The biological perspective in psychology focuses on the biological causes of behavior, including genetics and neurology. It is used in research on comparative psychology, physiological motivations, and behavioral genetics. Its strengths include reliable scientific methodology, but it is limited by overlooking external events, cultural upbringings, mental states, and emotional desires. Other perspectives in psychology include humanism, cognitive psychology, behaviorism, and psychodynamics.
The biological perspective is one of the main approaches to psychological research, which focuses on the idea that behaviors have biological causes. Also known as physiological psychology or biopsychology, it has strong ties to many different sciences, especially neurology and genetics. Common types of biological studies of behavior include things like the effects of child physical abuse on future adult actions, how injuries such as head trauma affect behavior, or whether or not criminal behavior can be explained by genetics.
Applications
This approach is used in many different types of research, including comparative psychology, the study of physiological motivations for behavior, and the study of behavioral genetic traits. In terms of comparative psychology, it is used to study how behavior compares across species, especially humans and other mammals. This is based on the idea that behavior is defined by genetics regardless of the species of animal being studied.
Psychologists also study the biology behind behavior by looking at how exposure to chemicals affects the body and behavior. This includes both natural chemicals found in the nervous system and hormones, as well as synthetic chemicals such as those found in medications. The results of this type of research are used to look at the side effects of medications and how mood is affected by chemical imbalances in the body.
Also, the biological perspective is used in genetic research. Some researchers believe that traits such as intelligence or a tendency to have certain mental disorders are genetically inherited. Studies done with this approach minimize the effect of external things like a person’s upbringing and instead focus on the possible genetic causes of the behavior. For example, a geneticist studying a person with an anger disorder would likely look for inherited biological traits that could be causing the person to have a short temper, while another type of researcher might focus more on the person’s family life to find the cause.
Strengths and weaknesses
The main strength of this approach is the way its findings are supported by scientific experiments. Research conducted from a biological perspective is often considered highly reliable, as it uses rigorous scientific methodology to define and study human behaviors. Practical interventions based on the biological perspective have proven to be reliable, including drug therapies and some types of neurological surgical procedures.
Despite this, the biological perspective is often seen as limited, overlooking other possible causes of behavior, such as external events in a person’s life, the impact of different cultural upbringings, mental states, and emotional desires. For example, a psychologist may conclude that a certain hormone causes a behavior pattern, when in reality the pattern is related to a complex interplay of several hormones, genetic influences, and multiple environmental factors. Furthermore, some researchers doubt that the comparative study of other animals provides relevant information for human behavior.
Related perspectives
The biological perspective is just one school of thought in psychology. Other methods, such as humanism or cognitive psychology, focus more on a person’s desires and mental state rather than on the biological causes of the behavior. Similarly, behaviorism focuses primarily on the effect of external motivators, while psychodynamics focuses on how a person’s unconscious shapes their actions. These approaches overlap in many contexts. For example, if someone were researching juvenile offenders, they would likely look for biological causes of their behavior, such as a serotonin imbalance, external factors, such as a stressful home life, and psychodynamic factors, such as an inferiority complex.
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