Biological Psychology - AQA Year 1 Core Studies
- Created by: erose20
- Created on: 04-12-19 18:02
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- Biological Psychology
- Strengths of Biological Approach
- Very Scientific
- Provides argument for Nature side of debate
- Practical Applications are extremely effective
- Weaknesses of Biological Approach
- Reductionist - ignores other explanations
- Consciousness and emotion are difficult to study objectively
- Over Simplistic
- Sperry (1968)
- Aim
- To study the psychological effects of hemispheric disconnection in split brain patients
- Methodology
- 11 participants
- Opportunity Sample
- Quasi experiment in lab setting
- Independent Measures Design
- Procedure
- Visual Tests - one eye covered, the other fixed to a screen, two words appeared on each side of the screen. Had to say which word they saw.
- Tactile Tests - Screen in front of their face so they could not see their hands; two objects placed in either hand.
- Results
- Anything shown to the RVF could be described in speech and writing
- Anything shown to the LVF could be drawn/pointed to a matching object/picture but would insist they can't see it
- Objects placed in right hand can be named, but when placed in left hand they were unaware they were holding anything
- If two objects are placed in each hand then hidden in a pile of objects, each hand can pick their object but will ignore the others'
- Anything shown to the RVF could be described in speech and writing
- Conclusion
- Patients appear to have 2 independent streams of consciousness: 2 minds, 1 body
- Evaluation
- Quasi Experiment
- Able to investigate variables they otherwise usually wouldn't be able to
- Researcher doesn't have full control over IVs
- Sample
- Extremely small sample - likely to be a range of individual differences
- Participants would've experienced similar effects to each other
- Low Ecological Validity
- Good Ethics
- Useful as it develops our understanding of the hemispheres of the brain
- Quasi Experiment
- Aim
- Casey et al (2011)
- Aim
- To asses whether delay of gratification in childhood predicts impulse control and social cues as adults
- Methodology
- Quasi Experiment
- Longitudinal Study
- Repeated Measures Design
- Experiment 1:59 Participants Experiment 2: 27 Participants
- Procedure
- Experiment 1
- 59 Participants - 32 high delayers, 27 low delayers
- 'cool' version
- Male and female faces had neutral expressions. the 'go' target was a different gender for each person, they had to press a button when their target appeared. 160 trials were done per person
- 'hot' version
- Identical to cool version except the people had fearful and happy expressions as the targets rather than genders and neutral faces. Both conditions done in their homes on a laptop
- Experiment 2
- Similar 'hot' task. Used different timing, number of trials and apapratus.
- Used an fMRI scanner to examine the brains response to impulse control
- Repeated measures and independent measures data collection
- Experiment 1
- Results
- Experiment 1
- Whether they were high delayers or low delayers had no significant effect on reaction times
- in 'go' trials, high and low delayers performed similarly
- In 'no-go' trials, low delayers made more errors
- In 'cool' versions, high and low delayers performed similarly
- In 'hot' versions, low delayers performed poorly
- P's with low delay showed more difficulty as adults with impulse control
- Experiment 2
- Whether they were high or low delayers had no significant effect on reaction times
- 'go' trials, performance was 98.2% correct, in 'no-go' trials, performance was 12.4% correct
- The right inferior front gyrus is involved in accurately withholding a response
- High delayers used their inferior frontal gyrus more
- Experiment 1
- Conclusions
- Resistance to temptation is a stable individual characteristic
- Delay of gratification stays with them to adulthood
- Resisting temptation is a function of the ventral striatum
- Evaluation
- Methodology
- Experiment 2 was performed in a lab so high control
- Experiment 1 was done at home so little control
- Sample is from one nursery at one time, not representative
- Low Ecological Validity
- Useful because we can establish a cause and effect between specific areas of the brain
- Methodology
- Aim
- Practical Application
- Treating Mental Illness
- Can be applied to drugs and psycho-surgery
- Treating Mental Illness
- Debates
- Reductionism vs Holism
- Reductionist - saying behaviour can be explained through biological causes
- However, this therefore fails to represent the true complexity of behaviour
- Is Psychology a science
- Psychology carries out a lot of it's experiments using scientific equipment in a controlled lab and is closely affiliated with cognitive neuroscience
- Psychology doesn't have continued survival - what we believe to be true today may not be true tomorrow
- Reductionism vs Holism
- Strengths of Biological Approach
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