Persons working in psychology-related roles are often called upon to write extended reports for various
purposes. These may include reports on clients, companies, and existing research on a topic. With this in
mind, you need to be able to adjust your writing style, while still keeping it appropriate for psychology and
professional, in order to suit the intended audience.
Essay question for 3A
‘Bio-psychologists believe that human biological behaviour is universal’.
Respond to this statement by evaluating what is known about basic and higher-level-function human
behaviour, and how it is known. Your essay should make reference to empirical research in this subject area.
In many psychology roles there is often a need to engage in such forms of writing to bring together knowledge
about a particular subject. This may be in order to share findings in a peer-reviewed published source, a book
chapter, or other outlet for any number of other purposes. In such a piece of focused writing, it is important to
balance descriptive content about what is known on a topic with careful discussion of sources, evaluating their
credibility or utility where appropriate.
In this task, you are required to engage in a piece of extended writing on the topic of:
‘Bio-psychologists believe that human biological behaviour is universal’.
Respond to this statement by evaluating what is known about basic and higher-level-function human
behaviour, and how it is known. Your essay should make reference to empirical research in this subject area.
The primary aim of this assignment is to provide you with the opportunity to produce an academic essay on a
particular topic. On completion of this task, you will have learned how to:
Produce a sustained piece of academic writing, complete with a reference section;
Understand conceptual and theoretical issues relevant to the topic;
Develop a logical, sequential, coherent argument within the recommended word limit;
Improve citing and referencing of relevant sources.