IB DP Psychology: Option: Developmental psychology – Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions. They use Paper 2’s 22-mark extended-response format, but not the paper’s exact wording or selection – the IB holds copyright in its own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available through your school or the IB store.

Related: Developmental psychology revision notes and the developmental psychology study guide.

IB DP Psychology Paper 2 (first assessment 2019) sets three 22-mark essays on the developmental option. The eight questions below cover every content point of the option’s three topics, each with a model plan organised by the ERQ criteria. Allow about an hour per essay.

How the essays are marked

Criterion	Marks	Top-band expectation
A Focus on the question	2	Explains the problem or issue posed by the question
B Knowledge and understanding	6	Accurate, detailed, well-explained terminology
C Use of research	6	Relevant research, explained and linked to the question
D Critical thinking	6	Well-developed evaluation and consideration of alternatives
E Clarity and organisation	2	Clear and coherent throughout

Questions

1. Discuss the role of peers and play in cognitive and/or social development. [22]

2. Evaluate research on childhood trauma and resilience. [22]

3. Discuss the effect of poverty on development. [22]

4. Evaluate research on brain development. [22]

5. Contrast two theories of cognitive development. [22]

6. Evaluate one theory of attachment. [22]

7. Discuss how gender identity and social roles develop. [22]

8. Evaluate research on the development of empathy and theory of mind. [22]

Model plans

1. Peers and play.

• B: Vygotsky’s view that play creates a zone of proximal development and builds self-regulation; peers as models and as more knowledgeable others; Piaget’s view that peer conflict prompts cognitive change.
• C: research on pretend play and self-regulation; social learning from peers (Bandura’s modelling principles applied to peers).
• D: much play research is correlational; definitions of play vary; cultural differences in play and the role of adults.

2. Trauma and resilience.

• B: define trauma and resilience; risk and protective factors.
• C: Rutter et al. (ERA study) – Romanian orphans adopted before six months showed better recovery than those adopted later; Hodges and Tizard (1989) – later social difficulties in ex-institutional children; Werner and Smith (Kauai) – protective factors in high-risk children.
• D: natural experiments cannot control which children were adopted; attrition in longitudinal studies; ethical constraints mean no experimental manipulation; resilience is a process, not a fixed trait.

3. Poverty.

• B: mechanisms – chronic stress, poorer nutrition, less cognitive stimulation, parental stress and caregiving.
• C: Luby et al. (2013) – poverty linked to smaller hippocampal and amygdala volumes, mediated by caregiving support and stressful life events; Hart and Risley (1995) – differences in language exposure by socio-economic status.
• D: correlation and confounding variables; Hart and Risley’s small sample and observer effects; risk of deficit framing; protective role of caregiving suggests interventions.

4. Brain development.

• B: synaptogenesis, pruning, myelination; neuroplasticity; the prefrontal cortex and executive functions.
• C: Chugani (1987) PET studies of glucose metabolism in infants; Gogtay et al. (2004) longitudinal MRI showing grey-matter loss progressing from back to front, with prefrontal regions maturing last.
• D: small samples; imaging shows structure and correlation, not behaviour directly; ethical limits on scanning children; links between brain change and behaviour are interpretive.

5. Two theories of cognitive development (contrast).

• B/C: Piaget – universal stages, child as lone scientist, conservation tasks; Vygotsky – social and cultural learning, ZPD, scaffolding, language as a tool of thought.
• D: Piaget emphasises maturation before learning, Vygotsky learning leading development; Piaget’s tasks may underestimate young children; Vygotsky’s ideas are harder to test but better explain cultural differences; implications for education differ (discovery learning versus guided participation).

6. Bowlby’s attachment theory.

• B: innate attachment system, monotropy, critical period, internal working model.
• C: Harlow (1958) contact comfort; Ainsworth et al. (1978) Strange Situation; Van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) cross-cultural meta-analysis.
• D: Harlow’s animal research – ethics and generalisation; the Strange Situation may be less valid in cultures with different childcare practices; multiple attachments challenge monotropy; temperament as an alternative explanation.

7. Gender identity and social roles.

• B: social learning (models and reinforcement); gender schema theory (Martin and Halverson, 1981); biological influences.
• C: Smith and Lloyd (1978) – adults’ toy choices depended on the infant’s perceived sex; research on children’s gender-schema-consistent memory.
• D: artificial lab settings; difficulty separating biological and social causes; changing cultural norms; interaction of explanations.

8. Empathy and theory of mind.

• B: theory of mind – understanding others’ mental states; false belief; link to empathy.
• C: Wimmer and Perner (1983) false-belief tasks; Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith (1985) Sally-Anne task with autistic, Down syndrome and typically developing children.
• D: tasks depend on language and may underestimate younger children; small samples; cultural variation in the age of passing; theory of mind deficits are not universal among autistic people.

Worked paragraph: criterion D in action (Question 6)

Van IJzendoorn and Kroonenberg’s (1988) meta-analysis of Strange Situation studies in eight countries found secure attachment to be the most common type everywhere, which supports Bowlby’s claim that attachment is a universal, evolved system. However, the proportions of insecure types varied: avoidant attachment was more common in Germany and resistant attachment in Japan and Israel. This variation may reflect cultural childcare practices rather than poorer attachment – for example, Japanese infants rarely separated from their mothers may find the procedure unusually stressful. The Strange Situation may therefore be an imposed etic measure, so its findings support Bowlby’s universality claim only in part.

Frequently asked questions

How many studies should each essay include? Two or three relevant studies, each described and evaluated, are usually enough for criterion C.

Do I need numbers from studies? Precise findings strengthen criterion B and C, but accuracy matters more than statistics.

Can I write about adolescence? Yes, where relevant – brain development, for instance, continues into the twenties.