Exam Question Bank: Paper 2: Health Psychology

Travis DixonHealth Psychology, Revision and Exam Preparation

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)

Travis DixonCognitive Psychology, Health Psychology, Key Studies

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

Travis DixonHealth Psychology

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

Travis DixonUncategorized

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

Travis DixonInternal Assessment (IB)

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

Travis DixonInternal Assessment (IB)

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?”

Travis DixonInternal Assessment (IB)

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

Travis DixonInternal Assessment (IB)

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?

Travis DixonInternal Assessment (IB)

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

Travis DixonAbnormal Psychology, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Research Methodology

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 …