IB HL Psychology (2025) - Learning and Cognition: Examples of Behaviour

Example of Anchoring bias in human behaviour

Price negotiation: 

Heavily influenced by first number mentioned, acts as anchor

People insufficiently adjust from that anchor

Low anchor pushes estimates (or offers) down, high anchor pushes them up

Example of Animal Research in human behaviour

Superstitious habits in athletes: 

Good performance / “lucky win” randomly paired with action athlete happened to be doing just before

Action becomes accidentally reinforced

Athlete repeats behaviour, believing it contributes to success, superstition forms

Example of Chemical messengers in human behaviour

Better memory and learning after getting enough hours of sleep: 

During sleep, reduced AcH levels help brain consolidate information learned earlier

Low AcH makes new encoding less effective, which is why tired people struggle to learn fresh material

Example of Classical Conditioning in human behaviour

Phobia of dogs: 

Neutral stimulus (dog) becomes associated with fear-inducing event (bite)

Through classical conditioning, dog eventually triggers fear responses (crying, avoidance)

Example of Cognitive Load Theory in human behaviour

Learning to drive:

Difficult because a new driver must process lots of things at once and the tasks create high cognitive load

with practice some tasks become automatic, reducing cognitive load and making driving easier

Example of Cognitive Models in human behaviour

Remembering items on a grocery list: 

First items enter long-term memory through rehearsal

Last items remain in short-term memory

Middle items receive less attention and rehearsal, so are more likely to be forgotten

While first and last items more likely to be remembered

Example of Confirmation Bias in human behaviour

Only seeking news that supports political beliefs: 

Individuals prefer information that confirms existing beliefs and ignore contradictory evidence

Like Wason’s task, people focus on confirming rather than testing rules, leading to biased decision-making

Example of Dual Processing Theory in human behaviour

Anchoring Bias:

System One may focus on the anchor and generate an initial judgement based on it, and System Two fails to intervene because its not activated or deems the judgement ‘good enough‘

Example of Enculturation in human behaviour

Children learning table manners: 

Children watch adults and older siblings during mealtimes

Through observation and imitation, they pick up norms like saying “please” and “thank you” without being explicitly taught

Example of Neurotransmission in human behaviour

Better memory after good night’s sleep: 

Neurotransmission of ACh regulates memory processes

Low ACh during sleep improves consolidation

Low ACh reduces ability to encode new information

Understanding this helps psychologists develop interventions to improve learning and memory

Example of Operant Conditioning in human behaviour

Children learning table manners: 

Behaviours that are rewarded (saying “please”) are reinforced and more likely to be repeated

Through successive approximations, children gradually learn the full desired behaviour

Example of Schema Theory in human behaviour

False memories/ incorrect testimonies: 

People rely on existing schemas to interpret and recall information

Schema-consistent items are remembered easily

Missing but expected items may be falsely recalled because the brain fills in gaps based on prior knowledge, illustrating schema-driven memory errors

Example of Social Learning Theory in human behaviour

Imitation

Observation of a model, demonstrates a behaviour

Children imitate the behaviour, especially if it is rewarded or goes unpunished

Illustrates social learning theory : learning occurs through observation, not just direct reinforcement