IB Psychology: Sample SAQ for BLOA, 'Evolutionary Explanation of Behaviour' - *Including a Corrected Answer
As an example of common mistakes by candidates while answering this particular SAQ, I am including screenshots of an answer of one of my tutees alongwith the corrections and evaluation I have made after the specimen answer below. Do go through that as well, so that you know which mistakes can cost you your marks. It should also help you realize that having a model answer is not enough, practicing writing is key, for when you sit to write by yourself, you tend to make many errors.
-----------------------
Sample Question -
Explain one study of the role of evolution in human behaviour.
Sample Answer -
Our physical and psychological traits originate in evolution. Evolution is the process by which organisms change from generation to generation as a result of a change in heritable characteristics. Darwin’s classic theory of evolution proposed that organisms which are highly adaptive to their environment survive and produce offspring, passing on their adaptive genes to them; thereby continuously increase the strength of the human species. This, for Darwin, was evolution by survival of the fittest through natural selection. The modern view of epigenetics suggests that environmental factors influence hormonal production in the body, which in turn alters gene expression. Unexpressed genes wither away with time leaving those expressed to be passed to future generations.
Emotional traits like attachment, altruism, disgust, etc. are believed to be the direct products of evolution. Disgust prevents us from engaging with a potentially dangerous or unpleasant stimulus. It is the feeling of repulsion that arises in response to offensive and distasteful stimuli and manifests itself in avoidance behaviour. Psychologists believe that it is an adaptive mechanism that our ancestors used to navigate risky environments and passed on to us, protecting us from potentially dangerous stimuli. In terms of Darwin's theory, our ancestors who developed disgust (natural selection) were therefore, fit to reproduce (survival of the fittest) and they also passed on this adaptive trait to us resulting in our evolution.
To investigate whether disgust is really explained by evolution, Curtis et.al. (2004) conducted an online survey with about 77,000 participants across 165 countries in which they presented participants with photographs of the same stimuli - a pair at a time - of which one was disease-salient. Participants from various cultures consistently rated the disease-salient photographs as more disgusting than their counterparts. Other findings included women rating disease-salient stimuli as more disgusting than men and sensitivity to disease-salient stimuli declining with age, which were in line with the evolutionary explanation of disgust suggesting that the impact of evolution is the greatest on people at a stage of reproduction since they are responsible for developing and transmitting adaptive traits to coming generations. A these findings were the same across cultures, they were attributed to evolution of the human species as a whole.
Therefore, the development of adaptive psychological behaviour such as disgustx which can prevent us from diseasex through the process of evolution has been convincingly established with the help of large-scale, cross-cultural studies such as the one described above.
(please click on an image to enlarge it)
-I provide private tuition for psychology to students in Mumbai. You can get my business details here. You can contact me on 9892507784 or e-mail me at: jyotikapsychology@gmail.com
(key search terms: ib psychology paper 1 sample answers, ib psychology sample SAQ, ib psychology example SAQ, ib psychology model SAQ, ib psychology model answers, ib psychology short answer sample, Curtis et.al. (2004), ib psychology BLOA SAQ, ib psychology 9-mark answer example)
Explain one study of the role of evolution in human behaviour.
Our physical and psychological traits originate in evolution. Evolution is the process by which organisms change from generation to generation as a result of a change in heritable characteristics. Darwin’s classic theory of evolution proposed that organisms which are highly adaptive to their environment survive and produce offspring, passing on their adaptive genes to them; thereby continuously increase the strength of the human species. This, for Darwin, was evolution by survival of the fittest through natural selection. The modern view of epigenetics suggests that environmental factors influence hormonal production in the body, which in turn alters gene expression. Unexpressed genes wither away with time leaving those expressed to be passed to future generations.
Emotional traits like attachment, altruism, disgust, etc. are believed to be the direct products of evolution. Disgust prevents us from engaging with a potentially dangerous or unpleasant stimulus. It is the feeling of repulsion that arises in response to offensive and distasteful stimuli and manifests itself in avoidance behaviour. Psychologists believe that it is an adaptive mechanism that our ancestors used to navigate risky environments and passed on to us, protecting us from potentially dangerous stimuli. In terms of Darwin's theory, our ancestors who developed disgust (natural selection) were therefore, fit to reproduce (survival of the fittest) and they also passed on this adaptive trait to us resulting in our evolution.
To investigate whether disgust is really explained by evolution, Curtis et.al. (2004) conducted an online survey with about 77,000 participants across 165 countries in which they presented participants with photographs of the same stimuli - a pair at a time - of which one was disease-salient. Participants from various cultures consistently rated the disease-salient photographs as more disgusting than their counterparts. Other findings included women rating disease-salient stimuli as more disgusting than men and sensitivity to disease-salient stimuli declining with age, which were in line with the evolutionary explanation of disgust suggesting that the impact of evolution is the greatest on people at a stage of reproduction since they are responsible for developing and transmitting adaptive traits to coming generations. A these findings were the same across cultures, they were attributed to evolution of the human species as a whole.
Therefore, the development of adaptive psychological behaviour such as disgustx which can prevent us from diseasex through the process of evolution has been convincingly established with the help of large-scale, cross-cultural studies such as the one described above.
-------
Sample Corrected and Evaluated Answer -
(please click on an image to enlarge it)
 |
| 1 of 3 |
 |
| 2 of 3 |
 |
| 3 of 3 |
----------------
(key search terms: ib psychology paper 1 sample answers, ib psychology sample SAQ, ib psychology example SAQ, ib psychology model SAQ, ib psychology model answers, ib psychology short answer sample, Curtis et.al. (2004), ib psychology BLOA SAQ, ib psychology 9-mark answer example)
Nice post.
ReplyDeletehttps://forums.matterhackers.com/user/paullucas