495707
Biological approach
- Free will v Determinism
- The biological approach is deterministic it sees free will as an illusion
- People are determined by their
physiology(physiological determinism)
- Forensic psychology=> Somatotype proposed by
Sheldon: that if you have a mesomorph body type you
are characterised as a criminal.
- Shown in his study that the majority of
male criminal delinquents had a
mesomorph body type
- Atavastic form proposed by
Lombroso=> criminals had
different physical features
compared with non-criminals e.g.
strong prominent jaw,narrow sloping brow
- Shown in his study that the majority of
male criminal delinquents had a
mesomorph body type
- Forensic psychology=> Somatotype proposed by
Sheldon: that if you have a mesomorph body type you
are characterised as a criminal.
- Genetic Determinism
- Depression=> children of depressed parents seem
to be particularly at risk of developing depression
e.g Winokur et al=> 10.4% of the first degree
relatives of probands compared to 4.9% of control
group
- FP=> Lange found that MZ twins
showed a much higher concordance
rate than DZ twins -> supported by
Christiansen found concordance rate
in Male MZ=35% DZ=13%.Female
MZ=21% DZ=8%
- Depression=> children of depressed parents seem
to be particularly at risk of developing depression
e.g Winokur et al=> 10.4% of the first degree
relatives of probands compared to 4.9% of control
group
- People are determined by their
physiology(physiological determinism)
- Evolutionary determinism
- Fight or flight
response we do
no choose to
freeze when
taking an exam
- Fight or flight
response we do
no choose to
freeze when
taking an exam
- The biological approach is deterministic it sees free will as an illusion
- Holistic v Reductionist
- The biological approach is deemed as
reductionist because it ignores other
levels
- The explanation of schizophrenia is due to to the
sensitivity of dopamine receptors => but ignore
social and environmental factors such as
labelling theory or sociocultural explanation e.g
family dysfunction
- In explaining the theory of why criminals offend is
due to their genes rather than social and
environmental factors such as Sutherlands
association theory and SLT which seems more
realistic.It could be due to the environment that
'set off' the gene to cause criminal behaviour
- The explanation of schizophrenia is due to to the
sensitivity of dopamine receptors => but ignore
social and environmental factors such as
labelling theory or sociocultural explanation e.g
family dysfunction
- The biological approach is deemed as
reductionist because it ignores other
levels
- Idiographic v Nomothetic
- Nomothetic -approaches emphasis on
general laws that govern behaviour that
apply to all
- Schizophrenia=> everyone has a
lot of dopamine in the brain if
schizophrenic but ignores the
amount of people who may have a
different subtypes of this receptor
therefore the theory does not take
into account individual differences
- Classify people into groups =>DSM
IV=>helps with diagnosing
symptoms
- Classify people into groups =>DSM
IV=>helps with diagnosing
symptoms
- Eysenck states how criminals have high neuroticism and
extroversion=> however Farrington et al found that
participants tended to score high on psychoticism,they did
not on extroversion and neuroticism yet again shows that
not every criminal will fit into every category of these three
dimensions.They may not be high in anything at all
- However if we look at Phineas Gage he shows that the
ideological approach would be better because in the biological
approach they suggested that if the Wernike's area and
Broca's area was damaged then he wouldn't be able to interact
and speak but he could which shows that individual
differences can occur
- Schizophrenia=> everyone has a
lot of dopamine in the brain if
schizophrenic but ignores the
amount of people who may have a
different subtypes of this receptor
therefore the theory does not take
into account individual differences
- Nomothetic -approaches emphasis on
general laws that govern behaviour that
apply to all
- Nature v Nurture
- Supports the nature side of the
debate because it believes our
behaviour is innate
- Bock and Goode => male mice
showed a genetic tendency
towards aggression
- Adoption studies
- Heston=>47 mothers with
schizophrenia,whose children
were adopted within days by
psychiatrically well
mothers.Found the incidence of
schizophrenia in the children to
be 16%(above 1% chance
level)
- Genetic basis of
criminality=>Crowe
=>almost 50% of
children sampled as
adopted children whose
biological mothers did
not have a criminal
record themselves by
the age of 18
- Heston=>47 mothers with
schizophrenia,whose children
were adopted within days by
psychiatrically well
mothers.Found the incidence of
schizophrenia in the children to
be 16%(above 1% chance
level)
- Henrique and Davidson
suggested with the
diathesis-stress model that it is
due to innate factors but
also due to the stress of
the environment that has
an impact on getting
depression
- Bock and Goode => male mice
showed a genetic tendency
towards aggression
- Supports the nature side of the
debate because it believes our
behaviour is innate
- Basic Assumptions
- All behaviour has a
biological basis which is the
focus of this approach
- The functional level of analysis
is the evolutionary basis of
behaviour including genetics
- The causal level of analysis
concentrates on the
physiological processes
underlying behaviour
- All behaviour has a
biological basis which is the
focus of this approach
- Methods
- Scientific:experiments
- controls extraneous variables
but lacks ecological validity
because it takes place in an artificial
environment,replicated,validity and reliable
- controls extraneous variables
but lacks ecological validity
because it takes place in an artificial
environment,replicated,validity and reliable
- Scientific:experiments
- Researchers
- Bock and
Goode,Lange,Coffey,Mcguffin,Henrique and
Davidison,Gottesman and Shields etc
- Bock and
Goode,Lange,Coffey,Mcguffin,Henrique and
Davidison,Gottesman and Shields etc
- Application
- Drug therapies have develop due
to the increase of technology and
have allowed many patients with
mood disorders etc to live normal
lives that they previously would
have not been able to do.
- Many drug treatments have unwanted side-effects.For example,if taking the wrong
dosage can cause kidney damage and other side effects such as Nausea.On the
other hand there are newer drugs that have less side effects and don't cause to
much harm to the body.
- Drugs only treat the biologically-visible effects,
not the causes of problems. Childhood
experiences that cause trauma and depression
during adulthood may be better treated by
confronting our past than by using
anti-depressants.
- Drugs only treat the biologically-visible effects,
not the causes of problems. Childhood
experiences that cause trauma and depression
during adulthood may be better treated by
confronting our past than by using
anti-depressants.
- Many drug treatments have unwanted side-effects.For example,if taking the wrong
dosage can cause kidney damage and other side effects such as Nausea.On the
other hand there are newer drugs that have less side effects and don't cause to
much harm to the body.
- Drug therapies have develop due
to the increase of technology and
have allowed many patients with
mood disorders etc to live normal
lives that they previously would
have not been able to do.
- Impact
- However, it cannot be
denied that the biological
approach has contributed an
enormous amount to our
understanding of the
fundamental processes of
behaviour. It has also fed
into many other areas
including medicine and
surgery.
- Technology for studying the nervous system and
brain has grown tremendously advanced with
access to tools such as PET and MRI scans
making the biological perspective in psychology
increasingly important.
- Artifical Selective Breeding on Economic growth
- Ethical issues?
- Ethical issues?
- Artifical Selective Breeding on Economic growth
- Technology for studying the nervous system and
brain has grown tremendously advanced with
access to tools such as PET and MRI scans
making the biological perspective in psychology
increasingly important.
- However, it cannot be
denied that the biological
approach has contributed an
enormous amount to our
understanding of the
fundamental processes of
behaviour. It has also fed
into many other areas
including medicine and
surgery.
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