The Biological Approach Flashcards
What are the main assumptions of the biological approach?
Anything that is psychological, is first biological, due to genetics, neuro chemistry, neuro anatomy.
Neuro anatomy can be studied using brain-imaging techniques, genetics can be studied using concordance rates.
What are genes?
Make up chromosomes, consist of DNA which codes physical features of an organism
What is a concordance rate?
The extent to which two genetically related individuals share the same characteristics. Expressed numerically. The closer the genetic relationship between individuals, the higher the concordance rate. Something which is purely genetic should have 100% concordance rate for identical twins.
What is the supporting research for the genetic basis of behaviour?
Nesdadt (2010) - 68% concordance rate for OCD in MZ twins, 31% for DZ twins.
What happens in the frontal lobe?
Speech, decision making, emotion, personality
What happens in the temporal lobe?
Hearing and memory
What happens in the parietal lobe?
Sensory info e.g. touch, temperature, pain
What happens in the occipital lobe?
Visual information processed
What is the Phineas Gage case study?
Iron rod shot through his left frontal lobe.
before injury: smart businessman, kind, gentle
after injury: lacked respect and kindness, got into conflict
Woollet and Maguire’s study
To qualify as a London taxi driver, have to memorise routes covering 25,000 London streets. using brain scans they were able to show that taxi drivers had an enlarged hippocampus compared to control participants. It was concluded that this brain area plays a role in long-term memory.
What occurs at the synapse?
Signals sent between neurones by neurotransmitters
What is the connection between neurotransmitters and atypical behaviour?
Imbalances can mean different disorders happen- e.g. low levels of serotonin= depression/ OCD, overproduction of dopamine= schizophrenia
What is natural selection?
Offspring inherit helpful traits and overtime more species possess these characteristics
What is sexual selection?
Characteristics that make an animal attractive to the opposite sex allow more access to mates/indicate better quality offspring. E.g. hourglass figure- not already pregnant, child-bearing hips
What is a genotype?
Genetic code that is ‘written’ in the DNA of an individuals cells
What is a phenotype?
Observable physical/ psychological characteristics of an individual because of the interaction of genotype with environment
Evaluate the biological approach
Strength: Real world application
Drug therapies e.g. SSRIs for depression/ OCD. High internal.
Strength: Scientific method of investigation
E.g. brain scans, more accurate measure of internal processes. Evidence less susceptible to misinterpretation and experimental bias e.g. no inference. High internal.
Weakness: Deterministic
Ignores free will. Phenotype heavily influenced by environment (self-contradicting). E.g. even MZ twins dont always look/ think the same. If only genetics can influence behaviour then how can we explain violent criminals? Crime gene really an excuse?
Evaluate the biological approach acronym
+ RWA
+ SI
X D
