APPS 02 - Biological approach Flashcards
What is the biological approach?
A perspective that emphasises the importance of physical processes in the body such as genetic inheritance and neural function
What are genes?
- They make up chromosomes and consist of DNA which codes the physical features of an organism (such as eye colour, height) and psychological features (such as mental disorder, intelligence)
- Genes are transmitted from parents to offspring, i.e. inherited
What is a biological structure?
An arrangement or organisation of parts to form an organ, system or living thing
What is neurochemistry?
Relating to chemicals in the brain that regulate psychological functioning
What is a genotype?
The particular set of genes that a person possesses
What is a phenotype?
The characteristics of an individual determined by both genes and the environment
What is evolution?
The changes in inherited characteristics in a biological population over successive generations
What is concordance?
- It is the probability that a pair of individuals will both have a certain characteristic (phenotypic trait)
- Concordance is measured by concordance rates.
What is an approach in psychology?
A view that involves certain assumptions (i.e. beliefs) about human behaviour:
- What is the fundamental cause of human behaviour
- Which aspects of humans are worthy of study
- What research methods are appropriate for undertaking this study
There may be several different theories within an approach, but they all share these common assumptions
What do we use twin studies for?
We use twin studies to measure correlations/concordance rates (similarity) between:
- Monozygotic twins/MZ/ identical twins => share 100% of genes
- Dizygotic twins/DZ/ non-identical twins => share 50% of genes
What do adoption studies tell us about the roles of genes and environment?
When we measure concordance between biological parent (who provide genes) and their adopted-away offspring (who is brought up by adoptive parents):
- If similarity is high between offspring and biological parents, it supports the role of genes
- If similarity between adopted child and adoptive parent is high, this supports the role of the environment
What are the strengths of the biological approach?
- Real world applications
- Uses scientific methods
How does the biological approach have real world applications?
- One strength of the biological approach is that it has real-world application
- Increased understanding of neurochemical processes in the brain is associated with the use of psychoactive drugs to treat serious mental disorders
- For example, the biological approach has promoted the treatment of clinical depression using antidepressant drugs that increase levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin at synapses in the brain
- Such drugs have been associated with the reduction of depressive symptoms
- This means that people with depression may be better able to manage their condition and live their lives in the community, rather than remain in hospital
How does the biological approach use scientific methods?
- Another strength of the approach is that it uses scientific methods of investigation
- In order to investigate the genetic and biological basis of behaviour, the biological approach makes use of a range of precise and highly objective methods
- These include scanning techniques, such as fMRIs and EEGs
- With advances in technology, it is possible to accurately measure physiological and neural processes in ways that are not open to bias
- This means that much of the biological approach is based on objective and reliable data
What are the limitations of the biological approach?
- It’s determinist
- Counter point to real world applications
What is the counterpoint to the biological approach having real world applications?
- Although antidepressant drugs are successful for many patients, they do not work for everyone
- For instance, a recent study by Andrea Cipriani et al. (2018) compared 21 antidepressant drugs and found wide variations in their effectiveness
- Although most of the drugs were more effective than placebos in comparative trials, the researchers concluded that the effects of antidepressants, in general, were ‘mainly modest’
- This challenges the value of the biological approach because it suggests that brain chemistry alone may not account for all cases of, for example, depression
How is the biological approach determinist?
- One limitation of the biological approach is that it is determinist
- The biological approach is determinist in that it sees human behaviour as governed by internal, genetic causes over which we have no control
- However, we have already seen that the way in which an individual’s genotype is expressed (phenotype) is heavily influenced by the environment
- Not even identical twins who share the same genes look the same and think the same
- Also, a purely genetic argument becomes problematic when we consider things such as crime
- Could a violent criminal, for instance, really excuse their actions by claiming their behaviour was controlled by a ‘crime gene’?
- This suggests that the biological view is often too simplistic and ignores the mediating effects of the environment
What are the limitations of the theory of natural selection?
- Critics of Darwin’s work, such as Karl Popper, claim that it is not possible to falsify the theory of natural selection (a key criterion of science) as we cannot show evolution happening, we can only deduce it has taken place
- However, others claim that the basic principles are supported by fossil records (e.g. showing dinosaurs changing into birds)
