Glander 1 Sophie Glander Mrs.

Anderson IB Psychology, P4 17/1/12 Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the biological level of analysis. At the biological level of analysis in psychology, researchers are concerned with how physiology and the manner the body functions helps create behavior. As at the other levels of analysis, there are multiple research methods available to investigate these questions when taking a biological perspective. Each have their benefits and drawbacks, and are better suited to certain issues than others. I will focus on two such methods, observations and experiments. An observation is a study in which the researcher has little involvement with the subject other than watching the subjects actions or monitoring their results. Although there are varying degrees of control the researcher has over the observational study, from extreme control in a structured observation to almost none in an unstructured observation, the researcher does not in any circumstances manipulate variables. As the name suggests, he merely observes and records. Observation studies provide the researcher with a glimpse into the real life of the subject, not colored by the standards set by an experiment and free from the incontrollable, unnatural effect that the staged environment of experiments can have on subjects. While this allows for more realistic behavior, sometimes it limits the amount of information a researcher can obtain from a subject, as they cannot manipulate the conditions. Observations often require a great deal of preparation and take place over extended periods of time. Also, there is the ethical issue of deception and informed consent. In order to achieve the authenticity of observations, it is helpful if the subject does not know that a researcher is scrutinizing their every move, yet this means they cannot consent to the observation. Even if

Glander 2 they are debriefed afterwards, a subject might still feel that they were betrayed and their privacy was violated. In such cases, the researcher must decide if the value of the study is greater than the feelings of the subject. Of course, when animals, not humans, are the subject, these problems are greatly lessened. A great example of an observational study at the biological level is Bouchards work in Minnesota with monozygotic and dizygotic twins raised apart. He gathered his over 100 set sample from various countries, beginning in 1976. The subjects underwent 50 hours of psychological and physiological tests over the course of the analysis. The results are fascinating. The IQ tests found that about 70% of the variability is accounted for by genetics, not environment or other factors. And, on personality, career, religion and leisure assessments, monozygotic twins that had been raised apart were almost as similar as monozygotic twins that had been raised together. Bouchards study leads to the conclusion that much of what makes up the character and intelligence of an individual has a genetic link, and is due to nature, not nurture (Bouchard). The only reasonable way for this research to have been carried out is in an observation. Researchers cannot invade over 200 peoples houses for years at a time and still retain an objective point of view. It is simply not practical. Manipulating variables would not be in the interest of the study either, although the subjects were fully aware of and consented to the assessments. Thus, an experiment would not have been a good choice in this context. Another kind of research method is an experiment. The principle difference between it and an observation is that experiments must have at least one dependent and independent variable, which the researcher then manipulates. The beauty of experiments is that they allow the researcher to have maximum control and minimize almost completely the effects of biases and confounding variables. This hopefully leads to objective, solid conclusions. However, at the same time, this high level of control can be a drawback, as the environment created is close to

Glander 3 fake and might skew the subjects behavior. This is something that researchers must take into consideration when designing the experiment and interpreting the results. The same ethical guidelines, such as debriefing and informed consent, also apply. Gazzanigas study on localization of function with splitbrain patients is a good example of a situation in biological psychology that necessitates an experimental research design. Gazzaniga designed a series of tests to evaluate the tactile, auditory and visual abilities in patients whose corpus collosum, the line of nerves that connects the two brain hemispheres together, had been severed in surgery. Disconnects were evident between what the subjects said they could see and what they actually saw or what they heard and were able to say they heard. This demonstrates that the two hemispheres each have specific skills. The right is best at facial recognition, spatial relationships and artistic tasks while the left side excels in language speaking, reading, mathematics and writing. Researchers also now know that within these hemispheres, there are even more specific areas of the brain that are responsible for specific functions (Gazzaniga). This work could not have been executed any other way besides an experiment and it would not make sense to do it differently either. Such detailed tests require the most controlled conditions possible to focus the correlation on the brain hemispheres, not outside distractions or variables that were not accounted for. As seen by these two examples and the countless others in psychology, each research method has its application and is helpful in understanding the effect of biology on human behavior.