Six lenses across the whole course

• The concepts are not a separate topic — they are applied throughout the approaches, contexts and research methodology.
• Strong exam answers use the concepts to evaluate: e.g. questioning causality, spotting bias, judging measurement.
• Each study or claim can be examined through several concepts at once.

Key idea: the concepts turn description into critical analysis.

Bias and perspective

• Bias: systematic tendencies that distort behaviour, thinking or research — e.g. cognitive biases, sampling bias, researcher bias and culture bias.
• Perspective: behaviour can be viewed through different approaches (biological, cognitive, sociocultural) and cultural viewpoints; no single view is complete.
• Recognising perspective guards against assuming one explanation (or one culture's norms) is universal.

Link: acknowledging perspective helps you identify and reduce bias.

Which is right?

Causality and change

• Causality: whether one variable causes another. Only controlled experiments support causal claims; correlation does not.
• Change: how behaviour and processes change over time — development, learning, neuroplasticity — and how research captures it (e.g. longitudinal designs).
• Confounding variables and reverse causation are key threats to causal claims.

Concept in action: ask 'could a third variable explain this?' before accepting a causal claim.

Which is right?

Measurement and responsibility

• Measurement: how psychological variables are operationalised and measured, and whether measures are reliable and valid.
• Responsibility: the ethical duty to protect participants (consent, no harm, confidentiality) and to interpret and apply findings honestly.
• Poor measurement or over-claiming results are both failures of scientific responsibility.

Concept — responsibility: psychologists must not overstate what their data show.

Which is right?

A worked example

• A study reports that more social-media use correlates with lower mood in teenagers.
• Causality: correlational — mood could drive use, or a third variable could drive both.
• Measurement & bias: self-reported use and mood may be inaccurate (social desirability); the sample may be unrepresentative.
• Responsibility: the researchers should avoid claiming social media 'causes' depression.

Exam habit: name the concept, then use it to evaluate the study.

Which is right?

Sort each example to its concept pair

Tap an item, then tap the group it belongs to.

Using the concepts to evaluate

• When you read a study, ask: is there bias? Whose perspective? Is the claim causal or correlational? Is there real change?
• Then: is the measurement reliable and valid? Were participants treated responsibly?
• These questions turn recall into evaluation, which higher-mark answers require.

The concepts are your built-in checklist for critical thinking.

Which is right?

Match each item to its idea

Tap on the left, then its match on the right.

Which is right?

The big ideas to know

Press Finish to see your score.