STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES OF THE BIOLOGICAL APPROACH

• Strength: Supporting Evidence for the role of neural structure in determining our behaviour

  • Phineas Gage- suffered from a severe accident at work
  • Explosion- sent an iron bar through his head, destroyed frontal cortex
  • Observable changes in his behaviour- hard-working, pleasant man to an aggressive, angry man
  • Increases the validity- demonstrated the idea of neural structure in a real-world context
• Weakness: Opposing theories for the Biological Approach:

  • Humanistic- emphasises self-actualisation, subjective experience rather than deterministic biological causes
  • Psychodynamic- importance of early life experiences & the unconscious, in determining our behaviour rather than genetic & factors relating to neural chemistry 
  • Decreases validity- cannot explain all aspects of behaviour
• Strength: Usefulness in developing modern day treatments

  • Allowed scientists to identify that low levels of serotonin can lead to depression
  • Lead to the development of anti-depressants, treatments 
  • Increases the validity- practical application