The Biological Approach Flashcards
What is the Biological approach?
The biological approach suggests that everything psychological is at first biological.
It emphasises the importance of physical processes in the body such as genetic inheritance and neural function.
What is Neurochemistry?
Neurochemistry refers to the action of chemicals in the brain. Much of our thought and behaviour relies on chemical transmission in the brain.
This occurs using neurotransmitters
What has an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain been implicated with?
An imbalance of neurochemicals in the brain has been implicated as a possible cause of mental disorder, for example low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin in OCD and overproduction of dopamine in schizophrenia.
What is the Genetic basis of behaviour?
Psychological characteristics, such as intelligence, are Inherited In the same way as physical characteristics such as height or eye colour.
How are genetic characteristics studied?
Twin studies are used to investigate whether certain psychological characteristics have a genetic basis.
This is achleved by analysing concordance rates - the extent to which twins share the same characteristic. If a characteristic is genetic we would expect all identical (monozygotic) twins to be concordant (they share 100% of the same genes).
Whereas the same would not be true for non-Identical (dizygotic) twins who share about 50% of the same genes. In both cases the environment is assumed to be constant.
What is a Genotype?
A person’s genotype is their actual genetic make-up. E.g. gene for eye colour.
What is a Phenotype?
They way the genes are expressed.
The characteristics of an individual determined by both genes and the environment.
Despite having the same genes…
the way identical twins’ genes are expressed (the phenotype) is different, due to the environment.
What is meant by Evolution?
Proposed by Darwin,
The main principle of this theory Is that any genetically determined behaviour that enhances an Individual’s survival (and reproduction) will continue in future generations, l.e. be naturally selected.
How does Evolution occur?
In nature this selection takes plase ‘naturally’ - no one decides, the selection occurs simply because some traits give the possessor certain advantages.
The possessor is more likely to survive, reproduce and pass on these traits. If the individual survives but does not reproduce, the traits do not remain in the gene pool for successive generations.
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.
Counterpoint :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.
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.
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 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.
