Wishing you all the happiest and most relaxing holiday season ever.I hope that you will find health, happiness and a smooth exam in 2019.I will be leaving this beautiful city for Prague for two weeks and will only intermittently be checking email and/or the Inthinking site. Much of the holiday I will not have access to WIFI.So, please be patient. Replies will be slow. Enjoy your time off from IB psychology.......

As of the 2020 exams, students may be asked about "kinship studies." The term is, unfortunately, an incorrect one - but it is what will appear on exams. The term should be family or pedigree studies. The following study is linked to the study of depression and may be used in both the abnormal option and on Paper 1 to answer an SAQ on the use of "kinship studies" in the study of...

The following lesson plan focuses on disposition and health beliefs. It is important to remember that on the exam, students may be asked to write an ERQ on disposition or health beliefs. This means that they must be ready to write an essay on both topics.The health beliefs that will be explored are self-efficacy and optimism bias. The dispositions that will be explored is personality traits. However,...

The following Paper 3 looks at the role of mothers in a child's eating and exercise behaviour. It is a study that focuses on childhood obesity. It is also a case study. You will find sample responses at the end of the text.I have used this Paper 3 as part of our study of obesity - a good way to discuss the role of environmental factors in childhood obesity. Student copyThe stimulus pieceHealth...

Essential understandingsOur behaviour is influenced by others, even when we believe that we are acting independently.We have both an individual and a social identity which influences our behaviour.Behaviours are learned through our interaction and observation of others.Stereotypes affect behaviour.The sociocultural approachPsychologists recognize that human behaviour can only be fully understood if...

This section of the site is devoted to materials that may be used to organize and assist students in the setting up and carrying out of the internal assessment. The section includes suggestions for experiments to replicate, reminders of restrictions for the internal assessment, planners and checklists, as well as samples of IA's which students should consult before starting their report writing....

The following set of practice papers are not official IB papers. As of the creation of this page, there is only one specimen paper available. All of the papers are created here by me, based on examiner experience.The questions for the papers are always the same. An explanation of the questions is given below.For each exam, there is a set of sample responses. Remember that in the new curriculum the...

The following lesson introduces the Schema theory - its strengths and limitations. It is also a precursor to the lessons on reconstructive memory and the reliability of cognitive processes. This lesson takes two 80-minute periodsThe following Powerpoint was developed together with Anna Yakutonok from the Prague British School. It may be used together with the lesson plan below. Schema theory pptTask...

The following lesson introduces the Working Memory Model. In addition to learning about the model, we explore what is meant by multi-tasking. This lesson takes two to three 80-minute periods.For this lesson, you will need the following Powerpoint presentation. Working memory model pptEvidence to support the modelTo start off the class, I begin by asking students if there are any types of tasks that...

The following lesson is on the evolution of attraction. It starts with an overview of evolutionary theory and then looks at two key studies of the role of biology in attraction.The lesson finishes with an evaluation of evolutionary arguments in psychology. Another study - the study known as the Smelly T-Shirt study by Wedekind, will be addressed in the next lesson which focuses on pheromones - however,...