VCE Psychology sample questions

Question 1

A researcher wants to investigate whether sleep deprivation affects reaction time. The independent variable is:

Accepted Answer

B. The amount of sleep participants are allowed

Question 2

Using the biopsychosocial model, explain how a phobia of dogs might develop in a person who was bitten as a child.

Accepted Answer

Biological: a genetic predisposition towards a reactive nervous system, or long-term potentiation strengthening the neural pathway between the sight of a dog and the fear response, makes the fear easy to acquire and hard to lose.

Psychological: classical conditioning pairs the dog (neutral stimulus) with the pain of the bite (unconditioned stimulus), so the dog becomes a conditioned stimulus producing fear. Operant conditioning then maintains it — avoiding dogs removes the anxiety, which negatively reinforces the avoidance.

Social: a parent who is themselves fearful of dogs may model avoidant behaviour, and cultural messages about dangerous breeds can reinforce the belief that dogs are threatening.

Question 3

Distinguish between the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system, giving one physiological example of each.

Accepted Answer

The sympathetic division activates the body for vigorous action, increasing physiological arousal — for example, it increases heart rate to deliver more oxygen to the muscles. The parasympathetic division returns the body to homeostasis after arousal and maintains it at rest, for example by decreasing heart rate once the threat has passed.

Question 4

A study finds that students who eat breakfast score higher on a memory test than students who do not. A newspaper reports that eating breakfast improves memory. Explain why this conclusion may not be justified.

Accepted Answer

The study appears to be correlational rather than a controlled experiment, so it establishes an association but not causation. A third variable could explain both — students from more organised households may both eat breakfast and sleep more regularly, and sleep affects memory. Without random allocation to a breakfast and a no-breakfast condition, the direction of any causal relationship cannot be established.

VCE Psychology practice exams and worked solutions

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