Biological

• 1.       Our behaviour is caused by our biology (e.g., structures, genes, hormones etc.,).

  All thoughts, feelings & behaviour ultimately have a biological cause.
• Genes, neurochemistry, hormones, neurotransmitters, dopamine, serotonin, monozygotic twins, dizygotic twins, concordance rates, genotype, phenotype, interactionism, nature, nurture, Phenylketonuria (PKU), evolution, natural selection, neurons, synapse, action potential, dendrites, soma (cell body), axon, axon terminals, myelin sheath, motor neuron, sensory neuron, relay neuron
• Christiansen (1977): studied over 3500 twin pairs and found concordance rates of 35% for male MZ twins (identical) and 13% for male DZ twins (non-identical) for criminality.

   

  Darwin’s natural selection: animals/plants with a genetic characteristic which enhances their chances of survival and reproduction will be more likely to survive and therefore pass on their genetic advantage. Over time, weaker individuals without the genetic advantage die off and the strong survive creating an adapted species population to a particular environment.
• ü  Real world applications - treatment of clinical depression with anti-depressant drugs which increases level of the neurotransmitter serotonin.

  ü  Scientific process - is scientific as scanning techniques, such as fMRIs and EEGs, can measure physiological and neural processes in ways that are not open to bias.

  Ø  Individual differences – Cipriani et al., (2018) compared 21 antidepressant drugs and found wide variations in their effectiveness.

  Ø  Biological hard determinism - assumptions that behaviour and psychology are pre-determined to occur and therefore free will does not play a role.
• Determinism –behaviour is caused by our genes, chemicals, hormones etc.,

  Reductionism – reduces behaviour down to genes, chemicals, hormones without consideration for other factors.

  Scientific – relies on objective scientific processes which can be measured, studied and repeated.