The Biological Approach

• The assumptions of the biological approach is that all human behaviour has a physical cause. Biological factors can be identified as being the root of all behaviour and therefore treatments should be medical
• The brain is an organ that controls both conscious and unconscious behaviour and communicates with the nervous system to produce actions
• The nervous system is split into the central and peripheral nervous system which uses nerve cells to communicate information from the brain around the body and from the body to the brain. The nervous system control many aspects of behaviour
• Neurotransmitters are chemicals that are released when an electrical impulse reaches the end of a neuron. Travels to the next neuron across a gap called a synapse
• Neurotransmitters cause a change in the next neuron which influences behaviour. Abnormal levels of neurotransmitters can have negative effects on behaviour
• Hormones are chemicals that are secreted by glands, and travel around the body in the blood. They then alter the activity of target cells in organs, affecting responses
• Heredity means the passing on of physical or mental characteristics genetically from one generation to the next. These are passed on from parents through genes and evolution. Humans inherit 23 chromosomes, containing genes, which code for all traits a person possesses
• A genotype is the genetic code in an individual‘s DNA. It’s a collection of all inherited material and copied in the nucleus of every cell
• Phenotypes are the physical manifestation of inherited characteristics as a result of our interaction with the environment
• Twin studies: comparison of the occurrence of traits or behaviour in identical and non-identical twin
• Psychologists look at concordance rates- a measure of whether the trait is present in both twins. We expect to see higher rates in MZ twins and in DZ twins
• Family studies investigate the occurrence of a trait within families. If a trait is purely genetic, all family members should exhibit the trait
• Adoption studies: comparison of traits between adopted children, their adoptive parents and their biological parents
• If a child shares a characteristic with their biological parents, then genes play a role in that trait as they don’t share an environment. If a child shares a characteristic with their adoptive and not biological parents, this suggests environment plays a stronger role
• Nature vs Nurture: claims that environment is unimportant when it comes to behaviour
• Free Will vs Determinism: believes that all behaviour is caused by our biological. It also believes that free will is an illusion
• Scientific: the biological approach focuses on human biology
• Real world application: the biological approach has led to the development of drug therapies to treat conditions such as depression and OCD. These have been shown to be effective for many, but some people experience side effects that mean they don’t want to take medication