Biological Level Of Analysis

1. There are three principles that define the biological level of analysis: there are biological origins of behavior, animal research may provide insight into human behavior, and to an extent human behavior is genetically based. The first principle (biological origins of behavior) deals with the idea that neurotransmitters, hormones, and other specific brain processes can have an effect on behavior. For example, one study looked at criminals charged with murder who testified “Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity” and to see whether these criminals had any biological defects that could explain their behavior. After the 41 criminal participants agreed to take a PET scan, the results indicated that there was less activity in the prefrontal cortex;
After spending around 30 to 60 days in either condition the rats were killed in order to observe their brains (something you clearly cannot do to humans), and the results showed that the rats in the enriched environment had more neural connections and a heavier weight compared to the impoverished which indicated the idea of brain plasticity (ability to change and make new neural connections every time something new is learned). The results, though performed on rats, is assumed to be the same for humans and that social settings can affect their behavior. The last principle, (humans are genetically based), basically means that human behavior can be explained by human genetics. Bouchard et al. (1990) performed the ever popular Minnesota Twin study to see whether intelligence was truly heritable. After sampling 100 sets of both monozygotic and dizygotic twins and putting them through psychological and physiological testing, the researchers concluded that a large portion of intelligence (70%) can be tied back to genetics, which exemplifies the last principle (IB Psych,
The principles that make up the cognitive perspective of analysis include the idea that humans are information processors in which mental processes guide their behavior, the human mind can be studied scientifically, and that cognitive processes can be influenced by social and cultural factors. The main ideas behind principle one include that there’s a relationship between the mental representation people have and the way they perceive the world around them. Schemas, which are mental networks of knowledge, are stored in people’s memories and serve as a guideline on how to interpret the world. Darley and Gross (1983) studied the effects of mental schemas using college students who watched two different videos of a girl playing in either a rich or poor environment. The results indicated that more people rated the girl in the rich environment much better in terms of academic success due to the schema that they had about living in rich environments; rich people may have access to more textbooks, tutoring, better education, etc. The second principle follows that through lab experiments, case studies, brain scans, etc. the mind can be studied scientifically. For example, Loftus and Palmer (1974) tested memory recall on the basis of leading questions, and found that after participants watched a video of a car crash and asked a question about the speed (with varying verbs such as ‘contacted’ or ‘crashed’) people who had the word ‘smashed’ rated the speed of the car the highest.