IB Group 3 · Individuals and Societies
Psychology
2027 syllabus · First assessment 2027
A conceptual course: six concepts applied across the biological, cognitive and sociocultural approaches and four real-world contexts, with the HL extensions and a Questions tab for the new 2027 syllabus.
C. Concepts
The six concepts that frame the whole course: broad lenses applied across every approach and context.
BIAS — Bias
Bias in the research process — What bias is, and the biases that threaten objectivity when research is designed, run and interpreted.
Bias in theories and clinical practice — How bias toward one perspective produces reductionism, and how gender and cultural bias affect diagnosis and treatment.
Bias in everyday behaviour — Cognitive biases: the mental shortcuts that systematically distort ordinary judgement and decision-making.
CAUS — Causality
Establishing cause and effect — The goal of finding causal relationships, and why correlation, validity and controls are central to it.
Complexity and interaction — Why behaviour is rarely one cause: interacting variables, reductionism and human agency.
CHNG — Change
What change means in psychology — Change as a constant of experience, its many forms, and the free will versus determinism debate.
Promoting change and resistance — Using theory to change behaviour, the barriers that resist it, and how effectiveness is measured over time.
MEAS — Measurement
The measurement challenge — Why behaviour is hard to measure, and how operationalization, reliability, validity and triangulation respond.
Types and techniques of measurement — Quantitative and qualitative, direct and indirect data, the techniques used, and the designs and errors involved.
PERS — Perspective
Why psychology needs multiple perspectives — The complexity of studying humans, and the three approaches that each interpret behaviour differently.
Assumptions, methods and alternative explanations — How each approach's assumptions shape its methods, from emic and etic to inductive and deductive.
RESP — Responsibility
Ethical responsibility to participants — The ethical standards protecting human and animal participants, from informed consent to the three Rs.
How ethics shapes research and the wider role — How ethical standards affect results, evolve over time, and extend to the responsible application of findings.
A. The approaches (content)
The prescribed content: the biological, cognitive and sociocultural approaches to behaviour, and research methodology.
BIO — Biological approach
The neuron and neurotransmission — How neurons signal across the synapse, and how that process shapes mood, memory and behaviour.
Chemical messengers — Neurotransmitters and hormones as the body's signalling molecules, and their role in behaviour.
Localization of function and neuroplasticity — Whether specific brain areas run specific behaviours, and how experience reshapes the brain.
Brain imaging techniques — Using PET, fMRI and MRI to study brain-behaviour links, with their strengths and limitations.
Genes and behaviour: inheritance, diathesis-stress and epigenetics — The extent behaviour is inherited and how genes interact with the environment to shape it.
Animal research and its ethics — The value of animal models in studying human behaviour and the ethical considerations involved.
Biological reductionism — The strengths and limitations of explaining behaviour by its simplest biological parts.
COG — Cognitive approach
Conditioning: classical and operant — The behaviourist roots of the approach: how associations between stimuli, and the consequences that follow behaviour, shape what organisms learn to do.
Schema theory — Mental frameworks built from experience that organize knowledge and guide how we perceive, interpret and remember, at the cost of predictable distortions.
Cognitive models and information processing — The mind as an information processor bridging stimulus input and behavioural output, and how models such as the multi-store memory model make that processing testable.
Cognitive load theory — Working memory has a hard limit, so how information is presented can overload or support learning and everyday cognition.
Dual processing and cognitive biases — Two systems of thinking, one fast and automatic, one slow and effortful, and the anchoring and confirmation biases that fast thinking produces in decision-making.
SOC — Sociocultural approach
Etic and emic approaches — The two ways of researching culture: the outsider, universal etic approach and the insider emic approach, and the Indigenous psychology that grew from emic research.
Enculturation and acculturation — How we internalize the norms of our own culture (enculturation) and how models of acculturation explain adapting to a new one.
Cultural dimensions — Frameworks such as Hofstede's that compare cultures on shared values, used to explain cross-cultural similarities and differences in behaviour.
Conformity and compliance techniques — How group pressure produces conformity, and the techniques used to gain compliance with a request, plus why the two must not be confused.
Social identity theory and social learning theory — Two theories applied to explain and change behaviour: identity built from group membership, and behaviour acquired by observing models.
Cognitive dissonance — The discomfort of holding inconsistent beliefs or acting against them, and how the drive to reduce it changes attitudes and behaviour.
RM — Research methodology
The six research methods — Experiments, observations, surveys/questionnaires, interviews, correlational studies and case studies, each with its strengths and limitations, and how to match a method to the question.
Experiments: variables, hypotheses and types — IV, DV and the variables to control; null and alternative hypotheses; true versus quasi and lab versus field; and why only controlled manipulation supports causal claims.
Sampling and generalization — Random, stratified, opportunity, self-selected and snowball sampling, with the advantages and disadvantages of each, and what lets findings generalize beyond the sample.
Quantitative vs qualitative; reliability and validity — The two kinds of data and how each is analysed, plus reliability and the types of validity used to judge a study.
Research ethics — The researcher's responsibilities to participants, from informed consent to debriefing, and how ethical limits shape which methods are possible.
Credibility, bias and triangulation — How qualitative research earns trust through credibility, triangulation, transferability and reflexivity, plus researcher/participant bias, etic/emic and deductive/inductive reasoning.
X. Contexts
The four real-world settings where the content is applied: health and well-being, human development, human relationships, and learning and cognition.
HWB — Health and well-being
Mental health disorders — Understand at least one disorder (major depressive disorder, eating disorders, PTSD, obsessive-compulsive or anxiety disorders) through four areas of study: biological explanations, cognitive models, cultural differences and environmental factors. Each approach interprets the disorder differently, and the diathesis-stress model shows how they interact.
Health problems — Understand at least one health problem (obesity, substance misuse or abuse, or social media addiction) through prevalence within and between populations, social learning and health, and stress and health. Ties measurement (BMI, prevalence) and causality (correlation vs causation) to biological, cognitive and sociocultural factors.
Prevention and treatment — Explain and evaluate a biological treatment for one disorder, a psychological treatment for one disorder, and prevention or treatment for one health problem. Uses SSRIs and CBT for anxiety and CBT plus diet for obesity, framed by change, causality (RCTs), measurement of effectiveness and responsibility.
HDEV — Human development
Brain development — Brain maturation, critical and sensitive periods, and neuroplasticity as biological drivers of development, and how environment shapes them.
Sociocultural factors in development — How social interaction, cultural tools, parenting and socio-economic context shape cognitive and social development, contrasted with purely biological accounts.
Stage theories and continuous models — Whether development proceeds through qualitatively distinct stages (Piaget, Kohlberg, Erikson) or as gradual continuous change, and how well each explains development.
Theory of mind — The developing ability to attribute mental states to self and others, how it is measured, and its biological, cognitive and social bases.
Attachment and childhood experiences in the development of self — The role of early attachment bonds and wider childhood experiences in shaping the self, the internal working model, and later relationships.
Enculturation of social norms and peer influence in the development of self — How children absorb the norms of their culture and how peers shape identity, self-concept and behaviour, especially in adolescence.
HREL — Human relationships
Social learning and acculturation — How people join and adopt the norms of a group: Bandura's social learning theory and Berry's acculturation strategies, read through the three approaches.
Conformity and compliance techniques — Two forms of social influence: yielding to group pressure (Asch) and the techniques that gain agreement (foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face), with their biological and cognitive bases.
Social identity theory — Tajfel and Turner's account of why group membership drives in-group favouritism and out-group bias, plus how it is used to reduce intergroup conflict.
Cultural dimensions — Hofstede's dimensions, especially individualism-collectivism, and how they help explain cross-cultural variation in group behaviour.
Chemical messengers and cognitive explanations of relationships — Why interpersonal relationships form and endure: the role of oxytocin, dopamine and testosterone, and cognitive models such as attribution and social exchange.
Communication and strategies for improving relationships — The role of communication in relationships (Gottman's corrosive patterns) and evidence-based strategies used to strengthen or repair them.
LCOG — Learning and cognition
Conditioning as a way of learning: classical and operant — Learning through association and through consequences, how conditioning is understood, and applied to change behaviour, across the biological, cognitive and sociocultural approaches.
Social learning theory — Learning by observing and imitating models, the mediational processes that make it more than mimicry, and its use to explain and change behaviour.
Schema theory and the reliability of cognition — Mental frameworks built from experience that guide perception and memory, explaining why cognitive processes are reconstructive and systematically unreliable.
Thinking and decision-making: dual processing and cognitive biases — Two systems of thinking, one fast and one slow, and the cognitive biases that fast thinking produces when we make decisions.
Cognitive models of a cognitive process (memory) — How simplified models such as the multi-store and working memory models make an unobservable cognitive process testable, and where they fall short.
Biological, cultural and environmental factors in cognition, and improving it — The biological, cultural and environmental factors that shape a cognitive process, and evidence-based strategies for improving it.
H. HL extensions (higher level only)
Higher level only: the role of culture, motivation and technology in shaping behaviour, plus data analysis and interpretation.
CULT — Culture (HL extension)
What the culture extension is — Culture as an explanation of behaviour across populations: local, enculturated and global culture, cultural diffusion, and the link to the sociocultural approach.
Culture across the four contexts — How cultural context shapes health, human development, human relationships, and learning and cognition, framed as transferable understanding rather than set studies.
Investigating culture: challenges — Operationalization, the ecological fallacy, imposed etic bias and emic vs etic approaches: the research considerations paper 3 rewards.
MOTIV — Motivation (HL extension)
What motivation is — Motivation as the impetus behind behaviour: primary vs secondary motives, intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation, and self-determination theory.
Motivation across the four contexts — How motivation drives behaviour in health, human development, human relationships, and learning and cognition.
Measuring motivation: challenges — Physiological tests, self-report and demand characteristics, experimental methods, and the question of how far motivation can be assessed.
TECH — Technology (HL extension)
What the technology extension is — Technology (phones, computers, video games, AI) and its influence on behaviour and relationships, and why a young, fast-moving field is contested.
Technology across the four contexts — Plausible positive and negative effects of technology in health, human development, human relationships, and learning and cognition.
Investigating technology: challenges — Isolating variables, sampling bias, correlational bidirectional ambiguity, researcher and publication bias, and the replication crisis.
DATA — Data analysis and interpretation (HL)
Descriptive and inferential statistics — What each type of statistic does, why HL students interpret rather than calculate, and what a correlation coefficient means.
Significance and probability — Statistical significance, p-values, effect size, and type I and type II errors.
Drawing conclusions from data — Experimental vs non-experimental data, correlation vs causation, bidirectional ambiguity, generalizability, and reading graphs and tables.
Interpreting sources in paper 3 — How data-analysis skills are applied to unseen HL-extension sources across the paper's four questions.
Q. Questions (official 2027 FAQ)
Answers to the common questions about the new 2027 course and how it is taught and assessed, from the official IB FAQ.
FQRM — Research methods
What counts as a research method in IB psychology? — The guide names exactly six; different types within one method do not count as separate methods.
What is accepted as an additional research method in paper 2 section A (class practicals) and the internal assessment? — Class practicals and the IA use one of four methods, but suitable alternatives are also credited.
FQSM — Subject matter
Why have cultural and environmental factors been separated in some areas of study? — In two places environmental influences appear alongside cultural factors; they mean specific non-cultural factors.
Why is cognitive dissonance listed under the sociocultural approach (table 3.3) rather than the cognitive approach? — It sits at the intersection of mental and social processes; the heading must not affect how questions are answered.
FQP1 — Paper 1: teaching & assessment
What counts as an "example" in paper 1 section A? — An example may be a research study or a real or hypothetical situation; study details are no longer assessed.
Is there a need for an example or a study in paper 1 section C? — The rubric does not require one, but examples and research are a valuable way to support conceptual reasoning.
The guide suggests exploring only three to four concepts per context, yet all six can be combined with any area of study. What is the correct guidance? — All combinations are examinable, but not every combination should be explicitly taught; students transfer learning.
What counts as prescribed content? Is content assessed in paper 1 section C? — Prescribed content is the terminology and objectives in tables 3.1-3.3, plus the areas of study in the contexts.
In a question about human behaviour, can students use animal research and link it to human behaviour? — Yes; psychology is the study of human and animal behaviour, so both are equally acceptable.
Six concepts combined with 38 areas of study gives 228 combinations. Is this all to be taught? — No; treating the combinations as content to teach is counterproductive. The concepts are broad and transferable.
How many research studies do we need to teach? — The question is misleading; detailed study knowledge is not assessed. Only one study is ever needed to support an answer.
Can paper 1 section A be based on research methodology? — No; section A assesses content from two of the three content areas. Research methodology is assessed elsewhere.
FQP2 — Paper 2: class practicals
How do we spend 30 hours on class practicals if the tasks seem far simpler than this? — The hours also cover alternative methods, teaching research methods and ethics, and IA proposal practice; they are suggestions.
Would running the IA research as a class practical be double-dipping? — Best not to link them; they promote different learning. They may share a topic but must not be the same study.
Do teacher-run experiments count as class practicals? — Yes; the guide states class practicals can be teacher and/or student led.
FQIA — Internal assessment
Can two students carry out the IA on the same problem and collaborate? — No; the IA is a student's individual work and an individual thinking process. Collaboration raises integrity concerns.
In the "Data collection" section, should students refer to the research they have chosen when discussing challenges? — No; there is no requirement to reference existing research. Understanding the general principles of tool design is enough.
What needs to be included in the appendix of the internal assessment? — The data collection tool. Nothing else is required, though common sense may call for clarifying materials.
What would a data collection tool be in an experiment? — The procedure used to measure the dependent variable, plus any materials. The five-item minimum does not apply.
Can students use an existing survey in the internal assessment? — No; the data collection tool must be created. Existing surveys can feature, but students must add and explain their own.
How much originality is expected? Can students base their tool on an existing one? — Reusing some items is allowed if the student creates most of the tool and references reused items per the integrity policy.
FQP3 — Paper 3: HL extensions
Do the "examples of areas of inquiry" for HL extensions (tables 6.1-6.3) need to be taught? — No; HL extensions have no prescribed content and are taught by inquiry. The examples are suggestions only.
What is meant by "their own knowledge" in paper 3 question 4? — Students' overall, transferable understanding of the area and its challenges, not any specific theory, idea or study.
How can we find or create paper 3 booklets to prepare HL students? — Paper 3 is an HL-only exam on data analysis and HL extensions; prepare with regular data-analysis practice and self-made booklets.
FQOT — Other
Is the glossary the prescriptive content students must be able to explain and apply? — No; the glossary at the end of the guide is not prescribed content nor a set way of defining terms.
Will planning time be allowed in the examination? — Planning time is built into each paper's duration; there is no separate time, and students manage their own.
How much do HL students need to know about calculating inferential statistics? — They do not calculate inferential statistics, but must understand significance, probability and correlation coefficients.
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