Updated, July 2020 After teaching my unit on PTSD (Chapter 4), I found that my students developed a really good understanding of how PTSD is not explainable by a single etiology, but rather it is the product of multiple-interacting factors. While this is great, it does mean that when the question asks about “one” specific etiology, they found it difficult …
Key Study: Mate preference across cultures (Buss, 1989)A cross-cultural study on attraction and mate preference
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” This classic saying means that we all have a different opinion about what is beautiful. When it comes to romantic relationships, is this really the case? A common field of study for psychologists is attraction and mate preference: what do people look for in a husband, wife, or lover? Buss’s classic study shows …
Key Studies: Reconstructive memory
False Memories and the Misinformation Effect Background Information Elizabeth Loftus is a prominent memory researcher whose work has had significant impacts on the legal system in the United States. She is often called on to testify in legal cases against eye-witness testimony. In the past, if an eyewitness claimed that they saw someone commit a crime they would almost definitely …
Key Study: The Primacy and Recency Effects (Glanzer and Cunitz, 1966)
The following has been adapted from IB Psychology: A Student’s Guide Evidence for MSM: Serial position effect (primacy and recency effects) The serial position effect (aka primacy and recency effect) is a cognitive phenomenon whereby people tend to remember the first (primacy) and last (recency) items in a series. This provides evidence for the MSM: people tend to remember the first items …
Key Study for the Dual Processing Model (Thinking and Decision Making)
The following is adapted from: “IB Psychology: A Revision Guide.” Tversky and Kahneman spent many years studying people’s thinking and decision making. As a result, they devised a dual processing model that attempts to explain two systems people use when processing information: system one and system two. The system used to process information can affect our decision making. System one …
Genetic similarities – twin and kinship studies on antisocial behaviour and aggression
Clarifications to the new IB Psychology guide (first exams May 2019) has said that students might be asked specifically about twin and/or kinship studies to discuss “genetic similarities.” This blog post can be used as supplementary information if required. How and why twin studies are used in psychology Twin studies gather groups of monozygotic (MZ – identical) and dizygotic (DZ – …
Why do marriages end in divorce? A cognitive explanation
The material in this post will help students who are studying for the Human Relationships option and want to make sure they can answer any possible question about the topic: “Personal relationships.” Understanding why marriages may deteriorate and end in divorce is key in preparing to answer questions relating to the topic “why relationships may change or end. Perhaps the …
Review Idea: Key Study Jenga
I’m sure this idea has probably been around for years, but I’ve never seen it so here’s what I came up the other day as I spied a jenga set in a classroom. This review idea would work well at the end of the course before exams. It might be an idea to give to students to do for themselves …
Lesson Idea – Understanding Etiologies With a Case Study
This lesson is designed to help students understand how reduced function in the vmPFC might be connected with symptoms of PTSD. As with other similar lesson ideas, it tries to make the abstract more concrete by giving real-life examples. The Activity Students are to read the following summary of Due, a fictionary Vietnamese War vetern. After reading the summary, they …
Lesson Idea: Kahn the Caveman
This lesson comes from the PTSD unit/chapter and will help students understand an evolutionary explanation of the effects of stress (emotion) on memory. It also helps consolidate learning about fear conditioning, which is a key concept in the study of PTSD. Kahn the Caveman! Kahn is living 40,000 years ago. He’s part of a hunter-gatherer tribe living in Southern Europe. …