Biological Approach Flashcards
Advantages
1) 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 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
2) Another strength of the approach is that is uses scientific methods of investigation.
In order to investigate the genetic and biological basis of behaviour, the biological approach uses a range of precise and objective methods. These include scanning techniques (fMRI, EEGs).
With advances in technology, it is possible to accurately measure physiological and neural processes in ways that are not open to bias.
This is a strength because it adds to the **scientific credibility ** of the approach via its reliable methods
Limitations
1) However, it is argued that although antidepressant drugs are successful for many patients, it does not work for everyone.
For instance, 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 is a limitation because it challenges the value of the biological approach as it suggests brain chemistry alone may not account for all cases like depression.
2) An issue with the biological approach is that it is deterministic.
This means 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. Thus, using a purely genetic explanation makes it difficult to consider things like crime. Could a violent criminal excuse their behaviour due to them being controlled by a ‘crime gene’?
Therefore, this is a limitation as it highlights the simplicity of the biological approach which ignores the
mediating effects of the environment
