Syllabus map · 27 topics · 4 HL only
IB Psychology syllabus map
IB Psychology studies behaviour and mental processes through the biological, cognitive and sociocultural approaches, applied across four contexts and framed by six concepts. SL and HL share the same core material; HL adds three extensions and a data-analysis paper. The map follows the order of the Heptavo app: open any topic to see what it covers, what you need to be able to do, the terms to use precisely and the mistake that costs marks.
How it's assessed
| Component | SL | HL |
|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 (concepts, content and contexts) | 1 h 30, 35% | 1 h 30, 25% |
| Paper 2 (research methods and an unseen study) | 1 h 30, 35% | 1 h 30, 25% |
| Paper 3 (data analysis) | — | 1 h 45, 30% |
| Internal assessment (research proposal, max 2,200 words) | 30% | 20% |
This map follows the new Psychology course, first taught in August 2025 and examined for the first time in May 2027. If you are on the previous course, the papers are structured differently, so check the details with your teacher.
Tap a topic to see what it asks, what you need to be able to do, the key terms and the trap. Topic titles follow the course structure; all explanations are ours.
Concepts
Six ideas, from bias to responsibility, that you are expected to use deliberately in every paper and in the IA.
1.1BiasSL
How systematic error gets into research and into everyday thinking, from who is sampled to what gets published, and how each kind is controlled. Questions typically describe a study and ask you to spot the bias and propose the control that targets it.
You need to be able to
- Identify where bias can enter a study (sampling, researcher expectations, participant expectations, interpretation, publication) and match a control to each stage
- Explain how demand characteristics and researcher bias distort results, and how single- and double-blind procedures reduce them
- Explain publication bias (the file-drawer problem) and why it makes effects in the published literature look larger and more consistent than they are
- Describe anchoring, availability and confirmation bias as mental shortcuts, with an example of each
- Distinguish reductionism from determinism when evaluating a biological explanation
Key terms
- systematic error
- demand characteristics
- researcher bias
- double-blind
- publication bias
- confirmation bias
- reflexivity
- reductionism
Common trap Treating bias as random noise that a bigger sample will cancel out. Bias pushes results in one direction, so more participants only give you a more precise wrong answer; name the specific control instead.
Practise 1.1 in Heptavo →1.2CausalitySL
When you are entitled to say that one variable causes another. Questions give you a finding and ask whether it supports a causal claim, what the alternative explanations are, and what design would settle it.
You need to be able to
- Explain why a correlation cannot establish cause: the direction could run either way (bidirectional ambiguity) or a third variable could drive both
- Explain how random allocation, a control or placebo group, a standardised procedure and blinding let an experiment support a causal claim
- Distinguish a direct effect of one variable from an interaction, where the size of the effect depends on a second variable
- Weigh the internal validity of a tightly controlled experiment against how far its artificial task generalises
- Explain what a statistically significant result does and does not tell you about cause
Key terms
- correlation
- causation
- third variable
- bidirectional ambiguity
- random allocation
- confounding variable
- internal validity
- interaction
Common trap Writing that a study "proves X causes Y" when the design is correlational or quasi-experimental. Say what the design actually shows (an association, or a difference between existing groups) and name the alternative explanation it cannot rule out.
Practise 1.2 in Heptavo →1.3ChangeSL
How behaviour and mental processes change through development, learning or treatment, and how researchers detect that change. Questions ask you to describe a change, explain its source and judge whether a design can measure it.
You need to be able to
- Describe a change by its tempo (gradual or sudden), whether it was planned, and its source (maturation or learning)
- Compare cross-sectional, longitudinal and repeated-measures designs, including the cohort effect and attrition
- Explain how recorded prevalence can rise through wider screening or broader criteria without anyone new becoming ill
- Distinguish promotion, prevention and intervention, and explain why change held up by a programme often fades when it ends
- Discuss how a determinist explanation can affect a person's belief that they are able to change
Key terms
- maturation
- longitudinal study
- cross-sectional study
- cohort effect
- attrition
- prevalence
- relapse
- agency
Common trap Assuming a repeated-measures experiment studies change over time. It tests the same people under different conditions, often minutes apart; change over months or years needs a longitudinal design.
Practise 1.3 in Heptavo →1.4MeasurementSL
How unobservable constructs such as anxiety or memory are turned into data, and how good that data is. Questions ask you to judge an operationalisation, its reliability and validity, or the type of data and error in a study.
You need to be able to
- Operationalise a construct as something observable and countable, and explain why every measure is an inference back to the construct
- Distinguish reliability (consistency) from validity (measuring the intended construct), with an example of a measure that is reliable but invalid
- Distinguish quantitative from qualitative data, and anecdote from systematically collected evidence
- Explain type I and type II errors and how the significance level and sample size affect each
- Explain triangulation and why agreement between methods with different weaknesses strengthens a conclusion
Key terms
- construct
- operationalisation
- reliability
- validity
- inter-rater reliability
- type I error
- type II error
- triangulation
Common trap Using "reliable" to mean trustworthy or accurate. A measure can give the same score every time and still measure the wrong thing, so keep reliability and validity as separate points in every evaluation.
Practise 1.4 in Heptavo →1.5PerspectiveSL
How the approach, culture and reasoning of the researcher shape what a study looks for and finds. Questions ask you to explain one behaviour from more than one approach, or to judge whether a finding holds across cultures.
You need to be able to
- Explain the same behaviour from the biological, cognitive and sociocultural approaches, and say what each leaves out
- Distinguish emic and etic research and explain the risk of an imposed etic
- Distinguish deductive from inductive reasoning, and a model from a theory
- Generate alternative explanations for a finding, including reverse causation
Key terms
- approach
- emic
- etic
- imposed etic
- deduction
- induction
- model
- theory
Common trap Presenting one approach as the whole explanation. Stronger answers show how levels combine: a fear of dogs can involve amygdala activity, a learned association and the attitudes to dogs around the person at once.
Practise 1.5 in Heptavo →1.6ResponsibilitySL
The ethical duties researchers and practitioners owe to participants, animals and the wider public. Questions ask you to identify the ethical issues in a design, say how to address them, and judge how safeguards can change the results.
You need to be able to
- Apply informed consent, deception, the right to withdraw, protection from harm, debriefing and confidentiality or anonymity to a described study
- Explain the extra requirements for minors: consent from a parent or guardian plus the child's own assent
- Apply the 3Rs to animal research: replace, reduce, refine
- Explain how an ethics committee weighs the cost to participants against the value of the knowledge
- Explain how ethical safeguards can affect validity, for example telling participants the aim invites demand characteristics
Key terms
- informed consent
- assent
- deception
- right to withdraw
- debriefing
- anonymity
- cost–benefit analysis
- 3Rs
Common trap Listing ethical principles without applying them. Say which participant faces which risk at which stage of the study, and what the researcher would do about it.
Practise 1.6 in Heptavo →Content — Biological approach
How the brain, neurochemistry and genes contribute to behaviour, and how far a biological explanation can go on its own.
2.1Brain and behaviourSL
How brain structures relate to behaviour, how the brain changes with experience, and how techniques reveal brain activity. Questions ask you to explain localisation or neuroplasticity with evidence and to evaluate brain-imaging research.
You need to be able to
- Explain localisation of function with examples: Broca's area (producing speech), Wernicke's area (understanding it), the hippocampus (forming new memories) and the amygdala (fear)
- Explain neuroplasticity: used connections strengthen, unused ones are pruned, and undamaged areas can take over a lost function
- Use Maguire et al. (2000), who found larger posterior hippocampi in London taxi drivers than in controls, and evaluate it as correlational evidence
- Compare fMRI, PET, EEG and structural MRI by what they measure and by their spatial and temporal resolution
- Evaluate animal models and reductionist explanations of behaviour
Key terms
- localisation of function
- neuroplasticity
- synaptic pruning
- fMRI
- EEG
- spatial resolution
- temporal resolution
- animal model
Common trap Saying an fMRI scan shows the brain "thinking". It records changes in blood oxygenation a few seconds after neural activity, so it shows roughly where, not exactly when, and activity in a region does not prove the region causes the behaviour.
Practise 2.1 in Heptavo →2.2Neurochemistry, genes and environmentSL
How neurotransmitters, hormones and genes influence behaviour, and how they interact with the environment. Questions ask you to explain synaptic transmission, interpret twin or adoption evidence, and apply diathesis–stress or epigenetic explanations.
You need to be able to
- Describe synaptic transmission (release, binding to excitatory or inhibitory receptors, reuptake) and define agonist, antagonist and reuptake inhibitor
- Compare neurotransmitters and hormones by speed, route and duration, using cortisol and the HPA axis in prolonged stress
- Interpret twin, adoption and family studies using concordance rates, and explain what an identical-twin concordance below 100% shows
- Explain gene–environment interaction, for example Caspi et al. (2003): stressful life events predicted depression more strongly in people carrying a short version of the serotonin transporter gene
- Explain epigenetics as a change in which genes are expressed, not in the DNA sequence
Key terms
- neurotransmitter
- receptor
- agonist
- antagonist
- concordance rate
- monozygotic twins
- diathesis–stress model
- epigenetics
Common trap Reading a concordance rate as proof that genes cause a trait. A 50% concordance in identical twins also shows that genes are not sufficient, and shared upbringing still has to be ruled out before you credit inheritance.
Practise 2.2 in Heptavo →Content — Cognitive approach
Models of memory and thinking, learning by conditioning, and the predictable errors in human judgement.
3.1Models of cognitionSL
Models of how memory and thinking work: the multi-store model, working memory, schema theory, dual-process thinking and cognitive load. Questions ask you to describe a model, apply it to a scenario and evaluate it with evidence.
You need to be able to
- Describe the multi-store model (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968) and use the serial position effect as evidence for separate short- and long-term stores
- Describe the working memory model (Baddeley and Hitch, 1974) and predict which pairs of tasks will interfere
- Explain schema theory, assimilation and accommodation, and reconstructive recall, using Bartlett's (1932) "War of the Ghosts" study
- Distinguish System 1 from System 2 thinking and explain when a fast judgement goes unchecked
- Apply cognitive load theory (intrinsic, extraneous and germane load) to how learning material is presented
Key terms
- multi-store model
- working memory
- central executive
- phonological loop
- schema
- reconstructive memory
- System 1
- cognitive load
Common trap Describing a model and stopping there. The marks come from applying it: say what the model predicts in the scenario, then test that prediction against evidence or a limitation.
Practise 3.1 in Heptavo →3.2Conditioning and cognitive biasesSL
Learning through association and consequences, and the predictable shortcuts in human judgement. Questions ask you to identify the type of learning or the bias in a scenario and explain why it occurs.
You need to be able to
- Describe classical conditioning before, during and after pairing, including extinction
- Distinguish positive and negative reinforcement from punishment, with an example of each
- Predict response patterns under fixed-ratio, fixed-interval and variable-ratio schedules, and explain why variable-ratio behaviour is hardest to extinguish
- Explain anchoring, availability and confirmation bias, for example Tversky and Kahneman's (1974) work on anchoring
Key terms
- unconditioned stimulus
- conditioned stimulus
- extinction
- positive reinforcement
- negative reinforcement
- variable-ratio schedule
- anchoring
- availability heuristic
Common trap Calling negative reinforcement a kind of punishment. Negative reinforcement removes something unpleasant and makes the behaviour more likely; punishment makes it less likely.
Practise 3.2 in Heptavo →Content — Sociocultural approach
How other people, groups and culture shape what we think and do.
4.1Social influence and identitySL
How other people change what we think and do: conformity, compliance, cognitive dissonance, social learning and group identity. Questions ask you to explain a scenario with the right theory and evaluate the evidence for it.
You need to be able to
- Distinguish informational from normative influence and say which one changes private belief
- Explain cognitive dissonance using Festinger and Carlsmith (1959), where participants paid $1 to call a dull task interesting later rated it as more enjoyable than those paid $20
- Apply the four conditions of social learning (attention, retention, reproduction, motivation) and vicarious reinforcement, with Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) as evidence
- Identify compliance techniques: foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face, low-balling and reciprocity
- Explain social identity theory: categorisation, identification, comparison and in-group favouritism
Key terms
- conformity
- informational influence
- normative influence
- cognitive dissonance
- vicarious reinforcement
- compliance
- social identity theory
- in-group favouritism
Common trap Using "conformity" for any change in behaviour caused by others. Going along with a group that asked nothing is conformity; agreeing to a direct request is compliance, and the two are explained by different mechanisms.
Practise 4.1 in Heptavo →4.2Culture, enculturation and acculturationSL
How culture shapes behaviour, how people learn their own culture, and how they adapt to a new one. Questions ask you to apply cultural dimensions or Berry's acculturation model to a case and evaluate cross-cultural research.
You need to be able to
- Distinguish enculturation from acculturation and describe how norms are passed on (observation, participation, direct instruction)
- Explain Hofstede's dimensions, such as individualism–collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance, as scales that describe populations
- Use Berry's two questions to place a migrant in integration, assimilation, separation or marginalisation, and link each to acculturative stress
- Distinguish emic, imposed etic and derived etic research
Key terms
- culture
- cultural norm
- enculturation
- acculturation
- acculturative stress
- individualism
- collectivism
- power distance
Common trap Applying a cultural dimension to one person ("she is from a collectivist culture, so she will..."). Dimensions describe averages for a population and do not predict how any individual member behaves.
Practise 4.2 in Heptavo →Content — Research methodology
The methods, sampling and quality checks behind every study you cite, plus the data analysis tested at HL.
5.1Research methodsSL
The main research methods and what each can and cannot show. Questions ask you to identify the method from a description and justify or evaluate its use for a given aim.
You need to be able to
- Distinguish true, quasi- and natural experiments by whether the researcher manipulates the IV and randomly allocates participants
- Describe an observation on three separate axes: naturalistic or controlled, overt or covert, participant or non-participant
- Compare experiments, correlational studies, case studies, interviews and questionnaires by control, naturalness, depth and breadth
- Distinguish closed questions (quantitative data) from open questions (qualitative data)
- Match each class-practical method (interview, observation, questionnaire, experiment) to a research question it suits
Key terms
- independent variable
- dependent variable
- random allocation
- quasi-experiment
- naturalistic observation
- covert observation
- case study
- semi-structured interview
Common trap Calling a comparison of existing groups, such as smokers and non-smokers, a true experiment. The researcher did not allocate the IV, so the design is quasi-experimental and supports only an association.
Practise 5.1 in Heptavo →5.2Sampling, ethics and research considerationsSL
Who gets studied, how far findings generalise, and the quality checks used in quantitative and qualitative research. Questions ask you to identify and evaluate a sampling technique and to assess validity, credibility or transferability.
You need to be able to
- Describe random, stratified, opportunity, self-selected and snowball sampling, with a strength and a limitation of each
- Explain why enlarging a biased sample does not make the findings more generalisable
- Distinguish face, content and construct validity, and internal from external validity
- Explain how qualitative research earns credibility (reflexivity, member checking, triangulation) and transferability (thick description)
- Redesign an unethical study and explain what the change costs the conclusions
Key terms
- target population
- random sampling
- opportunity sampling
- snowball sampling
- generalisability
- transferability
- credibility
- member checking
Common trap Dismissing a qualitative study because it "cannot be generalised". Qualitative research is judged on credibility and transferability, so evaluate it on those terms.
Practise 5.2 in Heptavo →5.3Data analysis and interpretationHL
Reading graphs, describing data and interpreting statistical and qualitative analyses. HL Paper 3 questions ask you to interpret a graph or table, draw a conclusion from data and judge a claim across several sources.
You need to be able to
- Choose and read bar charts, histograms, box plots and scatterplots
- Explain how skew pulls the mean towards the tail while the median stays with the bulk, and what the standard deviation tells you
- Interpret a p-value as the probability of results at least this extreme if there were no real effect
- Interpret a correlation coefficient by its sign and its distance from zero, without implying cause
- Describe the stages of thematic analysis, from familiarisation and coding to naming themes
Key terms
- descriptive statistics
- inferential statistics
- standard deviation
- skew
- p-value
- correlation coefficient
- thematic analysis
- code
Common trap Reading a p-value below 0.05 as a 95% chance that the hypothesis is true. The test assumes there is no effect and asks how surprising the data would be; it says nothing about how large or important the effect is.
Practise 5.3 in Heptavo →Context — Health and well-being
How mental and physical health problems are explained, counted, prevented and treated.
6.1Mental health disordersSL
How disorders such as depression are explained at biological, cognitive and sociocultural levels, and how they are diagnosed and counted. Questions ask you to explain the causes of a disorder from more than one approach and to evaluate prevalence data.
You need to be able to
- Explain depression using serotonin and cortisol (HPA axis) evidence, Beck's cognitive triad and sociocultural triggers such as loss and chronic strain
- Interpret twin concordance data for a disorder and explain what a figure well below 100% means
- Apply the diathesis–stress model to explain why the same event leads to a disorder in one person and not another
- Explain how diagnostic criteria, the language used for distress and stigma change recorded prevalence
- Explain a cognitive model of a disorder, such as inflated responsibility in OCD
Key terms
- diagnosis
- prevalence
- cognitive triad
- negative schema
- serotonin hypothesis
- diathesis–stress model
- concordance rate
- stigma
Common trap Treating a low recorded prevalence in a country as a low rate of the disorder. The figure depends on the criteria, the words people use for distress, stigma and who was asked, so check those before comparing.
Practise 6.1 in Heptavo →6.2Health problemsSL
Health problems such as stress, obesity and addiction: how often they occur, why, and what keeps unhealthy behaviour going. Questions ask you to explain a health problem from several approaches and to interpret incidence or correlational data.
You need to be able to
- Distinguish incidence (new cases over a period) from prevalence (existing cases at one time)
- Explain why a large rise in a health problem within one generation points to environmental rather than genetic causes
- Explain the stress response (threat appraisal, HPA axis, cortisol) and allostatic load
- Apply social learning theory to the spread of a health behaviour
- Explain why emotion-focused coping, such as comfort eating, is maintained by the short-term relief it gives
Key terms
- incidence
- prevalence
- stressor
- appraisal
- HPA axis
- allostatic load
- emotion-focused coping
- problem-focused coping
Common trap Concluding that stress causes obesity from a correlation. Obesity can also cause stress, and a third factor such as low income can drive both; say which design would separate the explanations.
Practise 6.2 in Heptavo →6.3Prevention and treatmentSL
How psychological problems are prevented and treated, from medication and therapy to population-wide programmes, and how effectiveness is judged. Questions ask you to explain how a treatment works and to evaluate the evidence for it.
You need to be able to
- Explain how SSRIs work (blocking serotonin reuptake) and why symptoms may return after stopping
- Explain CBT: testing automatic thoughts against evidence, and exposure to break the cycle of avoidance
- Distinguish universal prevention, treatment of existing cases and relapse prevention
- Evaluate treatment studies for placebo control, double-blinding, drop-out and follow-up after treatment ends
- Explain why a fall in a problem needs a comparison group before it can be credited to a programme
Key terms
- SSRI
- reuptake
- cognitive behavioural therapy
- exposure
- placebo
- relapse
- attrition
- follow-up
Common trap Judging a treatment only on the people who completed it. Those who dropped out may be the ones it suited least, so completer-only results flatter the treatment; look for analysis of everyone who started and for follow-up off treatment.
Practise 6.3 in Heptavo →Context — Human development
How thinking, the brain, attachment and identity develop from infancy to adolescence.
7.1Models of developmentSL
How thinking, language and the brain develop through childhood and adolescence, and whether development happens in stages or gradually. Questions ask you to apply a model such as Piaget's or Vygotsky's to a child's behaviour and evaluate it.
You need to be able to
- Compare stage theories such as Piaget's with continuous models, and explain why group data cannot show that each child changed abruptly
- Explain Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and scaffolding
- Explain theory of mind and how false-belief tasks test it, such as the Sally–Anne task used by Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith (1985)
- Distinguish critical from sensitive periods, using language as the example
- Relate synaptic pruning, myelination and the later maturation of the prefrontal cortex to adolescent risk-taking
Key terms
- stage theory
- object permanence
- zone of proximal development
- scaffolding
- theory of mind
- false belief
- sensitive period
- myelination
Common trap Treating critical and sensitive periods as the same thing. A critical period closes completely; a sensitive period only means later learning is harder, which is what most of the language evidence shows.
Practise 7.1 in Heptavo →7.2Development of selfSL
How identity and relationships form: attachment, enculturation, peers and the effects of early adversity. Questions ask you to explain attachment types, the role of peers or culture in identity, and outcomes after early deprivation.
You need to be able to
- Describe secure, avoidant and resistant attachment as shown in Ainsworth's Strange Situation, and explain the internal working model
- Distinguish deprivation from privation and explain why the length of early privation matters
- Explain how peers shape identity through selection and socialisation, and as a reference group
- Define resilience and explain how protective factors support it
- Explain enculturation as the route by which a child acquires a cultural sense of self
Key terms
- attachment
- Strange Situation
- internal working model
- deprivation
- privation
- resilience
- protective factor
- peer group
Common trap Treating the Strange Situation as culture-free. It was developed in the United States, and what counts as normal reunion behaviour varies with caregiving norms, so a pattern read as insecure in one culture may not mean the same in another.
Practise 7.2 in Heptavo →Context — Human relationships
Behaviour in groups and in close relationships, from conformity and prejudice to attraction and breakdown.
8.1Group behaviourSL
How individuals behave within and between groups: conformity, compliance, prejudice and cultural differences in group life. Questions ask you to explain a group phenomenon with a theory and to suggest how intergroup conflict could be reduced.
You need to be able to
- Distinguish compliance from conformity, and explain why foot-in-the-door and door-in-the-face work
- Explain conformity through normative and informational influence, using Asch's (1951) line-judgement study
- Explain how categorisation alone can produce in-group favouritism, using Tajfel et al.'s (1971) minimal group experiments
- Explain how a shared superordinate identity can reduce intergroup hostility
- Apply cultural dimensions to group behaviour without stereotyping individuals
Key terms
- in-group
- out-group
- social categorisation
- minimal group paradigm
- superordinate identity
- conformity
- compliance
- prejudice
Common trap Reading the minimal group results as proof of hostility towards out-groups. Participants favoured their own group in how they shared rewards, often maximising the gap, which is in-group favouritism rather than aggression.
Practise 8.1 in Heptavo →8.2Interpersonal relationshipsSL
How close relationships form, are kept going and break down. Questions ask you to explain attraction or relationship satisfaction with biological, cognitive and sociocultural explanations and to evaluate them.
You need to be able to
- Explain the roles of dopamine (reward and craving in new romance) and oxytocin (trust and bonding)
- Compare social exchange theory and equity theory, including what each predicts for a partner who gets more than they give
- Explain how situational versus dispositional attributions about a partner's behaviour relate to satisfaction
- Describe communication patterns linked to breakdown (criticism, contempt, defensiveness, stonewalling) and strategies that repair it
- Explain why similarity predicts attraction
Key terms
- attraction
- social exchange theory
- equity theory
- comparison level
- attribution
- self-disclosure
- oxytocin
- similarity
Common trap Mixing up social exchange and equity theory. Exchange theory asks whether the relationship beats the alternatives; equity theory asks whether the balance between partners is fair, so it predicts discomfort for the over-benefited partner too.
Practise 8.2 in Heptavo →Context — Learning and cognition
How people learn, remember and decide, and what that means for learning in real life.
9.1Thinking and learningSL
How people learn through conditioning and observation, and how they make judgements and decisions. Questions ask you to identify the learning mechanism or bias in a scenario and evaluate the explanation.
You need to be able to
- Distinguish classical conditioning (pairing stimuli) from operant conditioning (the consequences of a voluntary behaviour)
- Explain observational learning and vicarious reinforcement
- Explain dual-process thinking and where heuristics and biases come from
- Identify availability, anchoring, framing and confirmation bias in examples
Key terms
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning
- reinforcement
- observational learning
- heuristic
- framing effect
- dual-process model
- System 2
Common trap Explaining a poor decision as "not thinking". Biases come from fast, automatic processing that usually works well; name the shortcut that was used and explain why slower checking did not step in.
Practise 9.1 in Heptavo →9.2Cognitive processesSL
Memory, attention and the cognitive effects of experiences such as bilingualism. Questions ask you to explain why a learning strategy works, apply memory models and evaluate research on cognitive processes.
You need to be able to
- Explain what makes memories last: encoding by meaning, consolidation during sleep, spacing and retrieval practice
- Use Glanzer and Cunitz (1966), where a filled delay removed the recency effect but not the primacy effect, as evidence for separate stores
- Predict dual-task interference using the working memory model
- Explain how culture can shape attention, using Masuda and Nisbett (2001), where Japanese participants commented more on the background and relationships in underwater scenes than American participants
- Evaluate claims about the cognitive effects of bilingualism
Key terms
- encoding
- consolidation
- spacing effect
- retrieval practice
- serial position effect
- dual-task interference
- selective attention
- bilingualism
Common trap Recommending re-reading because it feels productive. Re-reading builds familiarity with the page, not the ability to recall it; retrieval practice and spacing produce longer-lasting memory.
Practise 9.2 in Heptavo →HL extensions
Three lenses, culture, motivation and technology, that run across the course and supply the sources for HL Paper 3.
HL.aThe role of cultureHL
How culture shapes thinking, communication, identity and mental health, and the methodological problems of studying it. HL Paper 3 can build its sources around this extension, so expect to interpret cross-cultural data and judge claims about it.
You need to be able to
- Distinguish emic, etic and imposed etic approaches, and explain the ecological fallacy
- Compare independent and interdependent self-construals, and high- and low-context communication
- Explain cultural diffusion and globalisation and their possible effects on identity
- Explain how culture affects how mental-health problems are expressed, diagnosed and counted
Key terms
- emic
- etic
- ecological fallacy
- independent self
- interdependent self
- high-context communication
- cultural diffusion
- globalisation
Common trap Treating nationality as if it were culture. A country contains many cultural groups, so a study that uses nation as a stand-in should show that the cultural variable it cares about actually differs between its samples.
Practise HL.a in Heptavo →HL.bThe role of motivationHL
Why people act: physiological and social motives, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and what rewards do to behaviour. Paper 3 sources on this extension test how motivation is measured and how far findings support a claim.
You need to be able to
- Distinguish primary (physiological) from secondary (learned, social) motives and how each is measured
- Distinguish intrinsic from extrinsic motivation
- Explain self-determination theory: autonomy, competence and relatedness
- Explain the overjustification effect using Lepper, Greene and Nisbett (1973), where children who expected a reward for drawing later spent less free time drawing than children who got no reward or an unexpected one
- Explain why free-choice time is used as a behavioural measure of intrinsic motivation
Key terms
- primary motive
- secondary motive
- intrinsic motivation
- extrinsic motivation
- self-determination theory
- autonomy
- overjustification effect
- free-choice measure
Common trap Writing that rewards always reduce motivation. The overjustification effect concerns expected rewards for activities people already enjoy; feedback that tells someone they are becoming competent can strengthen intrinsic motivation.
Practise HL.b in Heptavo →HL.cThe role of technologyHL
How digital technology affects cognition, relationships, development and mental health, and how trustworthy that research is. Paper 3 sources on this extension often test sampling, the direction of an effect and publication bias.
You need to be able to
- Explain why most screen-time research is correlational and what that means for claims about mood
- Compare displacement, stimulation, social comparison and group polarisation explanations of online effects
- Explain why keeping a messaging app open while studying reduces encoding (the cost of switching attention)
- Evaluate digital interventions such as tele-therapy for placebo control, blinding, drop-out and follow-up
- Identify self-selected samples and publication bias in technology research
Key terms
- screen time
- displacement hypothesis
- social comparison
- group polarisation
- task switching
- tele-therapy
- self-selected sample
- publication bias
Common trap Claiming that social media causes depression from survey data. Low mood could drive heavier use, or a third factor could drive both; treat the direction as open unless the design is experimental or longitudinal.
Practise HL.c in Heptavo →Try 4 Heptavo questions
Real questions from the app, with the explanation after each answer.
1.2 · Causality
A difference between two groups is reported as significant at p < 0.05. A reader is entitled to conclude that
- the difference is large enough to matter in practice
- a difference this large is unlikely by chance alone
- the independent variable caused the change in the dependent variable
- there is a 95% probability that the hypothesis is true
Show the answer and why
Answer: B
Significance is a statement about chance: if there were no real difference, a result this size would occur less than one time in twenty. It says nothing about size or importance, and it does not on its own establish cause — a significant correlation is still a correlation. The 95% probability reading reverses the logic; the test assumes the null hypothesis and asks how surprising the data are, not how likely the hypothesis is.
2.1 · Brain and behaviour
The main reason a researcher studying the brain basis of fear would use a rodent model rather than human participants is that
- the rodent brain can be manipulated in ways that would be unethical in humans
- rodents and humans are identical in the structure and function of their fear circuits
- animals are not harmed by any of the procedures involved in such research
- findings from rodents transfer directly to humans without any further testing
Show the answer and why
Answer: A
The value of an animal model is control: a region can be lesioned or stimulated and the effect on behaviour observed, which no human study could ethically do. The identical-circuits option overstates the case — the similarity is close enough to be useful, not identical — and the claim that no harm occurs is exactly what the ethical debate denies.
6.1 · Mental health disorders
A student has an unwanted thought that she might have left the stove on, feels intense anxiety, and goes home to check it several times a day. A cognitive model of obsessive-compulsive disorder explains the persistence of her checking mainly through
- a low level of serotonin activity in the pathways that control movement
- the abnormality of the thought itself, which healthy people never have and cannot understand
- rumination on failures in her past that keeps her mood low
- her belief that having the thought makes her responsible for preventing a fire
Show the answer and why
Answer: D
Intrusive thoughts are close to universal; what the cognitive model says goes wrong in OCD is the appraisal — an inflated sense of responsibility that turns a passing thought into a threat that must be neutralised. Calling the thought itself the abnormality is the misconception the model was built to correct. Rumination about past failure belongs to the cognitive account of depression, not of OCD.
9.2 · Cognitive processes
Shown a photograph of a fish tank, one group of participants mostly describes the largest fish while another mostly describes the plants, the water and how the fish relate to each other. The most plausible explanation for the difference is
- a difference in the size of the participants' hippocampi
- a cultural difference in what people are trained to attend to
- a difference in visual acuity, since sharper eyes pick out the largest object first
- a stronger primacy effect in the first group
Show the answer and why
Answer: B
Attention is not only a matter of eyesight; what a person habitually looks at is shaped by their culture, with settings that stress relationships and context tending to produce more holistic viewing, and settings that stress the individual tending to produce a focus on central objects. The acuity option treats a cognitive difference as a sensory one — both groups can see the fish equally well. The primacy effect concerns the order of items in a list, not the layout of a scene.
