Outline principles that define the biological level of analysis and explain how these principles may be demonstrated in research

Question 1

What are the 3 Principles?

Answer 1

1 - There are biological correlates of behaviour
2 - Animal research can provide insight into human behaviour
3 - Human behaviour is, to some extent, genetically based

Question 2

Principle 1: 1/2 - There are biological correlates of behaviour. This means… (1+4)

Answer 2

physiological origins of behaviour:

• neurotransmitters
• hormones
• specialised brain areas
• genes

Question 3

Principle 1: 2/2 - The BLOA is… (2)

Answer 3

based on reductionism = attempt to explain complex behaviour in terms of simple causes

Question 4

Principle 1: Study (9)

Answer 4

• Newcomer et al. (1999)
• experiment on role of stress hormone cortisol on verbal declarative memory
• Group 1 (high dose cortisol) 160mg for 4 days
• Group 2 (low dose cortisol) 40mg for 4 days
• Group 3 (control) placebo
• Participants listened to prose para then recalled it
• Verbal declarative memory system often affected neg by increase cortisol (when under LT stress)
• Results: G1 worst performance
• Conc: increase cortisol over a period = neg effect on memory

Question 5

Principle 2: 1/2 - Animal research can provide insight into human behaviour. This means… (2)

Answer 5

• researchers can use animals to study physiological processes
• bc it is assumed that most biological processes in non-human animals are = to humans

Question 6

Principle 2: 2/2 - One important… (2)

Answer 6

• reason for using animals

- lots of research where humans cannot be used for ethical reasons

Question 7

Principle 2: Study

Answer 7

• Rosenzweig and Bennet (1972)
• experiment to study role of environmental factors on brain plasticity using rats
• Group 1 enriched environment with toys
• Group 2 deprived environment no toys
• rats spent 30 or 60 days in environment then killed
• Results: G1 rats showed thicker layer of neurons in cortex
• Conclusion: shows that brain grows more neurons if stimulated

Question 8

Principle 3: 1/4 - Human behaviour is, to some extent, genetically based. This means… (3)

Answer 8

• behaviour can, to some extent, be explained by genetic inheritance
• rarely full explanation since genetic inheritance should be seen as genetic predisposition
• can be affected by environmental factors