ATAR Notes: Forum

Archived Discussion => Mathematics/Science/Technology => 2015 Exam Discussion => Psychology => Topic started by: brenden on October 29, 2015, 12:24:25 pm

Title: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: brenden on October 29, 2015, 12:24:25 pm
Hey all! I'm scanning a copy of the exam as we speak! What did you think of the exam? How was multi-choice? Discussion below!
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: warya on October 29, 2015, 12:49:47 pm
Not sure if that was psychology or physiology...
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: amanda2197 on October 29, 2015, 12:51:32 pm
I feel like I did really well with multiple choice, but had no idea about stress and physiological effects so I just kinda used them as PE questions.....  ???
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: GeniDoi on October 29, 2015, 12:56:08 pm
That MC question where the dog is salivating but it's actually operant conditioning is the most VCAA question I've ever seen.

Like mother of Pavlov, even the methods exam isn't that deceptive, and that's saying something.
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: Rob16 on October 29, 2015, 12:57:02 pm
I think i wrote like a physiological response would be increased heart rate which increases oxygen supply to muscles (i got blood and oxygen mixed up) any PE students know if oxygen supply to muscles increase? And then that this would make the person more physically and mentally ready to prepare to swerve away from a car accident lol does this even happen?
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: warya on October 29, 2015, 12:57:07 pm
Anyone know the answer to the sling question? I didn't talk about adaptive plasticity. I just said that it'll force him/her to use their left arm which will inveitably make them pay attention to their left side of their world.
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: warya on October 29, 2015, 12:58:34 pm
I said Annies pupils will be dilated so she's less prone to missing things haha
And something about adrenaline and energy
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: Rob16 on October 29, 2015, 01:00:06 pm
Anyone know the answer to the sling question? I didn't talk about adaptive plasticity. I just said that it'll force him/her to use their left arm which will inveitably make them pay attention to their left side of their world.

I talked about adaptive plasticity and rerouting for that question
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: GeniDoi on October 29, 2015, 01:00:37 pm
I said Annies pupils will be dilated so she's less prone to missing things haha
And something about adrenaline and energy

I said that her fight-or-flight response allows her to be more aware of her surroundings because it prompts her to look for escape routes (in the case of the flight response) so she's more likely to miss a collision or stay in the correct lane. Might be total bollocks
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: S33667 on October 29, 2015, 01:06:29 pm
I said Annies pupils will be dilated so she's less prone to missing things haha
And something about adrenaline and energy

From my experience last year, that would have been a suitable answer, provided that it was worded correctly.

e.g. "Annie's pupils will dilate, allowing more light into the eye to increase her vision (not necessarily necessary, but helps), making her more likely to see any approaching danger (or less likely to have an accident)."

Naturally, I haven't seen this year's exam yet, so I may be stepping out of my bounds. But I hope this helps nonetheless - sounds like you've got it covered with that one.


Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: sparkyblossom on October 29, 2015, 01:24:23 pm
I mistakenly said that from dopamine will be released when exercising instead of endorphins :( How much damage do you think this mistake will cost me?
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: amanda2197 on October 29, 2015, 01:39:04 pm
I mistakenly said that from dopamine will be released when exercising instead of endorphins :( How much damage do you think this mistake will cost me?

I said both so, we're all in this together!!!
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: amanda2197 on October 29, 2015, 01:39:44 pm
Anyone know the answer to the sling question? I didn't talk about adaptive plasticity. I just said that it'll force him/her to use their left arm which will inveitably make them pay attention to their left side of their world.

I said that too!
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: cameotodd on October 29, 2015, 01:44:53 pm
The sling question :(

Although spatial neglect does most commonly result in left side being ignore, it can still happen to the right visual field, and it didn't state which visual field it affected. So i thought that the sling will allow her to be more attentive to her right visual field, thus allowing the individual (cant remember scenario name) to recognize the existence of her right visual field.
Probs wrong lol
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: doyoueven on October 29, 2015, 01:46:14 pm
arrh annoyed!
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: Rob16 on October 29, 2015, 02:02:35 pm
Wait was there apparently an amendment in the exam that we were supposed to be notified of? I just saw someone say there was but  my school was not made aware?
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: Chilza381 on October 29, 2015, 02:05:45 pm
Wait was there apparently an amendment in the exam that we were supposed to be notified of? I just saw someone say there was but  my school was not made aware?

Yeah there was. In section C, we had to cross out the information about the stop sign.
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: Jesss1234 on October 29, 2015, 02:06:09 pm
Wait was there apparently an amendment in the exam that we were supposed to be notified of? I just saw someone say there was but  my school was not made aware?

Yes there was! in section C, when describing the video that the participants saw, the words "and saw a car that went through a stop sign" were meant to be crossed out. It really didn't make much difference to the question itself really, just that seeing the stop sign wasn't a REAL part of the video, only a memory implied by the misleading questions
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: Jesss1234 on October 29, 2015, 02:12:52 pm
The question about "Dean" doing physical activity, and how it may help his stress, asked how running would impact his AUTONOMIC nervous system, so would talking about endorphins and positive neurotransmitters being released be incorrect as that occurs in the CNS?

Also, did anyone else find section C totally different to past exams? I prepared to talk about sampling techniques, experimental design, extraneous variables, ethics etc, but instead was given almost NO information about that type of stuff. What the heck did they want us to even write there?
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: brenden on October 29, 2015, 02:30:39 pm
Here's a Copy of the Psychology Exam! -- if any of you guys feel confident about your Psych ability, feel free to try your hand at sample answers and I'll put them up on Facebook later today! Would be awesome for people to collaborate and work out a set of correct multi-choice/short-answer etc.

Really hope you guys did as best as you could today and get the scores you want! (Although remember, it's about the journey, not the scores ;)... right?)
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: luluspencer97 on October 29, 2015, 03:38:41 pm
I said that her fight-or-flight response allows her to be more aware of her surroundings because it prompts her to look for escape routes (in the case of the flight response) so she's more likely to miss a collision or stay in the correct lane. Might be total bollocks

ahhhh this is stressing me out because I said that she might be experiencing Eustress and a positive physiological reaction to stress so that she is at her peak performance  >:( >:( >:( :'( :'( :'(
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: b00typizza on October 29, 2015, 03:43:12 pm
The question about "Dean" doing physical activity, and how it may help his stress, asked how running would impact his AUTONOMIC nervous system, so would talking about endorphins and positive neurotransmitters being released be incorrect as that occurs in the CNS?

Also, did anyone else find section C totally different to past exams? I prepared to talk about sampling techniques, experimental design, extraneous variables, ethics etc, but instead was given almost NO information about that type of stuff. What the heck did they want us to even write there?

That question about the physical activity seems to have tripped a lot of people up judging by those I've talked to :P
I wrote about increased blood circulation increasing oxygen flow and allowing Dean to have clear thoughts (pfffft help me) and using up the adrenaline in his system that was already there from stress. I have my fingers crossed for your answers!

And yeah section C was definitely not what I was expecting, after all that prep for variables/sampling techniques etc :/
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: GeniDoi on October 29, 2015, 03:45:12 pm
ahhhh this is stressing me out because I said that she might be experiencing Eustress and a positive physiological reaction to stress so that she is at her peak performance  >:( >:( >:( :'( :'( :'(

No please don't get stressed psych is my worst subject by far... I'll take a study score that starts with a 3 with happiness.
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: luluspencer97 on October 29, 2015, 03:45:49 pm
Also, did anyone else find section C totally different to past exams? I prepared to talk about sampling techniques, experimental design, extraneous variables, ethics etc, but instead was given almost NO information about that type of stuff. What the heck did they want us to even write there?

There was a phrase in the question about section C that said something like... "using normal conventions" , so I thought that maybe that could have implied something to do with what people usually mention in those kinds of things??? I'm not sure I just freaked out and specified the variables for good measure...
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: C.A.T on October 29, 2015, 03:49:35 pm
I found it fairly easy. There were a lot of topics I felt were left off, though. There was only one question I left half unanswered (strengths and limitations of Lazarus and Folkman's theory -  :-[) Here's hoping that all the rest of the exams are this easy  :-\
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: anat0my on October 29, 2015, 04:11:09 pm
Guys, what you think the answer was for the MCQ about classical conditional having an element that operant does not?

ALSO, what do you predict the A+ cutoff is?
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: luluspencer97 on October 29, 2015, 04:16:04 pm
Guys, what you think the answer was for the MCQ about classical conditional having an element that operant does not?

Operant conditioning does not involve an involuntary response. The individual operates on their environment voluntarily during operant conditioning however in classical conditioning the conditioned stimulus is always an involuntary action e.g. pavlov's dog salivating.
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: cameotodd on October 29, 2015, 04:18:05 pm
Yeah what do you guys reckon? Higher or lower A+ cutoff than last year?
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: warya on October 29, 2015, 05:04:45 pm
Yeah what do you guys reckon? Higher or lower A+ cutoff than last year?

My teacher says it was much harder than last years, lower A+
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: Jesss1234 on October 29, 2015, 05:12:16 pm
What's the usual mark out of 160 that gets an A+ anyway? How many marks can one afford to lose to get an A or A+?
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: cameotodd on October 29, 2015, 05:40:46 pm
What's the usual mark out of 160 that gets an A+ anyway? How many marks can one afford to lose to get an A or A+?

It's 140 marks and last year it was 116/140 for an A+
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: Jesss1234 on October 29, 2015, 05:48:40 pm
It's 140 marks and last year it was 116/140 for an A+

Wow whaaat? You can afford to lose 24 marks and still get an A+?
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: GeniDoi on October 29, 2015, 07:46:57 pm
Can someone please post solutions for MC?  :)
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: Rob16 on October 29, 2015, 08:25:22 pm
Did anyone talk about allostatic load in any of the questions? I feel like i should have but am not sure lol
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: StupidProdigy on October 29, 2015, 08:28:37 pm
Can someone please post solutions for MC?  :)
If you wanna give me a list of what one's you're unsure of I can go through it. I'd do the whole thing but I have two exams tomorrow..
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: Rob16 on October 30, 2015, 10:10:36 am
For section C, for the hypothesis what did u guys use as the population since it did not explicitly say (it only said that the sample used was university students), i just put down it was predicted that people who were asked a misleading question......
Does anyone know if this would still be correct if i put the population as people in general?
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: cameotodd on October 30, 2015, 10:46:16 am
For section C, for the hypothesis what did u guys use as the population since it did not explicitly say (it only said that the sample used was university students), i just put down it was predicted that people who were asked a misleading question......
Does anyone know if this would still be correct if i put the population as people in general?

I did the exact same... I mean it just said the 'affect on people's eyewitness testemonies' and then the sample was 100 university students. So even in the discussion I said that the limitation of the study is that the sample is not representative of the population.
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: Jesss1234 on October 30, 2015, 01:49:34 pm
Did anyone talk about allostatic load in any of the questions? I feel like i should have but am not sure lol
In question 13, "With reference to the physiological aspects of of Lou's stress response, give reasons why this stress may be harmful", I mentioned his allostatic load, and how he could experience allostatic overload, which could increase his chance of developing a cardiovascular disease, diabetes etc etc. However, I think there will be a range of acceptable answers for that question, and mentioning allostatic load wont necessarily be a vital part of obtaining full marks.   
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: Jesss1234 on October 30, 2015, 02:02:19 pm
Do anyone know if they take marks off for incorrect spelling of psychology terms? I spelt "anterograde amnesia" as "anerograde amnesia", completely missing the t, as well as "visuospatial" as "viseospartial". I really don't do well under pressure haha.
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: vceendpls on October 30, 2015, 04:16:22 pm
Hey guys, for Q2 in section b regarding changes to synapses during the formation of new memories, could you say that LTP could occur if these new memories are revisited repeatedly? and thus strengthening the synaptic connection between the pre and post synaptic neuron as the post-synaptic neuron is now readily able to fire?

Also, for the physiological effects of sleep deprivation question and justifying as to why it will be dangerous to the guy and others in the workplace, would I still get 1/2 marks if I accidentally wrote a psychological effect of sleep deprivation (i wrote hallucinations) but however did justify how this would be dangerous in a work place.

Thanks
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: cameotodd on October 30, 2015, 10:47:33 pm
Guys what did you put down for multi choice q26?
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: jessica666 on October 30, 2015, 11:30:16 pm
Guys what did you put down for multi choice q26?

I think I said C- conditioned stimulus
I thought the question was weird though, because it mentioned both sitting and salivating. She would be the CS for the salivating, but the discriminative stimulus for the sitting?
Title: Re: Psychology Exam Discussion Thread!
Post by: cameotodd on October 31, 2015, 12:16:22 am
I think I said C- conditioned stimulus
I thought the question was weird though, because it mentioned both sitting and salivating. She would be the CS for the salivating, but the discriminative stimulus for the sitting?

I said C as well, but connect education had D in their solutions... I don't know but I still think it's C