Name 2 psychologists who used this approach Charles Darwin.
Knight Dunlap.
Outline the key assumptions The main assumptions of biological psychology is that behaviour is influenced by brain anatomy, genetics and biochemistry and that there is a direct relationship between behaviour and biology.
The biological approach is deterministic and falls strictly on the side of nature in the nature vs nurture discussion.
At least part of the development of the brain is determined by the genes a person inherits which means that behaviour may be influenced by genetic factors. Further to this, because the genes we inherit are the product of evolution, bio-psychologists believe psychological and behavioural characteristics have evolutionary explanations. …show more content…
Behaviourists would say that an infant forms an attachment to a carer that provides them with food. However, Harlow provided an explanation that attachment develops from the mother providing “tactile comfort”, this suggested the infants have a biological need to touch and cling to something for emotional comfort.
Psychologists have also argued human infants have a critical attachment period too and they can suffer long-term, permanent damage if they become separated from their attachment figure.
What is strength of this approach?
Biological psychology has many strengths.
• It is highly scientific
• It doesn’t blame people for their mental health problems as it shows them to be biological in nature. This led to more humane treatment of the mentally ill.
• It provides objective evidence of biological causes to psychological symptoms.
• There has been many studies that support the theories supplied and these have confirmed the given hypotheses.
• It provides an excellent counter argument to the nurture side of the nature vs nurture
Knight Dunlap.
Outline the key assumptions The main assumptions of biological psychology is that behaviour is influenced by brain anatomy, genetics and biochemistry and that there is a direct relationship between behaviour and biology.
The biological approach is deterministic and falls strictly on the side of nature in the nature vs nurture discussion.
At least part of the development of the brain is determined by the genes a person inherits which means that behaviour may be influenced by genetic factors. Further to this, because the genes we inherit are the product of evolution, bio-psychologists believe psychological and behavioural characteristics have evolutionary explanations. …show more content…
Behaviourists would say that an infant forms an attachment to a carer that provides them with food. However, Harlow provided an explanation that attachment develops from the mother providing “tactile comfort”, this suggested the infants have a biological need to touch and cling to something for emotional comfort.
Psychologists have also argued human infants have a critical attachment period too and they can suffer long-term, permanent damage if they become separated from their attachment figure.
What is strength of this approach?
Biological psychology has many strengths.
• It is highly scientific
• It doesn’t blame people for their mental health problems as it shows them to be biological in nature. This led to more humane treatment of the mentally ill.
• It provides objective evidence of biological causes to psychological symptoms.
• There has been many studies that support the theories supplied and these have confirmed the given hypotheses.
• It provides an excellent counter argument to the nurture side of the nature vs nurture