The following information is adapted from our eBook: IB Health Psychology – A Revision Guide. Why do people develop physical health problems? One answer could be based on stress beliefs – if you think stress is bad you might be more likely to have health problems. This was one finding from the following study. Stress is correlated with a number …
Exam Question Bank: Paper 2: Health Psychology
The following are a list of practice exam questions for IB Psychology’s Health Option in Paper Two. This list contains past exam questions and some written with our best guess as to what the probable exam questions may look like. You could watch this as a video here. READ MORE IB Psychology Exam Question Banks Paper 1: Biological approach (Link) …
Key Study: Cognitive appraisals and the stress response (Lazarus, 1963)
The most influential cognitive explanation of stress is based on “cognitive appraisals” – how we assess the relevance and potential harm of a stressor. The following study is one of many that supports this explanation. Stress is a complex phenomenon that involves biological, psychological and environmental factors. Richard Lazarus was a pre-eminent psychologist in the field of stress research. Along …
IB Health Psychology | HOME PAGE
The following is a work in progress. Health Problems: Stress The following information focuses on the “health problem” of stress. Explanations of health problem(s) Biological explanations for stress COMT gene and the Warrior/Worrier Hypothesis (Blog / Video One/Two) Key study: Key study: The Hippocampus and Stress (Blog) The PFC and Stress (Blog) Cognitive explanations for stress Appraisals (Blog / Video) …
How to get free stuff with our new rewards programme
Looking for FREE IB Psychology resources? Follow the steps below or watch the video here. (1)Go to our online store and click the ‘Rewards Program’ button in the bottom right of the screen. (2) If you already have an account on our online store click the ‘Sign in here’ link, otherwise you’ll need to create an account on our online …
The 5 best theories for the IA
In this post I’ll outline the five theories I think are the best to base your experiment on. I’ll suggest some good studies that go with those theories. We always think about the IA based on the key study being replicated. But since the most important thing is the background theory or model, maybe that’s a better place to start. …
Psych IA: An Overview
The IB Psychology IA gives you the opportunity to become a real psychologist. You’ll work in a group to plan, prepare and conduct a psychological experiment on actual participants. Let’s start at the end… The Final Report Your final IA is 1,800 – 2,200 word report summarizing your experiment. It will have four major sections: Introduction Exploration Analysis Evaluation The …
What if you get the “wrong results?”
Your IA experiment didn’t work? You were hoping to “prove” your theory right and have the same results as the original weren’t you? Never mind, this can teach you a few valuable lessons and it won’t affect your marks. Here’s what you need to do. You’ll still need to conduct your descriptive and inferential statistics. You’ll also need to explain …
How to write your IA evaluation
If you miss one important detail you could lose marks. Read carefully so you can score 6/6 in the IA Evaluation. Of the four sections in the IA (Introduction, Exploration, Analysis and Evaluation), the Evaluation is the hardest to write. Fewer students score in the top mark band (5-6 out of 6) for this than any other section. In fact, …
Two-tailed or one-tailed test?
I can almost guarantee you’ll need a one-tailed test for your inferential statistics in the IB Psychology IA. Let’s see why. It’s one of the most common mistakes made in the analysis, but it’s so easy to avoid. Do you need a one or two-tailed inferential statistics test (e.g. MWU or Wilcoxon)? The Easy Answer If you have a one-tailed …
Correlational studies on PTSD
Correlational studies are one of the most commonly used research methods in the study of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In this post we’ll review WHAT correlational studies are, HOW they’re used to study PTSD and WHY they’re used. We’ll also review three key studies that can support this explanation. Research methods essays are the hardest to write, but that also …
Example Essay: Research methods (case studies) in the biological approach
Essays on research methods and ethical considerations are the hardest to write in IB Psychology exams. Here is an example essay on the use of case studies in the biological approach. Notice how the essay has a good balance between explaining the method (central argument), using studies (supporting evidence) and explaining limitations (counter-arguments). Read More: Example Essay: Technological Techniques 10 …
Quizlet – The SAQ Additional Terms
There are 17 possible “SAQ only” terms. At first these might seem daunting, but nearly all of these can be easily combined to the existing topics. One of the best ways to show knowledge of these topics (and earn marks in exams) is to offer precise and concise definitions of these terms. More Resources: Example SAQs and studies or all …
IA Graph: How to create the perfect graph for your IB Psychology IA
Your graph must be accurate and “address the hypothesis.” In this post we’ll look at how you can create the perfect IA graph for the IB Psychology IA. Your research hypothesis will be based on the effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable. To test this hypothesis you created two conditions (I hope) in your experiment to see …
Mean, median or mode? How to apply descriptive statistics for the IA.
Read carefully so you’ll know how to apply descriptive statistics for the IA PROPERLY! (Or watch the video explanation here). I will freely admit, that I can’t explain it any clearer than what’s included on this excellent post on MyIB. Perhaps the most value I can offer is to make people aware of this resource. Before we look at what you have …
How to describe the theory or model in your IA Introduction
Here I explain how to describe the theory or model in your IA Introduction for IB Psychology. WARNING: This post is only for those aiming for 7s. (Henceforth I will just say “theory” to make things easier but know that I mean theory or model) There are three things I would recommend including to have a full description of your …
How to write the IA Introduction
Knowing how to write the IA Introduction for IB Psychology can be difficult. This post gives a few tips to make it easier. While there is no prescribed way to write your IA Introduction in IB Psychology. if you’re struggling to get started the following format might help. However, feel free to structure it in a way that makes sense …
How to evaluate correlational studies….PROPERLY!
“This study was correlational but correlation doesn’t mean causation.” If you think this is critical thinking, think again! Let’s look at three ways to PROPERLY evaluate correlational studies. A correlational study is when researchers measure the strength of a relationship between co-variables by calculating a correlation coefficient. In order to show critical thinking you must give specific reasons why we can’t deduce …
Broken Video Links – Replacement videos for IB Psychology A Student’s Guide TSPs.
This post is designed to help teachers find replacement videos when those in the TSPs for “IB Psychology: A Student’s Guide” are removed. This is also a Facebook thread in our IB Psychology Teacher’s Group but that post can be difficult to manage. Organizing them here I hope will be more helpful. 1: Introduction 2: Criminology 2.2b: BBC Documentary: How …
IA Online: Which studies are the best?
Online learning can be a challenge so here are some tips for doing the IA online. Read more: Key Studies for the IA IA Tips: How to explain your…DESIGN How to avoid the biggest mistake in IAs Which studies work best? I’ve been through my complete recommended IA studies list and found the ones I recommend to my own students …
Stress and the Hippocampus
The following is adapted from our eBook for Health Psychology: “Stress and how to cope: A Health Psychology guide for IB Students” (Available here). Not all of this content could make the final cut. So read on if you’re interested in how your hippocampus could be causing you stress. IB Psych Health: This content is relevant for biological explanations of health problems …
IA Tips: How to explain your…SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
Explaining the sampling technique might just be the easiest part of the Exploration. Let’s look at how it can be done properly. The IB’s given some advice, too, but be careful – it’s not as straightforward as first appears. The most common sampling technique is opportunity sampling (aka convenience sampling). Alternative choices include: Random sampling Volunteer sampling (aka self-selected sampling) …
IA Procedures – Are they necessary?1 in favour, 4 opposed
In previous posts and videos I’ve advised to move your procedures to the appendices if word count is an issue in the IA. Is this really an acceptable approach? Here are 4 reasons why you don’t need a procedures section and one reason why you should have it. Some examiners think you’re not allowed to put the procedures in the appendices. …
IA Tips: How to explain your…DESIGN
You can write an excellent explanation of your “design” in just three sentences. You can’t go wrong with What-How-Why (State-Describe-Explain) approach. You can explain any section of the Exploration by showing how it controls for one or more confounding variables. Here are 3 steps to explaining your design: State the design you used. Summarize how it was applied. Give a …
IA Tips…How to explain your CONTROLLED VARIABLES
Explaining the “controlled variables” is tricky. Most students state or maybe describe, but few really explain them. Here’s how to do it and an example to show you. What are controlled variables? A “controlled variable” is any factor that could affect your results so you kept it constant in both conditions of your experiment. You want to control certain variables …