Hey, folks, it's Howey, your psych lecturer. I'm going to try and chuck up some solutions to the exam throughout the day, all in this post here! Just a quick disclaimer - these solutions are not official in any way and are just my opinion. They are being produced quickly so if you disagree with something feel free to let me know - just comment below!
Here we go:
Multiple-Choice 1. A
2. C
3. C
4. D
5. A
6. D
7. B
8. A
9. A
10. D
11. D
12. B
13. C
14. B
15. D
16. D
17. C
18. A
19. A
20. B
21. B
22. A*
23. D
24. B
25. C/D?*
26. C
27. C*
28. D
29. B
30. C
31. A
32. C
33. D
34. B
35. A
36. D*
37. A
38. A
39. D
40. A
41. B
42. A
43. C
44. D
45. A
46. C
47. C
48. C
49. C
50. B
Short-Answer Question 1 Selye's GAS and the release of cortisol.
"Sustained levels of cortisol mobilise the body and increase arousal to respond to the stressor" - Resistance
"The release of cortisol mobilises the body and increases arousal to respond to the stressor" - Alarm Reaction, specifically countershock
"Depleted levels of cortisol reduce the ability of the body to respond to future stressors" - Exhaustion
This was an interesting question as the Jacaranda and Oxford textbooks disagree over when cortisol is released. Personally, I had always learnt that cortisol is released in the resistance stage, but it appears that this question is leading you to the countershock phase of alarm reaction as the correct answer. Question 2 Leading questions and Loftus's research.
The defence lawyers would question the reliability of the description that Nixon gave to police as Nixon was asked leading questions immediately after the event occurred by television reporters. In multiple studies, Loftus found that leading questions can lead a person to reconstruct their memory to include the information contained in the question, or the desired answer - which may actually be incorrect and cause the memory to be 'false'. In this case, when Nixon was asked "How old the boys were?" and "What weapons did they have?", she may have reconstructed her memory to include the information that the armed intruders were young males and that they carried weapons, which she then recalled when interviewed by the police.
Question 3 Little Albert's conditioned emotional response.
a) Neurohormone - Adrenaline. When Little Albert was startled (emotionally aroused), adrenaline would have been released into his bloodstream, as his sympathetic nervous system was activated. The release of adrenaline causes his conditioned emotional response to be strongly consolidated and stored. Specifically, the presence of adrenaline causes the release of noradrenaline at the amygdala during the consolidation process, which ensures that this memory is strongly encoded and stored.
Brain Region - Amygdala. The amygdala was primarily involved in the consolidation of Albert's conditioned emotional response, as this is an implicit, classically conditioned memory, specifically a fear response.
Another interesting question, given the textbook is somewhat vague about this at times. b) LTP in the development of the phobia.
When Albert was consistently exposed to a loud noise (the UCS) at the same time as the white rat (NS), this produced a fear response (UCR). When Albert consistently has a fear response and the rat is present, this would have led to the synaptic connections in Albert's brain between the rat and the fear response being strengthened, as they were consistently being activated together. As a result, the next time that Albert saw a rat, he was more likely to have a fear response.
c) How to remove the fear response via classical conditioning.
If Little Albert was consistently exposed to the CS alone (the mouse), without the presence of the UCS (the loud noise), then it is likely that he will eventually undergo extinction due to the consistent non-presentation of the UCS (the loud noise). Therefore, Albert's fear response, which is the CR, should eventually disappear.
Thanks to those who suggested this answer, I think it's a good one Question 4 Bee Stinging question.
a) Division of nervous system - Somatic nervous system
Response - Conscious/Voluntary
b) Spinal reflex.
When Serena was stung by the bee, her spinal reflex occurred. The sensation of the stinging pain was carried by her afferent neurons to her spinal cord. The information was then transferred to an interneuron, which then responds by sending a motor message down her efferent neurons, resulting in Serena kicking her leg out. The sensation of pain then continued to travel up her spinal cord to her brain, where it was registered, but not until after Serena had already made a motor response due to her spinal reflex.
c) Stimulus generalisation
d) Negative reinforcement
e) Systematic desensitisation.
Serena could perform systematic desensitisation with a psychologist to overcome her phobia of bees. Systematic desensitisation is a three-stage process.
Firstly, Serena would learn a relaxation technique, such as slow and controlled breathing.
Secondly, Serena would create a 'fear hierarchy' of situations involving her phobic stimulus, from least-feared to most-feared. For example, her least-feared situation involving bees may be looking at a picture of a bee, while her most-feared situation may be having a bee on her skin.
Lastly, Serena would then work through the fear hierarchy from least-feared to most-feared. During each situation, she would pair the relaxation technique with the phobic stimulus, until she feels a relaxation response instead of a fear response. She would then move onto the next stage, and so on until her phobia has been extinguished and she no longer has a fear response to bees.
Question 5 Caffeine study question.
a) Brain waves
Amplitude - The amplitude of a person's brain waves would decrease after they have consume caffeine
Frequency - The frequency of a person's brain waves would increase after they have consume caffeine
b) Disgusting antagonist caffeine question.
Ok, so this is a really weird question, so I'll do my best to answer it, but just reinforcing that there are no guarantees this is correct, so don't freak out if you disagree.
The lock-and-key process of neurotransmission describes how the shape of a neurotransmitter must match the shape of the receptor site on the dendrite, in order for it to be taken up and have any effect (either excitatory or inhibitory) on the post-synaptic neuron. As caffeine is acting as an antagonist for adenosine, it decreases the receptiveness of dendritic receptors on the postsynaptic neuron to receiving adenosine. As a result, adenosine is less likely to be taken up by the postsynaptic neurons and have any effect, either excitatory or inhibitory. If adenosine is unable to attach to the postsynaptic neurons, it will be taken back up by the presynaptic neuron in a process known as reuptake. As a result of being unable to attach to postsynaptic neurons, memory function will not be impaired, as adenosine will be unable to lower mood and alertness and therefore won't impair memory.
Again, I think this is a very nasty question, so there will probably be many opinions on potential answers. I have just tried to relate it back to what is strictly on the study design as much as possible. c) i. Matched participants - The rats were 'matched' before allocation to groups. One advantage of this design is that it leads to reduced individual participant differences between groups, as the participants in each group are matched on a relevant characteristic.
Note: Could potentially be independent groups, depending on how you interpreted the question. I'm honestly not 100% sure. ii. This research was conducted on animals and therefore may not be fully applicable to humans
iii. An interesting 5-mark question.
The fact that there were four different conditions in this study allowed Dr Cunha to make his conclusion.
As the placebo + stress (P+S) group of mice consumed less of the sweetened water than the placebo without stress (P-S) group of mice showed that a higher level of stress leads to decreased consumption of the sweetened water, which is linked to decreased mood. Similarly, as the placebo + stress (P+S) group of mice took more trials to run the maze than the placebo without stress (P-S) group of mice, this shows that a higher level of stress leads to decreased memory performance.
As the caffeine + stress (C+S) group of mice performed similarly to the caffeine without stress (C-S) group of mice on both trials to run the maze and consumption of sweetened water, this appears to indicate that caffeine is able to decrease the effects of stress on both mood and memory.
Finally, as both the C+S and C-S groups of mice performed similarly to P-S group of mice on both the mood and memory tasks (consumption of sweetened water and trials taken to complete the maze, respectively), this suggests that the addition of caffeine into the drinking water of the mice that suffered from stress was able to reduce the effect of stress on both mood and memory. This is shown as the C+S group performed similarly to both the C-S and P-S (both non-stress) groups of mice, while the P+S (stress but no caffeine) group of mice performed worse on the mood and memory tasks than all three other groups.
This is a bit of a confusing answer to word, so apologies if I have gotten anything mixed up throughout Question 6 Zac Mental Health Scenario.
a) Biological - Substance Use. Zac's substance use could have contributed to the development and/or progression of a mental health disorder as it can interfere with chemical neurotransmission within the brain and cause long-term effects on the functioning of the brain.
Psychological - Stress. Stress could have increased Zac's vulnerability to developing a mental health disorder such as schizophrenia (which it is strongly linked to). Long-term stress also results in the release of cortisol, which can result in negative impacts on both physical and mental health.
b) Approach coping strategy - Looking for a new job (e.g. handing out resumes)
c) Support from family friends and community - Consistently interacting with other people. Specifically, Zac could start seeing his friends and family more often, or join a community sports team.
d) Zac's family, including his grandfather, could be a source of stigma, as they may negatively judge him for having a mental health disorder. This may result in him delaying treatment as he doesn't want to be judged (e.g. called 'weak') by his grandfather, who is physically ill and therefore may not sympathise with Zac, meaning he is less likely to go and see a mental health professional.
Question 7 Maintenance vs. Elaborative Rehearsal Practical Investigation.
a) No, the DV is not correct. The DV should be 'the number of words recalled from the list of 20 words', as this is what Zac is actually measuring, not the list of 20 words.
b) Convenience sampling. This means that the sample will not be representative of the population and therefore results from the experiment cannot be generalised to the population.
c) Jaime could have used random sampling. This would have involved putting each of the Year 10 students names in a hat and randomly drawing out as many as necessary. This would have resulted in each Year 10 student having an equal chance of being selected for the sample, and therefore the sample would have been representative of the population of Year 10 students at Sundown High School.
Could also have talked about stratified or random-stratified sampling d) Graph should show the serial position effect.
X-axis should be labelled 'position of word in list'.
Y-axis should be labelled 'number/percentage of students who recalled word'.
e) The serial position effect consists of the primacy effect and the recency effect. The primacy effect refers to the superior recall of words at the beginning of the list (compared to words in the middle of the list) and is linked to long-term memory (LTM), as words that are rehearsed many times are more likely to pass into LTM. The recency effect refers to the superior recall of words at the end of the list and is linked to short-term memory (STM), as words that have just been presented are likely to still be in STM. In this way, the multi-store model of memory would be supported by maintenance rehearsal.
Would love to hear your thoughts on parts d and e. Personally, I was tossing up whether there would be a strong recency effect and little primacy effect, as maintenance rehearsal is linked to STM, not LTM, or whether it would just be a normal serial position effect curve. I went with a normal SPE because the next question asked for how it supported the multi-store model of memory. Thoughts? Maybe I'm just overthinking it... 
f) The elaborative rehearsal condition probably produced better recall than the maintenance rehearsal condition because the words were able to be linked with information already in LTM, and had more meaning. Not only did the words pairs rhyme (e.g. bun-sun), but they also rhymed with the number of the order they were presented in. (E.g. one: bun-sun; two: shoe-new). This would have given them additional meaning and allowed them to be linked more strongly with information (e.g. the numbers 1-10) that is already stored in LTM, thus producing better recall.
Question 8 (10-marker) Some key points:
- Shift work can cause a circadian phase disorder to occur, which is when there is a mismatch between your sleep-wake cycle and your desired sleep-wake cycle, or the external environment
- Night shift workers would have to sleep during the day, somewhere between the hours of 6am and 7pm
- Due to this, they may not sleep at well due to the potential high levels of light/noise etc.
- This can lead to partial sleep deprivation, which can have affective, behavioural and cognitive impacts (physiological and psychological) [explain what these are]
- Protective factor – Adequate diet or social support, I suppose. Seems a bit weird.
- One intervention – Either bright light therapy (in some way, although note they can’t really change their work hours) or CBT, particularly the behavioural strategies of sleep hygiene education and stimulus control therapy
Full Answer Shift work involves working clearly outside of the ‘normal’ 9am-5pm hours, and can be one of the key reasons that a circadian phase disorder may occur. A circadian phase disorder is when there is a mismatch between an individual’s sleep-wake cycle and a desired or ‘normal’ sleep-wake cycle, which is usually feeling awake and alert during the day and sleepy at night. Both you (Allira) and I (Tim) are shift workers, as we work from 7pm to 6am for four nights, followed by four nights off.
When working night shift, it is important to still get an adequate quantity and quality of sleep. This has to occur during the day (between 6am and 7pm) and can be challenging as there may often be high levels of light, noise or other distracting factors which can lead to an individual struggling to sleep.
If an individual is struggling to sleep during the day, this can lead to partial sleep deprivation – when you aren’t getting enough sleep (a good guideline is about 8 hours for adults, although this varies slightly between individuals). Partial sleep deprivation can have many impacts, both physiological and psychological.
Psychologically, partial sleep deprivation can lead to effects such as impaired concentration, impaired problem-solving and decision-making, illogical thinking and poor performance on simple tasks. These effects can all have a major impact on your performance as an aircraft engineer – where it is obviously critical that mistakes aren’t made, as this could jeopardise the safety of many people. People suffering from particle sleep deprivation are also likely to have amplified emotional responses – for example, getting grumpy very easily and quickly. Again, this can impact upon workplace performance and social connectedness.
Physiologically, partial sleep deprivation can lead to an increased reaction time, droopy eyelids, shaking hands and general feelings of fatigue and sleepiness. Once again, this can impact upon workplace performance, particularly when dealing with the complex parts of an aircraft.
When between lots of night shift (i.e. during the four days off), it is important to establish a routine for sleeping. Many shift workers will go back to sleeping during ‘normal hours’ (i.e. sleeping at night and being awake during the day). However, this adjustment can be difficult, as it requires a rather large shift in your sleep-wake cycle, which is a circadian rhythm that repeats roughly every 24 hours. However, a lot of shift workers find that it is necessary to adjust so that they can spend time with families, play sport or perform other leisure activities during ‘normal’ daylight hours. It is essential during this period between shifts that you are still getting enough sleep to avoid the effects of partial sleep deprivation, and ensure that you are fully refreshed when you come back to work.
One intervention or treatment that could be used to help adjust to sleeping during daylight hours is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). CBT aims to change dysfunctional thoughts and behaviours that may be inhibiting sleep. The behavioural components of CBT may be particularly useful. For example, sleep hygiene education reinforces the importance of strong sleeping habits, including sleeping in a dark place, not exercising immediately before bed and avoiding screens immediately before bed. These may all help to increase sleep quality and quantity when sleeping during daylight hours, and therefore help avoid partial sleep deprivation.
Stimulus control therapy is another behavioural strategy that could be used. This involves strengthening the bed and bedroom as cues for sleep. It is important that you don’t use the bed for other things, such as reading or watching TV, as this may lead to you associating the bed with those activities rather than sleeping, and lead to trouble sleeping.
Bright light therapy is another intervention that could be used. This involves exposing yourself to safe but intense amounts of light. For example, if you wanted to stay awake at night, as a shift worker, you could expose yourself to light at night, and then try and avoid exposing yourself to light during the day, when you want to be sleeping. This can help to move your sleep-wake cycle to the desired time, as light inhibits the release of melatonin, which causes drowsiness.
Finally, one protective factor that could help reduce the impact of this change to sleep-wake cycle is social support. It is important that all shift workers here at the company support each other at all times, whether through tangible support, such as giving someone a place to sleep, information support, such as by passing on this information to others or through emotional support, particularly if a person is acting as though they may be sleep deprived.
Sleep is very important, so please look after yourself. Let us know if you have any questions, we’re always happy to help. As a company, we want the best for our employees.
Note that there are a lot of different ways to answer the 10-mark question - especially one as open-ended as this - so don't stress if you have some completely different things All done!
Don't stress too much over what I've written (as I've mentioned, I feel like there are a few questions that could be answered a few different ways). There's also nothing you can do about it now, so move on and focus on your next exam, and I hope you all do brilliantly!!
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Topic: VCE Psychology Exam Sample Solutions and Discussion 2017 (Read 80033 times)