Name:______
IB Psychology Summer Assignment
In the IB Psychology HL and SL courses we will be studying human behaviors. We will be taking an interactionist approach to psychology, exploring how biology, our brains, and society influence diverse behaviors. Students will discover and analyze theories for why humans have anger, why they are attracted to others, how they learn, and questions things like the reliability of our memories and even the reliability of the current “mental health criteria.”
The Internal Assessment in Psychology requires students to research an ethical cognitive psychology study that has already been done. They will then re-create the study, and conduct it themselves. After completing a statistical analysis of their data, students will write reports comparing their findings to the original study preformed. This project teaches students important basic skills of the research process. Students will discover how to research pre-existing theories, create an operationalized hypothesis based on this research, design and conduct an experiment in psychology, and finally analyze their data and draw conclusions.
In order to prepare students for this in-depth analysis, they should begin researching possible experiments to replicate over the summer. I have listed four possible experiment options which fit the parameters of the assignment. Students should choose two of the studies to research in-depth this summer and complete a review of each.
Each review should be 2-3 pages in length and contain the following:
· A brief description of the researcher who conducted the study:
o Who was the researcher
o What is their professional background (what type of psychology do they research)
· A discussion of the study:
o What is the hypothesis of the study
o What is the AIM of the study (why did the researcher choose to conduct this study – what question are they trying to answer?)
o Pre-existing theories that the study is based on (if any)
o What is the procedure of the study
o What conclusions can be drawn from the study
· Explain the significance of the study – why do we care about it?
o What do the conclusions reveal about human behavior?
o Did the conclusion support the overall hypothesis?
Study Options:
1. The Stroop Effect (J. Ridley Stroop, 1939)
· John Stroop’s study tests the selective attention theory of psychology. He designed an experiment which required participants to first read names of colors printed in ink that matched the word. Participants then had to read the same words printed in ink that did not match the word. He compared the time it took participants to complete each trial, and the number of errors made.
2. Shallow vs. Deep Processing (Craik and Lockhart, 1972)
· Craik and Lockhart conducted a study to help them understand the best way to study and retain information. They compared two different types of processing – shallow, and deep. Their student helped to shed light on the science behind studying.
3. The Mozart Effect (Rauscher and Shaw, 1993)
· Rauscher and Shaw conducted their study to understand the effect that listening to classical music has on the brain. They found that there is a biological reaction to classical music which increases a person’s spatial reasoning abilities.
4. Leading Questions and Eyewitness Testimony (Elizabeth Loftus, 1976)
· Loftus questioned the reliability of eye-witness testimony based on their memories. She conducted a study to analyze the reliability, or lack there-of, of the memories of eye-witnesses of a crime.
Each paper should be between 2-3 pages, font 12, double spaced.