The Biological approach

Question 1

How do biological psychologists study behaviour?

Answer 1

Through genetics and how characteristics are passed from one generation to the next through genes.

Question 2

What do genes carry?

Answer 2

They carry instructions for particular characteristics.

Question 3

What is the genotype?

Answer 3

The genetic code that is “written” in the DNA of an individual’s cells.

Question 4

What is a phenotype?

Answer 4

The physical appearance that results from this inherited information.

Question 5

Why do individuals differ from each other in terms of personality, intelligence, abilities and so on?

Answer 5

Each individual possesses a unique combination of genetic instructions.

Question 6

What are the several connected systems the Nervous system is comprised of?

Answer 6

The central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system

Question 7

What is the central nervous system?

Answer 7

Consists of the brain and the spinal cord. Carries messages from one part of the body to the other using neurons.

Question 8

how do neurons carry messages?

Answer 8

Neurons transmit nerve impulses in the form of electrical signals.

Question 9

What is the peripheral nervous system?

Answer 9

It comprises the somatic and autonomic nervous system.

Question 10

What is the outer surface of the cerebrum called and what does it do?

Answer 10

It is called the cerebral cortex and is responsible for thought and language

Question 11

What is the cerebrum divided into?

Answer 11

Two halves called hemisphere with each hemisphere further divided into four different parts called lobes.

Question 12

What are the four lobes called?

Answer 12

Frontal lobe, Parietal lobe, Temporal love, Occipital lobe

Question 13

What are frontal lobes involved in?

Answer 13

Functions such as speech, thought and learning.

Question 14

What are temporal lobes involved in?

Answer 14

Hearing and memory.

Question 15

What are parietal lobes involved in?

Answer 15

Sensory information such as touch, pain and temperature.

Question 16

What are occipital lobes involved in?

Answer 16

Processes visual information

Question 17

When is a neurotransmitter released?

Answer 17

When a nerve impulse reaches the end of one neuron

Question 18

Where does the neurotransmitter travel?

Answer 18

From one neuron to the next across a junction called the synapse.

Question 19

What are excitatory neurotransmitters?

Answer 19

A type of neurotransmitter that triggers nerve impulses in the receiving neuron and stimulates the brain into action.

Question 20

Give an example of a excitatory neurotransmitter

Answer 20

Dopamine is an excitatory neurotransmitter that is associated with “drive” and “motivation”

Question 21

What are inhibitory transmitters?

Answer 21

Transmitters that inhibit nerve impulses to calm the brain and balance mood

Question 22

Give an example of an inhibitory neurotransmitter?

Answer 22

Serotonin is an inhibitory transmitter as it maintains a stable mood

Question 23

Give an example of the influence of neurochemistry on behaviour?

Answer 23

Crokett et al, (2008) found that when serotonin levels are low people tend to display increased aggression

Question 24

What are hormones?

Answer 24

Chemicals that are produced and secreted directly into the bloodstream by endocrine glands such as the pituitary gland.

Question 25

How do hormones work?

Answer 25

They travel to their “target cells” and exert their influence by stimulating receptors in the surface of the inside cells. The presence of the hormone causes a physiological reaction in the cell, altering its activity.

Question 26

Give an example of a hormone influencing behaviour

Answer 26

Carrè studied a Canadian ice hockey team over the course of a season and found evidence of a surge in levels of the hormone testosterone whenever the team played in their home stadium suggesting the hormone energised the players to defend their home territory.

Question 27

How does evolution influence behaviour?

Answer 27

Women desire mates with resources to provide for offspring and men desire attractive women as an indication of their fertility. Physical characteristics are passed on to their offspring and become widespread in the population.

Question 28

What are the strengths of the biological approach?

Answer 28

1. Uses environmental method, other researches can replicate research studies under the same conditions adding to the validity of the original findings.
2. Provides clear predictions such as the effect of neurotransmitters on behaviour. This has led to significant applications of biological research in the real world.

Question 29

What are the limitation of the biological approach?

Answer 29

1. Although a reductionist approach lends itself to a scientific investigation, we cannot fully understand a behaviour without taking account of other factors that influence it
2. Critics of evolutionary explanations claim that many established patterns of human behaviour have purely cultural origins