Why change to a themantic approach? Here are four of the key benefits I can see in switching to a themantic approach: It reduces the amount of content knowledge the students need to remember Less content means more time for developing critical thinking and other skills (e.g. writing, research, communication, collaboration, etc.) It increases depth of knowledge and understanding It increases options …
Attribution Errors: An Introduction
Discuss two errors in attributions. Self-Serving Bias Fundamental Attribution Error It is important that you can define both of these attribution errors. It is also important that you are using, and that you understand terms like situational and dispositional factors. These are important to understand throughout the whole socio-cultural level of analysis. Self-Serving Bias: When we attribute our success to disposition …
What is a psychological theory?
In the IB Psychology course there are a range of theories that students need to be familiar with. But it’s easy to dive straight into the complex assignments like evaluating these theories, and to overlook asking the simple questions. Here are just some of the theories that may be relevant* to the IB Psych’ course: Social Learning Theory Social Identity …
Example SAQ: Describe SIT
Social Identity Theory (SIT) is a theory that was proposed by Tajfel and Turner in the 1970s and that attempts to explain intergroup behaviours. More specifically, an original aim of SIT was to help explain situational factors in behaviour. The theory consists of four interrelated concepts: social categorization social identity social comparison and positive distinctiveness. These concepts outline the various …
What’s the difference between outline and describe?
There is none. Quite simply, in an exam sense there is no difference between outline and describe and so if you’re worried about “meeting the demands of the command term” and trying to understand the nuances between these, don’t bother. There is one difference – the definition. A “detailed” (describe) account versus a “brief” (outline) account. But if you think …
Evaluating Psychological Research (Studies and Theories)
The term “research” in IB Psychology refers to theories and studies. It is absolutely essential to develop the skill of being able to THEORIES (Link) The above link will take you to a page that has some good guidelines on how to go about evaluating a psychological theory. STUDIES (Link) There are lots of ways to evaluate psychological studies. The …
Allocation Methods
What are the allocation methods used in independent samples experiments? The allocation method simply refers to how the researchers decide who receives what treatment in an experiment. There are two ways to allocate participants: a) Randomly b) Selectively Random allocation is when the researchers divide the participants and allocate them to certain groups using a random method. For instance, in an …
Independent and Dependent Variables
What are independent, dependent variables? The DV is what is being measured. It is the effect in other words. The IV is what is being manipulated by the researcher. In other words, it is the factor that changes in the different conditions of the experiment. The aim of an experiment, therefore, is usually to investigate the effect of the IV on the DV. Take this …
The Experimental Method
What is an experiment? By far the most common research method used in psychology is the experimental method, so we’ll start here for our introduction into research methods unit. You are also going to research, plan, design, conduct and report about your own experiment idea. A study is an experiment when the relationship between two variables is investigated. A variable …
Ethics in Research
What ethical guidelines should researchers follow when conducting research? Modern psychological research in the West needs to follow ethical guidelines set out by research organisations such as the American Psychological Association (APA) or the British Psychological Society (BPS). These are important guidelines that ensure the human and animal rights to subjects involved in psychological research. Considerations when studying humans: Informed consent …