Biological Level of Analysis
Outline principles that define the biological level of analysis (for example, patterns of behavior can be inherited; animal research may inform our understanding of human behavior; cognitions, emotions and behaviors are products of the anatomy and physiology of our nervous and endocrine systems).
Introduction: Two principles that define the biological level of analysis are that patterns of behavior can be inherited and that animal research may inform our understanding of human behavior.
Patterns of behavior can be inherited • MzTwins: when tested on temperament and IQ, their results were very similar – more similar than DizTwins • Adopted children: their temperament was more like that of their biological parents than their adoptive parents
Animal research may inform our understanding of human behavior • Meaney’s experiment with rats: the less touch they experienced, the more elevated their levels of glucocorticoids; this killed brain cells, thus they were less clever and not as fast at solving problems So perhaps raised cortisol is also detrimental to human learning and memory • Sperry and Gazzaniga’s split brain study: they severed the corpus callosum of cats and monkeys to experiment and found that there was no huge effect on behavior They decided to try it on people with epilepsy, and they also showed few effects
Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the biological level of analysis (for example, experiments, observations, correlational studies).
Introduction: Two research methods that can be used at the biological level of analysis are experiments and case studies.
Experiments are research methods in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variable) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable)
How: Experiments are used to determine cause and effect in many different situations in biology – from figuring out localization of function, to
Introduction: Two principles that define the biological level of analysis are that patterns of behavior can be inherited and that animal research may inform our understanding of human behavior.
Patterns of behavior can be inherited • MzTwins: when tested on temperament and IQ, their results were very similar – more similar than DizTwins • Adopted children: their temperament was more like that of their biological parents than their adoptive parents
Animal research may inform our understanding of human behavior • Meaney’s experiment with rats: the less touch they experienced, the more elevated their levels of glucocorticoids; this killed brain cells, thus they were less clever and not as fast at solving problems So perhaps raised cortisol is also detrimental to human learning and memory • Sperry and Gazzaniga’s split brain study: they severed the corpus callosum of cats and monkeys to experiment and found that there was no huge effect on behavior They decided to try it on people with epilepsy, and they also showed few effects
Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the biological level of analysis (for example, experiments, observations, correlational studies).
Introduction: Two research methods that can be used at the biological level of analysis are experiments and case studies.
Experiments are research methods in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variable) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable)
How: Experiments are used to determine cause and effect in many different situations in biology – from figuring out localization of function, to