Key Studies Summary Table: The Influence of Technologies on Cognitive Processes (HL IB Psychology)

Key Studies Summary: The Influence of Technologies on Cognitive Processes

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

• HL IB students have a lot of content to cover 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 will ask you to either ‘Evaluate’ or ‘Discuss’ either the positive or the negative influence of technologies on cognitive processes

• You may also be asked ‘To what extent’ technology has a positive or negative effect on cognitive processes

• For any of the above questions (evaluate, discuss, to what extent) you can use all of the studies presented in the summary table here

• If you are asked to (for example) ‘Discuss the positive influence of technologies on cognitive processes’ you could use BOTH Blacker et al. (2014) and Morina et al. (2015) plus ONE of the negative influence studies (possibly in less depth) as a counter-argument (Sparrow et al. 2011 or Rosen et al. 2011)

• Another solution to the above strategy would be to use either Blacker et al (2014) OR Morina et al. (2015) plus ONE of the negative influence studies in depth for a counter-argument

• Whichever solution or strategy you use in the exam for a question on this topic remember to acknowledge that technologies cannot have a purely positive or negative effect on cognitive processes - always bring in critical thinking and counter-arguments

• Remember that the HL questions will only ever appear on Paper 1 Section B (ERQ = 22 marks), never on Section A