biological psychology in paper 1 Flashcards
CNS and Neurons
what does the CNS do?
- collect, process and respond to information in the environment.
- co-ordinate the working of different organs and cells in the body.
CNS and Neurons
what is the spinal cord?
- tube like extension of the brain.
- connected via the brain stem.
- responsible for reflex actions.
- passes messages between CNS and PNS.
CNS and Neurons
what is the brain?
- source of conscious awareness and decision making.
- 2 hemispheres connected by the corpus callosum.
- contralateral control of the body by the brain hemisphere.
CNS and Neurons
what is the PNS?
- peripheral nervous system
- transmits messages to and from the CNS.
- contains the autonomic nervous system which governs vital automatic functions like breathing.
- contains the somatic nervous system which controls muscle movement and recieves info from sensory receptors.
CNS and Neurons
what are the 3 types of neurons?
- sensory
- relay
- motor
CNS and Neurons
what does the sensory neuron do?
- carries messages from sensory receptors along nerves in the PNS to the CNS.
- they have long dendrites and short axons.
CNS and Neurons
what does the motor neuron do?
- connects sensory and motor neurons together and also connects other relay neurons.
- short dendrites and short axons.
CNS and Neurons
what does a relay neuron do?
- connect sensory and motor neurons together.
- short dendrites and short axons.
CNS and Neurons
what is action potential?
- the method by which the electrical impulse passes down the axon of the neuron to stimulate the release of neurotransmitters to another.
- it moves in 1 direction, from dendrites down to axon to axon terminals.
CNS and Neurons
how does action potential work?
- each neuron holds an electrical charge.
- when a neuron isnt stimulated its in resting state and is negatively charged (-70).
- a stimulus causes the neuron to depolarise, once it reaches its threshold action potenital has occured.
CNS and Neurons
outline the process of synaptic transmission.
- communication between neurons
- the action potential travels down to the axon terminal on the presynaptic neuron.
- this triggers vesicles to move the cell membrane and release neurotransmitters into the synaptic gap.
- the neurotransmitters diffuse across the synaptic gap, and bind to specific receptors on the post synaptic neuron, activating reactions.
- any leftover neurotransmitters in the synaptic gap are reabsorbed into the pre synaptic neuron via an uptake pump, or destroyed by enzymes.
CNS and Neurons
what 2 catergories can neurotransmitters be divided in to?
- inhibitory
- excitatory
CNS and Neurons
what do excitatory neurotransmitters do?
- bond to receptors which makes the post synaptic neuron less negative, bringing the neuron closer to -55mV, increasing the liklihood of action potential firing.
CNS and Neurons
what do inhibitory neurotransmitters do?
- causes the post synaptic neuron to be more negative, moving the neuron further away from the threshold, reducing the liklihood the action potential fires.
CNS and Neurons
what is summation?
- when the post synaptic neuron can recieve both excitatory and inhibitory inputs as neurons are always connected to more than on either neuron.
- the excitatory and inhibatory potentials are summed.
recreational drugs and the brain
what are neurotransmitters?
- chemical messengers that act between the neurons in the brain and can either exitatory or inhibitory.
recreational drugs and the brain
name neurotransmitters.
- serotonin
- dopamine
- acetylcholine
- glutamate
- norepinephrine / noradrenaline
recreational drugs and the brain
what is serotonin?
- associated with mood control in the limbic system of the brain.
- involved in feelings of hunger and pain.
- inhibitory
recreational drugs and the brain
what is dopamine?
- emotional and cognitive functioning, reinforcement in learning and addiction.
- can be both but excitatory.
recreational drugs and the brain
what is acetylcholine?
- involved in muscle contractions, attention, memory and learning.
- excitatory
recreational drugs and the brain
what is norepinephrine / noradrenaline?
- emotion, mood control and sleeping.
- excitatory
recreational drugs and the brain
what is a dopamine reward pathways?
- when a stimulus is recognised the VTA is stimmulated and produces dopamine which travels to the NAc.
- in the NAc, dopamine binds to the receptions, affecting their activity, which translates to feelings of pleasure.
- the pre-frontal cortex connects pleasure from NAc to original trigger stimulus, encouraging us to repeat the same behaviour that stimulated VTA.
- drugs hijack this system and produces pleasurable feelings without any adaptive functioning.
recreational drugs and the brain
what are recreational drugs?
- psychoactive substances that alter brain function, they are taken for enjoyment.
- they increase or decrease the levels of neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft.
recreational drugs and the brain
what does cocaine do?
- stimulant, activates the CNS.
- increases the activity in dopamine pathway by blocking re-uptake to the pre-synaptic neuron.
- acts as an antagonist.
- synapse becomes flooded with surplus activities of dopamine.
recreational drugs and the brain
what does PCP do?
- antagonist for the glutamate receptor NMDA.
- due to reduced neuronal activity it can reduce the amount of pain felt.
- can lead to memory loss.
- can lead to reduce inhibition of dopamine pathways leading to hallucinations.
recreational drugs and the brain
what does heroin do?
- antagonist for opiod receptors that process pain.
- reduced neural activity which stops pain signals being proccessed.
recreational drugs and the brain
what is neurotoxicity?
- when a neuron is overstimulated for too long, it can eventually reach its maximum capacity and be destroyed.
recreational drugs and the brain
what are the long term affects of cocaine?
- dopamine receptors become downregulated.
- explaining withdrawls, craving the drug and higher doses needed for the same effect.
recreational drugs and the brain
what are the long term effects of PCP?
- NMDA receptors are downregulated.
- mental health changes.
recreational drugs and the brain
what are the long term effects of heroin?
- opiod receptors become down regulated.
- quantity of endorphines declines.
- takes more than this drug for user to feel the same high.
recreational drugs and the brain
what study supports arguments of drug effect on the brain?
- olds and milner 1954
- rats would repeately press levers to recieve tiny jolts of current injected through electrodes that hit their pleasure centre.
- dopamine is one of the main chemicals aiding in neural signalling in these regions. (reward pathways)
- however are human brains the same
recreational drugs and the brain
evidence against drug effects on the brain.
- drug treatments only tackle neurobiology of drug addiction.
- drug treatments work best when combined with some sort of cognitive therapy that gets the user to rethink priorities.
- isolating single neurotransmitters oversimplifies the process of addiction, humans use drugs for many things like stress and neurobiology explanations ignore them.
the brain and agression
what are the 4 types of lobes?
- frontal
- parienta;
- temporal
- occipital
the brain and agression
what does the frontal lobe do?
responsible for rational thinking, decision making and impulse control.
the brain and agression
what does the pariental lobe do?
location for sensory and motor movements.
the brain and agression
what does the temporal lobe do?
location for the auditory ability and memory acquisition.
the brain and agression
what does the occipital lobe do?
location for vision
the brain and agression
what are examples of sub cortical structures?
- amydala
- pre-frontal cortex
- hypothalamus
the brain and agression
define agression
- behaviour intended to cause injury, both psychological and physical.
- used to establish dominance or aquire resources.
the brain and agression
what happened to phineas gage?
- an accidential explosion blew a 13 pound tamping iron through his head.
- the left side of his brain was destroyed (pre-frontal cortex)
- he was still able to talk but wasnt the same, he was angry.
the brain and agression
how will agression be impacted if the amygdala is damaged and cant be stimulated to the same extent?
- malfunctions may mean things that are threatening may not produce a fear response or harmless events will be perceived as a threat, producing an agressive response.
the brain and agression
how can dysfunction in the pre-frontal cortex lead to agression?
- linked to impulsivity, lack of self control and inability to learn from consequences of behaviour.
the brain and agression
how will an overactive hypothalamus be linked to increase agressive behaviour?
- could activate a fight response even when your in a situation that doesnt require it.
the brain and agression
what study supports the link between subcortical structures and agression?
- raine et al
- found that there are structural differences between the brains of 41 impulsive violent murders and 41 controls.
- the activity in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala was very different.
- suggesting there may be a biological basis explaining the differences in agression between the individuals, different genes lead to different areas of the brain to be more or less active.
the brain and agression
what study goes against subcortical structures and agression?
- pardini 2014
- the exact influence of the amydala is uncertain.
- found a negative correlation between agression and amygdala volumes using men with a history of violence.
- questioning whether its the activity of the amygdala or size which is related to agression.
classic study: raine et al
whats the function of the pre-frontal cortex?
planning and decision making
classic study: raine et al
whats the function of the amygdala?
process emotions and memories associated with fear.
classic study: raine et al
whats the function of the hippocampus?
- organises stores and retrives memories
- emotional processing
classic study: raine et al
whats the function of the angular gryus?
allows us to make sense of meaning and content of written words.
classic study: raine et al
whats the function of the thalamus?
influences consciousness sleep and alertness.
classic study: raine et al
whats the function of the corpus callosum?
allows your brains left and right hemispheres to communicate.
classic study: raine et al
what was the aim of the study?
to find whether participants pleading NGRI would show brain dsyfunction in areas of the brain associated with violence.
classic study: raine et al
what was the procedure?
- 41 murderers who pleaded NGRI and 41 controls.
- participants didnt take drugs 2 weeks before, ensuring they didnt affect the brain.
- matched pairs
- each participant would be given a radioactive tracer injection into their bloodstream
- this tracer made the areas of the brain that are undergoing metabolism light up on the screen.
- after 32 mins participants had to do a series of tasks like identifying targets on a screen and moving a button.
- after the PET scan was taken and took 10 images at 10mm intervals.
classic study: raine et al
what were the findings?
- murderers have lower activity in the lateral, medial pre-frontal areas, pariental cortex, corpus callosum, left amygdala and left hippocampus.
- murderers had higher activity in the right amygdala, right hippocampus and right thalamus.
classic study: raine et al
what was concluded?
- murderers pleading NGRI have different brain activities.
- suggests no single brain area is related to violent behaviour.
classic study: raine et al
strength of this study
- high internal validity
- high levels of control, participants were evenly matched on 3 potentiallu cofounding variables and standarised procedures were used.
- participants were also drug tested ensuring drugs wasnt a variable.
- therefore the relationship between brain activity and violence can be fairly measured between participants.
classic study: raine et al
weakness of this study
- other elements werent controlled, 23 murderers had suffered from head injuries.
- which could explain the difference between the groups, futhermore situational factors like upbringing could also affect the brain.
- researches cant be certain that other factors could have lead to the violent behavior.
brain scans
what is structural imaging?
- produces a static image of the brain, deals with the nervous system and the diagnoses of gross intracranial disease and injury.
- i.e. CT
brain scans
what is functional imaging?
- produces images of what the brain is doing, deals with the diagnoses of metabolic diseases.
- i.e. PET scans & fMRI
brain scans
a01 of CT scans
- use a series of x-ray beams passed through the head from multiple angles.
- a computer complies the images together to create cross sectional images showing the brain structure but not function.
- low resolution
- can see tumours.
brain scans
ao3 of CT scans
disadvantages and advantages
- very quick to conduct and give accurate details of brain structure.
- however it doesnt provide any details of the brain functions and theres potential risks due to x-ray radiation.
brain scans
ao1 of PET scans
- measures activity in the brain by tracking localised glucose usage.
- brain areas most activated will use more glucose and this will be detected by the scanner.
brain scans
a03 of PET scans
disadvantages and advantages
- it indicates the sepcific areas of the brain that are involved in the experience, can provide evidence of localisation of function, can see what areas are linked to what activities.
- radioactive injections are invasive and may potentially damage cells and tissues and some may experience allergic reactions, limiting the usage of these scans.
- they also only show function and not damage.
brain scans
a01 of fMRIs
- uses radiofrequency energy and magnetic field to measure blood oxygen levels.
- most active areas utilise oxygen, creating a 3D image by detecting changes in magnetism.
- produces high resolution images.
brain scans
ao3 of fMRIs
advantages and disadvantages
- inorder for it to be perfect patient must stay still which can be difficult for certain people which limits the use of this method.
- anyone with a metal surgical implant wont be able to use it due to the high magnetic fields.
- images are very clear and inform us of what areas are most active during a given task.
hormones and agression
what are hormones?
- chemical substances that circulate in the blood stream and only affect the target areas.
- theyre produced in glands in large quantities and disappear quickly.
- their effect is very powerful and widespread.
hormones and agression
explain the link between testosterone and agression.
- agression occurs more in males than females, this sex difference is usually attributed to the effects of testosterone which males produce 10x more.
hormones and agression
what is dual hormone hypothesis?
- hormonal causes of agression might be more complex than just 1 hormone.
- cortisol is secreted when the body is stressed and is key in fight or flight response, responsible for regulating agression.
- high levels of testosterone only lead to agression when levels of cortisol are low.
- high cortisol and testosterone can been lower agression.
hormones and agression
stregnth of the testosterone explantion of agression.
- Dabbs et al (1997)
- After testing testosterone levels in 84 female prisoners, they found highest levels of the hormone in cases of unprovoked violence, and lowest levels of testosterone in cases where violence was defensive - - This highlights the correlation between testosterone and aggression, increasing both the reliability and validity of the association.
hormones and agression
what is a weakness of the testosterone explanation of agression?
- Many studies of hormonal influences on human aggression are correlational.
- Research just considers the changes in hormone levels in association with changes in aggression, without manipulating hormone levels to see if they cause changes in aggression.
- Therefore, it is impossible to establish a causal relationship. This means that there could be alternate explanations for the relationship, such as the elevated testosterone levels being the outcome of aggression, or both being the result of changes triggered by a different hormone.
evolution and agression
define evolution
- Gradual changes in inherited characteristics over successive generations.
- Changes are caused by random mutations, leading to variation between members of the same species over time.
evolution and agression
what is natural selection?
The idea that organisms that have the best physical and behavioural characteristics for their environment are most likely to survive, therefore reproduce and pass on their genes to their off-spring.
evolution and agression
how might being agressive make our ancestors more adapted to survival?
- The original population of a tribe may not have been aggressive.
- Over time, as wars and hunts occurred, the non-aggressive members died out.
- The survivors all had heightened aggression
Aggression was an adaptive behaviour increasing chances of surviving war. - The norm for society over time then began to trend to being aggressive.
evolution and agression
whats sexual selection?
- A specific form of natural selection where individuals who successfully attract a mate out-reproduce others.
- Then those characteristics are passed on to the next generation
- These characteristics might not help with survival, but shows how genetically robust the creature is.
evolution and agression
how might being agressive be an attracive feature thst can increase chances of reproducing?
- Being more aggressive might lead you to be able to scare off potential competitors or fight for resources for survival.
- The aggression gene/characteristics might have allowed the human to reproduce in the first place, this might be why aggression still exists today.
- Size and strength of the human male might be seen as attractive. Competition between males might explain the higher aggression in men.
evolution and agression
what is an advantage of agressive behaviour?
- Guarding the offspring: Human parents will direct aggression to those that threaten their children. This protects the child and ensure that the child and the resources invested in the child are not lost.
evolution and agression
whats the supprtive evidence?
- Research to support the idea that there is a genetic link to aggression.
- Chester (2015) took a sample of female saliva and found a positive correlation between a low functioning MAOA ‘warrior gene’ and aggression levels.
- Therefore suggesting that the MAOA gene, that would have been important in survival, has been passed down through natural selection, with the women who have the gene displaying more aggressive behaviour.
- This suggests evolutionary explanation can explain the human behaviour aggression as an adaptive behaviour aiding survival.
evolution and agression
explain the evidence against the genetic link to agression.
- However, research into the evolutionary nature of aggression is only correlational.
- We can only observe not manipulate variables in evolution, so we cannot establish cause and effect between evolution and aggression.
- Therefore, other theories for why people are aggressive, such as social learning theory cannot be ruled out.
psychodynamic explanation and agression
what are the 2 innate drives that are in conflict with eachother?
- eros
- thantos
psychodynamic explanation and agression
what is eros?
the life instinct, an existing desire to preserve life and energy.
psychodynamic explanation and agression
what is thanatos?
the death instinct, a drive towards death and destruction.
psychodynamic explanation and agression
whats the link between eros, thantos and agression?
eros redirects the destructive nature of thantos away from the self and onto others.
psychodynamic explanation and agression
what are the 3 levels of consciousness?
- unconscious
- conscious
- pre- conscious
psychodynamic explanation and agression
whats the unconscious?
- the deep dark shameful part
- repressed thoughts, memories and feelings continues to direct much of our behaviour although not accessible to the conscious mind.
psychodynamic explanation and agression
what is the conscious mind?
- the part of the mind we are aware of
- everyday thoughts and feelings
psychodynamic explanation and agression
whats the pre-conscious mind?
- thoughts and memories not accessible at all times but easily recalled.
psychodynamic explanation and agression
whats the tripartite theory of personality?
- id
- ego
- superego
psychodynamic explanation and agression
whats the id and its link to agression?
- a primate part of our brain that just wants pleasureable things/ behaviour instanly.
- principle of pleasure
- develops at 0-2.
- exsists in the unconscious mind driven by impulses with no thought of consequences.
- desires originate from eros or thantos
- it acts impulsively, if a child this age wants to throw a toy, they will throw it without caring about the consequences.
psychodynamic explanation and agression
whats the ego and its link to agression?
- it mediates the Id and Superego in an attempt to satisfy both, reducing conflict between the too.
- develops at the age of 3-5.
- principle of reality.
- driven by logic and rationality in the conscious mind.
- does not fulfill agressive urges directly, but channels into appropiate activities like sport.
psychodynamic explanation and agression
whats the superego and its link to agression?
- a part that represents the moral standards that the person was raised with.
- punishes the ego for wrong doings.
- principle of morality
- develops between the ages 5-6.
- opposses agressive drive of our Id through guilt ans shame and then rewards self control through pride and satisfaction.
psychodynamic explanation and agression
whats the catharsis?
- theory states that expressing or getting out ones agression and anger should reduce the feeling of agression.
- way to get rid of emotions
- displacement: redirecting anger on a person or object
- sublimation: channeling agression into a socially acceptable way like taking boxing classes.
psychodynamic explanation and agression
whats a stregnth of the psychodynamic explanation and agression?
- backed by research evidence
- graham et al, the ppl who were able to rant had an improvement in control wheras those who werent didnt.
- offers a practical solution which can benefit the wider society
psychodynamic explanation and agression
whats a weakness of the psychodynamic explanation and agression?
- not applicable to everyone
- bushman (2002), students who were able to go through catharsis via punching bag developed more anger comapared to the ones who didnt.
- unscientific, isnt credible, more better and scientific explanations out there.
psychodynamic explanation and agression
what are the similarities and differences of biological and psychodynamic explanations of agression?
Similarities:
- agression is instinctive and therefore innate.
- agression is a survival function.
Differences:
- scientific evidence to support the explanations of agression.
- psychodynamic explanation has contradictory findings, wheras biological explanations have many scientific supportive findings.
contemporary study: brendgen et al 2005
whats the aim of this study?
- to investigate agression in MZ and DZ twins to discover the extent to which social and physical agression can be explained by genetics and environmental influences.
- also to investigate whether the overlap between social and physical agression is explained by one type of agression affecting the other.
contemporary study: brendgen et al 2005
what was the procedure of this study?
- 234 pairs of twins were selected from the longitudinal quebec newborn twin study, all born between 1995 and 1998.
- 44 pairs were male MZ, 50 pairs female MZ, 41 pairs male DZ, 32 pairs females DZ and 67 mixed DZ.
- coolected data from when they were 5months to 6yrs.
- kindergarden teachers rated social and physical agression on a 3 point scale, i.e. social = says mean things, physical = hits, bites
- the twins peers were also included and were shown 3 photos of their classmates and were to nominate the 3 children on the page to which description fits them best. i.e. social = tells others not to play with a child, physical = gets into fights
contemporary study: brendgen et al 2005
what was the findings of the study?
- physicial agression may lead to social agresssion but not the other way around.
- social agression is mainly caused due to environmental reasons (60%)
- physical agression is mainly caused due to genes (63%)
contemporary study: brendgen et al 2005
what was concluded?
- some genetic factors predisposed some children to be agressive, whereas social agression is more likely due to environmental factors.
- the directionality of agression suggests that children might be predisposed to being physically agressive but learn hitting others isnt acceptable, so they adopt socially agressive methods which are more acceptable.
contemporary study: brendgen et al 2005
whats a stregnth of this study?
- ratings from multiple sources were utilised, very similar ratings been no bias.
- inter-rater reliability and good internal validity, allowing researches to make valid conclusions .
- real life applications, can create effective interventions and reduce agression in children.
- targetting at earlier stages throught things like workshops is easier may prevent anti-social or criminal behaviour in the future.
contemporary study: brendgen et al 2005
whats a weakness of this study?
- generalising results may not be possible, age group highly specific and people develop at different times.
- findings may not be as useful meaning physical may not lead to social agression.
- results are correlational cant prove a cause and effect relationship with genes and agression.
- other factors could affect it as peers may not be able to tell them apart and group them together, reducing validity of the results.
twin and adoption studies
whats a concordance rate?
- when 1 twin shows a behaviour and the other twin does this is concordance.
twin and adoption studies
what does nature refer to?
- biological causes for behaviour, genes
twin and adoption studies
what does nurture refer to?
- environmental causes of behaviour, upbringing
twin and adoption studies
whats a strength of twin studies?
- researchers are able to easily see if there is a genetic component
- if the concordance rate for MZ is greater than the rate for DZ and the only difference is the number of shared genes.
- this must be a factor in determining some traits/ behaviour.
twin and adoption studies
whats a weakness of twin studies?
- MZ twins are often treated more similarly than DZ twins therefore the environment experience of MZ twins is more intertwined and so a shared environment influencing higher concordance rates is difficult to discount.
- might overestimate genetic influence as a result of this.
twin and adoption studies
what are adoption studies?
- groups of adoptees are observed and their behaviours are correlated with their adoptive parents and their biological parents.
- can see environment influences.
twin and adoption studies
whats a strength of adoption studies?
- removes the environment as an extraneous variable.
twin and adoption studies
whats a weakness of adoption studies?
- children may often be adopted into families similar to their biological family, therefore similarities with biological parents might actually be due to environment.
twin and adoption studies
whats the a01 of an adoption study?
- heston 1966
- the participants in the study were born to schizophrenic mothers in an american psychiatric hospital.
- children were selected if their mothers had put them up for adoption from birth and if the mother had no diseases and schizophrenic.
- 47 participants were chosen and matched with a control group on sex and length of time in care.
- data was collected from hospitals, schools, police records and friends.
- the rate of schizophrenia was 10.6% compared with 0% in those not born to schizophrenic mothers.
twin and adoption studies
whats a strength of heston 1966 study?
-having a matched design minimised participant variables that could have affected internal validity of the results.
- therefore we can be confident that its the biological inheritance which caused the difference in the 47 participants born to schizophrenic mothers, not environmental factors.
twin and adoption studies
whats a weakness of heston 1966 study?
- only found a 10.6% concordance rate which doesnt provide cause and effect conclusions for genetic predisposition and schizophrenia rates for adopted children as there are other variables like drug use.
- there also wasnt a psych evaluation on fathers so we cant be sure if this contributed to the participants results.
twin and adoption studies
whats the ao3 for methods to try and separate nature and nurture influences?
- almsot impossible to entirely separate nature vs nurture, its rare for a child to be adopted into another family immediately.
- MZ concordance being higher than DZ due to MZ twins being treated more similarly.
- neither method fully separates the social component of the twins/adoptees behaviours, its impossible to establish a cause and effect relationship.
correlations
what are correlations?
- studys that look at the relationship between 2 things.
- used to investigate strength and direction of relationship.
- correlation coefficient is always between +1 and -1.
- +1 = perfect positive correlation, -1= perfect negative correlation, 0 = no correlation between the 2 co-variables.
correlations
whats a strength of correlations?
- may show a relationship between 2 variables which was not expected, this can influence further research.
- can indicate the direction, provides a precise quantitative meausre of the strength of the relationship between specific variables.
- they allow researches to statistically analyse situations that could not be manipulated experimentally for ethical or practical reasons, this allows them to unravel complex relationships.
correlations
whats a weakness of correlations?
- it cant prove that changing 1 variable will change another (cause and effect relationship), therefore there may be intervening variables that can explain how co-variables are linked.
biological psychology key question
whats the key question?
what are the implications for society if addiction is treated with drug therapy?
biological psychology key question
whats the a01?
- if drug addiction is partially a biological cause then this needs to be tackled with a biological treatment such as a drug like methadone which is a synthetic opioid agonist that eliminates withdrawl symptoms and relieves drug cravings.
- around 150,000 ppl are on methadone treatment programme, it costs £3.6bn a year.
- in 2023/24 there were 37554 drug related crimes.
- £1.4bn spent yearlly enforcing drug laws.
- between the years 2022/23 there were 290,635 adults in contact with drug and alcohol services.
- in 2020/21 there were 16994 admissions for poisoning by drug misuse.
biological psychology key question
whats the a02?
- drug treatment could be effective as methadone doses can be reduced more easily as medical professionals are involved controlling the amount given, allowing addits to break their dependancy on opioids, as repeated exposure to recreational drugs can lead to tolerance and withdrawl symptoms which increases drug use.
- however, drug treatment may not be an effective treatment for addiction. This is because reduction of the methadone doses means the user will still experience withdrawl symptoms such as cramps and vomitting which can then disuade others, additional costs may be added to attack this symptoms.
biological practical
whats the abstract?
the aim of the investigation was to see whether digit ratio was negatively correlated with physical agression.
there were 14 students aged 16-18 who were participants, they completed the buss perry agression questioannaire to measure their agression and they all measured their height.
there was no significant correlation
this means that height doesnt have a significant realtionship with physical agression.
biological psychology key question
what was the aim?
- to investigate the relationship between height and physical agression.
biological psychology key question
what was the procedure?
- a correlational study
- opportunity sampling, i used my psychology class, the sample included 14 students aged 16-18 which was more representative of the target population than volunteer sampling.
- participants were invited and signed a consent form, they were asked to complete the buss perry agression questionnaire then the participants heights were recorded, after participants were debriefed.
- participants were also reassured their agression results werent abnormal.
biological psychology key question
what were the findings?
- spearman rho test
- 152cm, 0.82
- 163cm, 0.32
- 172cm, 0.39
- as the calculated value of 575.5 is greater than the critical value of -0.26, the correlation isnt significant. theres no significant correlation between physical agression and height.
biological psychology key question
what was concluded?
- theres no correlation between physical agression and height.
biological psychology key question
whats a strength?
- getting the students to fill in the self rating agression questionnaire themselves validity would be increased as they were more likely to write down realisitic answers to the agression questions than if they had to provide verbal answers to an interviewer as they may have been embarrased.
biological psychology key question
whats a weakness?
- the measure of agression was that it was self rated which may not have been biased as the answers provided by the students may not have been realistic as they could have provided answers that didnt reflect their true agressive behaviour.
biological psychology key question
what could be improved?
- increase the number and diversity of participants used in sample.
- gather data on participants agression from more than 1 source, which increases accuracy of agression levels, therefore increasing validity and reliability.
