There are 26 SAQ topics from three approaches. Next to each topic in the IB Guide there’s a learning objective. If your confident in knowing what to study (or teach) for each topic, then skip this post. If you’d like another perspective on this then read on.
In the SAQs in Paper One, “only the first column of each table (psychological terminology) in the relevant syllabus section will be used in formulating the questions.” (TSM pg. 46).
Here’s an example of the psychological terminology and associated learning objectives taken from the IB Psychology guide, pg.25:
This means students need to explain the topic (psychological terminology column) in about 100-150 words. But what to explain? We can use the learning objectives for guidance and/or we can look at the three types of topics.
It’s great to see learning objectives come back in this new curriculum. They’re helpful for teachers, but maybe not so helpful for students. For instance, I don’t particularly like the phrase “the role of” in these learning objectives. I think it’s too broad and difficult for students to know what to explain. Is the role of cognitive load theory in understanding human cognition different to the role of any other psychological theory in understanding behaviour? Knowing what this looks like in practice is quite difficult to discern, I think. This is why I like to break the topics down into three different types.
All Topics
Three Types of Topics
Psychology is the scientific study of how and why we think and act the way we do. It makes perfect sense then that the three approaches are all about this fundamental question. Furthermore, we can break the approach topics down into three categories:
- Cause-and-effect
- Theories and models
- Research
Cause-and-Effect
The first type of topic is the most common. If we’re trying to explain human cognition and behaviour, then it’s logical we’re looking at potential causes. This is also how we distinguish between the three approaches – what do we think is the cause of human behaviour? Biology, cognition or the sociocultural environment?
Revision Qu: How and why does (x) influence (y)?
What to know? For each of these, the topic is either the cause or the effect. In planning your exam answers (or what to teach), it helps to identify a specific cause-effect relationship. Then go one step further and have a reason or cause. Here are some examples:
- Neuroplasticity: This is the only biological topic which is the effect, so you should be able to explain how and why one factor can cause neuroplastic changes. A good example is looking at how child abuse can cause hyperactivity in the amygdala. This makes sense from a survival perspective because the brain’s adapted in a way that helps the kid survive their violent environment.
- Localization of function: This requires you to explain how one region of the brain is responsible (i.e. causes) one cognitive process or behaviour. Once again the reason might be based on survival (i.e. evolutionary psychology). For example, one function of the amygdala is to generate negative emotions like fear and anger. It perceives threats in our environment so fast it activates our stress response before we’re consciously aware of it. This helps with survival as it gets us ready to flight or flee.
- Operant conditioning: Like the other cognitive cause-effect topics, operant conditioning is the cause of behaviour. This means you need to explain the process and how it causes a change in behaviour. For the conditioning topics, the why is less relevant than the full description of the process using key terms. However, if you can find a reason why operant and classical conditioning affect behaviour that’s great, too.
A simple plan like this might be helpful when your organising your answers.
Exam Tip: In your actual answer, swap “cause” for “influence.” For example, it’s more accurate to say testosterone influences aggression than to say testosterone causes aggression.
Theories and Models
Psychological theories and models are explanations for human cognition and behaviour. In this sense, many of these are also about cause-and-effect, they just have specific names and claims you need to know.
Revision Qu: How does (theory/model) explain (behaviour)?
What to know? Each of these have specific claims and key terms you need to know. You should be able to summarise in 1-2 sentence what the theory or model is attempting to explain (or describe) and then elaborate in another few sentences the full explanation. A diagram might be relevant for some of these, including the diathesis-stress model or Berry’s model of acculturation. Here are some examples of what these theories and models are trying to explain.
- Diathesis-stress model: Explains why people develop mental health problems.
- Cognitive load theory: Explains optimal conditions for learning.
- Schema theory: Explains how and why schemas influence our thinking and behaviour.
- Social identity theory: Explains how group belonging and identity can influence behaviour.
Research
How do we know what we know in psychology? Research! This is the role of this third type of topic. They’re designed to get you to understand how and why different approaches to research are used in different approaches.
Revision Qu: How and why is (topic) used to study (behaviour)?
What to know? Like all topics, I recommend being able to define these key terms in one or two sentences. The go further and explain how these approaches to research are used and then finally give at least one reason why. Yet again we find the What-How-Why format is helpful. Here are some examples:
- Emic approach: You can explain how this approach uses qualitative methods and then give a reason why (because we’re trying to understand the subjective experience of psychological phenomena in a specific group of people).
- Biological reductionism: You should be able to define this and then explain how biological reductionism is used and why. A good example would be to talk about animal knockouts and why they’re used. For your example, you can then go on to talk about MAOA knockout mice and how they’re used to study the MAOA-L gene’s influence on aggression.
- Animal model: If you use animal knockouts as an example of biological reductionism, you can use much of the same content in this topic – you’re defining what they are and then explaining how and why they’re used. The example can be the same – MAOA knockout mice.
The ASAQ Advantage
Another advantage to categorising these topics by type is it allows you to prioritise your revision for the A-SAQs (Section B). This is my opinion only, but I think the IB will ask about theories/models and research methodologies a lot more than they will the cause-and-effect topics. Why? The content knowledge required for theories, models and research methodologies is quite standard. This makes it easier to write a question that’s fair for all students because they’ve all studied the same content. The only two example questions we have are on theories/models – the IB spec papers ask about social learning theory and cognitive models.
Cause-and-effect topics, on the other hand, allow much for freedom of choice for teachers. This means everyone’s studying different topics. To write an A-SAQ that would be fair yet still allow application of knowledge is much more difficult. That’s not to say it’s impossible, it’s just more difficult. For example, if I taught my students about testosterone and aggression in my course for chemical messengers and someone else taught acetylcholine and memory, how could this disparate content knowledge be equally applied to the same problem or scenario? It’s hard to imagine.
With this in mind, if it were me preparing for the ASAQs, I’d start with the theories/models, then work on the research topics and then finally the cause-and-effect. That’s not to say I’d skip any topics, I’d just order my revision that way. But of course if it were me studying for the May exam I’d start in January and so I’d have plenty of time to cover all the topics. I’m sure you’ll all do the same.
After two hours working on this post I wonder if I’ve been helpful or just overanalysed everything and actually made things more confusing. I like to share my thought processes here because thinking about these topics at this broader level of analysis reminds me of the bigger aims of our course – we’re not teaching key term after key term, but rather we’re teaching psychology. It’s pretty simple after all – why do we do the things we do and how do we know?
Travis Dixon has been teaching for over 20 years and is an experienced IB Psychology, History and English teacher, author, workshop leader and examiner