look at beta, alpha, theta and delta in VCE Psych. However, the answer would be D (to the best of my understanding) because gamma brain waves are associated with high performance. Again though, I stress that you don't need to know this.

4) Ridiculous question. I would agree with you in saying C if I had to choose an answer, and I don't know why the answer would be D.

5) It is A in this case. Benzo's are GABA agonists and they stimulate the effect of GABA - they don't actually act as GABA themselves (from what I've seen and heard, this can be often confused and possibly taught wrong). Benzodiazepines increase GABA's inhibitory effects by making postsynaptic neurons more responsive to GABA, but don't actually mimic GABA themselves.

I hope this helps!!  

[pha0015]

With reference to specific phobias and operant conditioning, is avoidance negatively enforced or positively enforced:
negatively enforced: removes anxiety and stress (I think this is more correct?)
positively enforced: good feelings of relief

[Bri MT]

With reference to specific phobias and operant conditioning, is avoidance negatively enforced or positively enforced:
negatively enforced: removes anxiety and stress (I think this is more correct?)
positively enforced: good feelings of relief

I would say negatively reinforced,  as an undesirable stimulus is being removed

[howey]

With reference to specific phobias and operant conditioning, is avoidance negatively enforced or positively enforced:
negatively enforced: removes anxiety and stress (I think this is more correct?)
positively enforced: good feelings of relief

Definitely negatively reinforced, as the negative feelings of anxiety and worry are being removed

[Ashjames]

Okay so Novashock posted some questions she was unsure about, and I think I'm gonna start a debate about his:

For the first question, it clearly states that every morning she lets the chickens out of the hen house', so wouldn't that be classical conditioning because she has been doing it every morning, so the chickens have learned to associate her footsteps with freedom to the yard. So I'm leaning more towards classical conditioning.

Also out of curiosity, where the heck did you get such an ambiguous exam from?? VCAA are much more clear then that, so I wouldn't worry too much about those questions.

[Bri MT]

Okay so Novashock posted some questions she was unsure about, and I think I'm gonna start a debate about his:

For the first question, it clearly states that every morning she lets the chickens out of the hen house', so wouldn't that be classical conditioning because she has been doing it every morning, so the chickens have learned to associate her footsteps with freedom to the yard. So I'm leaning more towards classical conditioning.

Also out of curiosity, where the heck did you get such an ambiguous exam from?? VCAA are much more clear then that, so I wouldn't worry too much about those questions.

Classical and operant condition both involve repetition so that is not a valid argument in my mind.

Classical conditioning results in involuntary responses eg fear, salivation, blinking   whereas operant conditioning involves voluntary behaviour eg hitting a switch. Scraping and pecking seem voluntary to me

[howey]

Okay so Novashock posted some questions she was unsure about, and I think I'm gonna start a debate about his:

For the first question, it clearly states that every morning she lets the chickens out of the hen house', so wouldn't that be classical conditioning because she has been doing it every morning, so the chickens have learned to associate her footsteps with freedom to the yard. So I'm leaning more towards classical conditioning.

Cool, I like a debate

I personally think this is operant conditioning because the response from the chickens is clearly a voluntary response (pecking and scraping at the door). With classical conditioning, the response is involuntary/reflexive (e.g. Pavlov's dog drooling, Little Albert's fear response). [See VCAA 2015 Exam, MC Q3].

Out of curiosity, if you were to class this as classical conditioning, what do you believe the UCS, UCR, NS, CS and CR would be?

Edit: And as miniturtle said above, both OC and CC involve repetition.

[peter.g15]

Hi Novashock,

I'll have a crack at explaining these. Just out of curiosity, what company/practice paper were these from?

1) I think D is correct. My key reason for this is that the hens scraping and pecking at the door is a voluntary behaviour, and therefore it will be operant conditioning, not classical conditioning. Basically, the antecedent stimulus (A) is the footsteps, the behaviour (B) is scraping and pecking at the door and the consequence (C) is being let out of the henhouse. I don't think B is correct as I would class it as operant conditioning, not classical conditioning.

2) I think you're right, A is correct. In terms of Jimmy's mother, she has undergone negative reinforcement, whereas Jimmy has undergone positive reinforcement.

3) You don't need to know about gamma waves at all, so don't worry about this question. We only look at beta, alpha, theta and delta in VCE Psych. However, the answer would be D (to the best of my understanding) because gamma brain waves are associated with high performance. Again though, I stress that you don't need to know this.

4) Ridiculous question. I would agree with you in saying C if I had to choose an answer, and I don't know why the answer would be D.

5) It is A in this case. Benzo's are GABA agonists and they stimulate the effect of GABA - they don't actually act as GABA themselves (from what I've seen and heard, this can be often confused and possibly taught wrong). Benzodiazepines increase GABA's inhibitory effects by making postsynaptic neurons more responsive to GABA, but don't actually mimic GABA themselves.

I hope this helps!!  

Question 4's answer might be to do with the fear of snakes being a natural fear within humans (adaptive in history), whereas the others are not?
But still, it's a bad question and wouldn't be asked

[Ashjames]

Cool, I like a debate

I personally think this is operant conditioning because the response from the chickens is clearly a voluntary response (pecking and scraping at the door). With classical conditioning, the response is involuntary/reflexive (e.g. Pavlov's dog drooling, Little Albert's fear response). [See VCAA 2015 Exam, MC Q3].

Out of curiosity, if you were to class this as classical conditioning, what do you believe the UCS, UCR, NS, CS and CR would be?

Edit: And as miniturtle said above, both OC and CC involve repetition.

oh yeah, I guess it make more sense to be operant conditioning, no need to roast me yall. 

I was thinking the NS could be the footsteps, and the UCS could also be the footsteps. but then I realized that pecking on the door is not a innate response, so I guess it is OC [You all got me]

[Bri MT]

oh yeah, I guess it make more sense to be operant conditioning, no need to roast me yall. 

I was thinking the NS could be the footsteps, and the UCS could also be the footsteps. but then I realized that pecking on the door is not a innate response, so I guess it is OC [You all got me]

I for one, am glad that you kept questioning until you understood. You've got a much better chance of correctly answering a q now that you've gone through that process than if you let it slide

[Ashjames]

I am really confused, how does the role of the stress response contribute to the development of a phobia??

In my textbook it says that the sympathetic NS is responsible for the fight-flight response, and then it goes on to discuss hoe the autonomic NS in people with phobias because they can not effectively control their stress responses??? WTH

[forbiddensoulxx]

I am really confused, how does the role of the stress response contribute to the development of a phobia??

In my textbook it says that the sympathetic NS is responsible for the fight-flight response, and then it goes on to discuss hoe the autonomic NS in people with phobias because they can not effectively control their stress responses??? WTH

So basically, when a threat is perceived, the F-F-F response is activated. This can be an issue when there is no real threat (person being scared of a dog even though the dog is clearly harmless), this can inflate the persons anxiety levels since their perception of the threat is disproportional.  Because of the inflated levels of anxiety, the physiological stress response is often very severe and can persist at high levels.

[psychologie]

Hey guys a couple of questions on unit 4 AOS2:
1. how long does a mental health problem have to continue to be considered a disorder? eg. how long would grief have to go on for to be considered a mental disorder? I was thinking more than a month but yeah, im really not sure and it doesnt say in the TB

5. is stress/anxiety/grief considered mental health problems? i reckon they are cause they only last for a short period of time and are not as intense as a mental illness, but just want to clarify that they aren't considered 'mentally healthy'

6. In terms of specific phobia, 'Response is conditioned/learned and not automatic/reflexive' (taken from ATARnotes book) Isn't the response reflexive though cause its precipitated through classical conditioning?

7. my teacher said that gaba agonist means that benzo's MIMIC gaba; but i thought they just increase the effects of GABA by working on post synaptic receptors- making them more receptive?