Psychology

Context

The IB Diploma Programme psychology course is the systematic study of behaviour and mental processes.

Since the psychology course examines the interaction of biological, cognitive and sociocultural influences on human behaviour, it is well placed in group 3, individuals and societies. You can expect to develop an understanding of how psychological knowledge is generated, developed and applied. This will allow you to have a greater understanding of yourselves and appreciate the diversity of human behaviour. You will be able to develop an understanding of what all humans share, as well as the immense diversity of influences on human behaviour and mental processes. The ethical concerns raised by the methodology and application of psychological research are also key considerations of the IB psychology course.

Tasks

Task 1: Research in Psychology

Is Psychology a science?

The debate about whether psychology is a science rages on the Internet. It is without a doubt that psychologists use the scientific method. So, why the debate?

Unlike other sciences, psychology has failed to produce a cumulative body of knowledge that has a clear conceptual core that is consensually agreed upon by mainstream psychological experts. It is the lack of a core, accepted body of knowledge which is problematic in psychology’s desire to be labeled a “science.”

What are some of the core ideas that define other sciences – such as biology, chemistry and physics? How are these core ideas most likely different from the study of human behaviour?
Is it important that psychology makes use of the scientific method? Why or why not?

Thinking about testability

For each of the following statements, think about whether this it "testable" or not. If so, how would you be able to test it to see whether it is "true" or not? What are the problems with testing these claims?

1. Cold weather makes you sick.

2. Married couples are happier than single people.

3. Playing online games makes you smarter.

4. Eating foods containing high levels of sugar can affect your concentration on a test.

Thinking critically about empirical research

How can you use research to improve real-life situations? The British Psychological Society’s Research Digest contains many brief descriptions of empirical studies in the psychology of education. You can find these studies here.

1. Find an empirical study on this site that interests you.

2. Write a brief summary of the study. State what the researcher was looking for, how the research was carried out, and what the findings were.

3. If you were the headmaster or principal of a school, what would research like this mean to you? Would you make any changes to improve the school you work in?

Sampling

You have been hired by your local government as a health psychologist with the goal of increasing exercise in the local community. You decide to carry out interviews at the local fitness center to learn more about people’s motivation to engage in exercise.

1. What type of sample is this?

2. Your study may be criticized for having a sampling bias. Which group of people may be over-represented? Which group may be underrepresented?

3. How do you think that you could get a more representative sample for your study?

Thinking critically about sampling

Below you will see four studies that may be carried out by a psychologist. For each one, think about what effect having a sample made of university students might have on the results. Which study do you think would be most influenced by having a student sample? The least influenced?

A study to find out if eating chocolate may affect memory.
A study to find out if levels of social media use are linked to levels of depression.
A study to determine if watching a funny movie changes one's testosterone levels.
A study to find if childhood trauma has an effect on one's problem-solving skills.

Task 2: Culture and Dating

Thinking critically: Herbivores

Globalization can have some rather unexpected outcomes in society. One example is the rise of "herbivores" in Japan. Herbivores (Sōshoku(-kei) danshi) is the name given to Japanese men who have no interest in getting married or having a girlfriend. Surveys of single Japanese men conducted in 2010 found that 61% of men in their 20s and 70% of men in their 30s considered themselves to be herbivores. Japan's government views the phenomenon as one possible cause of the nation's declining birth rate.

What does globalization have to do with this? As part of Japan's collectivistic culture, marriage was arranged through family connections - a practice known as Miai. As Japan has become more individualistic, this cultural practice is seen less and less. However, as part of their culture, Japanese men also have a strong fear of losing face.

Fear of rejection makes it difficult for Japanese men to ask a woman out on a date. It is also considered culturally inappropriate for a woman to ask men out on a date.

So, how to resolve this problem? The Japanese government has promised that local authorities will get government support if they organise speed-dating or other forms of matchmaking in order to promote the birth of more Japanese children. Time will tell if this strategy will prove to be effective.

Think critically about these questions, as if for a psycholoical report:

How did culture impact the rules for dating in Japan?
Do you think that social media has changed the rules for dating in your own culture?
What effect do you think that globalization may have had on dating in your own community?

Task 3: The Digital World

According to the UK's Office of Communications (2015), young people between the ages of 16 and 24 spend more than 27 hours a week on the Internet. The average adult spends more than 20 hours online a week, which includes time spent on the Internet at work.

More and more, technology is an essential part of classrooms around the globe - let it be one-to-one laptop programs, use of mobile devices, Skype conversations between schools around the world or digital textbooks (like the one that you are reading). Programs like the Khan Academy have made personalized learning possible - that is, students are able to learn at their own pace by interacting with an online app.

The question psychologists want to answer is - is this good for us?

Although computers and the Internet have been around for some time, it is only now that we are beginning to see what we believe may be the effects of living so much of our lives in the digital world. In the past few years, we have seen the following headlines:

It does seem like a lot of the news is negative. But there is good news as well.

Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the headlines above, there is one fundamental problem: Most of the research on the effects of technology have not been replicated. The question of how we can effectively investigate the effect of technology on our cognition is a complicated one. And as you can probably guess, there is a lot of researcher bias on both sides of the aisle.

Thinking critically

Choose one of the headlines above and read the article that it links to. Prepare a short presentation where you summarize the article for your class. When summarizing it, consider the following questions:

Do you find the conclusions credible? Why or why not?
What would you have to consider if you replicated the study in your own community?
What are potential implications of the research?

Task 4: Animal Research

Key positions on the use of animals in research:

The utilitarian argument takes the position that if the experimentation results in a greater good, then it was appropriate. This argument also supports the condition that if research can be in any other way and yield the same results, then animals should not be used. In order to determine if the research would be ethical, a cost-benefit analysis must be carried out. If the findings would benefit a large number of human beings and/or animals, it could be argued that the research is ethically justified.

The animal rights argument, however, argues that the utilitarian argument is an example of speciesism – that is, the idea that being human is a good enough reason for human animals to have greater rights than non-human animals. The animal rights argument believes that all animals have rights. Using animals for research is thus considered inappropriate.

Looking at the two arguments above, which position do you take on the following animal studies? Justify your position.

Studies on the role of acetylcholine on memory (Martinez & Kesner, n.d.)
Research on the role of stress on health (Shively & Day, 2015)
Research on the role of hormones on mating behaviour in prairie voles (Winslow et al, 1993).

Research and inquiry

Read up on Harlow's 1958 study. Your school is putting together an exhibit of important psychologists as part of their promotion of the psychology program. They have decided to give Harry Harlow one of the prominent positions in the exhibit.

What do you think?
Carry out some research to find out more about his research. What was the value, if any, of this studies?
Do they justify the unethical treatment of the monkeys?
Create an argument for your school’s administration based on research that you find regarding the value of Harlow’s research.

Recommended research

Magazines and databases

The following magazines and databases are good resources for extended essays.

The EBSCO & the Questia databases are the two most commonly used databases in high schools. The EBSCO database has a module called "Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection." This has full original articles. In addition, the "eBook Academic Collection" and "eBook High School Collection" both have several full texts online. If you only have this one source, you can do your EEs. In addition, EBSCO, like Questia, has tools for students to take notes and highlight texts for later use.

Questia also has many ebooks and original articles available. The program has more tools for student research than EBSCO, but the research that is available tends to be older.

The Inquisitive Mind

The Psychologist - published by the BPS. Quarterly. Also contains teacher support materials.

Scientific American Mind - a monthly publication with many topics highly relevant to the IB curriculum. Highly recommended. All back copies are available in EBSCO.

Futurelearn course to Cognitive Psychology