Practise IB Psychology HL 3.3.6 questions by evaluating psychological research on strategies for reducing violence and promoting prosocial behaviour.
Evaluate psychological research relevant to strategies for reducing violence.
Refer to the paper 2 assessment criteria when awarding marks.
The command term "evaluate" requires candidates to make an appraisal by weighing up the strengths and limitations of theories and/or studies relevant to strategies for reducing violence. Although a discussion of both strengths and limitations is required, it does not have to be evenly balanced to gain high marks.
There are a number of different strategies that candidates may refer to. A strategy is any plan of action or a programme for reducing violence.
Examples of psychological research relevant to strategies for reducing violence may include, but are not limited to:
- Olweus's (1993) longitudinal study on the effect of Olweus's bullying prevention program (OBPP) on bullying
- metropolitan area child study (MACS), 2002 - longitudinal study on the effectiveness of a community-based strategy
- Aronson's (1979) jigsaw classrooms research
- Wilson and Kelling's (1982) broken windows theory
- Feshbach and Feshbach (1982) on the effect of empathy training on reducing violence
- Ferguson et al.'s (2007) meta-analysis of effectiveness of school based programmes.
Evaluation of the selected research may include but is not limited to:
- ethical considerations
- methodological considerations
- cultural and gender considerations
- the effectiveness of the strategies
- supporting and contradicting evidence
- the applications of the empirical findings.
Candidates may evaluate a small number of theories and/or studies relevant to strategies for reducing violence in order to demonstrate depth of knowledge, or may evaluate a larger number of theories and/or studies on the effectiveness of strategies for reducing violence in order to demonstrate breadth of knowledge. Both approaches are equally acceptable.