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The IB Psychology SAQs FREE BLOA ANswers Just give me the answers Derek Burton The complete collection of model answers for ALL IB Psychology short answer questions in the Paper 1 examinations Full marks Guaranteed PsychologyIB com
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered Introduction This interactive digital book is a complete collection of answers to all of the possible short answer questions SAQs examination questions that can be asked for each Level of Analysis in the IB Psychology Paper 1 examination FREE BLOA ANswers The Biological Level of Analysis The Cognitive Level of Analysis The Sociocultural Level of Analysis There are no SAQs in the Options the Paper 2 examination All questions are comprehensively covered here and the model answers provided here are personally guaranteed by myself Derek Burton a very experienced and passionate IB Psychology teacher heading the Psychology Department at a leading IB World School I have had great success in helping my students achieve maximum success in their IB Psychology examinations because I have a very successful strategy learn model answers to a point where you can just reproduce them accurately in the examinations After all and this is the key point to understand there are no surprises in the IB Psychology examinations Just give me the answers Each answer presented here addresses the top markband requirements including relevant research and supporting theories and IB Psychology concepts If the student manages to replicate one of the model answers provided here in the examination then this answer is guaranteed to be awarded the maximum 8 out of 8 marks Best of luck for your revision Derek Burton About the author Derek Burton is a highly experienced very successful and wildly passionate IB Psychology teacher and teacher mentor He heads the Psychology and Commerce departments at a leading IB World School and is the site author of PsychologyIB com 1 Page proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered Interactive click or tap a topic to go The Biological Level of Analysis Topic 2 Just give me the answers Topic 1 The Cognitive Level of Analysis Topic 3 The Socio Cultural Level of Analysis FREE BLOA ANswers 2 Page proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered Just give me the answers The BIOLOGICAL Level of Analysis 3 Page proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered Topic 1 The Biological Level of Analysis Principles that define the BLOA Model Answer 1 2 Research demonstrating BLOA principles Model Answer 1 3 BLOA research methods Model Answer 1 4 Ethical considerations in BLOA research Model Answer 1 5 Localisation of function Model Answer 1 6 Neurotransmission and human behaviour Model Answer 1 7 Hormones and human behaviour Model Answer 1 8 Just give me the answers 1 1 Environment and physiological processes Model Answer 1 9 Brain imaging technology Model Answer 1 10 Cognition and physiology Model Answer 1 11 Genetic inheritance and behaviour Model Answer 1 12 Evolutionary explanations of behaviour Model Answer 1 13 Ethical considerations in genetic research Model Answer 4 Page proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered GENERAL LEARNING OUTCOMES OUTLINE PRINCIPLES THAT DEFINE THE BIOLOGICAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS Important The examination question usually asks you to outline two principles that define the Biological Level of Analysis Do not start your answer by listing all three principles If you mention principles 1 2 and 3 in order and then outline principles 2 and 3 the IB examiner is required to mark you on Principles 1 and 2 the first two principles they have encountered in your SAQ Of the three principles that define the BLOA I will outline Principles One and Two there are biological correlates of behaviour and animal research can provide insight into human behaviour Principle One There are biological correlates of behaviour This means that there are physiological options of behaviour such as neurotransmitters hormones specialised brain areas and genes The biological level of analysis is based on reductionism which is an attempt to explain complex behaviour in terms of simple causes Research that demonstrates principle 1 is Newcomer et al 1999 Newcomer et al 1999 performed an experiment on the role of the stress hormone cortisol on verbal declarative memory Group 1 high dose cortisol had tablets containing 160 mg of cortisol for four days Group 2 low dose cortisol had tablets with 40 mg of cortisol for four days Group 3 control had placebo tablets Participants listened to a prose paragraph and had to recall it as a test of verbal declarative memory This memory system is often negatively affected by the increased cortisol under longterm stress The result showed that group 1 showed the worst performance on the memory test compared to groups 2 and 3 The experiment shows that an increase in cortisol over a period has a negative effect on memory Just give me the answers Principle Two Animal research can provide insight into human behaviour This means that researchers use animals to study physiological processes because it is assumed that most biological processes in non human animals are the same as in humans One important reason for using animals is that there is a lot of research where animals cannot be used for ethical reasons Research that demonstrates principle 2 is Rosenzweig and Bennet 1972 Rosenzweig and Bennet 1972 performed an experiment to study the role of environmental factors on brain plasticity using rats as participants Brain plasticity refers to changes in neural pathways and synapses due to changes in behaviour environment neural processes thinking emotions as well as changes resulting from bodily injury Group 1 was placed in an enriched environment with lots of toys Group 2 was placed in a deprived environment with no toys 5 Page proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered The rats spent 30 or 60 days in their respective environments before being euthanised The brains of the rats in group 1 showed a thicker layer of neurons in the cortex compared to the deprived group The study shows that the brain grows more neurons if stimulated The alternative principle which can be substituted for either Principle One or Two Principle Three Human behaviour is to some extent genetically based This means that behaviour can to some extent be explained by genetic inheritance although this is rarely the full explanation since genetic inheritance can be seen as genetic predisposition which can be affected by environmental factors Researchers interested in the genetic origin of behaviour often used twins so that they can compare one twin with the other on a variable such as intelligence depression or anorexia nervosa Identical twins monozygotic MZ are 100 per cent genetically identical as they have developed from the same egg They therefore act as a control for each other Fraternal twins dizygotic twins DZ have developed from two different eggs They share around 50 per cent of their genes so they are no more similar than siblings Twin research never shows a 100 per cent concordance rate the probability that a pair of individuals will both have a certain characteristic given that one of the pair has the characteristic For example twins are concordant when both have or both lack a given trait Thus it is believed that genes are a predisposing factor rather than a cause of a behaviour Therefore it is also important to consider what environmental factors could influence the expression of the genetic predisposition Research that demonstrates principle 3 is Bouchard et al 1990 Bouchard et al 1990 performed the Minnesota twin study a longitudinal study investigating the relative role of genes in IQ The participants were MZ reared apart MZA and MZ reared together MZT The researchers found that MZT had a concordance rate of IQ of 86 per cent compared with MZA with a concordance rate of IQ of 76 per cent This shows a link between genetic inheritance and intelligence but it does not rule out the role of the environment Just give me the answers 6 Page proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered EXPLAIN HOW PRINCIPLES THAT DEFINE THE BIOLOGICAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS MAY BE DEMONSTRATED IN RESEARCH THAT IS THEORIES AND OR STUDIES Important The examination question usually asks you to explain how one or two principles that define the Biological Level of Analysis may be demonstrated in research Do not start your answer by listing all three principles If you mention principles 1 2 and 3 in order and then outline principle 2 the IB examiner is required to mark you on Principles 1 the first principle they have encountered in your SAQ Of the three principles that define the BLOA I will outline Principles One there are biological correlates of behaviour Principle One There are biological correlates of behaviour This means that there are physiological options of behaviour such as neurotransmitters hormones specialised brain areas and genes The biological level of analysis is based on reductionism which is an attempt to explain complex behaviour in terms of simple causes Research that demonstrates principle 1 is Newcomer et al 1999 Newcomer et al 1999 performed an experiment on the role of the stress hormone cortisol on verbal declarative memory Group 1 high dose cortisol had tablets containing 160 mg of cortisol for four days Group 2 low dose cortisol had tablets with 40 mg of cortisol for four days Group 3 control had placebo tablets Participants listened to a prose paragraph and had to recall it as a test of verbal declarative memory This memory system is often negatively affected by the increased cortisol under longterm stress The result showed that group 1 showed the worst performance on the memory test compared to groups 2 and 3 The experiment shows that an increase in cortisol over a period has a negative effect on memory Strengths vs Weaknesses Strengths This was a controlled and randomised experiment so it was possible to establish a cause effect relationship between levels of cortisol and scores on a verbal declarative memory test Weaknesses Ideally they needed to define the cortisol plasma concentration threshold and duration of exposure required to produce this impairment in healthy and clinical populations Ethical Considerations Ethical issues were observed with informed consent The negative effect of taking high dosages of cortisol was reversible so no harm was done Just give me the answers Principle Two Animal research can provide insight into human behaviour This means that researchers use animals to study physiological processes because it is assumed that most biological processes in non human animals are the same as in humans One 7 Page proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered important reason for using animals is that there is a lot of research where animals cannot be used for ethical reasons Research that demonstrates principle 2 is Rosenzweig and Bennet 1972 Rosenzweig and Bennet 1972 performed an experiment to study the role of environmental factors on brain plasticity using rats as participants Brain plasticity refers to changes in neural pathways and synapses due to changes in behaviour environment neural processes thinking emotions as well as changes resulting from bodily injury Group 1 was placed in an enriched environment with lots of toys Group 2 was placed in a deprived environment with no toys The rats spent 30 or 60 days in their respective environments before being euthanized The brains of the rats in group 1 showed a thicker layer of neurons in the cortex compared to the deprived group The study shows that the brain grows more neurons if stimulated Evaluation The experiment was a rigorously controlled laboratory so it was possible to establish a cause effect relationship The experiment used animal models and therefore it may be difficult to generalise to humans unless research with humans provides the same results The research challenged the belief that brain weight cannot change This was an important finding There are ethical issues in the use of animals in research like this Since the research contributed to a much better understanding of the role of environmental factors in brain plasticity it can be argued that the research was justified despite ethical issues The alternative principle which can be substituted for either Principle One or Two Principle Three Human behaviour is to some extent genetically based Just give me the answers This means that behaviour can to some extent be explained by genetic inheritance although this is rarely the full explanation since genetic inheritance can be seen as genetic predisposition which can be affected by environmental factors Researchers interested in the genetic origin of behaviour often used twins so that they can compare one twin with the other on a variable such as intelligence depression or anorexia nervosa Identical twins monozygotic MZ are 100 per cent genetically identical as they have developed from the same egg They therefore act as a control for each other Fraternal twins dizygotic twins DZ have developed from two different eggs They share around 50 per cent of their genes so they are no more similar than siblings Twin research never shows a 100 per cent concordance rate the probability that a pair of individuals will both have a certain characteristic given that one of the pair has the characteristic For example twins are concordant when both have or both lack a given trait Thus it is believed that genes are a predisposing factor rather than a cause of a behaviour Therefore it is also important to consider what environmental factors could influence the expression of the genetic predisposition 8 Page proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered Research that demonstrates principle 3 is Bouchard et al 1990 Bouchard et al 1990 performed the Minnesota twin study a longitudinal study investigating the relative role of genes in IQ The participants were MZ reared apart MZA and MZ reared together MZT The researchers found that MZT had a concordance rate of IQ of 86 per cent compared with MZA with a concordance rate of IQ of 76 per cent This shows a link between genetic inheritance and intelligence but it does not rule out the role of the environment Strengths vs Limitations Strengths The strengths of this study is that the size of it means it can be generalised easily the nature of the sample was cross cultural meaning that it was fair and the mean age of participants is 41 years old as opposed to previous studies that used adolescents Weaknesses The limitations are that the study relied on media coverage to recruit participants the frequency of contact between the twins prior to the study wasn t controlled and also that twins reared together may not have experienced the same environment Ethical Considerations There are ethical concerns with the way twins were reunited as it was not done in a planned process and there could have been some emotional issues with this The researchers should have been more careful Just give me the answers 9 Page proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered DESCRIBE HOW ONE PARTICULAR RESEARCH METHOD IS USED AT THE BIOLOGICAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS Important When the IB Psychology examiners are approaching setting an SAQ question based on an ERQ command term i e this question comes from a high level discuss command term they can approach this in different ways The most likely SAQ they can set here is to ask a question based on just one research method and then further refine it by asking either how or why Thus we provide both answers here Psychological research at the biological level of analysis is carried out in order to study the brain scientifically Perhaps the research method used at the biological level of analysis that most reflects this scientific study is the laboratory experiment An experiment is an orderly procedure carried out with the goal of verifying refuting or establishing the validity of a hypothesis a proposed explanation for a phenomenon Experiments provide insight into cause and effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a particular factor is manipulated How this method is used Laboratory experiments take place in laboratories an artificial environment and are true experiments in that there is control over variables and the possibility for random allocation to experimental conditions Experiments are used to establish a cause and effect relationship between two or more variables Just give me the answers In an experiment the research manipulates an independent variable IV and measures its effect on a dependent variable DV while all other variables are held constant An independent variable is the experimental variable or variable that is manipulated by the research e g time delay before recall in memory experiments and has some effect on the DV The dependent variable is how any effect would be measured e g brain activity within an fMRI thickness and weight of cortex levels of depression on a standardised clinical instrument Participants are usually randomly allocated to conditions and variables are controlled to make sure that extraneous variables do not have an effect on the results of the study Extraneous variables are factors that may influence the outcome of an experiment though they are not the variables that are actually of interest These variables are undesirable because they add error to an experiment This is important because it helps to ensure that any differences between and within the groups are not systematic at the outset of the experiment Random assignment does not guarantee that the groups are matched or equivalent only that any differences are due to chance In laboratory experiments examining cognitive processes the researcher manipulates the IV and controls all other variables to avoid extraneous variables There is a controlled environment and standardised procedures in that the only difference in participant experience in the cognitive laboratory is a result of the IV manipulation This again lessens the chance for experimental error and increases the validity of experimental results 10 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered One of the most scientific ways to study mental processes is through laboratory experiments because the high degrees of control allow researchers to isolate a particular component of the cognitive process for study IV to test its effect on the DV One example of a laboratory experiment is Rosenzweig et al s 1972 classic study of the role of environmental stimulation on brain plasticity Rosenzweig et al wanted to determine whether environmental factors such as growing up in a rich and stimulating environment would affect the development of neurons in the cerebral cortex any differently to individuals growing up in an impoverished environment the Aim They hypothesised that rats that spent time in an enriched environment EC would have more neurons and more dendritic branching and thus increased cerebral cortex thickness and weight compared to rats spending time in an impoverished environment IC The ideal laboratory experiment has a controlled environment and standardised procedures Here the independent and control conditions for the rats were as standardised as possible e g same food night day cycles temperature etc and rats were randomly assigned to conditions reducing the probability of them coming from the same genetic background Only the degree of enrichment in the environment was different between each group Rats were placed in either an EC or an IC The EC had 10 12 rats in a cage where different stimulus objects were provided for the rats to explore and play with This group also received maze training In the IC each rat was isolated in an individual cage and no stimulation was provided The rats typically spent 30 to 60 days in their respective environments before they were euthanised so the researchers could study changes in brain anatomy The researchers used an independent samples design so the participants experienced only one condition Otherwise the rats would have had to alternate between spending time in EC and IC with the effects of each being measured in some way to tease apart differences Just give me the answers The results showed that the brain anatomy was different for rats in the IC and EC conditions The brains of EC rats had increased thickness and higher weight of the cortex EC rats had developed more acetylcholine receptors in the cerebral cortex an important neurotransmitter in learning and memory EXPLAIN WHY ONE PARTICULAR RESEARCH METHOD IS USED AT THE BIOLOGICAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS Why this method is used the Strengths of the laboratory experiment The greatest strength of the laboratory experiment and probably the primary reason it is used at the biological level of analysis is that it can establish cause effect relationships For example the Rosenzweig et al experiment showed that placing rats in a stimulating environment with increased opportunities to socialise play learn and explore lead to changes in the brain the effect 11 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered Rosenzweig and Bennet 1972 performed an experiment to study the role of environmental factors on brain plasticity using rats as participants Brain plasticity refers to changes in neural pathways and synapses due to changes in behaviour environment neural processes thinking emotions as well as changes resulting from bodily injury Group 1 was placed in an enriched environment with lots of toys Group 2 was placed in a deprived environment with no toys The rats spent 30 or 60 days in their respective environments before being euthanised The brains of the rats in group 1 showed a thicker layer of neurons in the cortex compared to the deprived group The study shows that the brain grows more neurons if stimulated There is variable control only the environment was manipulated and accuracy of measurements e g weight mcg thickness microns and number of acetylcholine receptors which increases the objectivity in that the accuracy of measurement can be tested independently from the researchers whom first report it It is easy to replicate and this increases the reliability of results In that the more times an experiment can be repeated in different psychology laboratories with different participant groups and show robust cause effect relationships in the results are going to increase the validity of a biological theory i e after years of experimental studies it is now almost certain that having an enriched and stimulating environment is influential in the development of brain i e learning leads to plasticity changes However there are certain problems with the best laboratory experiments having highly controlled environments these include Artificiality may result in a lack of ecological validity which means that the methods materials and setting of the study must approximate the real world that is being examined For example receiving an adrenaline injection is far different than the body releasing its own in response to a fight or flight situation e g Schachter Singer 1962 Results may be biased because of demand characteristics in that sometimes participants can form an interpretation of the experiment s purpose and unconsciously change their behavior to fit that interpretation Experimenter effects where subtle cues or signals from an experimenter can also affect the performance or response of participants in the experiment The cues may be unconscious nonverbal cues such as muscular tension or gestures Although single and double blind methods can counter this effect Ethical issues may be relevant because sometimes deception is necessary to avoid demand characteristics The why of laboratory experiments essentially comes down to being able to establish a cause effect relationship increased objectivity and an ability to replicate methods to hopefully replicate results all of which increases the reliability and validity of biological theories Ecological validity issues possible demand characteristics and experimenter effects need to be carefully thought through as do the ethics surrounding the deception of participants in a particular biological psychology research experiment Just give me the answers 12 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered DESCRIBE ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS RELATED TO RESEARCH AT THE BIOLOGICAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS The case study of HM HM was man who lost the ability to remember information after a brain operation The operation was clearly a disaster for HM although he probably never understood that because he could never learn what happened to him or if he did he would forget it within a couple of minutes This was a tragedy for HM but an opportunity for any psychologists who became aware of the case They queued up to study HM s memory assessing it with all kinds of tests and checking out a wide range of hypotheses concerning the theoretical distinctions between long term and short term memory and between explicit and implicit memory They used all sorts of stimuli including electric shocks and white noise He has probably had more words written about him than any other case in neurological or psychological history Corkin et al 1997 did an MRI scan of HM s brain Brain imaging was used because it allowed the researchers to get a precise picture of the brain damage They discovered that parts of the temporal lobe including the hippocampus and amygdala were missing but also that the damage was not as extensive as previously believed Just give me the answers There were a set of ethical issues with Corkin et al and most of the studies performed on HM which include 1 Participant Protection Participants should be protected from physical and mental harm and distress humiliation stress injury etc and that participants should not be forced to reveal personal information HM was protected from harm during most studies but obviously not when electric shocks were used He may have experienced mental distress from dramatic changes in environments carers and different researchers coming and going 2 Consent Participants should be informed of the true aims and nature of research before giving consent However sometimes it is not possible to give full information about research This is especially true if participant bias could be expected HM could not be fully informed or give consent to these studies due to his general cognitive functioning He would not understand the nature and aims of the study and therefore it was not possible to gain fully informed consent 3 Withdrawal Participants should be informed of their right to withdraw their participation and data at any time in the study even at the end without penalty HM would not have been able to express any desires to withdraw from the studies as it was likely his poor memory would mean that he was not aware that he was participating in an experiment after a short period of time had passed 4 Confidentiality Data collected in a study should remain confidential and anonymous because it is important to protect participants from possible consequences that may result from their data His identity was kept anonymous as best as possible as HM is just his initials His real name was in the end revealed and his case was exposed to the world of psychology and HM was readily identifiable in video footage 5 Deception and debriefing HM was not debriefed in most studies study However as he did not know that he was being studied he would not desire a debriefing 13 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered Just give me the answers In conclusion most of the memory studies in which HM participated would not meet the ethical requirements necessary for research into the BLOA and would not be approved by the ethics boards of universities today The ethical procedures surrounding case study patients today are much more prescribed and regulated 14 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered PHYSIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOUR EXPLAIN ONE STUDY RELATED TO LOCALISATION OF FUNCTION IN THE BRAIN Localisation of function suggests that different areas in the brain are specialised for different functions Currently there are two major theories of the brain s cognitive function The first is the theory of modularity Stemming from phrenology this theory supports functional specialisation localisation of function suggesting the brain has different modules that are domain specific in function The second theory distributive processing proposes that the brain is more interactive and its regions are functionally interconnected rather than specialised Maguire et al 2000 The London Taxi Driver study Aim The aim of the study was to investigate whether changes could be detected in the brains of London taxi drivers and to further investigate the functions of the hippocampus in spatial memory Method London taxi drivers with a range of age and experience were the participants because their work requires the extensive use of spatial navigational skills Matched pairs design participants were age and gender matched with a control group Two different types of MRI scanning were used to assess how the brains of the taxi drivers differed from the control group Quasi experiment Structural MRIs of the brains of humans with extensive navigation experience licensed London taxi drivers were analysed and compared with those of control subjects who did not drive taxis Results Just give me the answers The posterior hippocampi of taxi drivers were significantly larger relative to those of control subjects A more anterior hippocampal region was larger in control subjects than in taxi drivers Hippocampal volume correlated with the amount of time spent as a taxi driver positively in the posterior and negatively in the anterior hippocampus Conclusions The authors believe that this study suggest that the changes in hippocampal grey matter at least on the right are acquired This finding indicates the possibility of local plasticity in the structure of the healthy adult human brain as a function of increasing exposure to an environmental stimulus Maguire et al argue that the anterior and posterior hippocampus have different roles LOF thus providing support for the localisation of function theory The posterior hippocampus is involved when previously learned spatial information is used whereas 15 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered the anterior hippocampal region may be more involved in combination with the posterior hippocampus during the encoding of new environmental layouts The findings from two independent measurement techniques were consistent with patient and functional neuroimaging reports of bilateral hippocampal involvement in successful navigation Unlike right hippocampal volume however left hippocampal volume did not correlate with years of taxi driving experience suggesting that the left hippocampus participates in spatial navigation and memory in a different way from the right hippocampus In terms of evolution Maguire et al note the hippocampus is a phylogenetically old part of the brain with a circuitry that may have evolved to deal with navigation LOF In humans the functions of the hippocampus have adapted to accommodate other types of memory LOF such as episodic memory but the hippocampus still retains an ability to store large scale spatial information LOF Evaluation Just give me the answers It is normally difficult to make conclusions form natural or quasi experiments as any differences found between the two groups e g volume of grey matter may not have occurred because of the independent variable taxi driver or non taxi driver For example it could be possible that people with certain brain differences are attracted to certain jobs However the researchers carried out a correlational analysis which clearly demonstrated that there was a positive correlation between length of time the participants had been driving taxi cabs and their posterior hippocampal volume This suggests that length of time taxi driving is associated with grey matter within the hippocampus The MRI scans provided the researchers with vast amounts of quantitative data relating to the volume and size of the hippocampus enabling them to carry out statistical analysis such as correlational analysis Although the task of being scanned in an MRI scanner is hardly ecologically valid it would not be possible for the participants to respond to demand characteristics MRI scanning is of course a costly technique in terms of expensive equipment and researchers time although the use of computers does make very sophisticated analysis possible MRI scanning technology does not pose any health risks to the participants and all of the participants gave informed consent None of the participants should have been negatively affected by their experience An obvious weakness of the sample is that the participants were all male There may be difference between males and females in terms of spatial memory We could apply the same argument to left handed people The study employed many controls For example the samples were matched for age sex and handedness The pixel counting was carried out by a researcher who was experienced in this technique but blind to the participants condition 16 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered USING ONE OR MORE EXAMPLES EXPLAIN EFFECTS OF NEUROTRANSMISSION ON HUMAN BEHAVIOUR A neurotransmitter is a chemical substance which is released at the end of a nerve fibre by the arrival of a nerve impulse and by diffusing across the synapse or junction effects the transfer of the impulse to another nerve fibre a muscle fibre or some other structure Neurotransmission is the transmission of nerve impulses across a synapse When a nerve impulse reaches the end of the neuron the neuron fires and neurotransmitters are released into the synaptic gap where they travel to the neuron on the other side of the synaptic gap If the neurotransmitter is not absorbed it can be re uptaken diffused or destroyed The neurotransmitter then binds to specific receptors at the other side If a neurotransmitter is blocked or replaced e g because another chemical interferes then the messages change This affects the physiological system cognition mood or behaviour Acetylcholine ACh has effects on memory Ach is a neurotransmitter which has been linked to synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus and seems to play an important role in learning via the cholinergic system The cholinergic system is a system of nerve cells that uses ACh in transmitting nerve signals Memory processing and higher cognitive functioning are dependent on the cholinergic system Martinez and Kesner 1991 examined the role of ACh in memory formation the aim Procedure This was an experimental study using rats that were rained to run a maze They were divided into three groups Group 1 received an injection of scopolamine which blocks ACh receptor sites thus reducing the level of available ACh that can successfully travel and bind to the adjacent neuron Group 2 received an injection of physostigmine which blocks the production of an enzyme cholinesterase which cleans up ACh from the synapse This leads to more ACh being available and for longer in the synaptic gap thus ACh has a better chance to successfully travel and bind to the adjacent neuron Group 3 The control group Results Just give me the answers Group 1 had problems finding their way through the maze and made more mistakes The group was slower than the control group Group 2 ran quickly through the maze and made few mistakes The group was quicker than the control group Conclusion The more ACh is available the more productive memory formation is Thus the increased availability of this particular neurotransmitter has a positive effect on memory Evaluation The study shows that ACh is important in memory since the rats showed different memory capacity depending on the ACh level Since this was a controlled laboratory experiment it can be concluded that the level of ACh is one factor that affects memory bearing in mind that the neurobiology of memory is very complicated 17 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered USING ONE OR MORE EXAMPLES EXPLAIN EFFECTS OF HORMONES ON HUMAN BEHAVIOUR A hormone is a regulatory substance produced in an organism and transported in tissue fluids such as blood or sap to stimulate specific cells or tissues into action or a synthetic substance with a similar effect to that of an animal or plant hormone For example a person s sex hormones may be held to influence behaviour or mood Hormones are chemical substances that act like messenger molecules in the body After being made in one part of the body they travel to other parts of the body where they help control how cells and organs do their work 1 Cortisol and memory Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal cortex in response to stress and to restore homeostasis the body s normal balance Chronic stress may result in prolonged cortisol secretion and this can lead to physiological changes such as damaged immune system and impairment of learning and memory This is because high amounts of cortisol results in atrophy of the hippocampus Newcomer et al 1999 conducted an experiment on cortisol and memory The aim was to investigate the role of the stress hormone cortisol on verbal declarative memory Group 1 high dose cortisol had tablets containing 160 mg of cortisol for four days This was the equivalent to cortisol levels in the blood as a consequence of a major stressful event Group 2 low dose cortisol had tablets with 40 mg of cortisol for four days This was the equivalent to cortisol levels in the blood as a consequence of a minor stressful event Group 3 control had placebo tablets 51 normal and healthy participants listened to a prose paragraph and had to recall it as a test of verbal declarative memory This memory system is often negatively affected by the increased cortisol under long term stress Just give me the answers The results showed that group 1 showed the worst performance on the memory test compared to groups 2 and 3 They performed below placebo levels after day one and the low level group mild stress showed no memory decrease Conclusion The experiment shows that a substantial increase in cortisol over a period has a negative effect on memory Strengths vs Weaknesses Strengths This was a controlled and randomised experiment so it was possible to establish a cause effect relationship between levels of cortisol and scores on a verbal declarative memory test Weaknesses The sample was self selected and not randomly selected which means results are harder to generalise to the wider population And ideally they needed to define the cortisol plasma concentration threshold and duration of exposure required to produce this impairment in healthy and clinical populations Ethical Considerations Ethical issues were observed with informed consent The negative effect of taking high dosages of cortisol was reversible so no harm was done 18 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered 2 Oxytocin and trust The hormone oxytocin is secreted by the hypothalamus and released Into the blood stream via the pituitary gland or Into the brain and spinal cord where it binds to oxytocin receptors Oxytocin acts primarily as a neurotransmitter in the brain Oxytocin has been linked to trusting other people For example the experimental manipulation of oxytocin levels has shown increase in trust According to evolutionary psychologists trust is an important social tool in the relationship between humans It is an adaptive mechanism as it helps humans to form meaningful relationships at a personal and professional level Betrayal disrupts bonds f trust and may result in avoidance of the person who betrayed you Learning who to trust and who to avoid is important for survival and well being of an individual Humans should also be able to move on after experiences of breaching trust if long term relationships and mental well being are to be preserved Oxytocin could play a role in fear reactions via the amygdala that may arise as a consequence of betrayal Baumgartner et al 2008 examined the role of oxytocin in trust in economic behaviour The specific aim was to investigate the role of oxytocin after breaches of trust in a trust game Procedure The participants played a trust game used by economists and neuroscientists to study social interaction The investor player 1 receives a sum of money and must decide whether to keep it or share it with a trustee player 2 If the sum is shared the sum is tripled Then player 2 must decide if this sum should be shared trust or kept violation of trust fMRI scans were carried out on 49 participants They received either oxytocin or placebo via a nasal spray Participants played against different trustees in the trust game and against a computer in a risk game In 50 per cent of the games their trust was broken They received feedback on this from experimenters during games Results Just give me the answers Participants in the placebo group were likely to show less trust after feedback on betrayal They invested less Whereas participants in the oxytocin group continued to invest at similar rates after receiving feedback on a breach of trust The fMRI scans showed decreases in response in the amygdala and the caudate nucleus The amygdala is involved in emotional processing and has many oxytocin receptors The caudate nucleus is associated with learning and memory and plays a role in reward related responses and learning to trust Conclusion Oxytocin could explain why people are able to restore trust and forgiveness in relationships Evaluation 19 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered Just give me the answers Significant differences between the two experimental groups were found in the direction hypothesised by the researchers Thus the hormone oxytocin may have a causal influence in human behaviours associated with trust fMRI gave us an idea about a possible correlation but gave us nothing definite about cause and effect Giving the oxytocin artificially may not reflect a true physiological process Oxytocin is very complex and it is too simplistic to call it the trust hormone 20 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered EXPLAIN TWO EFFECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT ON PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESSES Important We have never seen an IB Psychology examination question which asks the student to look at two effects of the environment on physiological processes and we think it is highly unlikely that examiners would ask a question in this way bearing in mind the notorious time constraints in the Paper 1 examination However we have included two environmental effects here because it is perfectly reasonable for the examiners to ask a lower level command term question such as describe or outline asking the student to look at two effects 1 Environmental effects on dendritic branching brain plasticity Brain plasticity is the brain s ability to adapt to change across the lifespan and to rewire itself after damage or in response to a new learning experience With every new experience the brain changes in some way As we experience an event or learn a new skill new connections are formed between neurons and connections that are not needed anymore are eliminated This reorganisation of the pathways in our brain takes place at an astounding rate when we are young and rapidly acquiring new information but the brains of adults are also plastic to a degree There is evidence that in patients with brain damage healthy brain areas can take over for injured areas and adopt new functions Environmental stimulation refers to the way the environment provides stimulation in the form of social interaction and learning opportunities for animals and humans Experiences are processed in the brain s nervous system and stimulating environments will result in increased numbers of synapses brain plasticity Rosenzweig et al 1972 investigated the role of environmental stimulation on brain plasticity in rats Just give me the answers Aim To investigate whether environmental factors such as a rich or impoverished environment affect the development of neurons in the cerebral cortex Procedure Rats were placed in either an enriched environment EC or an impoverished condition IC In the EC 10 12 rats in a cage were provided with different stimulus objects to explore and play with The group also received maze training In the IC each rat was placed in an individual cage isolation and no stimulation The rats typically spent 30 to 60 days in their respective environments before they were euthanised so the researchers could study changes in brain anatomy Results The anatomy of the brain was different for rats in the EC and the IC The brains of EC rats had increased thickness and weight of the cortex up to 50 heavier EC rats also developed more acetylcholine receptors in the cerebral cortex Acetylcholine is an important neurotransmitter in learning and memory Evaluation The experiment was a rigorously controlled laboratory so it was possible to establish a cause effect relationship The experiment used animal models and therefore it may be difficult to generalise to humans unless research with humans provides the same results 21 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered The research challenged the belief that brain weight cannot change This was an important finding There are ethical issues in the use of animals in research like this Since the research contributed to a much better understanding of the role of environmental factors in brain plasticity it can be argued that the research was justified despite ethical issues The same patterns of differences are found when the experiments are replicated The most consistent effect of experiment was the ratio of the weight of the cortex to the weight of the rest of the brain the sub cortex Follow up of this research indicated that just two hours a day in an enriched environment produced the same plastic changes in the brain as in rats that had been constantly in the EC condition This shows that brain physiology can change and adapt to new situations Since brain plasticity is assumed to follow the same pattern in animals and humans the implication of the study are that the human brain will also be affected by environmental factors such as intellectual and social stimulation And indeed the plasticity shown in response to learning can be shown in humans 2 Environmental stressors and hippocampal damage in PTSD patients A stressor is any environmental event that threatens to disrupt the body s normal balance and starts a stress response such as secretion of stress hormones and activation of the fear sensor in the brain the amygdala A stressor may be acute being assaulted or involved in a serious car accident would be good examples And stressors may be chronic for example the stress associated with thinking about and worrying about lunchtime school playground bullying Just give me the answers The fight or flight response coping mechanism is a pattern of physiological responses that prepares the body to deal with emergency Sapolsky 1996 has shown in animal studies that long term stress and prolonged flow of cortisol can influence the size of the hippocampus which plays a major role in memory Chronic over secretion of stress hormones adversely affects brain function especially memory The environment is where stressors occur and thus the environment affects physiological processes The physiological process underlying this is that too much cortisol can prevent the brain from laying down a new memory or from accessing already existing memories Sapolsky has shown that sustained stress can damage the hippocampus the part of the brain which is central to learning and memory The culprits are glucocorticoids a class of steroid hormones secreted from the adrenal glands during stress They are more commonly known as corticosteroids or cortisol During a perceived threat the adrenal glands immediately release adrenalin If the threat is severe or still persists after a couple of minutes the adrenals then release cortisol Once in the brain cortisol remains much longer than adrenalin where it continues to affect brain cells Lots of stress or exposure to cortisol accelerates the degeneration of the aging hippocampus And it gets worse because the hippocampus is part of the feedback mechanism that signals when to stop cortisol production a damaged hippocampus causes cortisol levels to get out of control further compromising memory and cognitive function The cycle of degeneration then continues 22 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered Trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD Traumatic episodes are frightening situations from which a person cannot escape and they produce intense fear An example would be a soldier involved in an ambush attack where his or her life as well as close comrades is placed in real danger In about five per cent of the population this may lead to PTSD Post traumatic stress disorder is a psychological disorder where individuals suffer nightmares and other types of emotional distress from a traumatic past experience or set of experiences Stimulus that reminds them of the event or events can cause flashbacks and irritability The effects of PTSD can be brief or can last a lifetime Combat veterans and survivors of childhood sexual abuse who suffer from PTSD tend to have a number of stress related problems such as forgetfulness and difficulty learning In such patients stress related physiological changes have been observed in the brain especially in the hippocampus which plays an important role in integrating different aspects of a memory at the time of recollection Bremner et al 2003 examined this relationship between stress PTSD and memory problems to see whether they were related to the reduction of hippocampal volume Aim To measure the volume of the hippocampus based on the theory that prolonged stress may reduce the volume of the hippocampus due to increased cortisol levels Procedure MRI scans were made of the brains of participants and participants completed memory tests e g remembering a story or a list of words The participants were veterans and female adults who had experienced early childhood sexual abuse Some had developed PTSD but not all Just give me the answers Results and conclusion The researchers found that there were deficits in short term memory and then performed MRI scans of the participants brains They found that the hippocampus was smaller in PTSD patients than in a control group The veterans with the most memory problems also had the smallest hippocampi The findings showed clear correlation between number of years of abuse as measured by a trauma test memory problems and hippocampal volume People suffering from PTSD often suffer from other psychological disorders e g depression which could perhaps also play a role in the observed changes in the brain Evaluation The study results are in line with theory developed through research into animals The sample was very small so it is difficult to say anything definite about the relationship between trauma and hippocampal volume There could be alternative explanations to differences in hippocampal volume e g that people who suffer from PTSD often suffer from depression as well Depression is also associated with a reduction of the hippocampus However the findings of a large reduction of hippocampal volume in combat related PTSD have been replicated many times Conclusion on environmental stressors on hippocampal damage The relationship is well supported An environmental stressor e g combat trauma leads to the psychological disorder of PTSD in a small number of patients The chronic stress associated with PTSD then is manifest in hippocampal damage and this in turn negatively affects these 23 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered Just give me the answers patients memory ability The physiological processes underlying this are that PTSD sufferers have prolonged and increased stress hormones negatively affecting the brain particular the hippocampus which plays a major role in memory 24 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered EXPLAIN THE USE OF ONE BRAIN IMAGING TECHNOLOGY FOR EXAMPLE CAT PET FMRI IN INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BIOLOGICAL FACTORS AND BEHAVIOUR FMRI and decision making Decision making is the process of choosing between two or more alternatives Individuals make choices based on their personal preferences values and goals Every decision has an outcome and involves risk For example when deciding which college or university to attend a student must weigh the costs and benefits of each school and come to a decision that maximises their benefits and minimises their costs compared to other choices Several studies have identified grain regions involved in decision making In general the activation of areas of the pre frontal cortex figure 1 increases during decision making Moreover the activation is stronger when the decisions studied involve risk Psychologists often distinguish between two forms of decision making involving uncertainty Risky decisions These decisions have several possible outcomes the probabilities of which are known for example betting on red or black in roulette or the throw of a die are examples of risky decisions Ambiguous decisions These decisions have several possible outcomes of which the probabilities are not known An example would be going on a beach holiday without any idea of what the weather will be like Theorists differ in whether they view decisions involving risk and decisions involving ambiguity as similar or different types of decision making Huettel et al 2006 used FMRI scanning to explore these two possibilities Just give me the answers The physiology of ambiguous and risky decisions Huettel et al 2006 These researchers presented participants with pairs of monetary gambles The gambles included both ambiguous and risky decisions and the participants had to choose between them The study confirmed earlier findings about brain regions that are activated in decision making tasks both the pre frontal and parietal cortex showed increased levels of activation More importantly Huettel et al were able to identify selective increases in areas of activation to decision making under ambiguity and decision making under risk In fact there was a clear and robust double dissociation of two identifiable neocortical regions This means that ambiguity preferences correlate with changes in brain activation within region A but not region B risk preferences correlate with changes in brain activation within B but not A This is strong evidence supporting the hypothesis that these are in fact two different cognitive processes Huettel et al s 2006 study illustrates the beneficial use of advanced scanning technologies in the investigation of the biological factors influencing this particular behaviour These studies 25 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered help to resolve theoretical disputes at the psychological level In Huettel et al s study we see how FMRI scanning technology can help decide whether or not decision making in risky settings is substantially different from decision making in ambiguous settings or if they are simply different examples of the same process This distinction had proved rather elusive in conventional studies involving only behavioural measures Strengths of fMRI It does not use radioactive substances It can record activity in all regions of the brain Limitations of fMRI Just give me the answers The focus is mostly on localised functioning in the brain and does not take into account the distributed nature of processing in neural networks The results are correlational so it is not possible to establish cause effect relationships 26 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered DESCRIBE ONE BEHAVIOUR INTERACTION BETWEEN COGNITION AND PHYSIOLOGY IN TERMS OF Maguire et al 2000 studied changes in the hippocampus of experienced London taxi drivers London taxi drivers must undertake a special training that takes about two years to complete during which time they must learn the roads and routes to the extent that they can reliably navigate their way around the central area without the help of a map This learning period is referred to as being on the knowledge On the basis of all this information Maguire et al predicted that fully licensed London taxi drivers will have structural differences in their hippocampi as a result of this learning experience Aim To investigate if there were structural changes in the hippocampi of taxi drivers as a result of this intense learning period Procedure To investigate this idea the researchers used MRI scans of fully licensed male taxi drivers with a range of years experience driving and compared them to control subjects The control subjects were not actual participants but existing scans of healthy males who did not drive taxis MRI scans were taken of 50 healthy right handed male non taxi drivers to establish a base data point They used matched pairs for their design The matched pairs were then scanned and compared to the base data point The expert conducting the analysis didn t know whether the MRI was taxi driver or not single blind Results and conclusion They found that both the left and right hippocampi were significantly higher in volume of taxi drivers brains In addition the researchers ran a correlation between volume of hippocampi and time spent as a driver and found a positive correlation that could not be accounted for by age differences Just give me the answers Maguire et al conclude that there has probably been a redistribution of grey matter in the hippocampi as a result of intense development and use of spatial memory skills specifically those related to learning and remembering routes through the city i e that the mental map of the city of London is stored in the posterior hippocampi Again this is likely to be a strengthening of connections between neurons in well used parts of the brain plasticity in response to learning Evaluation It was found that the brain structure is not fixed at birth and instead is shaped by learning That it found evidence that normal activities can induce changes has implications for rehabilitation after injury The study used quantitative data which is objective scientific and replicable It was conducted as a single blind design which should eliminate any experimenter bias The study has ecological validity in that it studied people in their natural environment as they engaged in a new and natural learning experience However it is hard to find people without any spatial awareness The biggest complaint from researchers is that MRI can only look at structural changes in the brain It cannot home in on the activities of individual nerve cells neurons which are critical to brain plasticity Each area of the brain studied in an MRI is made up of thousands 27 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered Just give me the answers of individual neurons each of which may have played a different role in the formation of new memories This study cannot tell us how these brain changes occurred Finally while the research was a natural experiment there was no random assignment to conditions Thus its use can only establish a correlational relationship between a particular learning and the underlying physiological activity of increased hippocampal volume As such it is difficult to be certain that the learning was causal in the underlying physiological changes being investigated i e correlation does not mean causation 28 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered GENETICS AND BEHAVIOUR DESCRIBE ONE STUDY ILLUSTRATING HOW GENETIC INHERITANCE MAY INFLUENCE BEHAVIOUR Twin studies I is intelligence inherited Bouchard et al 1990 Monozygotic twins MZ or identical twins come from the same egg and share 100 of their genes Dizygotic DZ or fraternal twins come from two different eggs and share around 50 of their genes Siblings share 50 of their genes Researchers calculate concordance rates which is the likelihood or probability that if one twin has the trait the other individual will also have it The concordance rate is assumed to establish if or to what extent a certain trait is inherited In twin studies one twin acts as the control for the other twin The classic twin study only studied concordance rates and did not include environmental factors In some case MZ twins were raised apart and in these cases it was assumed that differences were due to environmental factors In twin research sets of MZ are compared with sets of DZ twins for a particular trait or disorder High concordance rates in MZ twins and lower concordance rates in DZ twins for the same behaviour indicate that the trait or disease is linked to genes inherited Differences within pairs of identical twins are attributed to environmental factors Bouchard et al 1990 aimed to establish the extent to which intelligence is an inherited trait Procedure The study used a self selected sample of MZ twins who had been reared together MZT and MZ twins who had been reared apart MZA to investigate concordance rates for a number of variables such as IQ Just give me the answers Results and conclusion The results showed that environmental factors do play a role in development of intelligence but IQ is to a large extent inherited and that 70 of the observed variation in the sample could be attributed to genetic variation They claim that the results indicate that in a sample like the one in the study white middle class in an industrialised nation genetic inheritance in IQ accounts for around two thirds of the observed variance of IQ They also said that their findings do not indicate that IQ cannot be increased that is influenced by an environmental factor Evaluation Correlational data cannot establish cause effect relationships The concordance rates were high in the study but far from 100 so it was difficult to determine the relative influence of genes and the calculation of concordance are not always reliable There was no control for environmental variables in the study and this affects accurate estimations of a genetic contribution to intelligence Further the self selected sample makes it difficult to generalise findings 29 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered ANALYSE ONE EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATION OF BEHAVIOUR The sweaty t shirt experiment Wedekind 1995 investigated mate preference based on genetic makeup in relation to immune system functioning Aim The experiment studied whether females would be able to identify males who had a genetic makeup which in combination with their own would boost the immune system of potential children The study focused on a particular complex of genes MHC genes in the immune system known for the ability to protect against pathogens Procedure A group of 94 students half male and half female participated in the experiment The men were asked to sleep with a t shirt for two nights and keep it in a plastic bag After two days the women were asked to arte how agreeable they found the smell of the t shirts The women had to smell seven different t shirts One was a control Three of them contained tshirts from men with an immune system that was dissimilar to the woman s own this should be the best match in terms of genes Results and conclusion Results showed that women preferred the odours of men with an immune system dissimilar to their own This lends support to the evolutionary explanations of mate selection in humans The experiment demonstrated that attraction was influenced by biological factors The women preferred men with a genetic makeup that could increase the heath of potential babies Just give me the answers In a follow up study Dr Wedekind was surprised to find that no particular combination of MHC genes seemed more desirable than any other Rather than being impelled to seek good combinations of MHC genes that were unusually resistant to disease strains as he had expected he found that his participants seemed simply to find difference appealing Thus partner selection based on sniffing out MHC genes looks likely to be a quick shortcut hardwired in evolutionary behaviour enabling offspring to inherit healthier immune systems which in turn will enable them to reproduce and survive in greater numbers Evaluation Evolutionary theory would predict the best matching of genetic information in partner selection i e we would be more likely to select a partner based on desired physical attributes The fact that this study supports this sort of partners selection at a level below consciousness thought is ground breaking We have known for a long time that desirable physical attributes such as height and beauty play a role in mate selection and people are able to weigh up and make conscious decisions in mate selection based on these factors Here the study supported research and theories predicted from animal models of mate selection and the smell of MHC genes and provided the first insight into some of the unconscious processes that govern partner selection in humans However the study is low in ecological validity in that smelling sweaty t shirts fresh from a plastic bag is not something we do ever And in fact the smell of two day old t shirts is not really being rated for pleasantness but rather as being that which is least offensive to our oral faculties Further the research is entirely correlational and while this genetic study was designed to be experimental in nature its use can only establish a correlational relationship between a particular behaviour and the underlying genetic biology As such it is difficult to be certain that the differences in MHC genes are causal in the underlying behaviour being investigated i e correlation does not mean causation 30 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
The IB Psychology Short Answer Questions Answered OUTLINE ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN RESEARCH INTO GENETIC INFLUENCES ON BEHAVIOUR Within the biological level of analysis it is assumed that research into genetic influence on behaviour can eventually reveal the causes of illness or psychological disorders such as depression which will be used as an example in this paper The diathesis stress theory suggests that genes may lead to a predisposition to illness or psychological disorders but there must be a trigger for the illness to develop At this point in science knowledge about the exact role of specific genes is still incomplete Research into the role of genes in behaviour is confronted with serious ethical considerations such as how much is actually known about genetic predisposition how knowledge about genetic vulnerability could affect an individual and how society could use or misuse genetic knowledge Research into genetic influences on depression face further ethical considerations than informed consent and anonymity This is because psychological disorders interfere with important human functions such as emotions feelings and thoughts which are at the core of human personality Furthermore psychiatric disorders often lead to stigmatisation An important factor to take into consideration in genetic research is thus if genetic research could result in stigmatization of people or groups of people being classified as genetically inferior The balance between scientific progress and ethical considerations must be carefully balanced and scrutinised not only by researchers but also by ethic committees and politicians Caspi et al 2003 Aim The researchers wanted to see whether participants with a mutation on the 5 HTT gene would be more predisposed to depression after experiencing stressful events Procedure The researchers compared participants with a normal 5 HTT gene and a mutation of the 5 HTT gene with shorter alleles Both types are quite frequent in humans but the long allele is slightly more frequent 57 Results and conclusion The researchers found that participants who carried a mutation of the 5 HTT gene and had experienced many stressful events were more likely to become depressed after stressful events than those participants who carried the normal 5 HTT gene The 5 HTT gene could indicate a vulnerability to depression after stress and the researchers speculated whether the gene could moderate individual responses to environmental factors It is not clear what to do with knowledge from genetic research and genetic screening at this point For example being genetically predisposed to depression does not mean that a person will develop depression The results of genetic screening for depression could cause personal distress and have a negative impact on someone s life e g if based on this information they decide not to have children Just give me the answers 31 P a g e proudly presented by PsychologyIB com Burton Inc and VIBE Education Ltd 2015 Jump to START
