Paper 1: November 2013 Practice Sehar Raza

Section A: SAQs  8 Marks

Describe ethical considerations related to one study at the biological level of analysis.  Biological Level Of analysis: All emotion, cognition and behavior has a physiological basis.  Ethical consideration: o No Deception o Right To Withdraw o Participant Consent o Guardian Consent (under 16s) o Confidentiality o Anonymity o Protection from physical and mental harm  Study: Money, Sex Change 1997 o Nature VS Nurture o Brenda as a baby was born a boy however when circumcised, his penis was accidently burned off. Money deceived the baby’s parents about his study, and told them to have him as a girl o They did very this, however Brenda never fit in, bullied for years so not protected from physical or mental harm/ He killed himself (the two twins) o Money revealed in the papers, violating confidentiality the results of the study when the parents told the teenager his true identity o Informed consent was not taken nor was guardian consent o There was no right to withdraw made aware to the participant

Explain the reliability of one cognitive process with reference to one relevant study.  Cognitive Process: Memory – memory is how we as humans store, encode and retrieve our past experiences and events, as well as remembering it  Study: War Ghost Story, Frederic Bartlett, 1932 o Aim was to investigate reconstructive memory o Participants were European Americans and Native Americans o They were told a Native American story of 330 words o They thereafter had to retell the story, however European Americans struggled to do so as they replaced words such as ‘canoe’ with ‘boat’ o Word count for European Americans dropped from 330 to 180 words o Boat instead of canoe represented them replacing similar words and similar representations with their own schemas o Schemas therefore were used to fill in gaps o Therefore memory isn’t reliable as it can be reconstructive and distortions can be present

Explain one compliance technique.  Technique: Obedience to Authority (A more powerful person is in charge)  Someone is more likely to be obedient when a figure who shows authority is present, putting more pressure upon the individual as they are pushed by the figure to do as they are told. They are persuaded.  Study: Stanley Milgram, Study on obedience, 1974 o Participants were told they were in an experiment investigating the effect of punishment upon learners o They saw the learner strapped to an electrode chair, being taken into a separate room afterwards o They were told to press the voltage button of how many volts the participant would be electrocuted by, increasing at every wrong answer o Participants showed signs of stress and trembling o The authority figure (experimenter) consistently encouraged the participant to press the button for the learner (actor) to be electrocuted o After 315 volts no answer was given by the learner o No participants stopped before 300 volts and maximum to which some continued till was 250 volts

Section B: ERQs  22 marks

Evaluate the use of two brain imaging technologies in investigating the relationship between biological factors and behaviour.  Study 1 o Case Study Of HM, Milner and Scoville, 1953 o Biological Factor: Hippocampus AND Behavior: Amnesia o MRI (showed that Hippocampus and Amygdala were damaged): Magnetic Resonance Imaging o Deoxygenated blood is more magnetic than oxygenated blood o Advantages: quick, can be replicated over and over again, safe, easy to use, excellent resolutions o Disadvantages: Not all can use due to metal parts of body, requires person to stay still for a long period of time, slight movement can make results inaccurate, expensive o In the study HM underwent an lesioning in the temporal lobe, in order to prevent further seizures and epilepsy. o They accidently removed parts of the hippocampus which is important for long term retrieval. He therefore suffered from anterograde (Not able to form new memories after incident) and retrograde amnesia (Not able to remember memories before the incident) o Therefore this showed structure of the brain, in 3D images o Also showed cortex and hippocampus are linked

Evaluate the use of two brain imaging technologies in investigating the relationship between biological factors and behaviour.  Study 2 o Alzheimer's Disease, Mosconi, 2006 o Biological Factor: Metabolic Rate (glucose in the brain) AND Behavior: Alzheimer's Disease o PET Scan: positron emission topography, emitted with glucose detector, blue shows less activity in the brain, red shows a lot of activity o Advantages: Track ongoing brain activity as more glucose means more brain activity o Disadvantages: Expensive, limited uses due to radioactive substance, take longer than MRI o In the study men were kept track of for a number of years. Showed most glucose in the brain didn’t develop Alzheimer’s whereas those who did have a low metabolism did develop into the disease o Showed detrition of brain, early signs for the disease o Showed function of the brain