Biological Explanation For Schizophrenia

Question 1

Explanation

Answer 1

• The idea of the neural correlate is that abnormalities within specific brain areas may be associated with the development of SZ
• brain scanning techniques such as FMRI scans are used to compare the brains of schizophrenics with non suffers to identify brain areas that may be linked to SZ

Question 2

1. Neural correlates: brain structure of function AO1

Answer 2

One neural correlate is enlarged ventricles. A meta analysis could ducted by Raz and Raz found that over half of individuals tested with SZ had increased ventricle size compared to a control group.

Enlarged ventricles are associated with damage to central brain areas and the pre-frontal cortex this damage is associated with negative symptoms of SZ

Question 3

Neural correlates- AO3

Answer 3

P- Research to support the role of neural correlates as an explanations for SZ comes from Suddath et al (1990).

E- He used MRI scans to investigate the brain structure of MZ twins in which one twin was schizophrenic.

E- they found that the schizophrenic twin generally had more enlarged ventricles. This suggests enlarged ventricles do play a role in determine the likelihood of SZ developing.

L- Therefore increasing the validity of neural correlates as a biological explanation of SZ

Question 4

2. Neural correlates: Dopamine Hypothesis AO1

Answer 4

• The brain chemical messages appear to work differently in the brain of a patient with SZ. In particular Dopamine is widely believed to be involved as individuals with SZ mag release too much dopamine or have a large amount of D2 receptors on the post synaptic neuron
• HYPERDOPAMINERGIA IN THE SUBCORTEX- high dopamine activity in the central areas of the brain such as Broca’s area mag be associated with auditory hallucinations
• HYPODOPAMINERGIA IN THE CORTEX - low dopamine activity in the prefrontal cortex have been associated with the negative symptoms of SZ such as avolition

Question 5

AO3 for biological explanations of SZ

Answer 5

p - A strength of the biological explanations of SZ is that it uses scientific methods.

E - This is because the theory is based on objective and empirical techniques such as gene mapping studies and brain scans such as FMRI which are used to identify specific genes or areas in the brain linked to SZ.

L- Therefore this increases the overall internal validity of the biological explanations of SZ thus raising psychology’s scientific status

Question 6

AO3

Answer 6

p - However the biological explanations of SZ can be criticized for biological determinism.

E- This is because the theory states that an individual is controlled by internal factors such as high dopamine activity in the sub cortex which is inevitably causes auditory hallucinations.

E- Therefore it neglects the role of free will and choice that individuals have this could lead to victims feeling like they have no control over their schizophrenic behavior.

L- Therefore this limits the biological explanation of SZ

Question 7

AO3

Answer 7

P - A strength of the biological explanations of SZ is that it has practical applications.

E- This is because the principles of the theory that SZ is caused by an imbalance of dopamine has led to the treatment of drug therapies such as typical and atypical antipsychotics.

E- These drugs are effective in treating SZ by balancing levels of dopamine in the patients brain and therefore reducing symptoms of SZ such as hallucinations and delusions.

L - Therefore this is am important part of applied psychology that increases the credibility of the biological explanations of SZ