The study of attraction is definitely one of my favourite topics. Because there’s so much interesting research in this field, I thought I’d create this post to “dump” some extra resources that you might find interesting. WARNING FOR STUDENTS: Many of the “studies” in the videos below have been replicated for the purposes of TV entertainment. They are to be used …
Experiment Results: Is an evaluation distinguishable from a discussion?
After writing and sharing a recent post, I got some questions regarding the validity of my claim that a good evaluation and discussion are indistinguishable. So I decided to put it to the test by writing an example essay following the essay structure I advise for students and seeing if it was obvious which command term was being used. I gathered …
Introduction to Psychology: Powerpoint (Chapter 1)
This powerpoint is designed to accompany the introduction unit plan and the student workbook. Feel free to amend or adapt as you wish. You can download the powerpoint HERE!! I added some comments to the slides as well to hopefully make it easier to see how to use them. For those teachers using IB Psychology: A Student’s Guide, you will hopefully …
Top 5 Tips for IB Psych’ Success
As a short review activity to begin my first Grade 12 (Year Two) class for the year I asked my students to come up with “5 Tips for IB Psych’ Success” that I could then share with the Grade 11 (Year One) students. I thought their list was pretty spot-on, so I thought I’d share it here. #1. Ask Questions …
What makes an experiment “quasi?”
One key characteristic of a quasi-experiment is that one or more conditions of a true experiment cannot be met. This often includes the fact that there is no random allocation to the treatment or control conditions in the experiment. So if there is no random allocation, but there is still an IV hypothesized to have an effect on a DV, the …
Lesson Idea: Reviewing Year One
Updated, Aug 2020 After two months of summer my students have had every chance to forget almost everything we did in year one. Even when I sit down to my desk to plan the second year I struggle to think what we’ve already covered. For this reason I like to spend the entire first lesson on reviewing what we did …
Unit Plan: Introduction to Psychology
This unit plan is for a ten lesson, “Introduction to Psychology” unit. Most of the lesson ideas in this plan have already been posted on this blog. As always, I welcome feedback so please feel free to leave a comment. You can download my Introduction to Psychology Unit Plan HERE!!!! This unit is also designed to work alongside the student …
How to learn anything in three simple steps!
I devised this three-step approach to learning for my students last year during exam revision. Find what you need to know Find your knowledge gaps Fill your knowledge gaps This approach helps me articulate to my students the process of learning, which also helps me discuss their progress during assigned revision times. The language of this post is how I would …
Lesson Idea: Understanding conclusions from studies
For years I underestimated just how complex psychology studies are at first glance for brand new IB Psychology students, so I’ve made a deliberate effort in my new course to have a real gradual introduction into studies. For this activity, I like to have students in groups of three to four. They are given four studies from the criminology unit …
Demand characteristics: What are they REALLY?
I was reading another research methods chapter in a new psychology textbook the other day and despite it’s excellent content in research methodology, it still (I think) mis-defined demand characteristics. The most common definition of demand characteristics out there goes something like, “demand characteristics are when participants are aware of the aim of the research and change their behaviour in a …