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

Revision Note

Claire Neeson

Expertise

Psychology Content Creator

Key Studies Summary of Etiology of Abnormal Psychology

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

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

  • Use Riso et al. (2006) to answer a question on Schema Theory as well

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

  • Use both of these studies to answer a question on prevalence rates

  • Abdoli et al. (2022) covers the prevalence of MDD

  • Frederikson et al. (1996) covers the prevalence of phobias

Abdoli et al. (2022)

Frederikson et al. (1996)

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

  • 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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Claire Neeson

Author: Claire Neeson

Claire has been teaching for 34 years, in the UK and overseas. She has taught GCSE, A-level and IB Psychology which has been a lot of fun and extremely exhausting! Claire is now a freelance Psychology teacher and content creator, producing textbooks, revision notes and (hopefully) exciting and interactive teaching materials for use in the classroom and for exam prep. Her passion (apart from Psychology of course) is roller skating and when she is not working (or watching 'Coronation Street') she can be found busting some impressive moves on her local roller rink.