How to Answer an Exam Question on Abnormal Psychology

How is the exam paper structured?

You will be asked an exam question on Abnormal Psychology on Paper 2 of the exam
If you are HL you are required to answer two questions on two different options on Paper 2 e.g. Abnormal Psychology and Relationships
If you are SL you are required to answer one question on one option on Paper 2 e.g. Abnormal Psychology
If you are HL Paper 2 lasts for two hours; if you are SL Paper 2 lasts for 1 hour
Each option consists of three different questions each of which are worth 22 marks; you choose to answer one of those three questions (don’t answer more than one question per option!)
You may be asked to choose to answer a question from, for example, the following choices: biological explanations of one or more disorders; the validity of diagnosis; psychological treatments for one or more disorders
It is highly unlikely that you will be asked to choose all three questions from one topic e.g. the questions will not all be taken from the Factors Influencing Diagnosis topic
Each question is an Extended Response Question worth 22 marks so you should spend one hour planning and writing each question

How to structure and plan your response to an Abnormal Psychology exam questions

Let’s take this question: ‘To what extent do sociocultural factors influence the etiology of abnormal psychology’? [22]

What is this question asking you to do?

Start with the command term: “to what extent” requires you to consider the role /influence/effect of sociocultural factors on the etiology of psychological disorders. ‘To what extent’ means that you need to present an argument which explores the extent to which sociocultural factors influence the etiology of abnormal psychology.

Here are some useful sentence stems/phrases that will help you to form convincing ‘To what extent’ arguments:

This theory/study supports the idea that sociocultural factors influence the etiology of abnormal psychology to the extent that…
However there are some flaws/issues/limitations to this explanation/theory in that it cannot explain…
On the other hand, there are possible alternative explanations for the etiology of abnormal psychology such as…
This theory/study only explains X in terms of Y but it does not…
There is compelling evidence for this argument but what it cannot account for is…
There are other factors which may have also influenced the results of the study such as…

But what does all of that actually mean?

Students often express some confusion (panic even!) when they read exam questions. This confusion/panic tends to stem from a) exam nerves (understandable) and b) misreading the question or feeling that the question is asking them to do something that they have never done before.

So, let’s unpack the above exam question and break it down into its constituent parts; this way you will be able to see that yes, you can answer this question and yes, you have studied the correct theories and studies that will enable you to answer the question. You should use this approach to deconstruct all possible exam questions as this strategy will help you to understand and be prepared for whatever the exam throws at you!

Unpacking the question: ‘To what extent do sociocultural factors influence the etiology of abnormal psychology’? [22]
‘To what extent’ means (as already mentioned) that you need to assess how influential sociocultural factors are in the etiology of disorders e.g. can sociocultural factors provide a full enough explanation or are there any other factors that may also influence the etiology of disorders?
Sociocultural factors are:
- Any factors which involve the environment (place, culture, other people, learning) as a key influence on behaviour
- Any factors which assume that abnormal behaviour is the result of external, rather than internal (biological or cognitive), factors
- Any factors which can be analysed using sociocultural theories such as Behaviourism, Social Identity Theory, Enculturation Acculturation

The etiology of disorders refers to one of the 3 main topics in Abnormal Psychology (the other two are Factors Influencing Diagnosis and Explanations for Disorders)
Etiology means, simply, ‘what has caused this condition/illness/disorder?’, how can its origins be explained?
Abnormal psychology (and this may seem obvious but it’s worth reiterating just for clarity) refers to any behaviour (or sets of behaviours) which present as deviant (i.e. not what is considered the ‘norm’) and which causes suffering/discomfort/distress for the person with the disorder and/or for others around or involved with that person

In conclusion, this question is asking you, ‘Are sociocultural factors such as the environment, culture, learning, the only explanation for how disorders develop/originate or could other factors such as genetics or thought processes also provide convincing explanations?’

How to get full marks for this question

Yes, it is possible to get full marks for this question or for any question on any of your IB Psychology papers. It is, however, not easy to do so (if it was, everyone would be doing it!) but with hard work, revision (and use of this helpful revision site!) full marks could be yours.

So, let’s take this bit by bit: what do you need to do to be in with a chance of achieving 100% on this question?

First, the good news (yes, there is some): you do not need to cover two sociocultural factors in your exam response (the IB state this clearly on the markscheme for this question so relax, it’s fine to just focus on one factor, but you can cover two if you like)
With the above point in mind, decide which factor(s) you are going to use in your essay - if you are using this revision site as your guide you may choose to go the following route:

Factor/theory - Behaviourism i.e. conditioning/learning
Research - Watson & Rayner (1920); DiNardo (1988)

You need to be able to satisfy the markscheme criteria as follows:

Focus on the question (2 marks) - are you explaining how sociocultural factors influence the aetiology of disorders throughout your essay?
Knowledge & Understanding (6 marks) - do you know the theory well, in detail, and can you give examples to illustrate your understanding of how the theory, study and topic link back to the question?
Use of research (6 marks) - is your answer evidence-based? Does this evidence support your argument? Two studies are ideal but one study in detail is better than several studies used at a superficial level that repeat the same point over and over
Critical thinking (6 marks) - does your answer show that you have an inquiring and reflective mind? Have you evaluated the research methodology as well as underpinning theories? Have you challenged the central assumptions of the question along with its attendant theories and research?
Clarity & organisation (2 marks) - is your meaning clear throughout and have you structured your essay coherently?

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That’s all very well but can you show me how?....

There is a full exemplar answer to this response (see the page titled ‘Model Exam Response - Abnormal Psychology’). This exemplar response is accompanied by commentary linking each paragraph back to the question, explaining how it satisfies the criteria for full marks.

But just to whet your appetite and give you a ‘taster’ of the exemplar response here are some edited highlights:

Exemplar paragraph from the model answer:

While the sociocultural explanation of the aetiology of phobias goes some way towards

providing a valid explanation of the topic, its very emphasis on external factors only means that it is limited in its scope. One biological theory of phobias which is based on evolutionary survival mechanisms (preparedness) also provides a compelling account of humans as being ‘hard-wired’ to fear dangerous stimuli in order to keep them safe e.g. an innate fear of snakes (Ohman et al. 1975). The cognitive explanation of Generalised Anxiety Disorder is equally convincing as an explanation of phobia aetiology with its emphasis on irrational thought processes, cognitive distortions and panic as the foundations of phobia origination.

Commentary provided for the above paragraph:

The student considers other, alternative explanations for the etiology of phobias as part of their Critical Thinking which also includes wider Knowledge & Understanding of the topic and cites another piece of Research. The command term is explicitly addressed (Focus). The paragraph is clear, coherent and grammatical (Clarity & Organisation) with effective use of terminology.

How to Answer an Exam Question on Abnormal Psychology (SL IB Psychology)

Revision Note