Only take notes on slides with a star, like the one to the left.

Purpose of Internal Assessment The internal assessment enables students to demonstrate the application of their skills and knowledge, and to pursue their personal interests, without the time limitations and other constraints that are associated with written examinations. The internal assessment is a key component of the IB Psychology. In this assessment you will replicate an actual psychology experiment.

IA Expectations You may work by yourself, with a partner, or in a group of up to four students. You MUST do you your own write-up. This is the only way to earn a grade. Ethics considerations must be observed (More Later) You must have it approved by me. List of possible topics – coming soon You must follow all the procedures outlined and meet deadlines.

Ethical Guidelines for Internal Assessment Any experimental study that creates anxiety, stress, pain or discomfort for participants must not be permitted. Any experimental study that involves unjustified deception, involuntary participation or invasion of privacy, including the inappropriate use of information and communication technology (ICT), and the internet, must be avoided. There may be rare occasions when such infringements cannot be avoided, in which case the approval of other experienced psychologists should be sought before proceeding. (See the psychology forum on the online curriculum centre (OCC) for further guidance.) All participants must be informed before commencing the experimental study that they have the right to withdraw at any time. Pressure must not be placed on any individual participant to continue with the investigation beyond this point.

Ethical Guidelines for Internal Assessment Each participant must be informed of the aims and objectives of the research and must be shown the results of the research. Young children should not be used as participants. Experimental studies involving children need the written consent of parent(s) or guardian(s). Students must ensure that parents are fully informed about the implications for children who take part in such research. Where an experimental study is conducted with children in a school, the written consent of the teachers concerned must also be obtained. Participants must be debriefed and given the right to withdraw their own personal data and responses. Anonymity for each participant must be guaranteed. Teachers and students must exercise the greatest sensitivity to local and international cultures. Students must avoid conducting research with any adult who is not in a fit state of mind and cannot respond freely and independently.

Ethical Guidelines for Internal Assessment If any participant shows stress and/or pain at any stage of an experimental study, the investigation must finish immediately, and the participant must be allowed to withdraw. Non ‑ human animals must not be used for experimental study. All data collected must be kept in a confidential and responsible manner and not divulged to any other person. Students must regard it as their duty to monitor the ways in which their peers conduct research, and to encourage public re-evaluation of any research that contravenes these guidelines. Experimental studies that are conducted online, using ICT methods, are subject to the same guidelines. Any data collected online must be deleted once the research is complete. Such data must not be used for any purpose other than the conduct of the experimental study. Students found to have carried out unethical work will be awarded no marks for the internal assessment component.

Example of Topics Memory Memory and the serial position curve: Subjects learn a long list of words and after a delay they have to recall as many as possible. The hypothesis is that people tend to remember the first and last words in a list due to the primacy and recency effects but not the middle words.

Example of Topics Perception, thinking and Performance This one is based on the idea that people have a very fixed association between color and taste and attempts to find out how strong this is. It involves giving subjects colored drinks but in some conditions the color doesn't match up with the flavor (e.g. red colored mint). By measuring how long it takes for subjects to judge the flavor will tell us how strong the associations are.

Example of Topics Conformity and Prejudice Luria and Rubin (1974) – participants given the same picture of a baby but one group told it is male the other female. Record differences in descriptions. It is best to give a checklist to participants containing ‘typical’ masculine and feminine traits – fine featured, strong, robust, sensitive, cute, delicate etc

Example of Topics Drives and Motivation Incentives and performance: It would seem logical that incentives should improve our performance. This could be tested by asking subjects to perform simple tasks like anagrams and measuring their speed of performance under different conditions. e.g. with or without an incentive like a Mars bar or alternatively by creating a fear of failing - to see whether positive or negative incentives are the most effective (e.g. telling the subjects that the results will be put on display and that the average number of completed anagrams in 5 minutes by 8 year olds is 15!) This could be developed to find whether the fear of failure impedes performance most on more complex cognitive tasks like anagrams rather than simple memory recall type tasks.

Important Info Rough Draft – Due December 15 Final Draft – Due January 5 We will have deadlines throughout the semester for you to complete parts of the IA. Use this site to begin looking at topics to get ideas. a.htm a.htm