SAQs Answer checks and help?

[Guest]

Hey all,

The last month and a half have been a real wreck at my college in regards to psychology. My psychology teacher has come down with something serious and hasn't been in for the last 6 - 7 weeks, and he's pretty much the only IB Psych teacher in the whole of my college. I've been practising SAQs by myself but I haven't had anyone around to check my answers and I'm really aiming for a 7.

I was wondering if anyone would be able to check my SAQs for me and give me any tips to improve or things I should change about them? I'd really appreciate it, if someone could!

[blindpet]

Post the question along with your answer and I will give you feedback here .

[Guest]

Thank you so much! I've got a couple of them I've written (four so far), would it be all right to post them all?

[Guest]

Examine one study related to localisation of function in the brain.

Today it is well known that in the brain, there are specific, localised areas that are responsible for certain cognitive tasks. For example, we know that the hippocampus is associated with creating and storing memories. It’s unethical to systematically go about removing sections of the brain to see what effect it would have on an individual, so the information we have about loxalisation of function in the brain is often inferred from case studies, and more recently, with the advent of new technology, with brain imagining techniques such as fMRI.

One of the most famous case studies about localisation of function is the case of Patient HM. When HM was a child, he suffered from epileptic seizures and decided to undergo an experimental surgery to correct them. The surgeon removed tissue from the medial temporal lobe as well as the hippocampus. Following the procedure, Scovile and Milner (1957) noted that HM could no longer retain new semantic memories, however he could still remember memories from before the accident and could create and keep procedural memories. HM’s personality and general intellect remained unaffected after the incident as well. In 1997, Corkin et al were able to carry out an MRI scan of HM’s brain, which revealed that his hippocampus, amygdala and parts of his temporal lobe had been removed.

This case study and the MRI scan demonstrate that the brain has localised areas of function as the removal of the hippocampus and amygdala suggested that these areas of the brain were required to make short term memories. It could therefore be inferred that that as well as having specific areas for memory, the brain must also have specific areas for different tasks and functions.

[Guest]

Explain functions of hormones on behaviour

The idea that hormones can influence behaviour is based on the principle of the BLOA that human behaviour and psychology can be influenced by physiology and biological factors. Hormones are biochemical substances released by glands in the endocrine system in the bloodstream. The hormones are sent to target cells by impulses, which initiates specific responses. Hormones are often triggered by certain emotions and external stimulus, which in turn leads to an appropriate behaviour in response.

Two examples of hormones are oxytocin and testosterone. Oxytocin is secreted from the pituitary gland is associated with feelings of love, trust and attachment. Testosterone is secreted from the gonads and is typically associated with aggression.

One study that investigated how oxytocin affects human behaviour was carried out by Shalvi and Dreu (2014). The researchers were investigating how often people lied and what situations would increase their honesty. Sixty male participants were split up into the control group and the experimental group. The experimental group participants were all given an intranasal shot of oxytocin, whereas the control group participants were given as placebo. Each of the groups were then split up into teams of three, before each individual participant was asked to predict the outcome of 10 coin tosses. They were then asked to perform the coin tosses and report whether their predictions had been correct. For each correct prediction, the individual’s team would be given a monetary prize to share amongst themselves. The statistical probability of someone correctly predicting 9 out of 10 coin tosses is about 1%, however 53% of the oxytocin group reported that their predictions were correct, compared to only 23% from the control group. Shalvi and Dreu also carried out an almost identical study where the only difference was that the participants were not put into groups of three, and any monetary reward won would only be received by the individual. In both the control and experimental groups of that study, few participants deceived the researchers for the reward.

The researchers found that the shot of oxytocin influenced individuals to lie more often, however this was only observed when the reward was to benefit the group rather than the individual themselves. Oxytocin had little to no effect on an individual when it was for their own benefit. This study therefore demonstrates how oxytocin, a hormone, is able to influence human behaviour. It’s also worth noting that this does not mean hormones cause a certain behaviour to come out, but, in the case of this study, influenced what appears to be an already innate behaviour (lying on the behalf of the group), to come out more prominently.

[sameera95]

Your answers are almost there, just a little bit of advice to help!

intro:

define the key term

relate it to a principle when applicable (e.g. this relates to the principle that there are biological correlates of behaviour)

give an appropriate example (i.e. related to the research you are about to include)

cut down on words, this will save time in exam - so just go straight into answering the question

study:

include the researcher's name in the first sentence

write it chronologically: aim, method findings, conclusion.

conclusion:

remember you don't need critical thinking in the 8 mark questions, unless it's the ethical considerations question.

relate the study back to the question explicitly i.e. "this study shows that (use wording of the question here) because ..." this is how you make your study relevant (this is applicable to the 22 marks too)

also, relate back to the principle mentioned in the introduction

Here's an example of an SAQ I did that got full marks from my teacher (one of the rare ones I have )

Explain how one principle of the biological levels of analysis may be demonstrated in one empirical study or theory.

One principle of the biological levels of analysis is that there are biological correlates of behaviour. This means that biological changes within the body can provide an explanation for behaviour. An example of a biological correlate of behaviour is the effect of cortisol on the immune system. Cortisol is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands in response to long-term stress and is known to weaken the immune system by reducing the number of T-cells within the blood.

Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (1984) carried out a study to investigate the effect of cortisol on the immune system. The participants were 75 first year university students (46 male, 29 female) that were during their exam period. Blood samples were taken one month prior to their first exam and on the day of their final exam to compare T-cell count. The students were also given surveys to find out if other factors, such as physiological and financial situations and family relations, were also influencing their stress. The findings were that all the students had a drop in the number of T-cells in their blood, and those who had other external influences had significantly lower T-cell counts than the other students.

The findings of this study therefore provide evidence that there are biological correlates of behaviour as it seems that cortisol has an effect on the immune system. However, cause and effect can not be established as variables were not controlled, and the approach to the study was slightly reductionist as other factors such as alcohol and drugs were not taken into consideration.

I hope this helps!

[Guest]

Brilliant, thank you for the feedback! I've been trying to follow that structure and I always end up with about 200 - 400 words. I always thought SAQs needed to be about 600 words ish and panicked because I'm kind of bad at prescribing to certain times I think I've got a fairly good idea about how to improve the first answer I posted in that case, I think the second one hits all those marks, although I'm not too sure, what do you think?

Also, thank you for the model answer, it'll be a really useful tool to compare my own answers against. Out of curiosity, the very last part of you answer seems like it's evaluation, would it matter too much if I put it in or not? Again, thank you for the feedback~