| Psychology | 1. What influences psychological development? • Use psychological development across the lifespan, emotional, cognitive and social development, biological, psychological and social influences, hereditary and environmental factors, biopsychosocial reasoning, sensitive and critical periods, twin and adoption study reasoning, attachment and development contexts where appropriate.• For harder questions, use VCE-style stimuli such as developmental data, twin/adoption evidence, case scenarios, model comparisons, research-design limitations and biopsychosocial explanations that require interpretation before applying the concept. Include concrete twin/adoption or developmental group data with at least two numeric values, then require a conclusion about hereditary/environmental influence, biopsychosocial influence, sensitive or critical periods, and a validity, sample or method limitation.• Keep questions curriculum-focused. Avoid direct definition recall, simple factor naming, diagnosis, self-diagnosis, therapy recommendations or personal mental-health advice.2. How are mental processes and behaviour influenced by the brain? • Use brain structure and function, hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain, cerebral cortex, mental processes, behaviour, neuroplasticity, brain injury, acquired brain injury, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, biopsychosocial functioning and evidence from brain research at Unit 1 level.• For harder questions, use VCE-style stimuli such as brain-region diagrams, case scenarios, imaging or behavioural evidence, neuroplasticity evidence, ABI or CTE research summaries and evaluation of how brain changes affect functioning.• Avoid clinical diagnosis or personal treatment advice. Use neutral curriculum language such as the participant, student, researcher or scenario, and avoid direct brain-region naming when hard difficulty is requested.3. How does contemporary psychology conduct and validate psychological research? • Use contemporary psychology research methods, research questions, hypotheses, variables, sampling, operationalisation, ethics, primary and secondary data, opinion versus evidence, validity, reliability, reproducibility, bias, uncertainty, evidence quality and peer evaluation.• For harder questions, include research scenarios, study-design evaluation, limitation identification, source or data validity, cultural bias, secondary-data interpretation and evidence-based conclusions.• Keep ethics questions about research practice, evidence and participant wellbeing, not personal disclosure or personal advice. For hard questions, require reasoning from supplied method or data details rather than generic research-method recall. | 1. How are people influenced to behave in particular ways? • Use social cognition, person perception, attributions, attitudes, stereotypes, cognitive dissonance, cognitive biases, heuristics, conformity, social influence, group behaviour, culture and factors influencing individual and group behaviour.• For harder questions, include social-behaviour scenarios, survey or experimental data, competing explanations of behaviour, evaluation of social influence and evidence-based explanation.• Avoid opinion-only questions; require psychological evidence, research-method reasoning or VCE Psychology concepts. For hard questions, avoid direct naming of a bias, heuristic or social influence term unless the answer also depends on the stimulus.2. What influences a person's perception of the world? • Use sensation and perception, internal and external influences on perception, attention, interpretation of sensory information, visual perception, perceptual distortions, perceptual set and evidence-based explanation of perception.• For harder questions, include perception scenarios, stimulus interpretation, graph/table data, competing interpretations and analysis of how internal or external factors influence perception.• Keep perception questions at VCE Unit 2 level and avoid neuroscience depth better suited to Unit 3. For hard questions, require interpretation of supplied stimulus or data rather than direct terminology recall.3. How do scientific investigations develop understanding of influences on perception and behaviour? • Use student-adapted or student-designed practical investigations related to internal and external influences on perception and/or behaviour, including research questions, hypotheses, variables, ethics, method design, data collection, validity, reliability, repeatability, reproducibility, limitations, improvements and conclusions.• For harder questions, include experimental scenarios, study-design choices, identifying limitations, interpreting data, evaluating validity and reliability, and proposing improvements. Use method-rich stimuli with a hypothesis or research question, independent and dependent variables or operationalised variables, controlled conditions or random allocation, at least two numeric data values, and a validity, reliability, ethical, sampling or confounding limitation.• Prefer short research-method scenarios with one clearly best answer and no request for personal disclosure. For hard questions, require evidence-based reasoning from supplied method or data details rather than generic practical-report recall. | 1. How does the nervous system enable psychological functioning? • Use functioning of the human nervous system, divisions of the central and peripheral nervous systems, conscious and unconscious responses, spinal reflexes, neural communication, synapses, neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, excitatory/inhibitory effects, synaptic plasticity, long-term potentiation, long-term depression, stress as a psychobiological process and interaction with the external world.• For harder questions, use VCE-style stimuli such as thermoregulation or stress-response scenarios, gut-brain axis or gut microbiota research summaries, cortisol data, nervous-system subdivision comparisons, neurotransmitter versus neuromodulator contrasts, GAS or Transactional Model of Stress and Coping applications, coping-flexibility contexts and ethical or validity constraints.• For exam-style questions, require interpretation of supplied evidence, model comparison or conclusion validity before applying the nervous-system concept. Avoid direct reflex-sequence recall, definition recall, diagnosis, treatment advice or personal wellbeing advice.2. How do people learn and remember? • Use neural basis of learning and memory, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, observational learning, memory processes, retrieval, reliability of memory, Atkinson-Shiffrin multi-store model, hippocampus, amygdala, neocortex, basal ganglia, cerebellum, episodic and semantic memory, Alzheimer's disease, aphantasia, method of loci and songlines where relevant.• For harder questions, include learning scenarios, memory experiments, brain-imaging or lesion evidence, model comparison, long-term potentiation/long-term depression reasoning, mnemonic comparison and evidence-based explanation of learning or memory.• For exam-style questions, require application to a supplied scenario, data set, diagram description or comparison of models. Avoid simple conditioning phase naming, direct brain-region recall or ambiguous everyday wording. | 1. How does sleep affect mental processes and behaviour? • Use demand for sleep, sleep as an altered state of consciousness, REM and NREM sleep, EEG, EOG, EMG, video monitoring, sleep diaries, circadian rhythm, ultradian rhythm, suprachiasmatic nucleus, melatonin, lifespan sleep changes, sleep deprivation, sleep-wake cycle disruption, DSPS, ASPD, shift work, bright light therapy, blue light and zeitgebers.• For harder questions, include sleep diary data, physiological measurement evidence, ASBQ-style tables, mean and standard deviation interpretation, sleep-disruption scenarios, runner or shift-work contexts, zeitgeber reasoning and evidence-based evaluation.• For exam-style questions, require the student to interpret supplied data or model limitations before explaining effects on mental processes and behaviour. Avoid direct REM/NREM definition recall or generic sleep-hygiene advice.2. What influences mental wellbeing? • Use mental wellbeing, social and emotional wellbeing, continuum of mental wellbeing, internal and external influences, biopsychosocial approach, specific phobia, GABA dysfunction, long-term potentiation, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, memory bias, catastrophic thinking, stigma, evidence-based interventions, benzodiazepines, breathing retraining, CBT, systematic desensitisation, psychoeducation, protective factors, resilience, cultural continuity and self-determination.• For harder questions, include biopsychosocial case scenarios, data interpretation, protective/risk factor evaluation, intervention matching, psychoeducation analysis, social-cognitive model applications, culturally respectful SEWB contexts and evidence-based management reasoning.• Do not provide personal mental-health advice, therapy recommendations for the user, or diagnosis. Keep questions curriculum-based and evidence-focused, and avoid single-factor phobia recall when hard difficulty is requested.3. How is scientific inquiry used to investigate mental processes and psychological functioning? • Use student-designed scientific investigation skills related to mental processes and psychological functioning, including research questions, aims, directional hypotheses, independent/dependent/controlled variables, ethics, deception, debriefing, method design, sampling, primary quantitative data, accuracy, precision, repeatability, reproducibility, validity, data analysis, results, discussion, conclusion, limitations, improvements and scientific poster communication.• For harder questions, include research scenarios, between-subjects and within-subjects design decisions, method validity, ethical evaluation, standard deviation or graph/table interpretation, uncertainty, limitations, conclusion validity and improvements.• For exam-style questions, use investigation-style prompts that require evidence-based reasoning from supplied method or data details, not generic practical-report wording. Ethics questions should focus on research practice and evidence. |
