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Biological Principles of Analysis

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Psychology Assignment
Outline the principles that define the biological level of analysis:

Biological level of analysis is the study of perceiving the body as a biological system.

Principle 1: There are biological correlates of behaviour. This suggests that all observable behaviours (emotions and cognitions) can be traced back to physiological events. There are links between psychological and physiological activity such as neurotransmitters, hormones, brain localization etc.
Study: Dr. John W. Newcomer in 1999 conducted an experiment on the effect of stress on a hormone called cortisol. This was tested on the basis of verbal declarative memory. Group 1 who had consumed a high dosage of cortisol, ingested tablets containing 160 mg of cortisol for duration of four days. Group 2 who had consumed a lower dosage of cortisol, ingested tablets with 40 mg of cortisol for duration of four days. Group 3 had placebo tablets (they do not contain an active substance meant to affect health) The 3 groups listened to a prose paragraph and had to remember it. The increased level of cortisol under long-term stress often negatively affects the memory system. These results showed that group 1 showed the worst performance on the memory test compared to group 2 and 3. Thus demonstrating that an increase in cortisol over a period of time has a negative effect on memory.

Principle 2: Animal research can provide insight into human behaviour.
This implies that researchers utilise animals to study physiological processes. This is because it is suggested that a lot of biological processes in animals are the same as in humans. Animals are used instead of humans due to “ethical” reasons.
Study: Researchers’, Rosenweig and Bennet in 1972 conducted a trial to observe the effect of environmental factors on the brain plasticity utilising lab rats. Group 1 was allocated in an enriched

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