The Biological Approach Flashcards
What is Biological Psychology?
Tries to explain human behaviour in terms of biology
What is the biological approach?
- Combination of psychology and biology (= physiological) to explain behaviour
- How we think, feel, behave according to physical factors within the body
Define physiology:
the study of the body and its parts and how they function
What are the assumptions of the biological approach?
- Everything psychological is at first biological
- Human behaviour as a physiological cause which may be genetically or environmentally altered
- Genes affect behaviour and influence individual psychological difference
- Mind lives in the brain
How does the cognitive approach differ from the biological approach according to the mind and the brain?
Cognitive believe brain and mind to be separate whilst biological believe the mind lives in the brain
What is meant by the genetic basis of behaviour?
Determine and provide evidence for the extent to which behaviours, or characteristics such as your IQ are the product of inheritance
How can you investigate the genetic basis of behaviours?
- Twin studies
- Family studies
- Adoption studies
- Selective breeding
What are twin study?
Studying twins in order to investigate the genetic basis of behaviour
What are monozygotic twins?
Share 100% of the same genes so are identical
What are dizygotic twins?
Have different genes so non-identical
What do concordance rates refers to?
The extent to which a pair of twins share similar traits or characteristics
What are adoption studies?
Comparing a trait or characteristic between adopted children and their biological or adoptive parents.
Define genes:
Basic units of heredity
How do genes functions?
In pairs
What do the recombination of the parents genes from the parents do?
Provide the basis of genetic variability
What is a genotype?
The genetic make-up which has the potential for characteristics
What is the phenotype?
Observable characteristics of an individual
What can the phenotype be affect by?
Genetics and environmental factors
What is a recessive gene?
Only shows if an individual has two copies of the recessive gene
What is a dominate gene?
Always shows, even if an individual only has one dominate gene
What is evolution?
The changes in inherited characteristics in a biological population over successive generations
Who was key in the topic of evolution?
Charles Darwin
What to main concepts did Charles Darwin propose?
- Natural selection
- Sexual selection
What is natural selection?
Animals with particular traits that provide them with an advantage are more likely to survive and reproduce thereby passing on their ‘adaptive traits’ to their offspring.
What is sexual selection?
- Males have an abundance of sperm and can reproduce with as many females as they want.
- Females have limited eggs so she has to choose a father who will make an investment to the child
Are the biological approach lacking scientific methods?
No
Are the biological approach subjective or objective?
Objective
What are the strengths of the biological approach?
- Scientific (=causation)
- Establishes psychology as a science
- Impact of biology on behaviour can lead to treatment
- Comparing abnormal to normal brain functions
- Object due to uses of PET scans or EEGs
What are the weakness of the biological approach?
- Deterministic approach
- Reductions (Dehumanising to biological machines)
- Ignore effect of environment
- May focus on rare conditions which have little impact on most people
- Subjective to human error
- Small restricted sample
- Lacks ecological validity
