bio a AO3

• strengths of bio approach

  • real world application
  • uses scientific methods
• + real world application

  • BA promoted treatment of clinical depression using antidepressant drugs that increase levels of neurotransmitter serotonin at synapses of brain
  • such drugs have been associated with reduction of depressive symptoms
  • this means that people with depression can manage their conditions.
• + scientific methods


  • to investigate genetic and biological basis of behaviour , BA uses range of highly objective methods
  • include scanning techniques - fMRIs and ECGs
  • with advances in tech you can accurately measure physiological and neural processes in ways that rent open to bias
  • this means that much of BA is based on objective and reliable data
• - antidepressant drugs dont work for everyone

  • recent study - compared 21 AD Drugs and fund wide variations in effectiveness
  • most drugs were more effective than placebos in comparative trials - researches concluded effects of AD were mainly modest
  • this challenges value of biological approach as it suggests that brain chemistry may not account for all cases such as depression
• - critics of darwins work

  • Popper claims its not possible to falsify theory of natural selection as we cant show evolution happening
  • we can only deduce is has taken place
  • however others claim that basic principles are supported by fossil records