Biological

• Outline the biological approach

  The biological approach suggest that everything psychological is at first biological. The approach investigates how biological structures and processes within the body impacts on behaviour. It suggests that psychologists should study genes, the brain, and biological systems.
• Outline genetic explanations of behaviour (biological)


  Genes affect behaviour and influence individual psychological differences between people. The actual set of genes an individual has, or is made up of, is a genotype. An individual's observed traits are their phenotype and come from an interaction of their genotype and the environment. We can use twin studies to compare the concordance rate of monozygotic twins (MZ twins) to the concordance rate of dizygotic twins (DZ twins) to establish if a trait or characteristic is due to biological factors (MZ share 100% of their genes).
• Outline evolutionary explanations for behaviour (biological)

  Evolutionary psychology considers genetic influences in common behaviours. Darwin would argue that genes are inherited that aid survival: natural selection. This means that behaviours that are genetically determined through genes are passed on from generation to generation.
• Outline biological systems as an explanation for behaviour (biological)

  Biological psychologists also study biochemical imbalances which can change behaviour. It is thought that overactive dopamine receptors play a role in Schizophrenia (Comer 2003). It has also been suggested that serotonin levels can have an impact on depressive disorders.
• What are the strengths of the biological approach

  Lab conditions

  
  

  Supporting research

  
  

  RWA
• Elaborate on lab conditions as a strength for biological approach

  One strength of the biological approach is that is uses scientific methods to explain human behaviour. Scientific techniques have shown that there are biological components to behaviour. Brain scanning techniques such as fMRI and EEG has improved our ability to see things like neural processes and this creates objective data as there it is not open to bias. Therefore, this enhances the scientific credibility of the biological approach as a whole.
• Elaborate on supporting research as a strength for biological approach

  McGuffin studied twins where one of the pair already suffered from depression. He assessed the co-twin and found a 46% concordance rate for depression in monozygotic twins and a 20% concordance rate for depression in dizygotic twins.

  
  

  plomin et al in 2013 who used gene mapping on 3154 pairs of 12 year old twins and found genetics accounted for around 66% of heritability of cognitive abilities.

  
  

  2013 Paul broca found a lesion on the left temporal lobe of the brain of one of his patients who lost the ability to speak and determined that that was the area responsible for speech.
• Elaborate on RWA as a strength of biological

  Drug treatments, such as SSRIs for depression, have been developed based on the biological approach and have proven to be successful in many cases, demonstrating there must be a biological cause to depression. However, drugs do not work for everyone and may only mask the symptoms and in some cases a placebo can work just as well. Therefore, brain chemistry may not be the only cause of behaviour and there may be another more psychological explanation for depression.
• What are the weaknesses of biological approach

  However, if depression was caused by genetics alone we would expect the concordance rate for monozygotic twins to be 100% but it is not. Additionally, twins are usually reared in very similar environments so it is impossible to separate the influence of nature and nurture from each other. Therefore, this suggests that the biological approach is reductionist and biology alone cannot be the only cause of human behaviour. Nowadays, many psychologists consider human behaviour to be the cause of an interaction between our genes and the environment.