The Importance of Routine
5 benefits of good habits in the time of online learning

Travis DixonDevelopmental Psychology, General Interest, Health Psychology

One of the biggest challenges we’re facing right now is the disruption to our normal routines. With schools closing and moving to online learning, it’s very easy to get into bad habits. My goal as an online teacher at the moment is to offer meaningful work and help my students maintain good routines. The biggest challenge for students is to …

Key Study: The Marshmallow Test Across Cultures: German vs. Cameroon Kids (Lamm et al. 2018)
An example of how enculturation can influence behaviour.

Travis DixonDevelopmental Psychology, Key Studies, Social and Cultural Psychology

“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 …

Computer games and the brain: A summary with two key studies

Travis DixonBiological Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Key Studies, Studies and Theories

In this post we look at the positive effects of playing computer games by looking at how it might affect the brain, both in young and old people. We know from many MRI studies that our brain changes as a result of experience – this is called neuroplasticity. Therefore, it’s not unrealistic to think that hours spent playing video games …

Key Study: Bandura’s Bobo Doll (1963)

Travis DixonCriminology, Developmental Psychology, Key Studies, Social and Cultural Psychology, Studies and Theories

Introduction In one of his earlier research studies (1961), Bandura showed that children exposed to an aggressive model would later copy those same aggressive behaviours, even if the child was in a different setting. This supports the idea that behavior can be learned through observation, which is the major claim of Social Learning Theory (SLT). TV and films have become …

5 reasons to be wary of choosing the development option

Travis DixonCurriculum, Developmental Psychology

This post was originally called: “5 reasons why I wouldn’t choose the development option,” but I’ve changed it so it’s less scary for those teachers who are keen on the option. If you’re contemplating which options to go for in the new course, I personally wouldn’t be rushing into choosing development as one of them. I’ve only recently come to see just …