Describe and Evaluate research into Circadian Rhythms, with reference to endogenous pacemakers and endogenous zeitgebers (8+16) Circadian rhythms are biological cycles that generally last about 24 hours, examples of which include core body temperature and the sleep wake cycle. The sleep-wake cycle is maintained by time checks controlled by changes in daylight and social cues like meal times. There is also the free-running biological rhythm run by endogenous pacemakers that is categorised by the isolation of people from external influences i.e. exogenous zeitgebers, relying solely on the endogenous pacemakers. Endogenous pacemakers are body clocks that are internal to our biological systems, the most important being the superchiasmatic nucleus (SCN) which is sensitive to light and receives information via the optic nerve and send this info to the pineal gland, which controls the production of melatonin.
Interpretivist sociologists would choose to not use lab experiments because they lack ecological validity as they are conducted within an environment that is artificial to the participant. This means that the results don’t reflect true-life behaviour because of both the environment they conducted the task in, and the nature of the task wasn’t true to real life and can also be said to not be generalisable to a population because of their small sample sizes in which lab experiments are conducted. Furthermore, participants might have been aware that they were being studied and so might not act normally, which is called the Hawthorne effect. Another reason why interpretivist sociologists don’t choose to use lab experiments is that they say human behaviour cannot be measured or explained in terms of cause and effect, and instead humans act in terms of feeling, choices and also individual motives. Society doesn’t lend itself to be studied in a laboratory and this is because it is so complex and cannot be artificially created.
Around 7 plus or minus 2 chunks of Information (Miller, 1956) can be stored in the short term store (also know as short term memory). It is encoded primarily in a phonological format (by its sound) and remains there for around 12-30 seconds without being rehearsed. Where the information is rehearsed it can remain there for as long as it is being rehearsed, but it will stop any new information entering the store. Transfer from the short term store to the long term store is achieved by a process called elaborative rehearsal. New information that enters the short term store displaces (pushes out) any information that is already there, meaning that information that is not rehearsed and passed to the long term store is forgotten.
Other alternatives to laboratory experiments are field experiment and the comparative method. Assuming it is possible to create a controlled environment for sociological experiments; there are still many practical issues with experimental methods; firstly there is no possible way for experiments to research past social trends which reduces the range of information available to a sociologist. Secondly, if a laboratory environment has been created for sociology, this could only be used to study limited sample and therefore would not create very reliable data. Finally it is argued that the artificial environment of and experiment would provoke the ‘Hawthorne Effect (Elton Mayo) ‘because if people know they are being studied, they will behave differently e.g. by trying to second guess what the researcher wants them to do and acting accordingly, which would not give very valid data.
Therefore it is thought that life stress and negative emotions can reduce the effectiveness of the immune system. A criticism with this study is that a cause and effect can’t be established because there was no direct manipulation of the independent variable i.e. the stress index. This was a questionnaire so demand characteristics were present meaning that they could have not been telling the truth (social desirability) or have forgotten. Also in this study there wasn’t a direct way of measuring immune function and is only an indirect study.
Describe and evaluate the role of the endogenous pacemakers (25 marks) It is argued that biorhythms such as the release of hormones from the pituitary gland, the daily rise and fall in body temperature and the sleep wake cycle are underpinned by some form of ‘body clock’ situated somewhere in the brain. Psychologists have been attempting to agree upon the extent to which this clock should be seen as a free running mechanism or one which is entrained and regulated by factors such as light and dark and others exogenous zeitgebers or time givers such as social routines of others and man-made clocks. It is thought that one of the body’s most important clocks might be situated in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), a tiny cluster of nerve cells located within the hypothalamus. This SCN is linked to the optic nerve by a thin tuft of nerve fibres which breaks off just above the optic chiasm and this provides a direct link with light levels in the outside world. This is important as it provides circumstantial evidence that the body clock is regulated by the outside world.
Title: Dehumanization in Brave New World, Chapter 2 Outline: Thesis Statement: Human beings in the book are dehumanized since they do not behave like humans, nor are they treated as humans. Main Points: 1. They do not behave like human beings. a. Giving birth and establishing families are the nature of humans, but they are no longer practiced.
This study examined the effect of Ramadan intermittent fasting on the diurnal alertness and oral temperature in 10 healthy young subjects. The cognitive task battery including movement reaction time (MRT), critical flicker fusion (CFF) and visual analogue scale, was administered at 6 different times of the day: 09.00, 11.00, 13.00, 16.00, 20.00 and 23.00 h on the 6th, 15th, and 28th days of Ramadan. The baseline day was scheduled one week before Ramadan, and the recovery day 18 days after this month. Oral temperature was measured prior to each test session and at 00.00 h. During Ramadan oral temperature decreased at 09.00, 11.00, 13.00, 16.00 and 20.00 h and increased at 23.00 and 00.00 h. Subjective alertness decreased at 09.00 and 16.00 h and
In 1970 he travelled for six weeks in India and Kurdistan before he reencountered his colleagues at the airport Shiraz, Iran. He grew a beard and lost more than 80 pounds, which made it difficult for them to recognize him. The end of Grotowski’s transformation took place in Colombia, where he speaks for the first time of theatre in the past tense and talks about the new direction his work will take: “This is a dual moment in my life. That which is theatre, ‘technique’, and methodology is behind me. That which has been reaching for other horizons within me has finally resolved itself .
Showing them this supports them in being able to self actualise (fulfil their potential). This theory can be criticised because it is not a very scientific theory (unlike Eysenck’s trait theory). Many of its ideas are vague and difficult to measure objectively because it is very difficult to study a unique individual and work out how they have self actualised, what their self concept and ideal self is. We cannot observe and measure these concepts. Further, the theory focuses on the human as a unique individual and so it is impossible to predict human behaviour.