Section 5 : The Approaches in Psychology - The Biological Approach Flashcards
(45 cards)
What are the 3 basic assumptions of the biological approach
- Human behaviours can be explained by looking at hormones, genetics, evolution and nervous system
- in theory we can explain all behaviour using biological causes, unwanted behaviour could be modified or removed using biological treatments e.g. medication for mental illness
- experimental research conducted using animals can inform us about human behaviour and biological influences, because we share a lot of biological similarities
What contains the information that makes us unique
Genes
Genes are important in the development of…
The brain and therefore have a role in our behaviour
What does Darwin’s theory of evolution suggest
- Individual who are better with adapted to their environment through having better genes are more likely to survive to reproduce and pass on their useful genes
- Those who are less well adapted will be less likely to survive and reproduce and pass their genes
- Eventually the less useful genes will be eliminated from the gene pool
- Through of natural selection early humans became better adapted to their environments
According to Darwin’s evolution theory how may have phobias and aggressions evolved
Behaviours such as phobias and aggression may have evolved because of the survival advantage they gave
What is genotype
The genes of a person
What is phenotype
The characteristics of a person that their genes produce e.g. hair and eye colour
What are faulty genes known to cause
Diseases that have some psychological effects e.g. Huntington’s disease that leads to a deterioration of mental abilities
Biological psychologists reckon that…
Genetics can explain psychological traits. These are things like gender behaviour, intelligence, personality and sexual orientation
What were type of studies are used to see if genetics has a role in schizophrenia
- Twin Studies
- Adoption Studies
What is the link between identical twins and non identical twin and schizophrenia
- Identical twins share 100% of their genes
- Non identical twins share 50% of genes
- if Schizophrenia has a purely genetic basis and one of the identical twins suffer from schizophrenia then the other twin will suffer from it too
- if schizophrenia has a purely genetic basis and one of the non identical twins suffer from schizophrenia then the other non identical twin’s risk of developing it should be lower
What was Gottesman 1991
Gottesman carried out a meta-analysis of approximately 40 twins
What was the results of Gottesman 1991
- It was found that having an identical twin with schizophrenia gave you a 48% chance of developing the condition. This reduced to 17% in non identical twins
What is the conclusion of Gottesman 1991
Schizophrenia has a strong genetic basis
What were the evaluations of Gottesman 1991
- The meta-analysis was carried out in field studies - gave the research high ecological validity
- because identical twins share 100% of their genes, it might be expected that both would always suffer from the same conditions
- the fact that both twins had developed schizophrenia in only about half of the cases means that another factor must be involved
- identical twins tend to be treated more similarly than non identical twins and so the family environment might play a large role
What adoption study provided evidence for a genetic basis of schizophrenia
Heston 1966 - An adoption study of schizophrenia
What was the method of Heston 1966
- 47 adopted children whose biological mothers had schizophrenia were studied
- the control group consisted of 50 adopted children whose biological mothers didn’t suffer from schizophrenia
- the children were followed up as adults and were interviewed and given intelligence and personality tests
What were the results of Heston 1966
- Experimental group, 5 of the 47 became schizophrenic
- 0 of the 50 were schizophrenic in the control group
- another 4 of the experimental group were classified as borderline schizophrenic by the raters
What was the conclusion of Heston 1966
The study supports the view that schizophrenia has a genetic basis
What are the evaluations of Heston 1966
- Interview data can be unreliable and affected by social desirability bias
- Interviews are a good way of getting data in a naturalistic way
- The adopted children whose mothers didn’t suffer from any conditions might not have shown any symptoms of schizophrenia yet - can’t be completely ruled out
What did psychologists use to investigate brain structure and function before brain scanning techniques were developed
They relied on case studies of people who had experienced a brain injury or had brain operations.
What is the relation between the site damaged and change in behaviour when psychologist looked at case studies of brain injuries
If the person had brain damage in a specific area and also a change in behaviour, the assumption could be made that the two were related
What is a famous case study
The case study of Phineas Gage:
- Iron bar went straight through his head after an explosion
- After the accident he was less organised and more impulsive and increased aggression
- led to believe that this area of the brain is responsible for these behaviours
- case study of one person and so it isn’t representative leads to problems with generalising the results
What were the problems with case studies
- not representative - problems with generalising the results
- these studies aren’t conducted in controlled circumstances - less scientific
- ethically we can’t deliberately inflict this type of brain injury in humans
- Non Human animals have been used to study brain structure and behaviour
- Differences between non human animal brains and human brains mean that results may not be useful when we apply them to human behaviour
