IB DP Psychology: Option: Health psychology – Revision Notes

Course note: these notes follow IB DP Psychology for first assessment 2019, whose last examination session is November 2026. The replacement course is first assessed in May 2027.

Health psychology is one of the four IB DP Psychology options, examined on Paper 2 through 22-mark essays. It asks what determines health, how health problems such as stress, addiction or obesity are explained and how common they are, and how effective health promotion can be. Most schools teach one health problem in depth; these notes use stress as the main example.

Related: Health psychology study guide and practice questions.

Syllabus coverage (first assessment 2019)

Topic	Content
Determinants of health	Biopsychosocial model of health and well-being; dispositional factors and health beliefs; risk and protective factors
Health problems	Explanations of health problems; prevalence of health problems
Promoting health	Health promotion; effectiveness of health promotion programmes

Determinants of health

Model or factor	Key idea	Research
Biopsychosocial model (Engel, 1977)	Health results from biological, psychological and social factors interacting, unlike the biomedical model	Widely adopted framework; hard to test as a whole
Health belief model (Rosenstock, 1966)	Behaviour depends on perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and cues to action	Predicts some behaviours; neglects social and emotional factors
Theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991)	Attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control shape intentions	Intention-behaviour gap
Dispositional factors	Optimism, hardiness (Kobasa, 1979), Type A behaviour (Friedman and Rosenman)	Western Collaborative Group Study linked Type A to coronary heart disease; later work points to hostility
Risk and protective factors	Risk: poverty, chronic stress, smoking. Protection: social support, self-efficacy	Cohen et al. (1997): people with more diverse social networks were less susceptible to a cold virus

Stress: explanations

Explanation	Key idea	Research
Biological	HPA axis and cortisol; sympathetic arousal; Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (alarm, resistance, exhaustion)	Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (1984): medical students’ natural killer cell activity fell during exams; Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (1995): wounds healed more slowly in carers of relatives with dementia
Cognitive	Lazarus’s transactional model: primary appraisal (is this a threat?) and secondary appraisal (can I cope?)	Explains individual differences in response to the same stressor
Sociocultural	Social status and work conditions	Marmot et al. (Whitehall II): lower-grade civil servants had higher rates of ill health, linked to low job control

Prevalence: national surveys (for example the American Psychological Association’s Stress in America surveys) report how commonly people experience stress, with differences by age, income and gender. Measurement relies on self-report, so cultural and response biases matter.

If your school teaches addiction or obesity instead

Health problem	Biological explanation	Cognitive explanation	Sociocultural explanation
Addiction (e.g. smoking)	Nicotine acts on the brain’s dopamine reward pathway; genetic differences in vulnerability	Expectancies about the effects of the drug; self-efficacy about quitting	Peer and family smoking; social norms; advertising and availability
Obesity	Genetic influences on appetite and metabolism	Learned associations between food and mood; restraint and disinhibition	Food environment, portion sizes, income and cultural norms about eating

The same three questions – what explains it, how common is it and how can it be prevented – apply to whichever problem you choose.

Health promotion

Programme type	Example	Evidence
Individual skills	Mindfulness-based stress reduction (Kabat-Zinn)	Shapiro et al. (1998): reduced anxiety and depression in medical and premedical students
Cognitive-behavioural	Stress inoculation training (Meichenbaum)	Effective in short-term studies; dependent on motivation
Mass media and community	Anti-smoking “truth” campaign in the USA	Farrelly et al. (2005) associated it with part of the fall in youth smoking

Assessing effectiveness: controlled trials, follow-up periods, attrition, self-report outcomes, cost and whether effects last.

Worked example: applying the HBM

A student ignores advice to reduce stress before exams.

• Perceived susceptibility: “I never get ill.”
• Perceived severity: “Stress is only temporary.”
• Barriers: “I have no time for relaxation.”
• Cue to action: a friend falls ill during revision.

The HBM predicts a change in behaviour only if perceived threat and benefits outweigh barriers – a useful structure for explaining why health promotion often fails.

Common mistakes / exam traps

• Writing about stress as if it were the only possible health problem. Name the health problem you are using; questions refer to “a health problem”.
• Describing Selye without linking to illness. Show the pathway from stress to ill health.
• Confusing risk factors with causes. Most evidence is correlational.
• Evaluating health promotion without outcomes. Discuss what changed, for whom and for how long.
• Forgetting culture. Health beliefs and promotion work differently across cultures.

Frequently asked questions

How is this option examined? On Paper 2: three 22-mark ERQs per option; SL students answer one question, HL students one from each of two options.

Can I use addiction or obesity instead of stress? Yes. The guide asks for a health problem; choose one and learn its explanations, prevalence and promotion programmes.

What counts as a dispositional factor? A relatively stable personal characteristic, such as optimism or hostility, that influences health.

Self-test

1. What are the three parts of the biopsychosocial model? Biological, psychological, social.
2. Name the three stages of Selye’s GAS. Alarm, resistance, exhaustion.
3. What did Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (1995) find? Wounds healed more slowly in stressed carers.
4. What is secondary appraisal? Judging whether one has the resources to cope.
5. Give one limitation of the health belief model. It neglects emotional and social influences on behaviour.