Flavia Oliveira IB Psychology

Biological Level of Analysis Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga Charles Darwin

Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga Roger Sperry was born in Hartford, CT ; he graduated with an English major and later obtained a M.A in psychology, he then went on with a PhD in Zoology. Sperry was the first one to teach Psychobiology at California Institute of Technology. Roger Sperry received a Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1981 and died in April of 1994. Michael Gazzaniga completed his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth college and earned a PhD in psychobiology at the California Institute of Technology, where he worked under the supervision of Roger Sperry. Gazzaniga is currently the leading researcher in cognitive neuroscience and teaches psychology at the University of California. Their most significant study was the split brain , it suggests that the brain has two sides that interpret and organize information differently. The separation of the brain is usually used to treat severe epilepsy.

Charles Darwin Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. Darwin in known as the father of evolutionary biology and was the one to develop the first scientific theory of evolution.] Life, rather than being created at the beginning of the world, or from time to time over the history of the Earth, Darwin became convinced that all species of life descended overtime from a common ancestor. That is, complex creatures evolve from more simplistic ancestors naturally overtime. He found evidence from his study of the fossil record: he observed that fossils of similar relative ages are more closely related than those of widely different relative ages. Darwin also ran his own breeding experiments and did experiments on seed dispersal. Darwin clearly and logically presented the idea that natural selection is the mechanism of evolution.

Behavioral/ Cognitive BF Skinner John Watson Edward Thorndike Ivan Pavlov Albert Bandura

BF Skinner Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born March 20, 1904 he received his BA in english from Hamilton College. He got his masters in psychology from Harvard in 1930 and his doctorate in 1931, and stayed there to do research until 1936. The theory of B.F. Skinner is based upon the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an individual's response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment. According to skinner a response produces a consequence such as defining a word, hitting a ball, or solving a math problem. When a particular Stimulus-Response (S-R) pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is conditioned to respond.

John Watson John B. Watson was born January 9, 1878. Watson entered Furman University at the age of 16. After graduating five years later with a master’s degree, he began studying psychology at the University of Chicago. Watson earned his Ph.D. in psychology in 1903. His big theory was behaviorism. Behaviorism assumes that behavior is observable and can be correlated with other observable events. Thus, there are events that precede and follow behavior. Watson set the stage for behaviorism, which soon rose to dominate psychology. Conditioning and behavior modification are still widely used in therapy and behavioral training to help clients change problematic behaviors and develop new skills.

Edward Thorndike Edward Thorndike was bon on Williamsburg, MA. Thorndike graduated from the Roxbury Latin school. Later he got his M.A at Harvard University and his PhD at Columbia university. He became an instructor in psychology at Teachers College at Columbia University, where he remained for the rest of his career, One of Thorndike's major contributions to the study of Psychology was his work with animals. Through long, extensive research with these animals, he constructed devices called "puzzle boxes.“ Thorndike's setup of the puzzle boxes is an example of instrumental conditioning: An animal makes some response, and if it is rewarded, the response is learned. If the response is not rewarded, it gradually disappears. This evaluation led Thorndike to conclude that animals learn, solely, by trial and error, or reward and punishment. Thorndike used the cat's behavior in a puzzle box to describe what happens when all beings learn anything.

Ivan Pavlov Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born on September 14, 1849 at Ryazan., Russia. Pavlov's main area of research throughout his scientific career was on the digestive process, which brought on a series of experiments exploring the correlation between the nervous system and the autonomic functions of the body Pavlov made a number of other very important discoveries in the realm of physiology, particularly related to digestion. Indeed, it was while studying the secretion of digestive enzymes that he became interested in the integration of the body and the brain.

Albert Bandura Albert Bandura was born December 4, 1925, in Mundare in northern Alberta, Canada.  He received his bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia in 1949 and his PhD from the University of Iowa Bandura believed that aggression is learned through a process called behavior modeling. He believed that individuals do not actually inherit violent tendencies, but they modeled them. He argued that individuals, especially children learn aggressive responses from observing others, either personally or through the media and environment. He stated that many individuals believed that aggression will produce reinforcements. These reinforcements can formulate into reduction of tension, gaining financial rewards, or gaining the praise of others, or building self-esteem

Socio Cultural Level of Analysis Lawrence Kohlberg Carol Gilligan Anna Freud Melanie Klein Mamie Clark Stanley Milgram

Lawrence Kohlberg

Carol Gilligan

Anna Freud

Melanie Klein

Stanley Milgram