The Field Of Psychology Are Correlational, Descriptive, And Experimental Research

Table 3-1 examines the correlations between selected characteristics for the identical twins separated at birth and the twins raised together. When compared to each other, they both have very similar brain wave activity, blood pressure and heart rate in the physiological characteristics. The Raven intelligence test was very similar, but the WAIS IQ displayed a bit of difference when compared to the other comparisons made. Personality wise, they typically had similar personalities at the same rate as twins raised together. Psychological interests were off a little bit, but still very similar. The twins that were separated at birth had less similar psychological interests compared to the twins

Both family and twin studies face the problem of ignoring environmental impacts. In family studies, genetically similar members of the same family tend to spend more time together, therefore

Psychological research describes investigations psychologists undertake in order to review and analyse a specific hypothesis, (a theory about the relationship between defined variables). Research allows theories to be confirmed, amended or rejected and often leads to further research as requirements evolve. Psychological research can take many forms, from laboratory based experiments to non-invasive viewing of subjects in their own environment. This research can take place using human or non-human subjects and the analysed results applied to human behaviour or experience within many disciplines including, education, legal or occupational.

Twin studies are a mainstay of the nature verse nurture debate because they allow researchers to conduct “natural experiments” on human beings. When researchers try to determine the relative importance of genetics and environment with regard to a certain condition, they have a hard time because they cannot generally get people with the same genes. This is where twin studies come in. Twins studies are part of the method used in behaviour genetics, which includes all data that are genetically informative. E.g. siblings, adoptees, pedigree data etc. Researchers use this method to estimate the heritability of traits and to quantify the effect of a person 's shared environment (family) and unique environment (the individual events that shape a life) on a trait.

Parallel to this, the focus on genetics is Particularly convicted in twin studies, which establish a comparison between monozygotic twins that are identical and dizygotic twins, which are opposingly non-identical. This distinction can be identified in Torgersens study, which compared MZ and same sex DZ twins where one proband had an anxiety disorder, and it was discovered that such disorders were 5x more frequent in MZ twin pairs, who mutually shared identical genetics.

According to a telegraph article, twin studies tells us that genes play a far more vital role in shaping who we are. Researchers from Edinburgh University studied more than 800 sets of identical and nonidentical twins to learn whether genetics, or environment plays a bigger role. Twins almost always share the same environment as each other, but only identical twins share the same genes. The study comprised a series of questions, asking the participants how they viewed themselves, “Writing in the journal of personality, the researchers found that identical twins were twice as likely as nonidentical twins to share the same personality traits, suggesting that their DNA was having the greatest impact. Professor Timothy Bates, who had led the study had this to

Twin studies have been a large part of the growing debate on whether genetics or environment (nature v. nature) is responsible for the cognitive, socio-cultural and biological development. In order to properly assess twin studies it is important to know why and how they are relevant in psychology. Identical twins are especially effective in research particularly in the field of developmental psychology and behavioral genetics due to the monozygotic genes which means they originate from a single zygote (fertilized egg) which essentially means they share 100% of the same genes. Due to this exact copy of genes between twins means this can be efficiently be used in order to observe the impact of

Mill’s harm principle of ““One should not interfere with other people’s lives unless those people are doing harm to others” (p.G3), is in other words, if a person do not cause harm to others, there is no reason to prevent his/her actions. Mill’s belives that an individual is the supreme sovereign of his/her own acts. Even when the decisions taken may be some harm upon him/her, the responsibility of these actions is only on the individual.

“The studies discussed so far have shown that existential beliefs require a certain level of cognitive development to be fully expressed”. (Berring, 2006) This came from the article and is a very good statement on what the article stood for.

In this study, they are used several type of method, one of the technique is used two or more test instrument to ensure the adequate coverage, for example the participants were given a battery of personality and mental ability tests, interest and value inventories and psychomotor tests. In addition, separate of examiners administer the IQ test, life history interview, psychiatric interview and sexual life history interview. The twin also complete questionnaire independently under the constant supervision of the staff members. Twin studies are valuable to researchers because identical twins share 100% of their genes and fraternal twins share, on average, 50% of their genes. Both identical and fraternal twins share certain aspects of their environment (e.g. religious practices in the home). This allows researchers to estimate the heritability of certain traits. Participants are asked about academic ability, personality, and interests; family and social relationships; mental and physical health; physiological measurements. Of interest to researchers are prevalence of psychopathology, substance

Twin studies are part of the methods used in behavior genetics, which includes all data that are genetically informative – siblings, adoptees, pedigree data etc. Monozygotic (identical) have all of the same genes and dizygotic (fraternal) have 50% of the same genes. Twin studies are very unique.

In Psychology 101 we learned that research methods are used in order to understand our mental and behavioral processes by making observations in a systematic way, following strict rules of evidence and thinking critically about that evidence. This scientific research is based on theories (tentative explanations of observations in science), hypotheses (predictions based on a theory) and replication (testing a hypothesis in more than one study). Some of the different research methods are firstly, descriptive studies. Descriptive studies are studies that use survey methods, naturalistic observation and clinical methods. Another research method is correlational studies. Correlational studies are studies that help one to determine if a relationship exists between two or more variables and if so it tells one how strongly those two variables relate to one another. With in correlational studies one can have positive correlation (as one variable increases or decreases so does the other), negative correlation (variables go in opposite directions) or zero correlation (no relationship between the variables). Another research method is formal experiments. Formal experiments are studies that allow us to draw conclusions about how one variable may cause or have an effect on another variable. With in formal experiments there are four elements, which are the independent variable (variable that is manipulated or controlled), the dependent variable (variable that is measured), the experimental

There are many stories of identical twins who were adopted at birth who meet up late in life and discover they share remarkably similar life stories. A study in 1990 found that genetics account for 50 percent of how religious a twin was likely to be. There is also a genetic influence on dental or gum health. Among identical twins, most reported feeling closer and more familiar with their twin than they did to their best friends, even after just meeting them after spending so many years apart.

Research is the systematic investigation of the study of materials in order to establish facts, and help get to new conclusions. There are four types of research used to help with answering many questions in science. The four types are causal comparative, descriptive, experimental, and correlational researches. Causal comparative researches look for the cause of some type of effect. Descriptive researches look for a common characteristic within a similar population and determine how various characteristics affect behavior or achievement. Experimental research seeks for the effect of certain factors, also to find the independent variable and dependent variable of the experiment. Correlational research seeks for the relationships between variables in an effort to determine relationship between them.

(B) Research type based on methodology: The authors mentioned the types of research that falls under this typology, which they said are; (i) quantitative vs. qualitative (ii) experimental vs. non-experimental (iii) historical and descriptive research.