Year 10 Psychology Exam Notes

AOS 1: Research Methods

  • Booklets: What is Psychology? & Scientific method
  • PowerPoints: Introduction to Psychology 2025, Key science skills, Ethics 2025

Key Concepts

  • Definition of Psychology:

    • Define what psychology is.
    • Explain the difference between a behaviour and a mental process.
    • Understand the difference between psychology and psychiatry.

  • Scientific Method:

    • Identify and explain the 7 steps in the scientific method in their correct order.
    • Write a hypothesis using IV (independent variable), DV (dependent variable), and direction.
    • Identify the independent, dependent, and extraneous variables.

  • Research Methods:

    • State and explain the different research methods:
      • Non-experimental
      • Experimental
    • Understand the difference between qualitative and quantitative data, objective and subjective data.
    • Calculate mean, median, and mode in a set of quantitative data.
      • Mean: The average of a set of numbers. Sum of all values divided by the number of values.
        Mean = {\sum x}{n}
      • Median: The middle value in a data set arranged in ascending order. If there are two middle numbers, the median is the average of those two numbers.
      • Mode: The value that appears most frequently in a data set.

  • Ethical Guidelines:

    • Explain the 6 ethical guidelines for psychology.
    • Explain the 5 ethical principles for psychology.

AOS 2: Nervous System

  • Booklet: Brain
  • PowerPoints: Sleep PowerPoint, Introducing the brain 2025, Types of neurons

Brain Structure and Function

  • Describe the different functions of the left and right hemisphere.

  • Draw and label the lobes of the brain: frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal.

  • Briefly explain the functions of each of the lobes of the brain:

    • Frontal: Involved in motor function, problem-solving, spontaneity, memory, language, initiation, judgement, impulse control, and social and sexual behavior.
    • Parietal: Processes sensory information regarding touch, temperature, pain, and spatial awareness.
    • Occipital: Responsible for visual perception, including color, form, and motion.
    • Temporal: Involved in auditory processing, memory, and language comprehension.

  • Explain the role of the:

    • Amygdala: Processes emotions, especially fear and aggression.
    • Hippocampus: Important for forming new memories.
    • Corpus callosum: Connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain, allowing for communication between them.
    • Hypothalamus: Regulates body temperature, hunger, thirst, and sleep-wake cycles.

Nervous System Divisions

  • Explain the difference between the central and peripheral nervous systems.
    • Central Nervous System (CNS): Brain and spinal cord.
    • Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): Nerves that connect the CNS to the rest of the body.
  • Identify the different divisions of the nervous system and what they are responsible for.

Neurons and Synapses

  • Draw and label a neuron (dendrites, cell body, axon, myelin sheath, axon terminals).

  • Explain the role of the structures that you have labelled on the neuron.

  • Explain the steps that are completed at the synapse between 2 neurons.

  • Describe the role of:

    • Sensory neurons: Transmit sensory information from receptors to the CNS.
    • Motor neurons: Transmit motor commands from the CNS to muscles and glands.
    • Interneuron: Connect sensory and motor neurons within the CNS.

  • Show how the CNS and PNS work together to perform voluntary movements.

Neurotransmitters

  • Know the 5 different types of neurotransmitters: Serotonin, Dopamine, GABA, Acetylcholine and Noradrenaline and their functions.
    • Serotonin: Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal.
    • Dopamine: Involved in reward, motivation, and motor control.
    • GABA: Inhibitory neurotransmitter that reduces neuronal excitability throughout the nervous system.
    • Acetylcholine: Involved in muscle action, learning, and memory.
    • Noradrenaline: Involved in alertness, arousal, and the fight-or-flight response.

Adolescent Brain Development

  • Explain the role of the following processes in relation to the adolescent brain:

    • Myelination: Formation of the myelin sheath around the axons of neurons, which increases the speed of neural transmission.
    • Synaptogenesis: Formation of new synapses between neurons.
    • Synaptic pruning: Elimination of unnecessary synapses.

  • Explain how in the adolescent brain the incomplete development of various brain structures influences attention, complex planning and decision making, impulse control and logical thinking, organized thinking, personality development, risk management and short-term memory.

  • Explain how risk-taking behaviour affects the brain (reward system of the brain).

Sleep

  • Describe the role of melatonin in the sleep-wake cycle.
  • What does EEG stand for and what does it measure?
    • EEG stands for Electroencephalogram, and it measures electrical activity in the brain.
  • Identify the difference between REM and NREM sleep.
    • REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep: A stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movements, dreaming, and brain activity similar to wakefulness.
    • NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) sleep: Stages of sleep characterized by slower brain waves and deeper sleep.
  • List the different stages of NREM sleep and provide a characteristic of each stage.
    • Stage 1: Light sleep, characterized by theta waves.
    • Stage 2: Deeper sleep, characterized by sleep spindles and K-complexes.
    • Stage 3: Moderate to deep sleep, characterized by delta waves.
    • Stage 4: Deepest sleep, characterized by primarily delta waves.
  • Match the brain wave patterns to the stages of NREM sleep.
  • Describe the delayed release of melatonin on sleep during adolescence.
  • Describe the effects of sleep deprivation.
  • Describe the effects of adolescent sleep hygiene on sleep.

AOS 3: Emotions & Positive Psychology

  • Booklet: Positive Psychology
  • PowerPoints: Emotions 2025, Happiness

Emotions

  • Define emotions.
  • What is the facial feedback hypothesis?

Theories of Emotion

  • Define/explain AND provide examples for the theories related to emotion:
    • Cannon-Bard: Physiological arousal and emotional experience occur simultaneously.
    • Schachter’s two-factor theory: Emotion is based on physiological arousal and cognitive appraisal.
    • James-Lange theory: Physiological arousal precedes and causes emotional experience.
  • How do each of these theories differ from each other?

Plutchik's Model of Emotions

  • List and explain Plutchik’s primary emotions: joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, and anticipation.
  • Know what Plutchik classifies as a secondary/blended motion.
  • How do primary and secondary emotions differ?

Components of Emotion

  • List the 3 parts that make up an emotion AND be able to identify them.
    • Subjective experience
    • Physiological response
    • Behavioral or expressive response

Brain Structures and Emotions

  • Name brain structures that are part of the limbic system and describe the role they play in emotions:
    • Amygdala: Processes emotions, especially fear and aggression.
    • Hippocampus: Important for forming new memories.
    • Hypothalamus: Regulates body temperature, hunger, thirst, and sleep-wake cycles.
    • Brain stem: Regulates basic life functions, such as breathing and heart rate.
    • Cerebral cortex: Higher-level cognitive processes, including decision-making and emotional regulation.

Inside Out

  • List the 4 characters in Inside Out and describe how they express their emotions.
    • The 4 characters were never mentioned, unable to provide accurate answer.
  • The effect of maturing late of the Prefrontal Cortex on the adolescent brain

Positive Psychology

  • Define the study of positive psychology.
  • Explain Dr. Martin Seligman’s formula for happiness.
  • What to each of the letters in the formula stand for?
    • Seligman’s formula for happiness was never mentioned, unable to provide accurate answer.
  • How is it applied to real life?
  • Explain Dr. Martin Seligman’s PERMA model of wellbeing.
  • What do each of the letters in PERMA stand for?
    • PERMA: Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment.
  • Explain Dr. Barbara Frederickson’s positivity ratio. What is the ratio?
    • Frederickson’s positivity ratio was never mentioned, unable to provide accurate answer.
  • Describe a “set point” for happiness