Biological perspective. Historical and Cultural context Describe and evaluate the cultural context...

Biological perspective

Historical and Cultural context

• Describe and evaluate the cultural context and development, the conceptual framework, the methodology, and the application of the biomedical model

What Historical and cultural conditions

gave rise to the biological perspective?

DualismDarwinCultural acceptance of scientific methodProven effectiveness of Drug interventionThe development of genetics and scanning

studies

Historical and cultural conditions that

gave rise to the biological perspective

Consider this: People trust science--scientifically prove to make

your whites whiter” A whole new branch called evolutionary

psychology Is psychology really just a subset of biology? The 90’s Decade of the brain Even IB Psychology making Biological a core area!

PET

http://hendrix.ei.dtu.dk/movies/moviehome.html

Migrane

Contribution of the biological perspective to the scientific study of behaviour, and its current

standing

biological correlates of behaviour genetic contributions to

explanations of behaviour effects of hormonal change on

behaviour experimental testing of hypotheses use of both quantitative and qualitative

research

Identify the Key concepts

how physiological concepts such as the endocrine system, central nervous system affect behaviour

neurotransmitters—excitatory, inhibitory

the brain—localization of function bodily rhythms (we will cover next

semester)

Resting potential

Action potential

Normal Synapse

Effect of MDMA at Synapse

MDMA can cause the release of the neurotransmitter called serotonin.

MDMA can block the reuptake of serotonin by the synaptic terminal that releases it.

MDMA can deplete the amount of serotonin in the brain.

MDMA can cause an indirect decrease in the amount of the neurotransmitter called dopamine.

Monkey on E

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Your brain on cocaine

Cocaine acts by blocking the reuptake of the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin in

Identify the assumptions

All that is psychological is first physiological

ExamplesADHDAggressionSchizophrenia


All behaviour has a cause- deterministic

Examples

Inherited traits biological factors (such

as genes and hormones) influencing behaviour (for example, innate tendency to imprint)

Where is free will?


Animals may be studied as a means of understanding human behaviour.

ExamplesLobotomy ?Split brain ?Testosterone?Oxymotin ?


Human genes have evolved over millions of years to adapt behavior to the environment. Therefore, much behaviour has a genetic basis.

ExamplesThe smileMating behaviorsFlight or fightTend and befriend


Psychology should investigate the brain, nervous system, endocrine system, neurochemistry, and genes.

ExamplesSplit brainDrug researchLobotomyBrain damage

Split brain

Sperry et alVogel and Bogen

(1961)

anterior cerebral commissurotomy

Hemispheric specialization

chimeric figures

Focus on the dotPoint: pick a womanTalk: pick a man


Evaluation of assumptions

comparison with other perspectives to explain strengths and limitations

empirical studies that challenge or support



Comparison:– Aggression

– Gender roles

– Language development

Theoretical explanation of Behavior

use of drugs, surgical procedures

Can you name any?Depression?Schizophrenia?Two key surgical

procedures


physiological impairment,

Can you name any?such as strokes or

Alzheimer’s diseaseStrokeHead injuries


physiological factors involved in psychological processes

Emotions: Describe which parts of the brain and which neuro-chemicals are involved

anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa

Eating disorders

PhysiologicalCulturalEmotionalFemale/male differences (1 to 7)Feel fat vs are fatWeight vs shape

"But it probably involves a transition from psychosocial to biomedical mechanisms."


influence of hormones Starting before birthMale?Female?Others?


use of alternative perspectives as a possible evaluative strategy

Methods

correlational studies double-blind trials experiments interviews case studies questionnaires

Strengths and limitations of methods

comparison of invasive and non-invasive techniques

reliability and validity

Ethics and controversies of research

use of human and non-human animals for research

Effectiveness of the perspective in explaining psychological and/or social

questions comparison with other perspectives on

questions such as aggression, gender differences or stress

application of genetic research and its ethical implications

Strengths

The approach is very scientific.• Practical applications have been

extremely effective.•

Weakness

Reductionist - it explains thoughts and behaviours in terms of the actions of neurons and biochemicals. This may ignore other more suitable levels of explanation and the interaction of causal factors.•

Weakness

It has not explained how mind and body interact - consciousness and emotion are difficult to study objectively.•

Weakness

Biopsychological theories often over-simplify the huge complexity of physical systems and their interaction with the environment.

Gender differences: Nature or nurture?

•Females have evolved mechanisms that enable them to detect men that will transfer resources to their offspring (i.e. health and paternal investment ). These are sometimes referred to as 'good provider' and 'good genes' attributes in the male •Males have evolved mechanisms that enable them to detect females that promise rapid production of offspring, and a disinclination to mate with other men (i.e. health, fertility and faithfulness )

Aggression

Nature Nurture

Aggression

Nature GeneticInheritance of

behavioral capacity for aggression.

PhysiologicalControl of aggression by brain, blood and hormones.

Organism 1. Why animals aggress. Control by genetic and physiological factors.

Nurture 2. Influence of learning.

a. Pavlovian conditioningb. Operant conditioningc. Social modeling

SocietySocietal organization, cultural and political determinants of aggression

a. Sociology b. Anthropology c. Political Science

Aggression

Nature GeneticInheritance of

behavioral capacity for aggression.

PhysiologicalControl of aggression by brain, blood and hormones.

Organism 1. Why animals aggress. Control by genetic and physiological factors.

Nurture Ecology Large scale population

characteristics and availability of natural resources.

a. Over population (e.g., Rwanda)

b. Limited food supplyc. Limited energy supply 1. Oil exhausted by the year

2050

Lorenz' Hydraulic Model of motivation

Hydraulic Theory predicts: Aggression is inevitable - the

accumulating energy must find an outlet

Humans & animals will actively 'look for fights'.

After an attack an animal / human will become less aggressive.

Animals reared in isolation will show aggressive behaviour.

Baerends and his guppies

HUMANS AIN’t Guppies!Or are they?

Does the Hydraulic model explain this?

Deutsch's Model of motivation

Notice the feedback loop!

Phineas Gage

Railroad worker-spike went through his head:Gage was able to walk away from the accident,

"talking with composure and equanimity of the hole in his head."

Previously a polite and sociable gentleman, Gage became an antisocial, foul-mouthed, irresponsible, bad-mannered lout and unrepentant liar.

According to his friends, he was "no longer Gage." He drifted from job to job, finally dying penniless.

Jonathan Toot and his wandering rats

Add a male Add a female

THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM

The endocrine system—the other communication system in the body—is made up of endocrine glands that produce hormones, chemical substances released into the bloodstream to guide such processes as metabolism, growth, and sexual development. Hormones are also involved in regulating emotional life.


The Thyroid GlandThe thyroid gland secretes thyroxin, a hormone that can reduce concentration and lead to irritability when the thyroid is overactive, and cause drowsiness and a sluggish metabolism when the thyroid is underactive.

The Parathyroid GlandsWithin the thyroid are four tiny pea-shaped organs, the parathyroids, that secrete parathormone to control and balance the levels of calcium and phosphate in the blood and tissue fluids. This, in turn, affects the excitability of the nervous system.


The Pineal Gland The pineal gland is a pea-sized gland that apparently responds to exposure to light and regulates activity levels over the course of the day.

The Pancreas The pancreas lies in a curve between the stomach and the small intestine and controls the level of sugar in the blood by secreting insulin and glucagon.


The Gonads These reproductive glands—the testes in males and the ovaries in females, and, to a lesser extent, the adrenal glands—secrete androgens (including testosterone) and estrogens.


The Adrenal Glands The two adrenal glands are located above the kidneys. Each has two parts: an outer covering, the adrenal cortex, and an inner core, the adrenal medulla. Both influence the body's responses to stress. For example, in response to a stressful situation, the pituitary gland may release beta endorphin and ACTH, which, in turn, prompt the adrenal cortex to release hormones. Meanwhile, the autonomic nervous system stimulates the adrenal medulla to secrete hormones such as epinephrine into the bloodstream.

Brain during sleep


Add a male an average of 2.6 times,

and received an average of

1.8 scars Guess what: significantly lower levels

of dopamine and serotonin in areas of the amygdala

Add a femaleFemale rats did not

attack other rats, and were not attacked

themselves.


"The data show that males are involved in more fights than females," they say, "suggesting increased aggression is influenced by a Y-chromosomal effect that decreases amygdala serotonin."

The researchers speculate that testosterone levels also contribute to males' increased aggression.

open up the possibility of being able to identify the chromosome markers in high-risk males, and of trying to manipulate their levels of serotonin, through diet, exercise, or medication.a long way down the road, but this is the start."

More mice

"The effect of ginkgo biloba on aggression was remarkable," the researchers say. "When 0.1 ml of ginkgo biloba was administered to MAOA knockout mice, their aggressive behavior in resident-intruder confrontations was reduced significantly." The substance had no effect on the mice's nonsocial, investigative, defensive, or movement behaviors, indicating that effects were not due simply to sedation.

Ruben Gur and colleagues performed MRI

57 men and 59 women

•The researchers measured

•the volume of the amygdala,

•hippocampus, and

•other limbic areas associated with emotional arousal,

•as compared to the volume of orbital frontal brain regions that exert control over emotional responses


57 men and 59 women

•Results:

•Same for:

•the volume of the amygdala,

•hippocampus, and

•other limbic areas associated with emotional arousal,

•But women had significantly larger orbital frontal cortex volume than men.


Conclusions: "Because men and women differ in the way they

process the emotions associated with perception, experience, expression, and most particularly in aggression," the researchers say, "our belief is that the proportional difference in size in the region of the brain that governs behavior, compared to the region related to impulsiveness, may be a major factor in determining what is often considered 'gender-related' behavior."

There is little doubt that social and psychological factors contribute to the development of crime, and there is an extensive body of research established in those areas. Could there also be, however, a biologic risk for wickedness, whereby an individual is biologically predisposed to engage in serious repeat criminal offenses? There is a growing body of literature to suggest that this may be the case. In other words, biological individual differences may be a predisposition to crime."Angela Scarpa and Adrian Raine,"Biology of wickedness,"in Psychiatric Annals,September 1997

The mind of a killer

mental illness, neurological damage and child abuse.


It's pretty clear that mental illness is not enough to cause violence because most people who are mentally ill are not violent


It's also evident that neurological damage is not enough to cause violence because the vast majority of people who are neurologically impaired are not violent.


And it's clear that the experience of horrendous child abuse is not enough to cause violence because most people who are abused that way are not violent.


Yet, most violent people have these three factors, or two of the three.

The mind of a killer: Theory

abuse sets up an impulse toward violence that a good brain can control.

neurological damage and mental illness, then violent impulses are not easy to check.

The mind of a killer: Application

Lewis Culpepper Sexually abused a

girl15 years he was

abused15 years lived

normal (but with fantasies)

Then car accident

The mind of a killer: Application

HitlerAbused as a childManic depressive,

filled with anger

The conclusion of this paper is a wholehearted rejection of any consideration of biological, genetic, or evolutionary factors in the explanation or analysis of conflict. While a number of different arguments are presented, and it is admitted in some cases that the outcome is not conclusive, the net consequence of these arguments is in favour of the rejection of biology and the acceptance of social explanations based on human openness and what have been described as the essential features of man. But this has been said before: the proper study of man is man.

Keith Webb

But we can, perhaps, go further than this. The biological interpretation of the world is not just a description of the world, but like all social theory has prescriptions embedded within it. These prescriptions are profoundly reactionary and operate to justify the existing social order. Thus Shaw and Wong (1989: 195-209) attack 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' approaches to peace, as well as functional or world society approaches (e.g., Banks, 1984) as approaches which do not recognise the essential nature of man.

Keith Webb

Their own scheme for peace is no more convincing than that of Lorenz before them - educational efforts, a redefinition of inclusive fitness, and a voluntaristic change in attitudes and beliefs. But, in terms of their own theory, such hopes are utopian; rather, they should accept the dismal consequences of their own ideas and recognise that peace is unattainable. The real message of biological arguments is that the human race will forever be embroiled in violent confrontations and thus arms races, nuclear deterrence, balances of power, and military alliances, are the best means of attaining our security.

Keith Webb

Given the weakness of biological arguments, however, there is no need to accept these conclusions, and hence no good reason to succumb to a mindless fatalism.

So what are the limitations of biologic psychiatry?

First of all, medications lessen symptoms, they do not treat mental illness per se. This distinction is crucial. Symptoms by definition are the surface presentation of a deeper process. This is self-evident. However, there has been a vast and largely unacknowledged effort on the part of modern (i.e., biologic) psychiatry to equate symptoms with mental illness.

Recommendations for change in lifestyles

contribution of the biological perspective to changes in education, work or therapy

Assumptions on which key concepts are based

innate disposition and environmental influences and their evaluation

imprinting relative influence of inherited and

environmental factors upon behaviour, such as intelligence

http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/tutor.html#Biopsychology/Physiopsychology

There are three different aspects to biology to consider: biology is the causation of behavior, genetics, and evolution.

One way of studying the brain is through clinical observation - looking for specific areas of the brain that are damaged and then determining the functions of that damaged area of the brain based on the behavioral response.

Recent advances in technology has yield better ways of studying the brain through neuroimaging (eg. through MRI and CAT scans, for example).

Among the various structures in the brain, the cortex is probably the most important as it controls motor, sensory and higher mental functions such as thought, language, reason, emotion and memory.

A neuron is the specialized cell of the nervous system. Neurons communicate via neurotransmitters, which are special

chemicals that are released at the synapse. The endocrine system is a complementary system to the nervous

system in that it has a role in determining behavior as well.

Biological perspective. Historical and Cultural context Describe and evaluate the cultural context...

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