Evaluate two strengths of the biological approach



Outline two assumptions of the biological approach. (4marks)

This approach looks at behaviour from a physiological perspective. It looks at chemical and electrical events that occur in the body and how these affect our thinking, emotions and behaviour.

The first assumption is about the structure and function of the endocrine system. Glands in our body secrete hormones into the bloodstream and affect our organs. For example when we are stressed the body releases the hormone adrenaline which affects processes in our body. Other hormones affect our emotions.

The second assumption is about the structure and function of the brain. Different areas of the cortex have different functions for example vision, movement and language. If a certain area of the brain is damaged then specific functions may be lost. Therefore the brain must be responsible for behaviour.

Describe the GAS model. (8marks)

The biological approach assumes that human behaviour can be explained in terms of hormones. The GAS model explains how humans respond to stress by producing hormones.

The GAS model was first proposed by Selye (1947) who began investigating how rats responded to unpleasant stimuli. He exposed the rats to a variety of severe but non lethal stressors including exercise, injury and mutilation. He observed a long term response to stress that was independent of stressor type. The long-term response was made up of three stages; alarm, resistance and exhaustion.

The alarm stage was the immediate response made to the stressor. Adrenaline is produced which increases heart rate, breathing rate, sweating and conserved resources- to prepare the body for fight or flight.

In the resistance stage the body tried to cope with the stressor. There were some hormonal changes which included cortisol being produced which maintains a steady supply of glucose to the cells. The body is slowly using up resources to respond to the stressor: these resources cannot be used to fight disease or other stressors, so the body is vulnerable to other threats.

In the exhaustion stage the body can no longer cope. There are not enough coping resources. The initial ANS symptoms may reappear and the adrenal glands may be damaged due to over activity. There is a decline in the immune activity and therefore increased susceptibility to infection and stress related illnesses.

So, a person suffering a long-term stress at work will first experience an alarm reaction and display anxiety and physiological responses towards the new stressor. Then he will appear to be coping, but the resources are being used up, which makes the body vulnerable to illness and other stressors, so the person will eventually become ill.

Describe how the biological approach has been applied to either Psychosurgery or Chemotherapy. (12marks)

The biological approach assumes that all our behaviour is because of the electrical and chemical signals in our body and that the brain, neurons and endocrine system is responsible for this. It assumes that different areas of the brain are responsible for different functions- this is called localization. If an area of the brain is damaged then this has an affect on some of our functions. Therefore psychological disorders can be treated by surgery on the brain.

Psychosurgery was first pioneered by Egas Moniz based on a report in 1935. A laboratory chimpanzee that became distressed when she made errors on a test was subdued by a bilateral lesion. This was then tested on a patient who had their frontal lobes removed to destroy a tumour. This was the basis for psychosurgery and was developed by Walter Freeman who developed different techniques. The treatment was used on patients who were emotionally unstable and violent and who did not respond to other forms of treatment.

Leucotomy- an operation where a narrow device called a leucotome was inserted into the formal lobe. The blade of leucotome, a wire loop, was extended and rotated to lesion a core of tissue. This was repeated several times to destroy pieces of prefrontal cortex. Transorbital lobotomy- used a knife called an ‘ice pick’. It was inserted under the eyelid and into the back of the eye socket and into the brain to destroy connections between the prefrontal area and other brain areas. This was repeated on both hemispheres.

It has the effect of relieving emotional distress and calmed patients down. The surgery became common and Tooth and Newton (1961) reported that 10,000 operations were reported in the UK. Problems with psychosurgery included changes in patients’ personality, e.g they became lethargic, apathetic, socially withdrawn and unable to plan their own behaviour. Because of this these procedures are now very rare. The most common current procedures is called the bilateral cingulotomy.

Bilateral cingulotomy is performed on depressed patients, sufferers of OCD, and used to reduce pain in cancer patients. It used very accurate MRI imaging so surgeons know the exact location of the area to be lesioned using a fine electrode, which destroys the tissue directly. However this technique still gives mixed evidence for its effectiveness. It seemed to reduce the response to pain but patients lacked the ability to spontaneously initiate responses and showed deficits in attention.

Evaluate two strengths of the biological approach. (6marks)

One strength is that this approach is supported by recent accurate research. Our understanding of genetics and mapping human genes may be used as support together with all the medical techniques, such as MRI, to show exactly how the brain and its chemicals affect our behaviour. For example, scans can show which part of the brain are active during a particular behaviour, which would help us to develop therapy.

The second strength is that this approach uses animals research and this heightens our knowledge of how nerves, the brain and its chemicals function. This approach has already shown how exactly synapse in an animal, such as a snail, changes after being given a new experience, and therefore explains how a new memory is stored. This approach goes far to provide explanations and answers to many mysteries in Psychology.

Evaluate two weaknesses of the biological approach. (6marks)

One weakness of the approach is that is it quite DETERMINIST in its approach and would explain abnormal behaviour as being the result of faulty genes which cause us to act in a certain way. Studies of identical twins have shown that if one twin develops anorexia, the other twin may not, even though they have the same genes. This shows that a more complicated explanation such as the diathesis-stress model is needed.

The second weakness is this approach is also reductionist as our behaviour is explained by physical things and there is no room to study the impact of the environment on our behaviour. For example, if a patient lost his wife and mother within a week of each other and became depressed, this approach would deal with the depression without looking at the context (more than likely with drugs). It could be argued that the depression is the symptom and that therefore the individual needs counselling and a support network, rather than drugs.

Explain and evaluate the methodology used by the biological approach. (12marks).

This approach tests things using laboratory experiments and animal testing. Laboratory experiments are conducted in an artificial setting. The participants therefore are in a situation that has been created for the purpose of the study. The experimenters manipulate the independent variable (IV) to create two or more conditions and measure the dependent variable (DV). An example of this is Selye’s laboratory study to investigate how rats respond to different stimuli. The independent variable here was the different types of stressors he gave to the rats and the dependent variable which he measures was the response.

Strengths of laboratory experiments are that the researcher can control any extraneous variables that are thought to influence the DV, so they can be sure that any changes in the DV have only been caused by the IV. This means that the validity of the study is high. Laboratory studies also follow standardized procedures which means that the study can be replicated so therefore is reliable.

Weaknesses of using laboratory studies are that because the research takes place in an artificial setting participants may not react as they usually would, and therefore this means that they have low ecological validity. We are not sure if the results can be generalized from the experiment to real life situations.

Another method used by this approach is animal testing. This is when researchers test things on animals instead of humans. Strengths of animals testing are that animals have many similarities to humans and so by testing on animals we can understand how the human bodies work. Scientists can also test whether things like medicines or chemicals are harmful or safe before they risk the lives of humans. With animals, scientists can perform larger numbers of tests than could be done on people.

However, there are weaknesses concerning the use of animals in experiments, both scientifically and ethically. Scientifically because a number of psychologists argue that there are vast differences between people and animals (e.g. use of language and social complexity) so therefore you cannot generalize the findings to humans. Ethically because the experiments often result in the death of the animal as the brain, or the effect of a chemical or something similar is being studied. There is also the issue of the greater the animal is like people (better scientifically), the greater the problem that occurs during experimentation (worse ethically).

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