Biological Approach To Psychology Essay

Psychology is the scientific study of how we think, feel and behave.

There are five main approaches to Psychology with each one having its own strengths and weaknesses. Each idea has its own view for the reasons why we behave the way we do and they all add something to our understanding of human behaviour.

One of the on-going debates in psychology is over nature versus nurture.

Behaviour Theory

The Behaviourism approach is slightly different to the other approaches as it believes all our behaviour is learnt, and the interaction we have with our environment makes us who we are.

It believes we can be trained to learn new behaviours through the processes of rewarding, punishment and reinforcement, that we develop our behaviour through

There are three ways in which a biological perspective helps in the study of psychology;

• Comparative method – We can study and compare different species of animals to help us understand human behaviour.

• Physiology – By looking at how the brain, the nervous system and our hormones work, we can see how any changes in these functions effects the way we behave.

• Investigation of inheritance – By looking at our genetic makeup we can see whether we have inherited any of our parents or grandparents characteristics.

Charles Darwin first proposed the idea that genetics and evolution both contributed to our many human qualities in his publication, On the Origin of Species (1859). He came up with this theory while studying different animals as he travelled the world. He described how characteristics that did not suit a species environment would die out as they struggled to survive, and over time future generations would evolve so that only the adaptive characteristics would remain. He called this natural selection.

With the advancement in technology for studying the brain and our nervous system with access to sophisticate scanning tools like MRI and PET, the biological perspective in psychology has grown increasingly