the biological approach

Question 1

according to the biological approach humans are

Answer 1

biological organisms made up of physiological processes

Question 2

therefore all thoughts ideas and cognitive processes must be biological in origin , this means that

Answer 2

the mind ‘ lives ‘ within the brain , and is not seperate

Question 3

the actions of genes , hormones , neurotransmitters and neurochemical mechanisms must

Answer 3

be understood in order to explain behaviour fully

Question 4

heritability coefficients can be used to quantify the genetic or biological basis of certain characteristic for example

Answer 4

IQ is said to have a heritability coefficient of 0.5 (plomin) and so the influence of nature (genetics ) and nurture (the environment) are equal

Question 5

behaviour genetics is defined as

Answer 5

the study of the influence of an organisms genetic composition on its behaviour and the interaction of heredity and environment insofar as they affect behaviour
therefore the behavioural genetics is crucial in researching the extent to which behavourial characteristics are inherited int eh same way as psychological characteristics

Question 6

an indviduals geneotype is their

Answer 6

genetic makeup
where a gene is a short section of DNA coding for specific proteins

Question 7

an indviduals phenotype is the

Answer 7

physical expression of their genotype

Question 8

therefore the interaction between the phenotype and the environment results in

Answer 8

individuals behaviour

Question 9

two people may have the same genotype but diffrent phenotypes this may be due to

Answer 9

personal choices they’ve made to alter their appearance ie dying their hair , or due to epigenetic

Question 10

epigenetic is a change in gene expression without altering an individuals genetic makeup , epigenetic markers such as

Answer 10

DNA methylation and histone tail modification can be left on DNA through exposure to certain environmental factors such as specific diets and pollution

Question 11

natural selection is the mechanism of evolution , the theory suggests

Answer 11

that nay genetical determined behaviour which gives the indviduals a selective advantage will be present in future generations
this is due to genetic transmission of beneficial characteristics from one generation to the next

Question 12

examples of genetically determined behaviours with a selective advantage include

Answer 12

avoiding fire and deer water , these are the prepared stimuli suggested by seligmans theory of learned preparedness
certain indviduals have longer necks , lamarcks example of an animal who is better adapted to reaching leaves , and specific cows producing more milk (increasing the chance of survival of their young)

Question 13

evolution is the

Answer 13

process by which organisms change over time as a result of change in heritable physical or behavioural traits

Question 14

a strength of the biological approach is it has practical applications in the development of drugs , an increased understanding of the biological processes which underpin mental health diseases has led to the development of psychoactive drugs eg depression , these may target

Answer 14

specific candidate genes to directly treat the disorder , or may alter neurotransmitter levels to help alleviate symptoms ie chlorpromazine.
the main advantage of such drug treatments , compared to cognitive therapies such as CBT is that they require minimal effort on the part of the patient, non invasive and not time consuming unlike CBT

Question 15

a weakness however is biological determinism , the biological approach suggest that all behaviour is caused by internal biologival forces over which we have no control , however this has serious implications for the judicial system and the economy

Answer 15

current judicial system expects individuals to take moral responsibilty for their actions , and thus cannot be entirely blamed on genetic factors , however if a criminal/schizophrenic gene was discovered it would lead to diminished responsibility for these individuals.
economical impact is that if such genes coding for mental health disorder/criminality were made public then such indviduals may be denied health insurance/jobs on this basis
therefore biological determinism has potentially severe real life consequences

Question 16

another weakness is twin studies cannot differentiate between the effects of nature and nurture , ie MZ twins usually show higher concordance rates from mental disorders and psychological characteristics compared to DZ twins , from a biological perspective this is often explained by how MZ twins share 100% of genes with each other comapred to 50% for DZ twins . however this makes the naive assumption that

Answer 16

the only difference these twins have are genetics
MZ twins are more likely to grow up int he same household , be exposed to similar lifestyles/parenting
thus may explain the difference in concordance rates between MZ/DZ twins as opposed to only genetic differences
may explain why MZ twins have higher concordance rates than ordinary siblings , despite both sharing 50% of genes.
therefore this suggests that behaviour cannot be explained in purely genetic terms without accounting for social contexts, adopting an interactionist approach.

Question 17

a strength however is that the biological approach uses scientific rigour and methods such as EEG , PET and fMRI scans to objectively and sytematicallt measure the biological or neural basis of behaviour , drugs are also developed on this basis whilst

Answer 17

family and adoption studies can lead to an increased understanding of the concordance rates and heritability of certain psychological characteristics
this increases the scientific credibility of psychology , though the strict control of extraneous and confounding variables