Approaches in Psychology - The Biological Approach Flashcards
What does the biological approach combine to provide?
Combines psychology and biology to provide physiological explanations for human behaviour
What does biological psychology try to explain?
How we think, feel and behave
What does the approach investigate (assumption)?
How biological structures and functions of the brain impacts our behaviour
Why may a biological cause of behaviour include?
Genetically or environmentally altered
What genes influence individual differences between people?
Genotypes and phenotypes
What system affects behaviour?
Nervous system
What can play a role in mental illness?
Infections of the brain
Natural selection
Evolutionary psychology considers genetic influences in common behaviours through this process
What are psychologists interested in trying to determine and provide evidence for?
The extent to which behaviours or characters are the product of inheritance or environmental influences
What do genes carry?
Instructions for characteristics
What does how characteristics develop depend on?
Interaction of the gene with other genes and the environment (nature - nurture debate)
The more a trait is influenced by genetic factors, the greater the…
Heritability
What are genetics thought to influence the risk of?
Mental illness
MZ
Monozygotic (identical)
What percentage of genetics are shared with identical twins?
100%
DZ
Dizygotic (non-identical)
What percentage of genetics are shaded with non-identical twins?
50%
Concordance rate
The percentage of pairs of twins who develop a particular trait or disorders
What did Francis Galton say?
“All natural abilities are inherited”
Predisposition
Being likely to behave in a particular way due to your genes however the environment mostly triggers the behaviour
Frontal lobe responsibilities
Thinking, memory, behaviour and movement
Temporal lobe responsibilities
Hearing, learning and feelings
Brain stem responsibilities
Breathing, heart rate and temperature
Parietal lobe responsibilities
Language and touch
Occipital lobe responsibility
Sight
Cerebellum responsibilities
Balance and coordination
What are hormones?
Chemical substances that help to regulate processes in the body
What are hormones secreted by?
Glands
What do hormones travel to?
Their target organs in the bloodstream
Phineas Gage
Survived accident where large iron rod went through his brain
Phineas Gage personality change
Changed from being sociable to being hostile
What did Phineas become?
Antisocial, bad mannered and had developed violent tendencies
What do neurotransmitters entangle to function?
The nervous system
What can abnormal levels of neurotransmitters lead to?
Symptoms of mental illness
What is depression linked to low levels of?
Serotonin
