Biological Approach

• Bio Approach


  the importance of physical processes in the body, such as genetic inheritance, hormones, neurochemistry and the nervous system, impacting our behaviour.
• Everything psychological has an innate biological basis.
• •The mind and the brain are the same thing (unlike the cognitive approach).•Genes affect behaviour and influence psychological differences between people.•We can use animal research to identify genetic traits and thus explain human behaviour.
• Genotype v Phenotype

  •A genotype refers to an individual’s genetic make-up i.e. the genes that they have. This means that genetically identical people have the same predisposition to develop a characteristic (e.g. be overweight) from their genes, unless another factor(s) intervenes. However, it does not reveal whether someone will develop a characteristic.
• Genotype v Phenotype

  A phenotype refers to the observable traits or characteristics  (e.g. the weight someone achieves) shown by the individual. These characteristics are due to the combined effects of the genes and environment. Therefore, the phenotypes of these twins may be different because one was encouraged to eat healthily and exercise and the other wasn’t so to be of a different weight they have been influenced by different environments.
• •Monozygotic twins have identical genotypes. Therefore they have the same predisposition to develop normally or not unless another factor(s) intervenes.
• Evolution And Natural Selection

  •Evolution is when the genetic make-up of a particular population changes over successive generations. Some characteristics/behaviours are more successful that others = natural selection.
• •Random physical and behavioural changes to a species either enable it to adapt to its environment and survive or they disadvantage it in some way and it dies out.
• Sexual Selection


  Sexual selection is the idea that physical characteristics or behaviours that make an individual more attractive and so increase reproductive success are passed on and may become exaggerated over succeeding generations
• Evolved Behaviours

  •Social releasers – Bowlby suggested that babies are born with a set of innate ‘cute’ features and behaviours that encourage attention from adults. These activate the innate adult attachment system – the tendency for adults to care for them. These enhance the survival of the infant and therefore they will live to eventually reproduce, resulting in these physical characteristics becoming more widespread in the population.
• Evolved Behaviours

  •Aggression – men are at risk of cuckoldry and so displaying aggression acts as a deterrent so that a partner is less likely to cheat. Additionally, aggression is symbolic of strength and power and so may be more attractive to females. Therefore, these enhance the men’s reproductive success so the behaviour becomes more widespread in the population.
• Comparative method

  •This is where animals are studied and conclusions are generalised to humans.•
• Twin Studies

  •Twin studies allow us to assess whether a characteristic is genetic or environmental. Both twins are studied to determine whether they share characteristics.••Concordance = a percentage that shows how many twin pairs shared a characteristic studied.
• •As MZ twins share 100% of their genes and DZ twins share 50%, we would expect that if a characteristic is genetic, the MZ concordance should be higher than the DZ.•If a characteristics if completely genetic, the concordance for MZ twins should be 100%.
• Reductionism

  •Reductionism is the belief that complex human behaviour can be explained in terms of breaking it down to its smallest component parts such as the actions of genes, neurotransmitters or hormones.•