This post is designed to give you a quick guide on how to make sure you’re using APA formatting properly. It will cover the two main elements to consider when using APA-style referencing in your psychology papers: in-text citations and the references list. When it comes to citations, I think the why is just as important as the how. So I am intent …
EE Tips for Completing the Reflections (RPPF Form)
Giving students an empty space and saying, “reflect” can be really challenging. This is why I like to give a few possible ideas of what they could write about. These are explained below. The RPPF (Reflections on Planning and Progress Form) is where EE students write their three reflections: First, Interim and Final (after the viva voce). The maximum word …
EE Supervisor Tips – The Viva Voce
In this post, I will share my tips on how I do the viva voce – a compulsory final interview with the student after they’ve submitted their EE final draft. The viva voce takes about 20-30 minutes and is conducted after the final draft is submitted. According to the EE Guide, the viva voce is an opportunity … “…to ask …
IA Tips…How to explain your PARTICIPANTS
You must “explain” the five elements of the exploration: Design, Sampling technique, Controls, Materials, Participants to get full marks for the IA exploration (4 marks). In this post we’ll look at how to explain your choice of participants. Explaining participant choices is quite difficult. I would aim to have one really excellent explanation that clearly shows how you are controlling …
IA Tips: How to explain your…MATERIALS
The key to a great IA is attention to detail. The Exploration is worth the fewest marks (4) but probably requires the most attention. I don’t think the Exploration is a difficult section to write, as long as you follow some basic guidelines. I’ve already made a video explaining how to use the What-How-Why method (State-Describe-Explain) to explain each section …
Generalizability in Animal Studies: Cognition and Culture
Generalizability is the extent to which we can confidently predict the results of a study would apply to a different context, including different people, places, and procedures. When considering the extent to which we can generalize findings from animal studies, we are considering how confidently we could predict the same finding in humans. For example, animal studies like Sapolsky’s research …
IA Tips for Loftus and Palmer
By far it’s the most popular study to conduct for the IB Psychology IA. But watch out, the “car crash study” can cause major accidents if you’re not careful. So if you’re doing Loftus and Palmer for the IA, read this post carefully. Below is a summary of some common errors students make and tips on how to avoid these …
IA tips for Glanzer and Cunitz Studies
It’s a popular study to replicate for the IA, but Glanzer and Cunitz’s 1966 study on the serial position effect is filled with danger when you’re not careful. If you’re doing this study for your IA, read this post carefully! Read more: Key Study: Multi-store Model and The Primacy and Recency Effects Key Studies for the IA These famous psychologists …
How to avoid the biggest mistake in IAsLink your investigation to the background theory
The most common mistake I’ve seen in IAs with the new curriculum is the lack of focus on the background theory or model. Students spend all their time and energy on the original study they’re replicating, that they completely overlook this crucial element. In this blog post (and video), (and in the video below) I want to show you an easy …
Key Study: Social status and stress in Olive Baboons (Sapolsky, 1990)
An interesting finding in the field of stress and health psychology is that people with higher social status are generally in better health: they have lower rates of heart disease, are less obese and live longer. Why? One reason could be because they are less stressed. A lot of our knowledge about stress and health comes from animal studies, particularly those …
10 ways to stress a monkeyFindings from studies on primate stress and social rank
Why would you want to stress a monkey? Hopefully you don’t. But learning about stressed monkeys can help us explain stress problems in humans. Decades of animal research has shown that social status is connected with stress. Typically speaking, monkeys with a higher rank in their group are less stressed and have lower levels of stress hormones like cortisol. Low-ranking …
Over 2200 words? 5 tips to help
It’s a great problem to have, but it’s still a problem. Hard-working students lament over having to cut out aspects of their IA to get under the 2200 words. But there’s always the fear that you’ll lose something important and that will cost you marks. Here’s 5 ways you can reduce your word count without losing marks. Firstly, remember that …
Is demand-withdraw a cross-cultural phenomenon?
One of the most commonly studied communication styles in married couples is “demand-withdraw.” It’s often called the “wife demand, husband withdraw” because this is the common trend. However, this phenomenon has mostly been reported in Western countries. This raises the question if it has the same negative effect on marriages across cultures or even if the same pattern even exists. …
Key Study: Why do people get divorced? (Scott et al. 2013)
Understanding what makes some marriages work and others fail is the life’s work of many psychologists. This simple study uncovers at least 5 common reasons why couples might divorce. It’s no surprise that getting divorced has massive negative consequences – psychological, physical, emotional and even financial. Divorced individuals are more at risk for substance abuse, depression and poor overall health. …
These famous psychologists would fail their IAs!
I can barely get through a psychology TED™ Talk by a psychologist these days without sighing at the blatant manipulation being presented. In class, I can’t help but pause the video and comment. My students know what’s coming and I’m sure I annoy the heck out of them. But I think it’s important. Here’s why these psychologists would fail their …
Example SAQ – How agonists affect behaviour
The “additional terms” that have been added to Paper 1 SAQs in IB Psychology can be a nuisance. However, there are ways to address the potential questions without adding too much content to your course. This post shows you an example SAQ that uses Passamonti et al.’s study on neurotransmission for a potential answer on agonists and behaviour. An agonist …
3 Examples of how to write excellent EE questions
The key to writing an excellent EE research question isn’t to begin with the perfect question in mind. Far from it. You have to begin broad and continually work on evolving your question so it gets more and more focused. In this post we look at three examples of how a broad topic can evolve into an excellent research question. …
How to write the perfect EE question
With so much riding on the EE question itself, it’s important to get it right. But I often disagree with a lot of advice offered on EE questions, so here’s my advice for writing the perfect EE question. The best EE questions are clear and focused. It’s important to have a focused EE research question because it’s stated in the rubric (see …
What Rebecca Black’s story can teach us about resilience
If you’re an old fogey like me the name Rebecca Black probably won’t mean much. And to be honest, to kids in high school today in 2020 it might not mean much either. But she was the most googled person in 2011 and she can teach all of us a lot about an important psychological concept – resilience. In 2011, …
The best topics for Paper 2
The IB Psychology guide is a little, shall we say, clunky. One benefit of the clunkiness of the guide is that we can exploit some of the oversights to our advantage. For example, there’s guaranteed one exam question per topic in Paper 2. This means you only need to study one topic per option (SL write one essay on one …
Exam Topics in IB Psychology Paper Two – Overview
The most important thing to know when studying for the IB Psychology exams are the topics. The IB Guide published by the IB has these listed. Unfortunately, the guide is a bit confusing in its layout and it’s not easy to see quickly and easily what the topics are. That’s why I put them in this post. Download the following …
How to study for Paper 2 in IB Psychology
Revising or Paper 2 in IB Psych can be challenging because it’s not always clear what the questions will be. Unlike the Paper 1 topics, Paper 2 topics are bit more ambiguous. However, the same requirements as Paper 1 essays are still needed. This means we can approach studying for Paper 2 in a similar way as Paper 1, we …
Exam Topics in IB Psychology Paper One
The most important thing to know when studying for the IB Psychology exams are the topics. The IB Guide published by the IB has these listed. Unfortunately, the guide is a bit confusing in its layout and it’s not easy to see quickly and easily waht the topics are. That’s why I put them in this post. Download the following …
Key Study: Schema Theory & the Superwoman Self-schema
Schema theory is one of the most important theories in cognitive psychology, but it can also be one of the more difficult theories to understand. The best way, I’ve found, to understand schema theory is to look at as many real-life examples as possible. In this post, we’ll look at a fascinating example – the AfricanAmerican Superwoman self-schema. A schema …
How to study for Paper 1 in IB Psychology3 Steps to Prepare for Section B: Essays
In yesterday’s post, I explained 7 simple steps for studying for Paper 1, Section A (SAQs) in IB Psychology. Now it’s time to look at how we can use that foundation to prepare for Section B – the essays. Studying for Paper 1 in IB Psychology is simple, but it’s not easy. Make sure you start your revision a few …
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