Biological Approach in Psychology

Biological Psychology Introduction

Biology is defined as the study of life (from the Greek bios meaning ‘life’ and logos meaning ‘study’). A biological perspective is relevant to the study of Psychology in three ways:

1. Comparative method: different species of animal can be studied and compared. This can help in the search to understand human behaviour.

2. Physiology: how the nervous system and hormones work, how the brain functions, how changes in structure and/or function can affect behaviour. For example, we could ask how prescribed drugs to treat depression affect behaviour through their interaction with the nervous system.

3. Investigation of inheritance: what an animal inherits from its parents, mechanisms of inheritance (genetics). For example, we might want to know whether high intelligence is inherited from one generation to the next.

Each of these biological aspects, the comparative, the physiological and the genetic, can help explain human behaviour.

History of The Biological Approach

* The Voyage of the Beagle (1805 - 1836) - Darwin formulated his theory of natural selection through observing animals while travelling the world.

* Darwin (1859) publishes "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection". 1,250 copies were printed, most of which sold the first day.

* Jane Goodall (1957) began her study of primates in Africa, discovering that chimps have behaviours similar to all the human cultures on the planet.

* Edward Wilson (1975) published his book, "Sociobiology" which brought together evolutionary perspective to the psychology.

* The birth of Evolutionary Psychology begins with the publication of an essay "The Psychological Foundations of Culture" by Tooby and Cosmides.

Summary of The Biological Approach:

Key Concepts	Methodology
Natural Selection / Evolution Adaptation Heredity / Genetics Nomothetic (studies the group) Reductionist Instincts / Sociobiology Comparative Psychology	Lab Experiments Correlation studies Twin research Naturalistic observations (Kettlewell) Ethical Considerations Reliability and validity of research
Basic Assumptions	Areas of Application
Psychology should be seen as a science, to be studied in a scientific manner (usually in a laboratory). Behaviour can be largely explained in terms of biology (e.g. genes/hormones) Human genes have evolved over millions of years to adapt behaviour to the environment. Therefore, most behaviour will have an adaptive / evolutionary purpose.	Gender Role Development Abnormal Behaviour IQ Relationships Therapy Drug Treatment
Strengths	Weaknesses
Very Scientific Highly application to other areas: Biology + Cog = Evolutionary Psy Helped develop comparative psychology Strong counter argument to the nurture side of the debate Many empirical studies to support theories	Experiments – Low Ecological Validity Humanism: too deterministic – little room for free-will Doesn’t recognise cognitive processes Reductionist Biopsychological theories often over-simplify the huge complexity of physical systems and their interaction with the environment.