Excelling Psychology

I, Jyotika Varmani, tutor students of Psychology at all levels. I reside in Mumbai and tutor students online. You can contact me personally on my e-mail id jyotikapsychology@gmail.com or call/message me on 9892507784 for enquiries. --- Papers 2 and 4 of A-level psychology present questions for students to design studies. In the present lesson, I discuss in detail the design of a specific type of study - that of an interview. Please note, this lesson is not intended to explain or discuss the interview method of research - I assume that you are fully familiar with the method before you undertake this lesson.  The following outline covers all aspects of an interview that students must consider and plan for while designing a study involving the use of the same: Every interview has a minimum of one interviewer and a minimum of one interviewee. While designing an interview, it is important to describe both (or more) of these parties in detail with characteristics of each that are re...

I, Jyotika Varmani, tutor students of Psychology at all levels. I reside in Mumbai and tutor students online. You can contact me personally on my e-mail id jyotikapsychology@gmail.com or call/message me on 9892507784 for enquiries. --- In this new series of posts, I discuss the necessity of routine health care, dispel some common myths about the nature of mental health and suggest a few measures, easily incorporated into everyday life for this end. In this first post of the series, I discuss why a preventive approach towards mental health care is an absolute must. --- The nature of depression and its treatment have become topics of popular concern since depression is today taken to be one of the leading causes of death. A lot of suggestions have emerged from mental health experts on how depression, in its initial phases, can be tackled by measures such as sharing problems with friends, adopting problem-solving strategies, taking professional consultation and counseling, etc., all of...

Upgraded lessons for IB Psychology are now available on: ibpsych.excellingpsychology.com Thank you for visiting!

I, Jyotika Varmani, tutor students of Psychology at all levels. I reside in Mumbai and tutor students online. You can contact me personally on my e-mail id jyotikapsychology@gmail.com or call/message me on 9892507784 for enquiries. --- The studies presented at the A-levels are often misinterpreted by students as being the core content in and of themselves. They are not. They are rather, means of understanding underlying theories and research methods. Therefore, students must absolutely avoid becoming so focused on the content of the studies that they lose sight of what they are actually set to learn in the curriculum. In today's post, I explain the psychological process of classical conditioning which is presented in the curriculum by means of the case study of button phobia conducted by Saavedra and Silvermann in 2002 . The other psychological concept illustrated through this study is that of phobia and if you would like me to do a post on that as well, do comment below. The pr...

I, Jyotika Varmani, tutor students of Psychology at all levels. I reside in Mumbai and tutor students online. You can contact me personally on my e-mail id jyotikapsychology@gmail.com or call/message me on 9892507784 for enquiries. --- Writing tiny-looking short notes appears to be an easy task. But in reality, when it comes  to a subject like psychology in which abundant information is available, condensing that information into a precise and relevant answer is a confusing task. Let's take a look at how an answer can be made as informative as possible in a mere 100 words: Q. Describe the role of the hippocampus in memory. Ans. The hippocampus, located in the medial temporal lobe of the brain plays a key role in the consolidation of memory . The case study of H.M. by Dr. Milner showed that only bilateral damage to the hippocampus results in a severe loss of memory suggesting that hippocampi in both hemispheres co-ordinate for keeping long-term memories intact. The later case st...

Upgraded lessons for IB Psychology are now available on: ibpsych.excellingpsychology.com Thank you for visiting!

I, Jyotika Varmani, tutor students of Psychology at all levels. I reside in Mumbai and tutor students online. You can contact me personally on my e-mail id jyotikapsychology@gmail.com or call/message me on 9892507784 for enquiries. --- Year after year, assessments of AS and A psychology papers reveal this one striking issue - students fail to identify the independent variable in novel research stimuli presented to them. Expectedly, this inability is further reflected in their failure to correctly formulate an independent variable in the answer which requires them to design a study of their own. Since the ability to identify the independent variable is so fundamental to the AS and A levels, in the present post, I present you with a detailed but easy, illustrated conceptual understanding of the same; followed by a few exercises for you to sharpen your skills: What is an independent variable? Let's begin with what a variable is. A variable is anything that changes from time to time...