Summary Table: Key Studies of Health Problems (HL IB Psychology)

Revision Note

Laura Swash

Expertise

Psychology Content Creator

Key Studies Summary of Health Problems

SUMMARY TABLE: KEY STUDIES HEALTH PROBLEMS

Topic

Two Key Studies

Explanations of Health Problems (stress) - Biological

  • Use both of these studies to answer a question on the biological explanation for stress

  • Use Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (1984)  to answer a question on protective factors and health, as social support was a protective factor against exam stress

Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (1984)

Fernald et al. (2008)

Explanations of Health Problems (stress)  - Cognitive

  • Use both of these studies to answer a question on the cognitive explanations for stress

  • Use both of these studies to answer a question on risk factors and health

Gomes et al. (2013)

Jamieson et al. (2011)

Explanations of Health Problems (stress)  - Sociocultural

  • Use both of these studies to answer a question on the sociocultural explanations for stress

  • Use Cohen et al. (2014) to answer a question on protective factors and health

Brunet et al. (2013)

Cohen et al. (2014) 

Prevalence of Health Problems (smoking)

  • Use both of these studies to answer a question on the prevalence rates of tobacco use and smoking

Valente et al. (2005)

Strassman et al. (2022)


How do I use these studies in an exam question on this topic?

  • 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

  • Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (1984), Gomes et al. (2013), Jamieson et al. (2011) and Cohen et al. (2014) can be used to answer more than one potential exam question on 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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Laura Swash

Author: Laura Swash

Laura has been teaching for 31 years and is a teacher of GCSE, A level and IB Diploma psychology, in the UK and overseas and now online. She is a senior examiner, freelance psychology teacher and teacher trainer. Laura also writes a blog, textbooks and online content to support all psychology courses. She lives on a small Portuguese island in the Atlantic where, when she is not online or writing, she loves to scuba dive, cycle and garden.