Biological Psychology Flashcards
1
Q
Give 4 AO1 point: Evaluate the use of twin studies in biological psychology
A
- Brendgen et al used twins to investigate if aggression was linked to genetics.
- Researchers used 234 pairs of twins from a longitudinal Quebec study. Including MZ and DZ twins both girls and boys but no mixed pairs included.
- Teachers rated- Social and physical aggression of each child on a 3 point scale (‘never’, ‘sometimes’ and ‘often’) in response to a question.
- Peer rating- Each child given a booklet of photographs of all the children in the class and asked to nominate the 3 children on one page who best matched a description.
2
Q
Give 2 strengths: Evaluate the use of twin studies in biological psychology
A
- Allow researchers to investigate genetics as assumed share same environment so only difference between two groups is genetics.
- Info from twin studies are often taken from twin registries. These hold thousands of twins are also contain info about many variables. This means the sample is large and data is representative.
3
Q
Give 2 weaknesses: Evaluate the use of twin studies in biological psychology
A
- Overestimate genetic influence as MZ twins look the same and are likely treated the same, share the same friends etc. Therefore overestimate genetics due to shared environment.
- Provide very broad indication that a behaviour/ characteristic has a genetic origin, but they cannot identify specific genes involved so are just a starting point.
4
Q
Give 4 AO1: Evaluate the use of adoption studies in biological psychology
A
- Heston’s (1966) adoption study matched 58 participants with a control group on sex, type of eventual placement and length of time in care.
- Data on each participant’s psychiatric status was gathered via psychiatric hospital records, school records and police records.
- Three psychiatrists, including Heston evaluated the data collected on each participant in order to confirm a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
- The psychiatric status of each participant’s father’s was not checked but none were known to be hospital patients.
5
Q
Give 2 strengths: Evaluate the use of adoption studies in biological psychology
A
- They have an advantage of removing extraneous variables of environment as unknown if MZ are similar if it is because of same environment or the same genes.
- Show that twin studies overestimate genetic factors. As the equal environment assumption cause overestimation adoption studies do not.
6
Q
Give 2 weaknesses: Evaluate the use of adoption studies in biological psychology
A
- Children may be adopted into families similar to their biological families ‘selective placement’ and therefore environmental influences may be similar.
- People who adopt other peoples biological offspring are unusual so are unlikely to be representative of population.
7
Q
Give Raines procedure
A
- 39 men and 2 women charged with murder or manslaughter. Pleading NGRI.
- Free from medication in the 2 weeks in the lead up to their brain scan.
- Matched on sex, age and ethnicity with a control group of non-murderers.
- Each participant underwent a PET scan in their brain and were injected with a radioactive tracer and then completed a continuous performance task for 32 mins.
- PET scan was conducted immediately after the 32 min period was over and the scan took 10 images.
8
Q
Give 3 of Raines findings.
A
- Murderers had significantly lower glucose metabolism in the prefrontal areas.
- Lower glucose metabolism in left amygdala and corpus callosum.
- Murderers had greater activity in the right amygdala.
9
Q
Give 4 AO1: Evaluate the use of scanning techniques in biological psychology
A
- PET scans investigate brain activity when a human is doing a task
- PET involves injecting a radioactive tracer into the participant
- fMRI records brain activity and produces an anatomical picture of the brain
- CAT scans use multiple X-rays to produce a cross-sectional image of brain regions allowing to look at structures of brain.
10
Q
Give 2 strengths: Evaluate the use of scanning techniques in biological psychology
A
- Raine et al. (1997) found differences in murderer brain activity using PET scans showing their contribution
- Retest reliability- Brain scans can be repeated easily to test for reliability in findings about human behaviour
11
Q
Give 2 weaknesses: Evaluate the use of scanning techniques in biological psychology
A
- Ecological validity- Brain scanning lacks ecological validity as it takes place in an artificial setting
- Radiation- Frequent exposure to radiation could mean brain scanning could be unethical
12
Q
Give 4 AO1: Evaluate the use of correlations in biological psychology
A
- Correlations show a relationship between two variables.
- A positive correlation occurs when one variable increases as another variable increases.
- When there is no correlation it is expressed as zero.
- Inferential statistics can be used to show a correlation coefficient ranging from +1 to -1.
13
Q
Give 2 strengths: Evaluate the use of correlations in biological psychology
A
- Unethical otherwise- Correlation allows the researcher to investigate naturally occurring variables that may be unethical or impractical to test experimentally.
- Preliminary investigation- Correlation is a useful way to conduct a preliminary analysis on data. If a correlation is not strong we can rule out a causal relationship.
14
Q
Give 2 weaknesses: Evaluate the use of correlations in biological psychology
A
- Cannot show a cause and effect relationship- because there has been no deliberately altered IV. We do not know which is causing which eg if watching more TV makes people more aggressive or if more aggressive people watch more TV.
- Not as controlled- There might be an intervening variable, that causes the results. Not as controlled as laboratory experiments.
