← Psychology syllabus

WAPsychology

Unit 3

13 dot points across 13 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How are attitudes structured and changed, and how does cognitive dissonance drive behaviour?

Describe the tri-component model of attitudes, attitude-behaviour consistency, and Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance
WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3 attitudes and social cognition: the tri-component (ABC) model of attitudes, attitude-behaviour consistency, attribution theory, and Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory.
8 min answer →

How do we explain the causes of our own and others' behaviour, and what biases distort these judgements?

Explain attribution theory, including internal and external attributions, and the fundamental attribution error, actor-observer bias and self-serving bias
WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3: attribution theory, internal (dispositional) versus external (situational) attributions, and the fundamental attribution error, actor-observer bias and self-serving bias.
6 min answer →

How do the nervous system, neurotransmitters and the stress response shape human behaviour?

Explain the structure and function of the nervous system, the role of neurotransmitters, and the biological stress response
WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3 biological bases of behaviour: nervous system divisions, the neuron and synaptic transmission, key neurotransmitters, and Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome model of stress.
8 min answer →

How does the brain change in response to experience, learning and injury through neuroplasticity?

Explain neuroplasticity, including developmental and adaptive plasticity, and how experience and injury reshape neural connections
WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3: neuroplasticity, developmental versus adaptive plasticity, synaptic pruning, long-term potentiation, and how experience and brain injury reshape neural pathways across the lifespan.
6 min answer →

How does classical conditioning explain learning through the association of stimuli?

Explain classical conditioning, including the key processes and stimuli, and apply it to examples such as Pavlov's dogs and Little Albert
WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3: classical conditioning, the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli and responses, acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalisation and discrimination, with Pavlov's dogs and the Little Albert study.
6 min answer →

Why does inconsistency between attitudes and behaviour create discomfort, and how do we reduce it?

Explain Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, including the conditions that produce dissonance and the strategies used to reduce it
WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3: Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, the psychological discomfort of holding inconsistent cognitions, the strategies used to reduce it, and the Festinger and Carlsmith induced-compliance study.
6 min answer →

Why do we forget, and how reliable is memory, especially eyewitness testimony?

Explain theories of forgetting and the reconstructive nature of memory, including the reliability of eyewitness testimony with reference to Loftus
WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3: theories of forgetting (decay, interference, retrieval failure, motivated forgetting), the reconstructive nature of memory, and the reliability of eyewitness testimony with Loftus and Palmer's misinformation research.
6 min answer →

How do classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning explain behaviour and memory?

Compare theories of learning including classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning, and outline models of memory
WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3 learning and cognition: Pavlov's classical conditioning, Skinner's operant conditioning, Bandura's observational learning, and the Atkinson-Shiffrin multi-store model of memory.
9 min answer →

How do models of memory explain the way information is encoded, stored and retrieved?

Describe and compare the Atkinson-Shiffrin multi-store model and the working memory model, including encoding, storage and retrieval
WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3: the Atkinson-Shiffrin multi-store model of sensory, short-term and long-term memory, the Baddeley and Hitch working memory model, and the processes of encoding, storage and retrieval.
6 min answer →

How does observational learning explain behaviour acquired by watching and imitating models?

Explain observational learning and social learning theory, including the four mediational processes, with reference to Bandura's Bobo doll study
WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3: observational learning and social learning theory, the four mediational processes of attention, retention, reproduction and motivation, vicarious reinforcement, and Bandura's Bobo doll study.
6 min answer →

How does operant conditioning explain voluntary behaviour through its consequences?

Explain operant conditioning, including reinforcement, punishment, shaping and schedules of reinforcement, with reference to Skinner
WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3: operant conditioning, positive and negative reinforcement, positive and negative punishment, shaping, and continuous versus partial schedules of reinforcement, with reference to Skinner and Thorndike.
6 min answer →

How do psychologists design valid, reliable and ethical investigations of behaviour?

Apply research methods including experimental design, variables, sampling, validity, reliability and the interpretation of descriptive and inferential statistics.
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Psychology research-methods dot point taught across both units. Covers variables, experimental design, sampling, extraneous and confounding variables, validity, reliability, and descriptive versus inferential statistics with worked examples.
8 min answer →

How are the major structures of the brain organised, and what does hemispheric specialisation reveal about the localisation of function?

Describe the major structures of the brain and the lobes of the cerebral cortex, and explain hemispheric specialisation and localisation of function
WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3: the hindbrain, midbrain and forebrain, the four lobes of the cerebral cortex, hemispheric specialisation, and Sperry's split-brain studies of localisation of function.
6 min answer →