VCE Psychology Question Thread!

[cmkat1]

I'd like to add what I think onto this too! There are two definitions, or explanations, of reconstruction.
1. method to retrieve information
2. as described by Loftus.

The first definition, which is referred to in the study design dot point above that you've pasted, involves breaking up the original task and rearranging the parts into sequence or order. For example, if I break apart a doll into its head, body, arms and legs, reconstruction would involve you putting the pieces back together to form what you think the doll originally looked like. This is what edrolo is referring to.
From my memory, there hasn't been any questions that have required you to have knowledge of the above definition (for VCAA), however as it is mentioned in the study design, it is good to know. I personally haven't learnt this in class, although my psych teacher is a literal god, so it probably means it's near irrelevant but it is good to know anyways. It's better to be safe than sorry on the exam.

The second definition is as described by Elizabeth Loftus, who did work into the reconstruction of memory, as you've probably already learnt. This is highlighted in this dot point in the study design:

"The reconstruction of memories as evidence for the fallibility of memory, with reference to Loftus’ research into the effect of leading questions on eye-witness testimonies."

So, as you can see, the study design refers to reconstruction in two different parts of the study design. VCAA loves to test students on Loftus' reconstruction. Reconstruction involves combining stored information with other available information to form what is believed to be a more coherent or accurate memory.

If you aren't sure which type of reconstruction to use to answer the question, I would almost always go for the second one because this is most commonly tested. However, it won't be difficult to discern which one to use. If the question references Loftus' research or refers to eyewitness testimony, reconstructive nature of memory, etc, then you'd use the second one. I have yet to come across a question that wants you to use the first definition of reconstruction.

This is what I think, and I hope it helps

Sorry, this is incorrect. Reconstruction can not be a method of retrieval as it is a theoretical construct!

Hi everyone. There seems to be a lot of confusion among students re; reconstruction. Reconstruction by nature is a theoretical construct involved in the process of recalling information. It is not the same as recall, therefore can not be assessed in terms of sensitivity unlike recall, recognition, relearning. Loftus idea of reconstruction was based on Bartlett's work, an alternative view of reconstruction is not in the textbook. If you look closely at last years exam, the MCQ was best epitomizing serial recall rather than reconstruction, hence confusion among students. Hope this helps.
Mark.

Mod Edit: Merged Double Posts

[whys]

Hi everyone. There seems to be a lot of confusion among students re; reconstruction. Reconstruction by nature is a theoretical construct involved in the process of recalling information. It is not the same as recall, therefore can not be assessed in terms of sensitivity unlike recall, recognition, relearning. Loftus idea of reconstruction was based on Bartlett's work, an alternative view of reconstruction is not in the textbook. If you look closely at last years exam, the MCQ was best epitomizing serial recall rather than reconstruction, hence confusion among students. Hope this helps.
Mark.

Not quite sure what you mean. Reconstruction does not fall under the same category that recall, recognition, and relearning does. Perhaps it is not in the textbook and is not required for 3/4 psych, but the word can also refer to a specific way of retrieving what has been learnt. In psych 3/4, you only need to know about reconstruction in terms of Loftus' research, not really the other definition. This is something I asked my teacher last year for further clarification.

[Erutepa]

could someone pleas help me about what I should be writing in my discussion and conclusion

The specifics of what you will want to put in your discussion or conclusion will depend on the criteria your teacher provides, but as a general rule you should always start by stating your findings and relating them back to the aim and your hypothesis. Was the experiment successful - did you satisfy your aim? Was your hypothesis supported/refuted? You should also then talk about any errors/limitations with your experiment and explain how this errors/limitation might have come about, how they might have effected the data, and how one might fix this for future research. This might be all that you need to do (depending on the criteria for the task) but you might also have to compare your findings to findings from other similar experiments within the scientific literature and you might need to relate your findings to a broader context (i.e. what is the relevance of your data to society).

Hello everyone! 
I was told by my teacher that adrenaline and noradrenaline contain the same chemical structure but they differ in terms of their functions. (Adrenaline behaves as a hormone when released from the terminals into blood capillaries and noradrenaline is a neurotransmitter released to neighbouring dendrites). Is this true?

Adrenaline and noradrenaline have very similar structures (but do differ slightly). They both do have different functions, but these differences aren't described by what you have said: both adrenaline and noreadrenaline can be released into the blood as a hormone, or across the synapse as a neurotransmitter. The actual differences between the molecules is not neccasary knowledge for VCE psych - for VCE you can reguard the molecules as essentially the same.

[cmkat1]

Not quite sure what you mean. Reconstruction does not fall under the same category that recall, recognition, and relearning does. Perhaps it is not in the textbook and is not required for 3/4 psych, but the word can also refer to a specific way of retrieving what has been learnt. In psych 3/4, you only need to know about reconstruction in terms of Loftus' research, not really the other definition. This is something I asked my teacher last year for further clarification.

Hi Why's. Thanks for your response. I agree with you. The assessors report issued by the VCAA last year confirmed an alternative definition. This definition does not make sense and students were wrongly penalised.

[Bri MT]

Hi, so we just did an experiment where the class was split into 2 groups and 1 group had 90 seconds to memorise a card sequence by repeating it, whilst the other had to using a story. Then we had to emulate it after putting the instructions away and the teacher recorded how many cards we got right in the order. I was just wondering what I could improve on with writing up the experiment or any examples of what you might write:

Aim - To investigate the effect of different types of rehearsal (elaborative and maintenance) on recall ability.
(Is this too general or do I need to make it more specific to the experiment?)

I'd slightly rephrase it but not add anything

Independent Variable - whether the student was told to memorise the card sequence by repeating it over and over in their head (maintenance rehearsal) or using the story (elaborative rehearsal).
(Is this a bit wordy and is there a way to make it more concise?)

Yeah you can cut this down a bit. For example, "over and over" doesn't add any information.
You can replace "in their head" with one word as well

Dependent Variable - the number of cards that the student had correctly placed in the sequence specified.

Operationalised Hypothesis It is hypothesised that 12 Unit 3/4 Psychology students at _School_ who memorise the card sequence using the story will be more likely to remember the card sequence correctly, as measured by the number of correctly place the cards in the sequence specified, than the 12 Unit 3/4 Psychology students who memorise the card sequence by repeating it over and over in their head.
(Do I need to quantify 'more likely'. Eg. 70% more likely?)
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 - More likely implicitly means >50% (when two options are considered) - you don't need to specify this
 - typo: "place"
 - you don't need to repeat the population with a high degree of specificity each time
 - If your teacher has expressed that preference go with it but you don't need sample size in your operationalised hypothesis

Sample and Population
Sample -  24 VCE Unit 3/4 Psychology students at _School_; ages 16 to 18.
Population - All (24) VCE Unit 3/4 Psychology students at _School_ ; ages 16 to 18.
(I know the population is what the researcher will seek to generalise the results, but is it the same as the sample if everyone was present for the experiment?)

Is your population of research interest really that small? I would use a population such that you aren't taking a census and just accept the fact that a small convenience sample carries limitations


hope this helps & good luck

[FrankieDens]

Hi hi!

As practice for our practical investigation - we've been given a table (which I've attached a sample of). The context of this pretend study is that these researchers presented two groups with a list of 15 words and one group had to recall it immediately while another had 40 sec delayed recall. Then they calculated the percentage of how many people correctly recalled the first all the way to the last word. So we've been asked how we would represent this data in our "poster" and so far all I have is this:

• Raw data: Using the table to show the entire data set
• Find the mean percentage of words correctly recalled for each words as a measure of central tendency
• Make a typical serial position line graph
• Calculate standard deviation

I didn't do Psych 1/2 so I'm a complete novice at this whole research methods thing hehe. I'm pretty sure I chose the wrong central tendency measure because there was one outlier in the data so I'm not sure if the mean would be useful in this context...
Also do I use a bar graph to compare the immediate and delayed recall groups (with a standard deviation line) instead of the typical line graph of the serial position affect?

One more question - how do you "manage outliers" in a Psychology study? I understand how to in Chemistry and Biology but with Psych it just seems more abstract (if that makes sense lol)

If you have the time feel free to reply I would greatly appreciate it y'all!
Thank you~ 

[lm21074]

Thanks Bri for your feedback!

If the sample is '50 VCE Units 3/4 Psychology students at _School_', could I say that the population is 'All VCE Units 3/4 Psychology students'?

Hi!
It's better to state the number of participants as doing so is specific. You can discuss sample size as a potential limitation more easily too

Edit: See Bri's post below.

[Bri MT]

Thanks Bri for your feedback!

If the sample is '50 VCE Units 3/4 Psychology students at _School_', could I say that the population is 'All VCE Units 3/4 Psychology students'?

You're welcome!

You could, or you could go with something like "All VCE students at ____ school" as the population.

Hi!
It's better to state the number of participants as doing so is specific. You can discuss sample size as a potential limitation more easily too

Yeah you definitely need the number of participants to be part of your report/poster - whether that's listed in the hypothesis or not.

[amanaazim]

hey just wanted to ask do we need to know psychological construct, hypothetical construct for the state of consciousness chapter.

[tiredandstressed]

hey just wanted to ask do we need to know psychological construct, hypothetical construct for the state of consciousness chapter.

You should be aware of the ide that consciousness is an example of a psychological construct, but you don't need to know the details of it.

[amanaazim]

hey just wanted to ask , is feeling excited a threat. for example if 2 kids are going kindergarten and one of them was crying and clinging towards the mother and the other child is really excited and ran to kindergarten showing great enthusiasm are both the kids sympathetic nervous system where dominant. Cause isn't sympathetic nervous system only activated when there is a threat only for the second one there is no threat so shouldn't its parasympathetic nervous system be dominant?

[Coolmate]

hey just wanted to ask , is feeling excited a threat. for example if 2 kids are going kindergarten and one of them was crying and clinging towards the mother and the other child is really excited and ran to kindergarten showing great enthusiasm are both the kids sympathetic nervous system where dominant. Cause isn't sympathetic nervous system only activated when there is a threat only for the second one there is no threat so shouldn't its parasympathetic nervous system be dominant?

Hey amanaazim!

I don't do VCE Psychology, but I will try and help with your question.

Being excited is a result of the "Flight or Fight" response (Fight could = threat). The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) can become activated by being excited or frightened, there doesn't necessarily have to be a threat. Whereas the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) is responsible for calming and resting the body, slowing heart rate and digestion.

Both of the 2 kindergarten kids in your example would be under the influence of the SNS:

Child 1 is in "Fight" mode, as they feel apprehensive, nervous and terrified about the situation, leaving the body to release hormones to accelerate their heartbeat, quicken their breathing and cry.

Child 2 is in "Flight" mode thus they are bursting with energy and optimism, also releasing hormones to assist in this flight mode. Therefore, both children are under the influence of the Sympathetic Nervous System not the Parasympathetic Nervous System.

I hope this helps!
Coolmate

[1729]

hey just wanted to ask , is feeling excited a threat. for example if 2 kids are going kindergarten and one of them was crying and clinging towards the mother and the other child is really excited and ran to kindergarten showing great enthusiasm are both the kids sympathetic nervous system where dominant. Cause isn't sympathetic nervous system only activated when there is a threat only for the second one there is no threat so shouldn't its parasympathetic nervous system be dominant?

Hey amanaazim!
I am not the best at psychology, but I will answer as best as I can!
Just adding to Coolmates response.
Whether an event is a threat or a challenge depends on the person's cognitive appraisal of the situation. A person who is excited about something is going to have their sympathetic nervous system activated regardless of whether they interpret the event as a threat or a challenge because excitement is defined as an emotional state marked by enthusiasm, eagerness or anticipation, and general arousal.

[whys]

There are some great answers above me, but I'd like to clarify a few things.

Firstly, the fact that one child is clinging to their mother and is feeling apprehensive and the other is excited and enthusiastic is not an example of the fight and flight response (it is more an example of the aftereffect). The fight-flight-freeze response is involuntary and automatic, and occurs regardless of the individual's appraisal of the situation. For a question like this, I don't think we can conclude if the child is fighting, fleeing or freezing because we are only told of their voluntary behaviours and how they are feeling. We can only conclude that they have experienced the FFF response and the effects of the sympathetic nervous system.

Another thing to be aware of is that the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems aren't turned 'on' or 'off'. They are both always active. What does occur is that one asserts dominance over the other during certain periods of time. The sympathetic nervous system isn't always activated by a threat (it would be technically incorrect to say this), it is activated by any stimulus the individual appraises as stressful. As you are aware, the stressor may induce distress or eustress and this can determine how the individual feels about it.

[Bri MT]

I don't do VCE Psychology, but I will try and help with your question.

Still amazes me that HSC doesn't have psych. Whys has addressed the points where your answer doesn't work but thanks for giving it a go regardless.