Biopsychology Approach Essay

284 Words2 Pages
Explore the major underlying assumptions of a biopsychology approach. The major underlying assumption held by biological psychologists is the organic basis to mental processes and how the processes are represented in the brain. Additionally biopsychologists make use of discussions and prescriptions for treatments (Biomedicine, 2008). The biological approach in psychology focuses more on the individual and the genetic makeup than the environmental influence on the individual. Looking at genetics and inheritance from the biological parents is more important to the biopsychologists than upbringing, neighborhoods, and socioeconomic background. Mental events can have biological consequences, and biological events can have mental consequences. The belief is there can’t be one without the other. An example I read was that a musician cannot play without an instrument, and an instrument cannot make music without the musician. 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 behavior. 2. Physiology: how the nervous system and hormones work, how the brain functions, how changes in structure and/or function can affect behavior. For example, we could ask how prescribed drugs to treat depression affect behavior 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 behavior. (Simple) Biomedicine, (2008). Biological Psychology. Biomedicine.org. Retrieved from
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