Issues and debates: how psychological understanding developed over time (bio)

Question 1

INTRO

how psychological understanding developed over time?

Answer 1

Scientific processes evolve over time. This means that new psychological theories build on ones that came before it. Psychology has developed alongside science and in turn become more advanced and accurate, using more empirical evidence, sometimes to verify or debunk previous theories. It also adds more components and variables that can affect certain behaviours aside from science, that seem to expand our knowledge of influences on behaviour.

Question 2

A01 & A03 (has)

Answer 2

A01:
- Neuroimaging has developed over time. In the 1970s and 1980s MRI scanning using magnets and CT scanning using x-rays were developed.
- These techniques allow us to see the structures within the brain.
- PET scanning techniques were also developed at this time which use radioactive tracers to produce an image of activity levels in brain areas.

A03:
- Early biological psychology relied on case studies of brain injuries to inform us of how different parts of the brain are responsible for different behaviours. For example, Phineas Gage, researchers could see that there were personality changes after his accident but were not able to pinpoint this to specific brain areas. More recent advances in our understanding of the brain have led to better knowledge of how these brain areas interact to produce aggressive responses eg the limbic system.
- The development of PET scanning was used in the Raine et al study which found murders have lower activity in the lateral and medial pre-frontal cortex, corpus callosum, hippocampus comapred to the control. The murders had higher activity in right hemisphere of thalamus, amygdala and hippocampus compared to control

Question 3

A01 & A03 (hasn’t)

Answer 3

A01:
- In addition to our understanding of brain structures and how they are responsible for different behaviours developing over time, a better understanding of how hormones influence human behaviour has also led to development of treatments for antisocial behaviours displayed.

A03:
- Hormone therapies such as MPA in biological psychology have developed as treatments for sex offenders after our understanding of the role of hormones in aggressive behaviours was developed in biological psychology.
- However, due to ethical issues, research into hormones and aggression still remains correlational today.

Question 4

Judgement

Answer 4

Therefore, our psychological understanding of how the brain influences our behaviour and refinement of localisation theory has developed over time with the development of brain scanning technology.