AO3 Biological Approach

• The biological approach has practical application in the development of drugs. These drugs may target specific candidate genes to directly treat the disorder or may alter neurotransmitter level to treat the symptoms
• It is biologically deterministic as it suggests that all behaviour is caused by internal biological forces over which we have no control. However, this has serious implications for the judicial system. The current judicial system expects individuals to take moral responsibility for their actions, and so such actions cannot be entirely blamed on genetic factors. However, if, for example, a criminal gene or a schizophrenia gene was discovered, this could lead to ‘diminished responsibility’ of these individuals, as well as shorter prison sentences.
• Twin studies cannot differentiate between the effects of nature and nurture. Higher concordance rates for some characteristics may be attributed to the fact that monozygotic twins share 100% of their genes with each other. However, MZ twins are more likely to grow up in the same household, be exposed to similar experiences and be raised using parenting styles. This may explain the differences in concordance rates between MZ and DZ twins, as opposed to only genetic differences.
• The biological approach uses scientific methods such as PET and fMRI scans to objectively and systematicall measure the biological or neural basis of behaviour. This increases the scientific credibility of Psychology, through the strict control of extraneous and confounding variables