Summary Table: Key Studies of Personal Relationships (DP IB Psychology)

Revision Note

Claire Neeson

Last updated

SUMMARY TABLE: KEY STUDIES OF PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

SUMMARY TABLE: KEY STUDIES OF PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Topic

Two Key Studies

Formation of Personal Relationships

Biological Theories: Use both of these studies to answer a question on biological theories of attraction

  • Clarke & Hatfield can also be used to answer a Paper 1 question on Evolutionary Explanations of Behaviour

  • Fisher et al. (2005) can also be used to answer a Paper 1 questions on Techniques used to Study the Brain and Neurotransmitters (the effect of dopamine  on behaviour)

Cognitive Theories: Use both of these studies to answer a question on cognitive theories of attraction

Sociocultural Theories: Use these studies to answer a question on sociocultural theories of attraction

  • Gupta & Singh (1982) can also be used to answer a Paper 1 question on Cultural Origins of Behaviour & Cognition and Enculturation

Clarke & Hatfield (1989)

Fisher et al. (2005)





Taylor et al. (2011)

Markey & Markey (2007)

Festinger et al. (1950)

Moreland & Beach (1992)

Gupta & Singh (1982)

Role of Communication

Use both of these studies to answer a question on communication in personal relationships

Use both of these studies to answer a question on role of gender & communication

Use both of these studies to answer a question on role of gender & communication

  • Ahmad & Reid (2008) can also be used to answer a Paper 1 question on Cultural Origins of Behaviour & Cognition and Enculturation

  • Regan et al. (2012) can also be used to answer a Paper 1 question on Cultural Origins of Behaviour & Cognition 

Collins & Miller (1994)

Levenson & Gottman (1983)

Tannen (1990)

Cameron (2007)

Ahmad & Reid (2008)

Regan et al. (2012)

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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Clarke & Hatfield (1989), Fisher et al. (2005), Gupta & Singh (1982), Ahmad & Reid (2008) and Regan et al. (2012) can be used to answer more than one potential exam question 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

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Claire Neeson

Author: Claire Neeson

Expertise: Psychology Content Creator

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.