Biological approach

• What are the key assumptions?

  Everything psychological is biological first.

  To fully understand behaviour, we need to look at the biological structures and processes.

  The mind lives in the brain.
• Genetic basis of behaviour

  traits such as personality are inherited like hight and eye colour.

  Twin studies are used to investigate if certain characteristics have a genetic basis, they use concordance rates, if they were higher rates it means characteristics are more likely to be influenced by genetics.

  Mental health conditions, e.g. schizophrenia are caused by genetics. We would expect higher rates for monozygotic twins (Identical twins share 100% DNA) but lower for dizygotic twins (non-identical twins, who share 50% DNA)
• what is a genotype?

  A persons genetic make up.
• what is a phenotype?

  The way genes are expressed through physical behaviour or psychological processes.
• What type of interactions does the approach? Think human behaviour depends on?

  It would accept that much of human behaviour depends on interactions between inherited (nature) and environment (nurture)
• What do neurons and the nervous system consist of?

  it consist of the CNS and the peripheral nervous system.
• what does the brain consist of?

  It consists of two hemispheres, four lobes that are named the frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital
• what are hormones?


  They are chemicals produced by the endocrine glands in response to signals from the brain. The glands produce their hormones.
• What is neurochemistry?


  it is the actions of chemicals in the brain. Much of our behaviour is down to the chemical messengers in the brain called neurotransmitters.

  An imbalance of neurotransmitters can lead to mental health disorders e.g. OCD
• how does the biological approach have real-world applications?

  Understanding of neurochemical processes has led to creating treatments for mental health disorders. Clinical depression can be treated with antidepressants as it increases serotonin in the brain. This reduces the amount of people struggling with depression. It also benefits the economy. It suggests some behaviours are biological in origin. This supports the approach.
• how has the approach used scientific methods?

  It has used objective methods like brain scans. Technology has allowed us to accurately, measure, psychological and neural processes in an unbiased way. These methods or objective, so on open to interpretation. They allow us to draw solid conclusions and allow studies to be replicated. This increases our understanding of behaviour.
• How can the approach be seen as deterministic?

  It says behaviour has been governed by internal genetics that we have no control over. Phenotype is heavily influenced by environment I know identical twins think or look the exact same. It ignores the role of the environment and that there may be other factors that affect behaviour. An interactional approach may be more effective. This decreases our understanding.
• how have antidepressants not been effective for everyone?

  Cipriani et al compare 21 and found a wide variation of effectiveness. Most were more effective than placebos, but researchers concluded the effectiveness in general was modest. This challenges the approach. It’s suggest brain chemistry might not explain depression alone and the ultimate approach is my offer a better explanation. This limits our understanding.