Welcome to IB Psychology

Summary

This script offers an insightful overview of the IB Psychology course, emphasizing its relevance to understanding human behavior and cognition. It covers the biological, socio-cultural, and cognitive approaches, exploring topics like criminal behavior, prejudice, memory, and decision-making. The course also delves into extension topics for HL students and a variety of option subjects, including abnormal psychology and developmental psychology. The importance of research methodology and ethical considerations in psychological studies is highlighted, along with tips for success in the course, such as consistent study habits and delaying gratification.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and cognition, focusing on how and why we think and act the way we do.
• 🌿 The biological approach in psychology examines factors like brain activity, hormones, and genetics to understand behavior.
• 🌐 The socio-cultural approach explores how social and cultural factors influence behavior, such as prejudice and discrimination.
• 🧠 The cognitive approach delves into mental processes like memory and decision-making, aiming to enhance learning and cognitive functions.
• 🐵 High-level students studying the biological approach also explore animal research and its role in psychological studies.
• 📱 The socio-cultural approach at the college level examines the impact of technology on cognition, like studying with smartphones.
• 🌍 The effects of globalization on culture and behavior are studied under the social-cultural approach at the higher level.
• 📚 Optional topics in IB Psychology include abnormal psychology, human relationships, health psychology, and developmental psychology.
• 🔍 Research methodology is a贯穿整个课程的主题, emphasizing the importance of understanding and critically evaluating psychological research methods and ethical considerations.
• 👥 The internal assessment gives students the opportunity to conduct their own psychological experiments, applying research methods learned throughout the course.
• 📈 Consistent, ongoing study and delaying gratification are key strategies for success in IB Psychology, as opposed to last-minute cramming.

Q & A

What is the main focus of IB Psychology?

IB Psychology focuses on the scientific study of behavior and cognition, exploring how and why we think and act the way we do.

What are the three main approaches to understanding behavior and cognition in IB Psychology?

The three main approaches are the biological approach, which looks at factors like brain activity, hormones, and genetics; the socio-cultural approach, which considers external environmental, social, and cultural factors; and the cognitive approach, which delves into mental processes like memory and decision-making.

How does the biological approach in IB Psychology use criminology as a theme?

The biological approach examines the biological basis of criminal behavior, exploring whether there are biological factors such as brain abnormalities, hormone levels, or genetics that might predispose individuals to criminal behavior.

What is the 'warrior gene' mentioned in the context of the biological approach?

The 'warrior gene' is a term used to describe a genetic predisposition that might make someone more prone to violence.

How does the socio-cultural approach in IB Psychology address prejudice and discrimination?

The socio-cultural approach looks at how external factors such as upbringing, socialization, and media influence can lead to prejudice and discrimination against individuals from different groups.

What are the two key cognitive processes emphasized in the cognitive approach of IB Psychology?

Memory and decision-making are the two key cognitive processes emphasized in the cognitive approach, with a focus on how they affect learning and behavior.

What additional topics do high-level students explore in each of the three approaches?

High-level students delve into animal research in the biological approach, the effects of technology on cognition in the socio-cultural approach, and globalization in the cognitive approach.

What are the core options in IB Psychology and what behaviors do they focus on?

The core options in IB Psychology include abnormal psychology, human relationships, health psychology, and developmental psychology, each focusing on specific behaviors and psychological disorders.

Why is the study of research methodology important throughout the IB Psychology course?

Research methodology is crucial as it teaches students how to critically evaluate and analyze psychological research methods to determine the validity, usefulness, reliability, and ethical considerations of the knowledge gained.

What is the internal assessment in IB Psychology and how does it work?

The internal assessment involves students conducting their own psychological experiment, replicating a study based on existing theory, gathering and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions to understand human behavior.

What advice does the speaker give for succeeding in IB Psychology?

The speaker advises students to study a little bit often throughout the course, delay gratification, set goals, and balance instant sources of entertainment with long-term priorities for success in IB Psychology.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 Introduction to IB Psychology

This paragraph introduces the IB Psychology course, emphasizing its relevance to understanding human behavior and cognition. The course explores three approaches to psychology: biological, socio-cultural, and cognitive. The biological approach examines factors like brain activity, hormones, and genetics to explain behavior, often using criminology as a theme. The socio-cultural approach investigates how social and cultural factors influence actions, with a focus on behaviors like prejudice and discrimination. The cognitive approach delves into mental processes like memory and decision-making, aiming to enhance learning strategies. High-level students also cover extension topics like animal research, technology's impact on cognition, and globalization. The paragraph concludes by highlighting the practical applications of psychology in everyday life.

05:02

📚 Deep Dive into Psychology's Core and Options

The second paragraph delves into the specifics of the IB Psychology course, discussing the core topics and elective options. It mentions the study of psychological disorders in abnormal psychology, personal relationships and social dynamics in human relationships, and health psychology's focus on stress and coping mechanisms. Developmental psychology is also introduced, covering growth factors from early childhood to early adulthood. The paragraph stresses the importance of research methodology and ethical considerations in psychological studies. It outlines the internal assessment, where students conduct their own experiments, and the external assessment, which includes a written examination. The speaker advises consistent study habits and the importance of delaying gratification for success in the course, suggesting that psychology's insights are not only academic but also practical for daily life.

Keywords

💡IB Psychology

IB Psychology is a course within the International Baccalaureate (IB) program that focuses on the scientific study of behavior and cognition. It is designed to explore how and why humans think and act in certain ways, making it highly relevant to everyday life. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the practicality and applicability of the subject, suggesting that understanding psychological concepts can help students in various aspects of their lives, such as learning, relationships, and stress management.

💡Biological Approach

The Biological Approach in psychology examines the role of biological factors in influencing behavior and cognition. It includes the study of brain function, hormonal influences, and genetic predispositions. In the context of the video, the speaker uses criminology as a theme to explore the biological basis of criminal behavior, such as the presence of a 'warrior gene' that might predispose individuals to violence.

💡Socio-Cultural Approach

The Socio-Cultural Approach looks at how external environmental, social, and cultural factors shape human behavior. It seeks to understand phenomena like prejudice and discrimination by examining factors such as upbringing, social learning, and media influence. The video mentions this approach in relation to understanding why people might treat others poorly based on group affiliations, appearance, or other social constructs.

💡Cognitive Approach

The Cognitive Approach in psychology delves into the mental processes underlying behavior, with a focus on cognition. It includes the study of memory, decision-making, and other cognitive processes. The speaker in the video discusses how this approach can be applied to learning strategies, such as understanding how to become better learners by leveraging psychological science.

💡Research Methodology

Research Methodology in psychology involves the study of how psychological knowledge is acquired and validated. It includes learning about different research methods, their validity, reliability, and ethical considerations. The video emphasizes the importance of understanding research methods to critically evaluate psychological studies and to conduct one's own psychological experiments, which is a part of the IB Psychology course.

💡Internal Assessment

The Internal Assessment is a component of the IB Psychology course where students conduct their own psychological experiments. It requires students to replicate studies based on existing theories, gather and analyze data, and draw conclusions. This hands-on experience is meant to deepen students' understanding of psychological research and its practical application.

💡Abnormal Psychology

Abnormal Psychology is one of the optional topics within the IB Psychology course. It focuses on understanding psychological disorders, their diagnosis, causes, and treatments. The video mentions studying disorders like PTSD, depression, and anxiety, with a specific focus on the rising rates of depression among teenagers, highlighting the subject's relevance to contemporary societal issues.

💡Human Relationships

Human Relationships is another optional topic that explores various aspects of how humans interact with one another. It includes themes like social responsibility, group dynamics, and personal relationships. The speaker in the video uses the example of a unit on 'love and marriage' to illustrate how this topic can provide insights into why people form romantic attachments and the factors that contribute to the success or failure of relationships.

💡Health Psychology

Health Psychology examines the factors that influence health and illness, and how psychological factors can affect health behaviors. The video discusses the relevance of this topic to students, particularly in understanding stress and coping mechanisms, which are critical skills for managing the pressures of academic and personal life.

💡Developmental Psychology

Developmental Psychology is the study of how individuals grow and change throughout their life. It focuses on the factors that influence development from early childhood to adolescence. The video suggests that while this topic may not be as popular as others, it provides valuable insights into the critical developmental period that shapes an individual's future.

💡Ethical Issues

Ethical Issues in psychology pertain to the moral principles and guidelines that govern psychological research and practice. The video touches on the importance of considering the ethical implications of studies, especially those that may cause harm or distress to participants, whether human or animal. Ethical considerations are integral to the study of psychology, ensuring that knowledge is pursued responsibly.

Highlights

IB Psychology explores how and why we think and act the way we do, emphasizing its relevance to everyday life.

The course is structured around three approaches: biological, socio-cultural, and cognitive.

Biological approach examines brain activity, hormones, and genetics to understand behavior, using criminology as a theme.

Socio-cultural approach investigates how social and cultural factors influence behavior, such as prejudice and discrimination.

Cognitive approach delves into memory and decision-making processes, aiming to enhance learning strategies.

High Level (HL) students extend their studies with topics like animal research in biology and technology's impact on cognition.

Options within the course allow for focused study on specific behaviors like abnormal psychology, human relationships, and health psychology.

Abnormal psychology covers the diagnosis, explanation, and treatment of psychological disorders.

Human relationships explore social responsibility, group dynamics, and personal relationships, including love and marriage.

Health psychology examines factors influencing health and how to promote well-being, such as stress management.

Developmental psychology focuses on the factors affecting growth and development from early childhood to early adulthood.

Research methodology is a贯穿整个课程的主题, emphasizing the importance of understanding how psychological knowledge is obtained and its ethical considerations.

Internal assessment tasks involve conducting a psychological experiment, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions.

The course's practical applications are highlighted through topics like studying with smartphones and coping with stress.

Advice for success in IB Psychology includes consistent study habits and delaying gratification to achieve long-term goals.

The speaker encourages students to engage with the material regularly and avoid last-minute cramming for effective learning.

Psychology as a subject is positioned as highly relevant, offering insights into everyday behaviors and mental processes.

Transcripts

ever find yourself sitting in class and

think when am i ever going to use this

well in ib psychology you won't because

we are studying how and why we think and

act the way we do and what's more

relevant and important than that

welcome to the wonderful world of ib

psychology if you're contemplating

considering taking this for a subject

i'm going to explain the whole course in

less than 10 minutes so you can make an

informed decision if you're just about

to start the course then again i'll give

you the nice overview so you know what

to expect and how to do well and maybe

you've already started the course this

will give you a nice refresher and could

even help you see the bigger picture

which will help you get ready for your

exams psychology is the scientific study

of behavior and cognition how and why do

we think and act the way we do so ib

psychology tries to answer that question

by looking at three particular

explanations the biological approach

looks at biological factors what's

happening in our brain our hormones and

our genetics to understand behavior and

i like to teach this approach using

criminology as my theme so we look at

the biological basis of criminal

behavior are there biological factors

that might increase the likelihood

someone's going to become a criminal

like abnormalities in their brain or

their hormone levels or their particular

genetics there is it's called the

warrior gene which might make someone

more violent the socio-cultural approach

looks at external environmental social

and cultural factors that can explain

behavior for example one of the most

common behaviors social psychologists

try to understand is prejudice and

discrimination why do people treat

others so horrendously if they belong to

a different group is that based on the

being raised by appearance how we're

raised or

learning from our parents and our

friends in our school or maybe things we

get from the media is it to do with the

groups that we belong to is this why

people become prejudiced and

discriminate and so we look try to

understand behaviors from that social

cultural perspective now the cognitive

approach it's a little bit misnamed it's

called the cognitive approach to

understanding behavior and cognition but

really it's the cognitive approach to

understanding cognition it's a deeper

look into that the cognitive the mental

thinking aspect of psychology so two

important processes are memory and

decision making and so i'm working on a

new unit now called how to learn right

so we can use this like psychological

science of learning and memory to our

advantage to figure out how to become

better learners what more important

thing to learn about in school and we

can look at a range of factors that

might affect our learning right like how

we remember rehearse how we think and

also factors like emotion now in

decision making we study how do we make

good decisions and what can affect that

decision making process and the biases

in our decision making like confirmation

bias now for each of these three

approaches high level students have an

additional extension topic that's one

way hl and sl differ in the biological

approach you'll go deeper into animal

research and how and why animals are

used in psychology in the college of

approach you look at the effects of

technology on cognition particularly and

i like to teach that in a unit i call

studying with your smartphone which is

all about the pros and cons of using

smartphone and computer technology to

try to study

and the social cultural approach is

uh globalization the process of cultures

becoming more alike through trade and

immigration and the exchange of ideas

very relevant in today's modern world so

that's the core now we get to the

options and so while the core gives us

those three explanations for behavior

and cognition the options really

provides us with the particular

behaviors to focus on and then we choose

which variables we use to explain them

so for example we have an order of

popularity abnormal psychology human

relationships health psychology and

developmental psychology in abnormal

psychology you'll learn about

psychological disorders how do we

diagnose them how do we explain them how

do we treat them and so psychological

disorders you might study are things

like ptsd or depression phobias anxiety

i used to like to teach about

post-traumatic stress disorder because

there's a lot of relevant information

there about stress but i'm working on a

new unit called depression and it's

called the rise in teenage depressive

depression because since 2010 it's been

a steep rise in the rates of anxiety and

depression particularly teenagers and so

i think it's really valuable to explore

why that is then we have human

relationships now this is divided into

three particular topics social

responsibility group dynamics and

personal relationships my favorite is

personal relationships i teach that in a

unit called love and marriage it's all

about why do we fall in love who do we

find attractive and why how do we stay

in level stay married and then why do

couples break up and get divorced social

responsibility is about how and why we

might help each other or why we don't

help each other in need and group

dynamics is more about prejudice

discrimination conflicts between groups

how psychology is similar to abnormal

psychology and that you're going to

understand the explanations of a health

problem what factors can make us healthy

or unhealthy and then how do we promote

and improve people's health so i've just

finished materials on stress and how to

cope with stress what else could be more

relevant for ib students than learning

about stress where it comes from and how

to cope but other problems you might

study are obesity or addiction or sexual

health developmental psychology is all

about the factors that influence our

development as we're growing up so

what's happening between the ages of

early early childhood from zero years

old to our adolescents which ends in our

early twenties so what factors here are

influencing our development in that

important time this is probably the

least popular of the options not because

it's not as interesting but i think the

way it's structured in the guide it

makes it a little tricky to prepare for

the exams it's not to say you can't do

excellent in the exams with this option

but i like to take some of the topics

here and spread them out in other parts

of the course so we can get the most

interesting stuff without having to

choose it as a whole separate approach

now the topic that runs right the way

through the course is research

methodology the key question in

psychology is how and why do we think

and act the way we do well then the

research methods is about how do we know

and how we know in psychology is through

the research but we have to be able to

critically evaluate and analyze the

methods used to figure out is that

knowledge valid and useful and will be

reliable and we also have to couple that

with ethical issues

you might be familiar with some of the

really famous

psychological studies that

do a lot of psychological harm and

damage and even modern animal studies we

can argue is that right is that ethical

to try to gain knowledge about humans by

causing harm and suffering to others so

it's a really important question to

address so for every topic in the core

and options we have to figure out and

understand the methods and the ethics

but for high level students you'll be

assessing that in paper three so that

covers the external assessment the

internal assessment is your chance to

conduct your own psychological

experiment so you'll work in a group of

two to four students you'll select a

study to replicate base it on an

existing theory and then you're going to

run your psychology experiment gather

the data analyze the data right after

report draw some conclusions run some

statistical tests and see if your

results can tell us something about

human behavior and then we have it the

whole course we've got the core the

options research methods and the

internal assessment why study psychology

you ever find yourself sitting in class

and think when am i ever going to use

this well in ib psychology you won't

because we are studying how and why we

think and act the way we do and what's

more relevant and important than that

just take studying with your smartphone

how that affects our mind our ability to

focus and concentrate when you're going

to use that every day you're going to

use that thinking about health and

stress how to cope with stress same

thing with relationships how to how to

improve relationships how do we use

communication effectively in

relationships

how does your belonging to groups

influence

your relationships with people around

you and how you treat other people

all of this is so relevant in a day to

day setting which is why psychology is

such a great subject to learn about my

best advice for doing well in ib

psychology is many a little makes a

nickel nickel was a big amount those

that do well are those that do a little

bit often throughout the whole duration

of the course i'm going to try to show

you my youtube stats from like the week

leading up to the exams and it's like

everyone's watching these minute videos

at the last minute and i get it because

i'm a psychology teacher so i know how

people work and how and why they think

and act and procrastinate but

it's really important that if you want

to do well that's not the approach to

take that would be like me entering the

mr universe not that that's going to

happen and then but thinking all right

i'm going to look like annie

do nothing and then the day before the

competition go to the gym for five hours

and lift a bunch of weights

it's not gonna make a difference that's

not how your brain works that's not how

learning works that's not the psychology

of studying

so

my best advice is just do a little bit

often and another really important

psychological tip the secret to success

is delaying gratification if you can

delay

instant gratification and wait till

later on you're going to be more

successful in life and you might learn

about some studies that explore that in

this course how that's relevant here is

well there's

constantly surrounded by things that

could stimulate us and just detract us

and entertain us we have to be able to

switch that off and go wrong i've got a

goal here i want to get a 7 and i'd be

psychology so i'm not going to spend my

time on social media or i'm going to

limit it and i'm going to make sure that

i can take good care of my health and my

brain and my ability to focus and yeah

i'm going to spend time and socialize

with my friends but i've got to balance

that with my other priorities and so if

you want to do well it might be about

setting goals and delaying

and removing those instant sources of

gratification around you to figure out

and look more long-term for the rewards

that are going to come later on if you

just want to enjoy psychology that's

easy just show up open the book listen

to your teacher and you'll have a great

time all right that was it i hope that

was helpful i'm trying to get all my

psychology content up onto youtube so

it's coming in book form and blog form

and videos and so it's accessible in a

range of different formats so don't

forget hit subscribe if you'd like to

see notifications of the new videos i'm

making and if you got a request for

something for me to make please leave a

comment or if this was helpful leave a

comment as well alright if you're

thinking about psychology i hope you

take it and if you've already started

good luck and let me know how i can help

cheers bye