Neural mechanisms of eating behaviour

Outline and evaluate the role of neural mechanisms involved in the controlling of eating and satiation Our diet is essential to the maintenance of a constant internal environment- or homeostasis. One of the most obvious signs of homeostasis is that humans need to regulate their body weight within very narrow limits; so in order to do this people have to regulate their eating behaviour and food intake. Psychologists have undergone a lot of research into how we regulate eating behaviour. Early studies have shown that lesions to the Lateral Hypothalamus (LH) resulted in aphagia- failure to eat when hungry. Further evidence such as electrical stimulation of this particular area of the brain has lead researchers to believe that the LH acts as feeding centre in eating behaviour. Ranson et al found that a lesion in the VMH of rats would result in overeating and obesity. They concluded that the VMH was a satiety centre in the brain, its role to inhibit feeding behaviour. This research lead to the formation of the dual centre model of feeding: The first stage in eating behaviour is often characterised by feelings of hunger which prompts feeding to start. It has been suggested that the hormone Ghrelin is a key component in the feeding process and researchers say that increased ghrelin production may result in feelings of hunger. Cummings et al investigated the changes in blood

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Describe what psychologists have learned about environmental disaster and/or technological catastrophe.

Essay on environmental disaster and catastrophe a) Describe what psychologists have learned about environmental disaster and/or technological catastrophe An environmental disaster is a natural disaster that few people will experience in their lifetime. These are relatively infrequent natural events that are the product of natural physical forces governing the earth and atmosphere. A technological catastrophe is a human made disaster, the result of some human error or miscalculation. These events are usually called disasters when there is a substantial degree of destruction and disruption and the events are uncontrollable either because they are natural disasters or because they represent the occasional loss of control over something which humans normally control very well. Psychologists have studied disasters and catastrophes in an attempt to ascertain what characterises a disaster and what the psychological effects of disaster and catastrophe. It has been found that the characteristics of a disaster effect how people react. One important characteristic is the amount of warning available. Fritz & Marks (1954) found that a lack of warning about a disaster can make the consequences worse, however Drabek & Stephenson (1971) found that the effectiveness of repeated warnings of flash floods was undermined by factors such as families being separated at the time of warnings

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Outline and evaluate research into obedience (12)

Outline and evaluate research into obedience (12) In Milgram's original obedience to authority study, his aims were to set up a situation in which single individuals were ordered to act against a stranger in an inhumane way and to see at what point they would refuse to obey the order. Milgram advertised for male volunteers by placing an advert in a local paper, which offered $4.50 as payment for taking part in a study of 'punishment and learning'. 40 respondents from a range of backgrounds were selected and were told to attend the laboratory in Yale University. They were greeted by the experimenter, and were introduced to a 'supposedly' participant, Mr Wallace, but actually he was a confederate. They were both experienced to a role-assignment but it was rigged so that the real participant was the teacher. The experimenter explained to the teacher that it was his job to teach the learner a series of word pairs and then test their recall. If an error was made in the answer, an electric shock was made, starting from 15V working upwards each time. As the shocks became higher, the learner screamed and became more dramatic, and complained of a weak heart at around 180V. The participants showed signs of extreme tension, even showing nervous laughing fits, but they were still told to 'please go on' even though they didn't want to continue. Along side that, when the teacher refused

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Describe and evaluate psychological research into conformity and obedience in humans, and consider ways in which this research can be applied to real life.

Joleen Moret 25th November 2002 Access to H.E. Psychology Coursework Describe and evaluate psychological research into conformity and obedience in humans, and consider ways in which this research can be applied to real life. Conformity is a change in behaviour or beliefs as a result of real or imagined group pressure; the feeling that others are putting pressure on us to change our beliefs or behaviour. Asch (1956) compiled a study to see how many subjects would conform and give an incorrect answer to a simple unambiguous task. Apart from one naïve participant, all other members of the group were confederates of the experimenter. The group were sat around a table and asked what line (with a choice of three) matches the single line in a box. The lines were easy to distinguish and if tested on their own, observers made few if any errors. The confederates were instructed to give the same wrong unanimous answer to see if the naïve participant would conform. Thirty-two percent conformed to the group's answer, and seventy-four percent conformed once; thus denying the evidence of their own eyes, giving the wrong answer when it was their turn. During post-experimental interviews with his participants, Asch found that conformity occurred at three levels. Few conforming participants experienced distortion of perception, most conforming participants experienced a distortion

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Is attractiveness an vital factor in a relationship?

Is attractiveness an vital factor in a relationship? What is a relationship? Relationship is a state connection between two people. This relationship can be a casual friendship in the workplace to a romantic relationship. However I'm going to concentrate on romantic relationships. There are many factors which a important in a romantic relation e.g. physical appearance, personality, status and background. In addition it has been said that physical appearance is the first thing we seem to observe when meeting a stranger. Walster and Walster created a The Matching Hypothesis (We are attracted to people who are the same level of attractiveness as ourselves). Walster and Walster (1966) carried an experiment to witness whether the matching hypothesis was accurate or wrong. Their aim was to see if physical appearance matters in a relationship. To do this they advertised a "Computer Match Dance". Seven hundred and fifty two students took part and they were rated their physical by four independent judges. Further more participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire for the computer matching purpose, however they were used to rate similarity and paired randomly (no man was paired with a taller women). During the dance participants were requested to rate their date, rustles were interesting the attractive participants were favoured as dates over the less attractive participants. So

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Outline and evaluate two social psychological theories of aggression

Outline and evaluate two social psychological theories of aggression. (24 marks) Bandura believed that the potential for aggression may be biological, but the expression of aggression is learned. The social-learning theory (SLT) states that learning occurs through observation of a model. Imitation of an observed behaviour is more likely if the model is someone we aspire to or identify with or if they are rewarded. This is vicarious reinforcement. A child forms a mental representation of an event, including the possible rewards or punishments of the behaviour. When a child imitates an aggressive behaviour, they gain direct experience, and the outcome of the behaviour influences the value of aggression for the child. If they are rewarded they are more likely to repeat the behaviour. Children develop self-efficacy, which is confidence in their ability to successful carry out a behaviour. If aggressive behaviour is unsuccessful for a child, they will have a lower sense of self-efficacy so are less likely to behave this way in future. There is strong empirical evidence to support the SLT. For example, Bandura's Bobo doll studies found that children who observed a model behaving aggressively to the Bobo doll behaved more aggressively than those who observed a non-aggressive model and also imitated specific aggressive acts. This supports the theories claims that behaviour can be

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Genetic factors in aggression

Outline and evaluate genetic factors in aggression. The idea that genetic factors play a role in aggression has been studied by many psychologists. They have looked at twin studies to try and find evidence of a genetic basis. Twin studies provide evidence of a link by comparing the tendency of both twins in pairs of monozygotic and dizygotic twins expressing aggression. One twin study was carried out by McGue et al, by using a multi-dimensional personality questionnaire to assess levels of aggression; they were able to find correlational values of both MZ and DZ twins. The study found that genetic factors play a part in aggression. In studies such as these the twins are asked to self report or else the parents asked to fill in questionnaires, in this way there is a problem of how each individual assesses aggression. It was suggested by Plomin et al that with no difference in amounts of aggression shown by MZ and DZ twins (in Bandura's studies), individual differences in aggression were more a product of environmental influences rather than genetic factors. It has also been suggested that MZ twins are treated more alike by the public than DZ twins due to them acting more like 'one' person rather than two separate people. This may effect how alike they are and how likely they both are to express aggression. As this evidence is not clear cut, psychologists also look at

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"Some children recover well from privation, but others hardly recover at all". Outline research into the effects of privation and consider the extent to which the effects of privation can be reversed

"Some children recover well from privation, but others hardly recover at all". Outline research into the effects of privation and consider the extent to which the effects of privation can be reversed. Hodges and Tizard conducted a study on the effects of privation, in which they aimed to investigate the permanence of the long-term effects of privation due to institutionalisation. It was a longitudinal study with 65 participants and a control group, using a matched pairs design. The participants had all been institutionalised before the age of four months, and none of them had made attachments, therefore privation had happened. Hodges and Tizard found that the 24 participants who had been adopted before the age of 4 formed attachments and were emotionally fine. They recovered better from privation and formed closer attachments than those 15 participants who had been placed back in their homes with their parents. However, both those who had been adopted and those who had been restored showed difficulty forming relationships with peers and often were attention-seeking at school. Therefore this study shows that these participants did mostly recover from privation, but there were some long-lasting effects. However, there are some limitations to this study. Firstly, because it was a longitudinal study, there was a problem with sample group-off, which means that those children who

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Dicuss one psychological theory of aggression

Discuss one social psychological theory of aggression. One social psychological theory is deindividuation. This is the loss of all self responsibility when somebody is in a large group i.e. at a football match. As there is less feeling of anonymity people feel less restrains on their behaviour and as a result people act more impulsively and follow behaviours that are surrounding them at the time. When a group is merged together then the feeling of individuality ceases. Gustave le Bon (1892) said that individuals 'transform' when part of a crowd, the crowd results in a collective mind taking possession of the individual. He also suggests that being in a large anonymous group leads to more anti social behaviours. Diener (1980) expanded on Le Bon's original theory stating that "poor monitoring of one's own behaviour, reduced concern to have social approval of one's behaviour, reduced constraints against behaving impulsively and reduced capacity to think rationally". There is a lot of research and real life applications supporting this theory. Zimbardo, who did a lot of research investigating this theory, did an experiment in 1969 called the shock experiment. He took two groups of four undergraduate females to deliver electric shocks to other students to help them in their learning. One group, the deindividuation group, wore bulky lab coats and hoods, they were addressed as a

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Breakdown of relationships

Discuss two theories of the breakdown of relationships (25 marks) Duck (1999) indicated that there are several reasons for why a relationship breaks down which include: lack of skills, lack of stimulation and maintenance difficulties. Lack of skills refers to when the person may be a poor conversationalist, poor at indicating their interest in other people of may be generally unrewarding to the partner (Duck, 1991) There is evidence (Baxter, 1994) that lack of stimulation (i.e. boredom or the belief that the relationship is not going anywhere) can lead to a relationship breakdown. People expect a relationship to change and develop and when this does not happen, it is seen as a sufficient justification to end the current relationship or start a new one (i.e. have an affair). Boekhaut et al (1991) showed that an affair is the direct reaction to the perceived lack of skills/stimulation from a partner in a relationship. They asked undergraduates to rate sexual and emotional reasons for men and women being unfaithful in a committed relationship. They found that men are more likely to use sexual infidelity as reasons for a breakdown than women and women are more likely to use emotional reasons for a breakdown. This claim is supported by Brehm and Kessin (1996) who said that men are more likely to use sexual withholding as a reason and women would use incompatibility for men.

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