AS PSYCHOLOGY | Unit 1 exam revision
What are the assumptions of the biological approach?
Evolutionary influences
The localisation of brain function
Neurotransmitters
What does the assumption of evolutionary influences involve?
Adaptive behaviours being genetically transmitted through Darwin's theory of natural selection, e.g phobias
What does the assumption of the localisation of brain function involve?
The brain is split into two hemispheres and four lobes (frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital) with different functions, e.g. damage to the hippocampus- linked with memory- results in long term memory loss
What does the assumption of neurotransmitter function involve?
Behaviour occurs when chemical messages are sent between the axon and dendrites of two neurons, over a synapse. If they are imbalanced mental illness is caused, e.g. low serotonin = depression
How are the assumptions applied to relationships in the biological approach?
- Evolutionary influences
- Behaviours which are adaptive are naturally selected leading to them being passed on through genetic transmission
- Links to relationships as traits enhancing successful reproduction are narurally selected, but males and females have different selective pressures
- Males are more successful when mating as frequently as possible with women with signs of youth and fertility, e.g. wide hips. they see this as physical attractiveness but women want a man who can ensure the survival of offspring by providing food and shelter
Which biological assumptions are applied to the therapy?
Localisation of brain function
Neurotransmitters
Which biological assumptions are applied to relationships?
evolutionary influences
How is the localisation of brain function applied to the therapy?
- Localisation of brain function
- Certain areas of the brain have different jobs/functions
- Psychosurgery aims to change unwanted behaviour, e.g. capsulotomy used in modern stereotactic psychosurgery modifies areas of the brain near the thalamus, to treat severe ocd
- Assumptions and therapy link because both emphasise the importance of the brain and effect it has on behaviour
Describe the biological approach's therapy (psychosurgery)
- Moniz developed the prefrontal lobotomy, involving drilling a hole on either side of the skull and inserting a leucatome in order to destroy connections to the prefrontal cortex
- Freeman developed the transorbital lobotomy because prefrontal was too time consuming. It involved inserting an icepick-like instrument into the eye socket to access the brain. It was hammered into the skull and moved side to side to destroy connections with the prefrontal cortex
- Stereotactic psychosurgery is used to treat patients today, which involves the use of brain scans to locate exact points within the brain to sever connections precisely
- One example is the capsulotomy which involves inserting probes through the top of the skull and heating their tips to burn away tiny portions of brain tissue near the thalamus (ocd)
- Another example is DBS, in which electrodes are placed in the brain and a battery pack in the chest, connected with a wire. The battery pack sends out adjustable high frequencies to intercept transmissions and disable connections in specific brain areas
What are the issues with effectiveness with psychosurgery in the biological approach?
(-) ineffective - comer reports that early lobotomies had a fatality rate of up to 6% and physical side effects e.g. brain seizures and lack of emotional responsiveness
(+) effective - cosgrove and raugh show that modern psychosurgery is more effective than traditional methods, as 67% of ocd patients and 55% with depression benefit from the capsulotomy
(-) ineffective - difficult to evaluate statistics as the number of patients attempting modern psychosurgery is small
(+) effective - mayberg et al found that 4 out of 6 severe depression patients have striking improvements after DBS
(-) ineffective - psychosurgery is limited in use e.g. rarely used for phobias, and only when deemed untreatable. not used for schizophrenia.
What are the ethical issues with psychosurgery in the biological approach?
(-) early psychosurgery was used in mental asylums and prisons without necessary obtaining valid consent
(-) nowadays, it can be argued that patients with severe depression are not in the frame of mind to provide fully informed consent
(-) the effects of psychosurgery cannot be reversed and can lead to further psychological harm e.g. early procedures could lead to memory loss or limit a patient's emotional responses.
(-) Modern procedures such as DBS still carry long term risks of side effects e.g. seizures and altered states of mood
Describe Raine et al's procedures (biological approach)
Method - quasi experiment with a matched pairs design (IV - NGRI or not) (DV - brain difference observed in the scan)
Simple - 41 murderers (39 men, 2 women) with a mean age of 34.3, all pleading NGRI. Control group of 41 non murderers formed by matching each murderer with a normal individual of same age and sex. 6 schizophrenics matched with 6 schizophrenics from a mental hospital.
What happened? - All participants asked to do a continuous performance task for 32mins to activate brain regions (pressing a button every time a beep was played). Participants allowed to practice beforehand so novelty wouldn't appear on scan. All participants given an injection of a radioactive glucose tracer, absorbed by more active regions of the brain. PET scan used to study the active brain of participants 32 minutes later, with ten horizontal slices of each patient.
What were Raine's findings (biological approach)?
Reduced activity in areas where lowered activity was previously linked to violence (in NGRI patients) - prefrontal cortex, left hemisphere thalamus, left amygdala, left hippocampus etc
Increased activity in brain regions not previously linked to violence e.g. cerebellum, right amygdala, right thalamus, right hippocampus
No difference between NGRI and control groups in areas not previously linked to violence e.g. caudate, midbrain
Overall increased activity in right hemisphere but reduced in the left, yet notably no difference in structures associated with mental illness
Both groups performed similarly on the continuous performance task so brain differences were not related to this
What were Raine's conclusions (biological approach)?
The study does give some evidence that murderers pleading NGRI have different brain functions to normal individuals, but do not demonstrate that violence is caused by biology alone
Does not demonstrate that murderers pleading NGRI are not responsible for their actions, nor that PET scans can be used as a diagnostic technique
Do not establish a causal link between brain dysfunction and violence
Findings cannot be generalised from NGRI murder cases to other violent offenses e.g. rape
NGRI murderers have statistically significant differences in glucose metabolism in certain brain regions compared to control subjects
Evaluate Raine's methodology (biological approach)
(-) Quasi experiment so findings do not show violence is caused by biology alone. Raine suggests psychological, cultural and situational factors predispose to violence too. Weakness because no cause and effect relationship can be established between brain abnormality and criminal behaviour
(+) Quasi experiment let Raine study a topic that would be ethically wrong to manipulate directly - e.g manipulating people into committing murder
(+) The study uses PET scans which permit researchers to study detailed regions of the living brain, not just post mortem. The brain can be examined in action so Raine could see how the brains differed when processing information.
(-) PET scans involve injecting the participant and some may find this distressing, creating artificial readings on the scanner, which lower internal validity. PET scans are also an unusual place to be so they lower ecological validity
(+) Raine carefully and fully reported his procedures online so the study can be repeated to test external reliability
(+) 82 is an adequate sample size for a psychological study using a statistically rare population (murderers).
(-) The study was not typical of all violent individuals so cannot be generalised past the mentally impaired, is not representative of the population (lower external validity)
(-) Some differences between the control group and NGRI were not controlled so could become extraneous variables and lower internal validity, e.g. history of a brain injury.
What are the ethical implications of Raine's study (biological)?
(-) The main group of participants were murderers who pleaded NGRI so may not have been mentally competent to provide valid consent.
(-) participants may not have realised what would be involved in a PET scan and found it distressing, e.g. trypanophobia (fear of needles) psychological harm!
(-) participants may not have understood their right to withdraw sd they were prisoners
What are the social implications of Raine's study? (biological)
(-) for the criminal justice system - if the research indicates that murderers are born and not made, it may have negative consequences for those with similar brain abnormalities - they may be imprisoned without trial or any evidence for their social circumstances
How can we evaluate biological approach?
(+) Scientific -> e.g. key methods used involve brain scans which are highly objective and replicable. Produce quantitative data which is less likely to be subjective -> a strength because theories can be tested to identify causal relationships so internal validity is high, + external reliability
(+) Applications -> e.g. DBS has been shown to be effective in the treatment of severe depression (Mayberg) where non-biological therapies (CBT) have failed. -> strength because external validity is high as the medical model has been beneficial to many, demonstrating positive social implications
(-) only Nature -> e.g the approach sees mental illness as a result ot chemical imbalance in the body rather than stressful life events which are ignored -> weakness because it makes the approach reductionist, so treatments offered are limited, e.g. will focus on providing anti-depressants where counselling might be more beneficial
(-) Deterministic -> e.g. approach believes behaviour is predetermined by genetics which leads to abnormal activity in specific brain areas (thalamus, ocd) -> weakness because it denies a person the free will to choose their behaviour, and surgery or drugs are not empowering for a patient. they may feel helpless to improve their own mental health which could demage self esteem
what are the assumptions of the behaviourist approach?
humans are born as a blank slate
behaviour is learnt through types of conditioning
Animals and humans learn in similar ways
what does the behaviourist assumption that humans are born as a blank slate involve?
we are born as a tabula rasa (blank slate) with no innate behaviours. They are learnt through our environment. (Nurture). behaviourists would say that males and females are born without differences therefore later changes in character are due to learning
what does the behaviourist assumption that behaviour is learnt through conditioning involve?
There are two main forms of conditioning: classical conditioning (learning through association) and operant conditioning (learning through punishment). classical conditioning is where neutral stimulai become associated with unconditioned responses to create conditioned associations. Operant conditioning is where behaviours can be made more or less likely to occur again in the future through positive reinforcement or punishment.
what does the behaviourist assumption that humans and animals learn in similar ways involve?
according to the approach, the laws of learning are the same for both humans and nonhuman animals. It therefore follows that if we study animal learning in a controlled artificial laboratory experiment, we can generalise these findings to understand human learning. for example, operant conditioning is Applied in primary schools through the use of star charts (token Economy system)
which behaviourist assumptions are applied to relationships?
Behaviour can be learned through various types of conditioning
how are behaviourist assumptions applied to relationships?
-One assumption is conditioning types
-There are two types of conditioning classical (learning through association) and operant (learning through consequence).
-These link to relationship formation because love and romance can be seen as the result of rational exchanges in which couples make "trades" with each other based on their needs
-For example, operant conditioning can be seen during the dating process. if a first date goes well, because both partners experience positive emotions (Rewards) Behaviourist would suggest that they will want a second date as they are motivated to repeat the behaviour (Positive reinforcement). This should strengthen their desire to spend more time together.
which behaviourist assumptions link with the therapy?
Behaviour is learnt through conditioning
humans are born like a blank state
how is the behaviourist assumption that behaviour is learnt through conditioning applied to therapy?
-One assumption is learning through conditioning
-This includes Operant conditioning (learning through consequences) as well as classical (learning through association)
-The aim of SD is to replace fear response to a stimulus with a relaxation response (Counterconditioning). This is done through the use of a fear hierarchy drawn up as part of functional analysis.
-The assumption and therapy link as they're both based on the idea that behaviour is learnt through classical conditioning and unwanted behaviour can therefore be unlearnt
how is the behaviourist assumption that humans are born as a blank slate applied to the therapy?
-Assumption is that humans are born as a blank slate
-This is the idea that we are born with no innate behaviour personality or emotions and we learn all of these through the environment
-The aim of SD is to treat phobias in terms of their environmental influences rather than their biological basis. For example, SD attempts to treat phobias through counterconditioning rather than by altering brain chemistry such as neurotransmitters.
-The assumption and SD link as both consider behaviour to be a product of nature not nature and if we want to change behaviour we must focus on past experiences rather than biology
Describe the behaviourist approach's therapy
SD was developed by Joseph Wolpe to help clients re-experience the feared stimulus without the fear response, as if experiencing the situation for the first time.
SD has three stages - the first is functional analysis, which involves the client drawing up a hierarchy of fear with the therapist. This consists of the least to most fearful situations regarding the phobic stimulus, e.g. looking at a photo of a spider, seeing it, touching it
The second is relaxation training, during which a client learns breathing and visualisation techniques, as well as muscle relaxation.
The third is graduated exposure, during which the client is gradually brought into contact with the phobic stimulus following the hierarchy from lowest to highest. This can be done using both in vivo and in vitro techniques, and the client must achieve full relaxation using the acquired techniques before moving on to the next stage.
The therapy tends to last 6-8 sessions but severe phobias may need longer, and it is not useful for treating complex disorders such as depression or schizophrenia (it doesn't address underlying causes).
Attempts have been made at self administering SD and this is especially successful with social phobia.
What are the issues with effectiveness in the behaviourist approach?
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