Learning about psychological research

While philosophers ponder life’s big questions and poets play with words to convey their ideas, psychologists carry out scientific research. They have many options: observe people, ask people questions or set up conditions to see how people react. In broad terms,...

Education and technology

As online Psychology students, you will continuously be engaging with technology to support your learning in this course. Doubtless, you are aware of some of the debates regarding technology and education: Are the internet and video games a distraction from learning?...

The Memory Wars Revisited

As many of you now know, Elizabeth Loftus is one of the most famous psychologists in the world. If you remember her work on eyewitness memory (Loftus and Palmer, 1974), you might find this recent discussion of her still-controversial findings interesting. Pay close...

Tajfel and Social Identity Theory

Social identity theory was first proposed by Henri Tajfel (1971). He argued that the groups to which we belong are an important source of pride and self-esteem. We can feel good about ourselves by boosting the status of any group we belong to. Age-groups, sporting...

Neuroplasticity and Poverty

One of the more fascinating topics from the Biological Approach is neuroplasticity. The IB Psychology Guide states that the development of neural networks is the results of both genetic and environmental influences. The article “The Lasting Impacts of Poverty on...

Brain imaging technology

The Biological and the Cognitive Approaches employ technology like brain scanning to understand the brain and behaviour. This article, New Imaging Method Allows Scientists to Identify Specific Mental States from Science Daily reports on research on the brain that...