...physiological basis of psychology and most importantly behaviour. The perspective primarily uses the experimental method and has been criticized for being too reductionist and for using non-human animals. Strengths By knowing the physiological basis of behaviour we can treat symptoms with drugs evolutionary theory can explain things that would otherwise be unexplainable Weaknesses It is difficult to seperate genetic influence from environmental influence It's reductionistic Can't explain altruism well Historical Context The biological perspective was created as a reaction to the theory of dualism, that the mind and the brain are two seperate entities. Some important researchers in the development of the biological perspective are: Plato-nativism Darwin- Outlined evolution and the idea of nativism and heredity Jean Baptiste Lamarck-studied heredity Phineas Gage- Brain injury has the ability to affect behaviour II. Key Concepts Heredity- influence of genes Nativism- certain traits are inately hardwired at birth Evolution Hemisphere specialization Neurotransmission Localization Evolution Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS = Alarm, Resistance, Exhaustion) Biological preparedness Basic Assumptions There are four main basic assumptions of the biological perspective: Behavior is biologically determined Behavior has a genetic basis Localization of function Animals may be used to help understand human behavior Which basic assumption would be the...
Words: 575 - Pages: 3
...In psychology there are many different approaches. An approach is a perspective that involves certain beliefs about human behaviour. Such as the way they function, which features of them are worthy of study and what research methods are suitable for undertaking the study. Within an approach, there will be several different theories which share common assumptions. Each perspective has its strengths and weaknesses and has something different to our understanding of human behaviour. There are six perspectives in psychology, which are: Behaviourism Social learning Psychodynamic Humanistic Cognitive Biological The biological approach The biological approach examines thoughts, feelings, and behaviours from a biological and physical point of view. Arnold Gesell (18808-1961) believed that development occurred to a sequences of maturational processes. For example, development in the womb follows a fixed set of stages: the heart begins to form first, along with a rudimentary nervous system. Bones and muscles develop next and over time the organism developed into a fully functioning human being, ready to be born. Through Gesell’s observations and research, Gesell concluded that children go through predictable stages of growth. Gesell’s theory form the basis for just about every other developmental theory. Gesell believed that child development occurs according to a predetermined, naturally unfolding plan of growth. Gesell created a spiral-like pattern...
Words: 2152 - Pages: 9
...disturbances in eating behaviour, such as extreme reduction of food intake or extreme overeating, or feelings of extreme distress or concern about body weight or shape. A person with an eating disorder may have started out just eating smaller or larger amounts of food than usual, but at some point, the urge to eat less or more spirals out of control. Eating disorders are very complex, and despite scientific research to understand them, the biological, behavioural and social underpinnings of these illnesses remain elusive. The two main types of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Eating disorders frequently appear during adolescence or young adulthood, but some reports indicate that they can develop during childhood or later in adulthood. Women and girls are much more likely than males to develop an eating disorder. Over 90% of people diagnosed with eating disorders are adolescent or young women. Eating disorders are real, treatable medical illnesses with complex underlying psychological and biological causes. They frequently co-exist with other psychiatric disorders such as depression, substance abuse, or anxiety disorders. Biological Perspective The biological perspective is a way of looking at psychological topics by studying the physical basis for human behaviour. It involves such things as studying the immune system, nervous system and genetics. Also considered are physical factors that directly affect the nervous system, including heredity, metabolism...
Words: 1554 - Pages: 7
...those eating habits that rendered some members of the society overweight or obese. Until recently such illnesses were considered to be associated with the middle aged upper social and the aging group of western world. Contrary to this belief, the problem of obesity has increasingly been witnessed across the rest of the world including the less developed countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America and across people of lower ages. This necessitated the search for other means to explain this trend. Unlike lower forms of life human beings have brains that enable them not only to respond to influences but to understand and give meanings to these influences based on individual’s interpretations [Herman, 1994, p. 2]. This is a phenomenon that perhaps could explain the behaviour of a human being in relation to feeding habits. The branch of sociology that studies this behaviour is referred to as symbolic interaction. This paper examines the relationship between the human behavioral response to and understanding of stimuli to the environment in relation to diet habits and the related health implications in an individual among...
Words: 1416 - Pages: 6
...Charles Darwin – 1859, Theory of Evolution. * Psyche – mind / soul * Locos – study 4 Goals of Psychology * Describe – Detailed of record of ascertain behaviour. Qualitative – names, sex, and nationality, rating/ranking. Quantitative – weights; height, speed, distance, no. of age. * Understand - explain or interpret facts about behavior. The causes of certain. Sign learning. Verbal punishment. Dispositional – nature of personality/ reason. * Predict – predict future behavior. a) Scientific b) Casual c) Cause and Effect * Control – controlling behavior may be done thought planning based on accurate prediction. Traditional Schools of Psychology * Structuralism – structure of the mind. (Edward B. Titchener) a) Sensation b) Image c) Feelings Introspection – a method of metal self-analysis w/c feeling, thinking, & behavior. * Functionalism – how the mind function in the adjustment of man to his environment. ( William James) [ Experimental ] * Functional * Advises * Gestalt – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. ( Max Weltheirmer, Wolfgang Kholer, & Kurt Koffka ) [ Experimental ] * Behaviorism – The important of learning & environment. ( John B. Wtson ) [ Experimental & Observation ] * Psychoanalysis – The past influence na present. ( Sigmund Freud ) [ Free Association ] 21st Century * Cognitive Neuroscience – Focuses on cognitive processes & relies on the methods & findings...
Words: 1589 - Pages: 7
...shows that 50 million people suffer from epilepsy and 24 million from Alzheimer and other dementias1. Mental health and associated diseases/disorders is a worldwide concern as it can affect any human being. Mental health has no regard for race, gender, age, country or any classification that seeks to separate. WHAT IS EMOTIONAL FITNESS? According to Warren Redman, writer of the book The 9 Steps to Emotional Fitness: A Tool-Kit for Life in the 21st Century emotional fitness entails choosing your reactions to people and situations, coping with pressure in a way that doesn’t leave you feeling stress, freeing yourself from addictive behaviours, feeling OK even when things go wrong, expressing yourself honestly without needing to put anyone down, being authentic without worrying about how others sees you, trusting yourself without judging others, asking for what without being attached to the outcome, listening to others without getting in the way, understanding and accepting yourself fully and living your life right now the way you want it1. FACTORS AFFECTING EMOTIONAL FITNESS Biological Biological factors vary among mental illness, but often include genetic predisposition to a disease, abnormal brain structure or function, irregular levels or activity of neurotransmitters or hormones, head injuries,...
Words: 1815 - Pages: 8
...While generations of scientists have debated whether human aggression and violence is learned or innate, Brain (pp. 9, 1985) most likely summarizes the best and shortest answer to this question by stating that Human violence is too complicated to be interpreted in simple terms”. Empirical data and theories from both sides will be presented in this essay which will illustrate that while humans are genetically equipped to be violent and in some cases even have a genetic predisposition towards violence, social factors play key role in facilitating and enhancing aggressive behavior or suppressing and inhibiting it. Cesar Lombroso in the 20th century claimed that long arms, jutting chins and sloping foreheads were signs of born criminals, while Sigmund Freud (1930) later claimed that the drive to aggress is rooted deep in the psyche, independent of circumstances and as a result people have an innate need to inflict harm which must be satisfied periodically. A similar catharsis view was held by Lorenz (1963) who suggested that aggression being a natural instinct that accumulates over time especially in response to environmental stress, needs to be periodically released much like the periodic orgasm that helps diminish sex drive. In the 1960’s some scientists proposed that men who carried an XYY chromosome pattern were predisposed to become criminals (Ramirez, 1996). These were some of the early views on the innate nature of aggression and violence. Recent studies conducted on rats...
Words: 1988 - Pages: 8
...The basic definition of the word criminal is someone who commits offending behaviour within society (Harrower, 2001). The crime may range from petty theft to murder. Criminals are born not made is the discussion of this essay, it will explore the theories that attempt to explain criminal behaviour. Psychologists have come up with various theories and reasons as to why individuals commit crimes. These theories represent part of the classic psychological debate, nature versus nurture. Are individuals predisposed to becoming a criminal or are they made through their environment. There are various theories within the biological explanation as to why individuals commit criminal behaviour, these include: genetic theory, hereditary theory, psychosis and brain injury theory. In the next few paragraphs examples of each will be shown. The first theory to be explored is the hereditary theory, which stems from Cesare Lombroso (1876) father of criminology, (Feldman, 1993) whose studies were carried out by morphology. Lombroso tried to show a relationship between criminal behaviour and physical characteristics. Lombrosco suggested that an individual was predisposed to becoming a criminal, as a result of internal or innate characteristics, rather than environmental factors. Lombroso observed both criminals and non- criminals by their physical abnormalities, such as physical measurements and examinations. He concluded that most prisoners show the same physical abnormalities, which...
Words: 2214 - Pages: 9
...adulthood (65+) and the final stages of life. This will include physical, intellectual, emotional and social development. I will further this by discussing nature versus nurture, and conclude by evaluating how this will affect the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development. * Conception Each month a group of eggs in the ovaries grow in small sacks named follicles. Eventually one of these eggs leaves, this is ovulation. This typically takes places 2 weeks before the next period is due. Once the egg leaves the follicle it develops into the corpus luteum, releasing a hormone to thicken the uterus lining, preparing for the egg. Once released the egg travels to the fallopian tube, where it remains for 24hrs waiting for sperm to fertilize it. This takes around 2 weeks after the period. If there is no sperm to fertilize the egg, it travels through the uterus and falls apart. The hormone levels return to normal, and the uterus sheds the lining, starting the period. If a sperm does make its way into the egg, it fertilizes, no other sperm will be able to access the egg. As soon as fertilization happens the babies genes and sex are set. (Y chromosome being male, X chromosome being female). The egg remains in the fallopian tubes for around 3-4 days, but within 24hrs of the fertilization it begins to divide quickly into cells. It continues to divide as it travels through the tube and attaches itself to the uterus lining, this is implantation. The uterus lining will become...
Words: 5057 - Pages: 21
...the material presented in class will serve as the primary sources for the material to be covered. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGY Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes. It is an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behaviour. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including problems of individuals' daily lives and the treatment of mental illness. It is largely concerned with humans, although the behaviour and mental processes of animals can also be part of psychology research, either as a subject in its own right (e.g. animal cognition and ethnology), or somewhat more controversially, as a way of gaining an insight into human psychology by means of comparison (including comparative psychology). Origins of the psychology Near the end of 19th century things started drawing together. Questions raised by philosophers were being examined by physiologists, and vice versa. a. What is the relationship between the mind and the body? b. Why do people loose their minds? What is insanity? c. How do we perceive things? Why are their perceptions of the same stimulus different? d. What affect do our experiences have on us? How important are environmental influences versus characteristics and predispositions we are born with?...
Words: 84844 - Pages: 340
...of individuals, and to consider the nature-nurture debate. This unit will also allow learners to gain an insight into the aging process and to understand both positive and negative perspectives of ageing. Learning outcomes: * Understand human growth and development through the life stages. * Understand how life factors and events may influence the development of the individual. * Understand physical changes and psychological perspectives in relation to ageing. P1: Describe the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development through the life stages. The main life stages of human development are: * Conception * Pregnancy and birth. * Infancy * Childhood * Adolescence * Adulthood * Later adulthood. The holistic development of an individual involves them developing physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially. All humans go through the following things: * Growth: an increase in some measured quantity, such as height or weight. * Development: complex changes including an increase in skills, abilities and capabilities. * Maturation: when development is assumed to be due to a genetically programmed sequence of change. All human beings have needs. Some of these needs are universal but others vary according to life stag. According to Abraham Maslow, all individuals have five main hierarchy needs which are required for development and survival. This is shown in his...
Words: 10187 - Pages: 41
...CORE SYLLABUS for National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for Admission to MBBS/BDS Courses The Medical Council of India (MCI) recommended the following syllabus for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admission to MBBS/BDS courses across the country (NEET-UG) after review of various State syllabi as well as those prepared by CBSE, NCERT and COBSE. This is to establish a uniformity across the country keeping in view the relevance of different areas in Medical Education. PHYSICS S.No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. CLASS XI Physical world and measurement Kinematics Laws of Motion Work, Energy and Power Motion of System of Particles and Rigid Body Gravitation Properties of Bulk Matter Thermodynamics Behaviour of Perfect Gas and Kinetic Theory Oscillations and Waves CLASS XII Electrostatics Current Electricity Magnetic Effects of Current and Magnetism Electromagnetic Induction and Alternating Currents Electromagnetic Waves Optics Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation Atoms and Nuclei Electronic Devices CHEMISTRY S.No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. CLASS XI Some Basic Concepts of Chemistry Structure of Atom Classification of Elements and Periodicity in Properties Chemical Bonding and Molecular Structure States of Matter: Gases and Liquids Thermodynamics Equilibrium Redox Reactions Hydrogen s-Block Element (Alkali and Alkaline earth metals) Some p-Block Elements Organic Chemistry- Some Basic Principles and Techniques Hydrocarbons...
Words: 5244 - Pages: 21
...discussions on the gay gene. It has long been debated as to whether or not a person who has embraced has lived gay or lesbian is born that way. The question being is this an act of their own volition or are they born that way. On one side there are those who assert that people are biologically predisposed to such a lifestyle and cannot help but pursue same sex relationships. On the other side there are those who argue it is an issue of will, and one of choice. I believe the current research is inconclusive on both sides. The data is up to date and the results are a testimony to how much ignorance there is about this controversy. As we attempt to understand those whose sexual point of reference we question we must remember that all human beings are the Creator’s offspring and should be treated as such no matter how we feel about their sexual orientation. We must employ respect and reason as we journey down the road to understanding this intriguing subject. People may be different in their sexual expression and it may concern us to no end. The truth of the matter is if their behavior is in our estimation deviant, no matter how wrong we think it is we have a responsibility to treat them in a way that is respectable and proper. People are at liberty to express themselves sexually as they deem it fitting for them. This paper is designed to deliver a biological and scientific perspective about the gay gene and not to express my personal feelings about the moral views of the gay-lesbian...
Words: 10197 - Pages: 41
...INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTRODUCTION There is a burgeoning need, in recent times, to impart sex education to our teenagers. During adolescence, not only do the hormones work overtime, but there are physical changes too that are taking place in the body structure; particularly so in the sex organs, making the teenager curious to explore these changes. During the last three decades media both audio visual and printed has been feeding the young curious minds more often with misinformation and wrong notions about sex. The 'sexual arena' is in constant focus among the teens; in the absence of proper guidance, this can result in more harm than good. Enlightening a teenager is the best preventive policy to tackle the growing health problems in this age group. They need to understand very early that it is better to be safe than sorry. (Taruna http:// tarunamlife. blogspot. com/2010_10_01_archive.html) Sex education means different things to different people. Perhaps this is because we precise sex, as we do other things, in relation to our own expression and attitude. First of all, sex education which is sometimes called sexuality education involves all aspects of the individual not merely the physiological process and physical needs. Sex education is also about developing young people’s skill so that they make informed choices about their behaviour, and feel confident and competent about acting on these choices. Sex education is about taking precautionary measures and making children aware of what...
Words: 6298 - Pages: 26
...Every human being begins life as a single cell, formed when father's sperm fertilises mother's egg. Fertilisation normally takes place in the mother's Fallopian tube, which connects the uterus (womb) with the ovary. The uterus is the size and shape of a large pear: it is made of muscle and it stretches to allow the baby's growth throughout the months of pregnancy. A woman ordinarily has two tubes and two ovaries, one at each side of her uterus. Every month one of the ovaries in turn releases an egg (ovum) which passes slowly along the tube towards the womb cavity If the egg is not fertilised within 12 hours or so of being released, it dies; it cannot develop further. But if the woman has sexual intercourse during the days of her monthly cycle just before or at the time when an egg has been released from the ovary, then many sperm cells released by her partner may travel up to the Fallopian tube and one may fertilise the egg. When fertilisation is completed and the nuclei of egg and sperm have combined, a new being comes into existence and is capable of further development. Because the parents are human - belonging to the species Homo sapiens - the new being is also human. Fertilisation (by which we mean conception) marks the beginning of the human lifespan. A consultant specialising in the care of pregnant women writes: "Life does not begin with birth. When born, we are already nine months old... we have a responsibility to learn how to study the life in utero, and how to care...
Words: 3722 - Pages: 15
