Conformity is one of the most popular topics in psychology. Not surprisingly, it’s also one of the most studied. The origins of conformity studies go back to Solomon Asch’s famous “line length” experiments. Almost as old is Berry’s now classic study that asked the question: why do different cultures have different rates of conformity? Conformity is the act of behaving …
Biological Approach “Additional Terms”IB Psych Paper 1 Review
In the new IB Psychology guide they “clarified” their expectations by adding a number of new terms to the syllabus. For the biological approach, this has added significant content and quite a bit of confusion. This post aims to simplify the requirements and help you find the right studies for the right examples. You can get this post as a …
IB Psych Key Terms Quiz – THE BIOLOGICAL APPROACH
You can prepare for IB Psychology by asking three simple questions: What is…? How does…? …but…? The first question tests your knowledge, the second tests your deeper understanding of the topic and the third tests your critical thinking. The following quiz is designed to test your ability to answer the first question. (Scroll down for the answers) Read More Understanding IB …
Biological Approach: Key Terms Glossary
Knowing the meaning of key terms is one of the first steps in learning (and revising) any topic in Psychology. The following is a list of key terms and their definitions for the Biological Approach in IB Psychology. You can download a quiz to test your knowledge of these terms HERE. Glossary The biological approach to understanding human behavior: Trying …
Let’s STOP the research methods madness!
“What was the research method of (x’s) study?” Along with, “Is this a good EE question…”, it’s the most common question IB Psych teachers ask. But we shouldn’t have to and we need to put an end to the research methods madness. Why? Well, let me count the ways (or if you’d rather just read some exam tips, scroll to …
Describe vs. Explain: Is there a difference?Understanding command terms with REAL examples of exam answers
Describe and Explain mean different things. Obviously. But when they’re used in short answer questions in IB Psychology, do they really require different answers? In this post I’ll put forward my argument for my the command terms in SAQs are irrelevant and how a generic structure can be used to score top marks. Those of you who have read my posts …
Key Study: The Marshmallow Test Across Cultures: German vs. Cameroon Kids (Lamm et al. 2018)An example of how enculturation can influence behaviour.
“The Marshmallow Test” was designed by Stanford Psychologist Walter Mischel in the 1960s. It’s a test of a kid’s ability to delay gratification – to wait for something they really want. The ability to delay gratification has been correlated with a number of successful outcomes, including doing better at school, getting higher SATs and being less likely to end up …
Exam Tip: Etiologies of Abnormal PsychologyTips for writing excellent essays in Paper 2
As my students are preparing for an essay test this week on the topic “Etiology of Abnormal Psychology,” I thought I would share some advice on how to write good essays. The advice gets more specific and complex and the post goes on, so if nothing else I’d strongly recommend following tips 1 and 2. The etiology of abnormal psychology …
YouTube Live Q&A
YouTube LIVE Exam Q&A TOMORROW I thought I’d do this especially for the Auzzies (since many of you use ThemEd materials). But anyone is welcome to join, teachers or students, or click the link now and add a question any time. That’s 6:30pm Australian time (Wednesday). Share with your students if you think they might be interested. …
Key Study: “The Sweaty T-shirt Study” (Wedekind et al. 1995)
Updated June, 2020 Can we smell someone’s genes? Not their trousers, but their genetics. The Swiss Biological Researcher Claus Wedekind and his colleagues conducted a famous study to see if our preference for smells is linked with our genetics. In other words, they wanted to see if we prefer the smell of someone who has genes that would be a …
How to evaluate any study in 3 simple steps
Being able to critically evaluate a study is a key skill for any budding psychologist. However, like anything, when you’re first learning how to do this it can be very difficult. In this post, we look at 3 simple steps you can take to evaluate any study. Read More 7 exam tips for evaluating studies So you want to assess …
Key Studies for the IA
Disclaimer: This list contains studies that have been conducted successfully by students in the past. However, it’s the responsibility of teachers and students to assess the suitability of specific studies for the internal assessment. The most important thing when choosing a study is to know how its results are related to a theory or model. WATCH THE VIDEO HERE. Important …
MDMA and PTSDHow ecstacy (a serotonergic agonist) could help alleviate PTSD
Ecstasy has been a popular party drug since the 1980s. The active ingredient, MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine), can cause feelings of euphoria, increased empathy, enhanced sensations (e.g.; touch, sight, and auditory) and a positive mindset. Due to being categorized by the US’ Drug Enforcement Agency as Schedule 1 which is described as, “…substances, or chemicals…with no currently accepted medical use and a …
Agonists and Behaviour: PramipexoleDopamine agonists in the treatment of depression
An agonist is a chemical messenger that binds to the receptor sites of neurons and activates them to create a response. In this post, we’ll look at how the drug pramipexole is an agonist of the receptor sites for dopamine. Since dopamine has been linked to depression, we can also understand why this might be another option for treatment. Depression …
How to solve the reproducibility crisis in Psychology
The “reproducibility crisis” (or “replicability crisis”) is the term used to describe the recent discovery in psychology that many classic studies are failing to have their results reproduced. In fact, the whole of psychology, especially social psychology research, seems to be in a crisis regarding its credibility as a source of knowledge. Other fields like economics and the sciences are facing …
Posts You May Have Missed…
We’ve been doing some upgrading to our blog. In this time, you may not have been getting the email alerts of new posts. Here they are just in case. Synaptic Pruning and Neural Networks Synaptic pruning (aka neural pruning) helps the formation of neural networks. In this post we’ll look to understand the terms “synaptic pruning” and “neural networks.” We’ll …
Ketamine and PTSDHow an antagonist of glutamate may help treat PTSD
Agonists and antagonists are chemical messengers that affect the process of neurotransmission. They bind to specific receptor sites of neurotransmitters and this can affect brain function and behaviour. Ketamine is one antagonists of the receptor sites of the neurotransmitter, glutamate. In this post we’ll learn more about antagonists, how they work, how ketamine may help PTSD and a key study …
Ketamine: An antagonist used in the treatment of depression
Ketamine is the newest drug in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). But how does it work? In this post, we’ll look at how ketamine is an antagonist of the neurotransmitter glutamate and why this can help fight depression. For years serotonin has been the main focus of causes and cures for depression. As low levels of serotonin and …
Synaptic Pruning and Neural Networks
Synaptic pruning (aka neural pruning)¹ helps the formation of neural networks. In this post we’ll look to understand the terms “synaptic pruning” and “neural networks.” We’ll also look at how synaptic pruning can help the formation of neural networks. What is a “neural network?” A “neural network” is a series of connected neurons. Information travels along these networks that enable …
How to stop your IAs from losing marksA step-by-step guide for annotating your IAs using PDF marking tools
Have had your IAs lose marks after moderation? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. This post will give you a step-by-step guide on how to annotate your IAs so you won’t lose marks. For years my top IAs would all come down a few marks and my lowest ones would go up a couple. We are given IA feedback from moderators …
What none of us realized about the new IAs
There is one massive change to the new IB Psychology IA rubric that I overlooked at first with my students. After moderating around 200 IAs it seems I wasn’t alone. In the old curriculum, IB Psych Internal Assessments were replications of an existing study. Surprisingly, in the new curriculum a student could technically score perfect marks without replicating an original study or even …
My best advice for new IB Psychology teachers
The following was originally posted to Facebook. It received a positive response so I thought it would be worthwhile to add as a blog post. Visit www.store.themantic-education.com for all your lesson plans, powerpoints, worksheets and pretty much everything you need to teach IB Psychology. For all the new IB Psychology teachers who are getting into a bit of a panic …
Exam Answer: Localization Short Answer QuestionAn example SAQ following a simple 7-step format
Recently I wrote a post about how to write better short answer responses (SAQs) in 7 simple steps for IB Psych’ Paper 1 and this video explains the same. But the only reason I am able to explain these frameworks with confidence is because I’ve written 100s of examples. Here’s one I’ll share with you. The example SAQ below is …
Understanding IB Psychology with 3 Easy Questions
The IB Psychology course can be a confusing beast and while the official IB Guide is there to tell us what we need to teach (as teachers) and study (as students), it’s not always clear. So I came up with a way of breaking down the IB Psychology course into three simple questions. Thinking about IB Psychology in the following …
Critical Thinking Summarized in ONE WORD!
Understanding the requirements of critical thinking can be a tricky task for students and teachers. While everyone has their own ideas about what “critical thinking” is and what it looks like in IB Psych’ exam answers, this post provides a simple and straightforward answer. I like to define critical thinking as “a critical reflection of the value and validity of one’s knowledge …