biological

• assumptions

  • What is psychological is first biological (behaviour is explained in terms of genes and hormones) 
  • Research should be conducted in a scientific manner and measure variables objective psychological measures, such as MRI scans. 
• strengths of the area

  • useful applications
  • highly scientific
• weakness of the area

  • reductionist
  • socially sensitive
• frontal lobe function - attention, though, movement, language and decision
• temporal lobe - perception and recognition
• corpus callous - connect right and left hemispheres, contralateral control
• hippocampus - memory information and spatial navigation
• limbic system - regulating emotions
• occipital lobe - visual area
• parietal lobe - communication
• nature debate examples

  • sperry - the functioning of each hemisphere is entirely biological
  • Casey - we are born a low delayer or a high delayer, however: by age 4 we have learned from others about resisting temptation
• nurture debate example

  • bc - the orientation of the kittens neurones altered depending on the environment that they were subjected to
  • Maguire - the demands placed upon the spatial memory of the taxi drivers altered the hippocampi volume
• reductionism debate examples

  • sperry - reducing the behavioural responses to lateralisation of function and hemispheric deconnection
  • Casey - only considers biological factors involved in delay graitifcation
  • Bc - only considered effect of changing environment on the orientation of neurones
  • Maguire - spatial navigation is localised and determined by the hippocampi only
• free will debate examples

  • Casey - there were people in the study who changed from being a low delayer to a high delayer or vice versa, however; the majority remained the same delayer as when aged 4
• determinism debate examples (biological)

  • sperry - the left and right side of the brain determine the behavioural output, e.g., if an object is shown to the RVF the brain can identify it
  • bc - the environment that the kittens were in determined the orientation of their neurones
  • Maguire - the ability to navigate without using a map was determined by the size of the posterior hippocampi
• situational debate examples

  • sperry - they way the information was presented influenced their ability to respond
  • bc - the environment around the cats is what influenced the orientation of the neurones
  • Maguire - the environment the taxi drivers were in influenced the size of the hippocampi
• individual debate examples

  • Casey - whether ps were low delayers or high delayers was due to the levels of activity in the IFG or the VS
• applications

  • drug therapy
  • criminal behaviour