Hormones and the Endocrine system Another key biological factor in understanding behaviour is the endocrine system. Neurons are what make up our nervous systems; glands are what make up our endocrine system. The endocrine system, therefore, is the name given to the various glands throughout the body that regulate and release hormones. You may already be familiar with hormones from …
Introduction to Qualitative Research
Research in psychology can be generally divided in to two major types: Quantitative Qualitative To be it simply, quantiative research deals in investigating human behaviour by looking at numbers and statistics. Experiments, correlational studies, and meta-analyses are some of the quantitative methods used in Psychology. Quantitative research often tries to investigate cause and effects, or correlations between factors and behaviour. Qualitative …
Semi-structured Interviews
Semi-Structured Interview The key to understanding how a semi-structured interview is carried out is to look at the name: it’s semi-structured. This means it has some structure, but there’s freedom. The structure in this interview method comes in the form of the interview guide that is planned beforehand. This guide includes the general themes or topics that the researcher wants …
Focus Group Interviews
A focus group is a small group people (e.g. 5 – 12) who have something in common that is of interest to the researcher. The researcher acts as a facilitator and the participants are encouraged to talk openly about particular topics that are brought up by the researcher. They are encouraged to talk as if they would in a normal …
Serotonin and Violence
Serotonin and Violence Levels of neurotransmitters in the brain can influence behaviour, so it’s plausible to think that in the criminal brain there may be some abnormalities in neurotransmitter levels. Numerous research studies have shown that violent criminals do in fact tend to have low levels of serotonin (e.g. Moi and Jessel, 1995; Scerbo and Raine, 1993). Studies have also …
Key Study: Piliavin (1969) – Field Experiment
In this video you might see some factors that influence bystanderism. But as these aren’t published studies, we can’t use these as evidence so following the video is a study that we can use as evidence. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4S1LLrSzVE] What factors can you see influencing bystanderism the following field experiment by Piliavin’s? Background Information Much of Darley and Latane’s research into …
Key Studies: Darley and Latane – Bystanderism (1968)
Darley and Latane hypothesized two factors that may influence bystanderism: Diffusion of responsibility Social influence Diffusion of Responsibility “Someone else will help.” This is one thought that might be a result of diffusion of responsibility. To diffuse means to spread something widely, so if there are more people around the responsibility of helping is spread amongst those people so individuals …
Neurotransmission and Behaviour
Neurotransmission and Behaviour There are a number of different neurotransmitters. Research has shown that these different neurotransmitters are associated with particular behaviours. For instance: Dopamine: love, addiction, pleasure, motivation, Serotonin: mood, sleep, arousal, impulsive and aggressive behaviour Acetylcholine: learning, memory, sleep, movement Noradrenaline: stress, alertness arousal There’s always a desire in students first learning about biological psychology to jump to …
Neurons and Neurotransmission
Brain Function: Neurons and Neurotransmission Neurons are a type of nerve cell found throughout our nervous system, including our brain. Brain function refers to the level of activity of brain cells (neurons) in the brain. There are around 100 billion neurons in your brain and they’re all connected to each other through their dendrites. Actually, they’re not physically connected. Between …
Key Study: Conformity rates across cultures (Bond and Smith, 1996)
There has been a lot of research into the role that culture might play in conformity. In Bond and Smith’s article they review many different studies that have investigated this idea. However, they found methodological flaws with these studies when trying to use them to make conclusions about social and cultural influences on conformity. So they decided to conduct a meta-analysis of …