Miss Adkins Biological

Question 1

what makes up the central nervous system?

Answer 1

brain and spinal cord

Question 2

how does the CNS communicate wit the body?

Answer 2

through the peripheral nervous system

Question 3

What are neurotransmitters?

Answer 3

chemicals in the nervous system. They send messages between neurons through the synapses

Question 4

neurotransmitters can be either…

Answer 4

excitatory (more likely to action potential) or inhibitory (less likely to action potential)

Question 5

what is a neuron?

Answer 5

nerve cells that transmit and receive chemical messages by the release and uptake of neurotransmitters

Question 6

describe the process of action potential

Answer 6

electrical impulse is triggered by a change in electrical potential of the neuron (when it becomes more positive it depolarises), it passes down the axon to stimulate the release of a neurotransmitter

Question 7

describe the process of synaptic transmission

Answer 7

action potential triggered in pre-synaptic neuron. Impulse travels down the axon. axon terminals release neurotransmitter from vesicles. neurotransmitter travels across synapse. receptors of the post-synaptic neuron absorb the transmitter. sometimes re-uptake takes place

Question 8

explain the effect of recreational drugs on synaptic transmission

Answer 8

drugs either increase or decrease neurotransmitter operations. E.g. dopamine provides a reward pathway to encourage us to repeat the drug taking

Question 9

how can recreational drug taking lead to addiction?

Answer 9

heroin- increases dopamine and causes euphoria. the brain responds with downregulation (lowering naturally produced dopamine). dysphoria encourages reusing drugs. over time, more drug is needed for euphoria

Question 10

evidence that addiction is not biological

Answer 10

Alexander- rat park- free rats drank plain water. addicted rats moved from cages voluntarily went through withdrawal as their environment causes euphoria

Question 11

function of the corpus callosum

Answer 11

bundle of nerve cells that allows the left and right hemispheres to communicate and act as one whole organ

Question 12

What is brain lateralisation?

Answer 12

left and right halves have specialised functions e.g. left side controls language and the right controls creativity and musicality

Question 13

Name the four lobes of the brain

Answer 13

frontal lobe (front)
parietal lobe (top)
occipital (back)
temporal (side)

Question 14

state the function of the cerebellum

Answer 14

balance, coordination and motor skills

Question 15

explain how the amygdala leads to aggression

Answer 15

centre of emotion, it controls reactions to environments, connects the pre-frontal cortex and includes control of emotion e.g. aggression

Question 16

Explain how the pre-frontal cortex leads to aggression

Answer 16

impulse control, behaviour regulation and thinking through our actions. if damaged, we can’t control impulses so may be agressive e.g phineas gage

Question 17

what evidence suggests that aggression is caused by brain functioning?

Answer 17

Phineas Gage and Charles Whitman

Question 18

Explain the weaknesses of brain functioning as an explanation of aggression

Answer 18

case studies are based on one individual, group or event. Phineas and Charles are unique cases that we cannot replicate ethically. Cannot generalise

Question 19

explain the role of evolution in the onset of aggression

Answer 19

natural selection- aggression has an adaptive benefit and is more likely to be passed on in sexual selection. In the EEA, aggression was beneficial as they lived in hunter-gatherer groups

Question 20

what evidence suggests that aggression serves an adaptive purpose?

Answer 20

Townsend- females prefer dominant males

Question 21

explain the weaknesses of evolution as the cause of aggression

Answer 21

post-hoc, theory was developed after the facts, cannot be tested today

Question 22

Explain Freud’s tripartite model of the mind

Answer 22

Id- pleasure principle, internal desires

Ego- reality principle, referees between the id and superego’s morals

Superego- morality principle, societal rules and morals

Question 23

Explain the two drives within Freud’s concept of the id

Answer 23

Eros- life instinct, reproduction and maintenance of life

Thanatos- death instinct, self-destruction

Question 24

Explain Freud’s concept of catharsis as a way to reduce aggression

Answer 24

releasing anger without hurting yourself or others. E.g. video games or slamming a door

Question 25

Explain the weaknesses of Freud’s explanation of aggression

Answer 25

Reductionist, cannot operationalise the concepts, non-scientific

Question 26

explain what hormones are an how they are linked to aggression

Answer 26

Chemical messengers that transmit info around the body, released by the endocrine system. they take longer to produce change than neurotransmitters. testosterone causes aggression

Question 27

evidence linking testosterone with aggression

Answer 27

Wagner et al- catrated rats to lower aggression, injected them with testosterone and their aggression levels rose again

Question 28

state one similarity and one difference between biological and psychodynamic explanations of aggression

Answer 28

similarity- external factors contribute, nature cause

difference- operalisationable concepts

Question 29

what is a twin study

Answer 29

comparison of MZ and DZ twin similarity (concordance rates).

Question 30

what are twin studies used for?

Answer 30

to see if a behaviour is due to nature or nurture

to see if MZ’s are more similar than DZ’s, a biological cause is assumed

Question 31

explain which stats test you used in the biological practical and why

Answer 31

spearmans rho to see the correlation between height and aggression. ordinal data used e.g. mean aggression out of 5

Question 32

state the hypothesis of your biological practical

Answer 32

there will be a significant positive correlation between height in cm and self-rated aggression levels on a scale of 1-5