Biological approach

Question 1

Describe the case study of young et al. (biochemistry)

Answer 1

Pregnant female monkeys were injected with testosterone.

Female offspring began to display aggressive characteristics:
-aggressive behaviour eg. fighting
-competing for dominance

This proves testosterone affects behaviour.

Question 2

Describe the case study of Woollet and Maguire (neuroanatomy)

Answer 2

London taxi drivers are tested on routes including over 500 road names.

Those who passed the test had a larger hippocampus than an average person.

This suggests different brain components affect different aspects of behaviour.

Question 3

Define a genotype

Answer 3

The genetic makeup of an individual.

Question 4

Define a phenotype

Answer 4

The result of environmental factors on the genotype

Question 5

What is the main assumption in the biological approach?

Answer 5

All behaviour has a physical cause.

Question 6

What are the three explanations of behaviour, according to the biological approach?

Answer 6

Biochemistry
Neuroanatomy
Genetics

Question 7

What is the difference between monozygotic and dizygotic twins?

Answer 7

Monozygotic have 100% the same DNA sequence, Dizygotic have 50%.

Question 8

Give one strength of the biological approach.

Answer 8

Real world application

Psychoactive drugs (eg. antidepressants) can be created

so people (suffering from depression) can live normal lives without being confined to hospital

Question 9

Give one limitation of the biological approach.

Answer 9

Deterministic

No control over internal, genetic causes

Not even MZ twins have identical behaviour, despite having the same genotypes

The biological approach is too simplistic

Question 10

Give another limitation of the biological approach

Answer 10

Unfalsifiable

Only shows how evolution HAS taken place, not that it is currently happening.

However, natural selection is supported by fossil records.

So we cannot see what species we will evolve into, but we can see past development.