Summary Table: Key Studies of Etiology of Disorders (HL IB Psychology)

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Expertise

Psychology Content Creator

SUMMARY TABLE: KEY STUDIES OF ETIOLOGY OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY

Topic

Two Key Studies

Explanations for Disorders: Biological Explanations of MDD

Use both of these studies to answer a question on Biological Explanations of MDD
Use McGuffin et al. (1996) to answer a question on Genetic Similarity as well
Use Caspi et al. (2003) to answer a question on Genes & Behaviour and Neurotransmitters as well

McGuffin et al. (1996)

Caspi et al. (2003)

Explanations for Disorders: Cognitive Explanations of MDD

Beck et al. (1974)

Riso et al. (2006)

Explanations for Disorders: Sociocultural Explanations of MDD

Use both of these studies to answer a question on Sociocultural Explanations of MDD

Lewinson et al. (1990)

Karasz (2005)

Explanations for Disorders: Biological Explanations of Phobias

Use both of these studies to answer a question on Biological Explanations of Phobias

Ohman et al. (1975)

Ahs et al. (2018)

Explanations for Disorders: Cognitive Explanations of Phobias

Use both of these studies to answer a question on Cognitive Explanations of Phobias

DiNardo et al. (1998)

Barrera & Norton (2009)

Explanations for Disorders: Sociocultural Explanations of Phobias

Use both of these studies to answer a question on Sociocultural Explanations of Phobias

Watson & Rayner (1920)

DiNardo et al. (1988)

Prevalence Rates

Abdoli et al. (2022)

Frederikson et al. (1996)

IB students have a lot of content to cover (particularly students taking Psychology at Higher Level) so the purpose of this revision resource is to slim down and streamline the number of studies you need per topic/exam question
The exam question command term will be one of the following:‘Evaluate’, ‘Discuss’, ‘Contrast’ or ‘To what extent’
Each command term requires you to answer the question in slightly different ways, using the content as shown in the summary table above i.e. specific studies per topic/question
In order to slim down the content you need to revise you can see above how some of the studies can be used for more than one potential exam question
McGuffin et al. (1996), Caspi et al. (2003) and Riso et al. (2006) can be used to answer more than one potential exam question i.e. they span both Paper 1 and Paper 2 content so you may decide to keep all of these studies and ‘throw away’ any studies which you find that you don’t need to revise
Remember that all Paper 2 questions are ERQs (Extended Response Questions) which are worth 22 marks, take an hour to write and need to be rich in critical thinking

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