Biological

• Nature rather than nurture:

  Mental illness has multiple causes-ignores life experiences (nurture) & psychological factors such as how people think & feel. E.g, explaining scz is concerned with abnormal levels of certain neurotransmitters rather than with how patients feel about their illness. Treatment therefore concerned with adjusting abnormal biological systems rather than with talking to patients about how they feel.
• Reductionist:

  Reduce complex behaviours to simple set of explanations e.g, reducing experience of stress to action of adrenaline hormone. May lose real understanding of system. E.g, suggests scz is complex physical-chemical system gone wrong. Psychiatrist R.D. Laing (1965) claimed such an approach ignores experience of distress that goes along with mental illness & is an incomplete explanation.
• Nomothetic:

  Makes generalisations & finds similarities-ignores differences between people. E.g, when stressed, some people produce higher levels adrenaline than others, which affects long-term effects of stress. Assumes everyone's biological systems works in same way. Research on biological systems tended to use male participants (animals & humans) as female hormone cycles may interfere with biological research. Research bias could produce an erroneous picture of behaviour-1 with male bias.
• Taylor et al (2000):


  Suggest men react to stress with 'fight or flight' response, whereas women show 'tend & befriend' response. Gender difference seen in many species-females respond to stressful situations by protecting & nurturing their young ('tend') & by seeking social contact & support from other females ('befriend'). Difference attributed to fact women produce oxytocin hormone when stressed.
• Determinist:


  If we know what 'predetermines' behaviour-more likely to be able to treat people with abnormal behaviour. E.g, psychologists seek to understand functioning of neurotransmitters so they can predict effects of neurotransmitters on normal & abnormal behaviour. E.g, dopamine linked with scz. Drug amphetamine known to increase dopamine levels & large doses can cause scz symptoms (hallucinations). Antipsychotics (treat scz) reduce some scz symptoms & reduce dopamine levels. Suggests high dopamine levels cause symptoms.
• How has determinism helped psychosurgery?

  Brain scans show certain areas of brain more active than others in OCD patients. Cingulotomy designed to sever these areas to reduce OCD symptoms. Research suggests OCD caused by activity in these brain areas-determinist explanation. Causal understandings- if we understand prolonged stress causes physical illness, then we can reduce negative effects by treating stress in long-term. Improve people's lives with explanations.
• Scientific:


  Biological explanations have clear variables that can be measured, tracked & examined. Enables psychologists to conduct scientific research studying these variables. E.g, research on drug therapy has investigated links between psychoactive drugs & production of certain neurotransmitters (dopamine) & linked this to behaviour. Objective evidence is produced from controlled studies & causal conclusions drawn.
• Successful applications:


  Treatments for mental disorders e.g, drug therapy & psychosurgery. (Cosgrove & Rauch study for effectiveness in OCD). Cherek study: research into relationship between criminal behaviour & abnormal neurotransmitter levels- can offer pharmacological treatments to criminals, reducing recidivism & making society safer. Drug therapy easy & enables many to live normal lives outside mental hospitals. E.g, bipolar disorder treated with drugs. Viguera et al (2000) report more than 60% of bipolar patients improve when taking drug lithium.