Biological Psychology

What Biological Psychology covers

The third Paper 1 topic, built around aggression. It covers the central nervous system and neurotransmitters, brain structure, evolution and hormones, Freud's psychodynamic alternative, and the correlational analysis, brain-scanning and twin-study methods biological research depends on.

The 20 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• The central nervous system and neurotransmittersRecall questions on the structure of the neuron, the synapse, excitation and inhibition, and how a signal passes between neurons.Open →
• How recreational drugs affect synaptic transmissionRecall questions on the brain and spinal cord as the central nervous system, how recreational drugs alter synaptic transmission by blocking reuptake or stimulating release, agonists and antagonists, and how cocaine affects dopamine.Open →
• Brain structure and aggressionRecall questions on the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala and the limbic system, and how weak regulation between them relates to violence.Open →
• Evolution and natural selectionRecall questions on natural selection and adaptation, the evolutionary account of aggression, sex differences, and why such accounts are hard to falsify.Open →
• Freud's psychodynamic explanation of aggressionRecall questions on the unconscious mind, the id, ego and superego and the pleasure and reality principles, Thanatos, displacement and catharsis, and how the testable biological explanation of aggression differs from Freud's.Open →
• Hormones and aggressionRecall questions on testosterone and cortisol, the challenge hypothesis, and why the human evidence is correlational.Open →
• Individual differences in biological psychologyRecall questions on why brain damage affects people differently, from baseline organisation and age to cognitive reserve and plasticity, what that means for generalising case studies, and how Freud's psychosexual stages, fixation and personality structure explain individual differences.Open →
• Developmental psychology in biological psychologyRecall questions on natural selection and evolutionary developmental psychology, hormones and prenatal testosterone, growth hormone, the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in puberty, cortisol, oxytocin and attachment, and critical periods.Open →
• Correlational researchRecall questions on co-variables, positive, negative and zero correlations, and why a correlation cannot establish cause.Open →
• Spearman's rho, chi-squared and significanceRecall questions on scatter diagrams, the range and meaning of Spearman's rho, critical values and significance, why correlation is not cause, the Spearman's rho and chi-squared formulae and decision rules, rearranging and rounding, and when each test is used.Open →
• Hypotheses, variables and levels of measurementRecall questions on co-variables against independent and dependent variables, nominal, ordinal and interval levels of measurement, null and alternate hypotheses in a correlational study, control groups, randomisation and sampling.Open →
• Brain-scanning techniquesRecall questions on how CAT, PET and fMRI work, structure against function, radioactive tracers, temporal and spatial resolution, their use in investigating aggression, why they show only correlation, and the radiation risk of CAT scans.Open →
• Twin and adoption studiesRecall questions on MZ and DZ concordance, Gottesman and Shields on schizophrenia, the equal environments assumption and selective placement, Heston's (1966) adoption study in detail, and Ludeke et al.'s heritable obedience to traditional authority.Open →
• Classic study: Raine et al. (1997)Recall questions on the PET scan procedure, the 41 murderers pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, the prefrontal findings, and why cause cannot be inferred.Open →
• Contemporary study: Li et al. (2013) heroin usersRecall questions on the fMRI design, the posterior cingulate cortex, cue reactivity, and what it adds to the biological account of addiction.Open →
• Contemporary study: Brendgen et al. (2005)Recall questions on the 234 twin pairs, the split between physical and social aggression, and what it showed about genes and environment.Open →
• Contemporary study: Van den Oever et al. (2008)Recall questions on the rat self-administration procedure, AMPA receptor plasticity in the prefrontal cortex, and the implications for relapse.Open →
• Key question in biological psychologyRecall questions on whether violence is built into us and what society should do about offenders, how brain-scanning, hormone and twin research inform that question, its implications for the justice system and the risk of determinism, and brain-scan evidence in court.Open →
• Practical investigation in biological psychologyRecall questions on designing a correlational study, choosing co-variables, the analysis to report, and how to evaluate it.Open →
• Issues and debates in biological psychologyRecall questions on reductionism, nature and nurture, animal research ethics and the three Rs, social sensitivity, and psychology as a science.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Biological Psychology further

The same content, four other ways.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Which component of the CNS is responsible for higher cognitive functions such as thinking and memory?

   Model answer

   The brain.

2. 2

   What is a neuron?

   Model answer

   A neuron is the basic structural and functional unit of the nervous system, specialised for transmitting electrical and chemical signals.

3. 3

   What is the cell body (soma) of a neuron?

   Model answer

   The part of the neuron that contains the nucleus and maintains the cell's metabolic functions.

4. 4

   What metabolic role does the cell body of a neuron perform?

   Model answer

   It contains the nucleus and is responsible for maintaining the cell's metabolic functions.

5. 5

   What type of signal does the axon carry, and in which direction?

   Model answer

   The axon carries electrical impulses (action potentials) away from the cell body towards the terminal buttons.

6. 6

   Define neurotransmitters.

   Model answer

   Chemical messengers that transmit signals across the synaptic gap between neurons.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Biological Psychology revision questions

What does Biological Psychology cover in Edexcel A-Level Psychology?

20 subtopics: the central nervous system and neurotransmitters, how recreational drugs affect synaptic transmission, brain structure and aggression, evolution and natural selection, freud's psychodynamic explanation of aggression, hormones and aggression, individual differences in biological psychology, developmental psychology in biological psychology, correlational research, spearman's rho, chi-squared and significance, hypotheses, variables and levels of measurement, brain-scanning techniques, twin and adoption studies, classic study: raine et al. (1997), contemporary study: li et al. (2013) heroin users, contemporary study: brendgen et al. (2005), contemporary study: van den oever et al. (2008), key question in biological psychology, practical investigation in biological psychology and issues and debates in biological psychology. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Biological Psychology organised?

By the Edexcel 9PS0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.