The Biological Approach to Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind to understand why we behave, think and feel in certain ways. However, humans are complex creatures and trying to narrow down to a singular cause of why we do certain things will be very challenging. As such, different perspectives will inevitably arise from trying to understand the human mind, just like how everyone can have different views on the same topic. In this article, we will be exploring the biological perspective in psychology. 

What is the biological approach to psychology?

The biological approach to psychology believes that human behaviour is a consequence of our genetics and physiology. There is a field of psychology known as biological psychology, also called biopsychology or physiological psychology, that studies the biology of behaviour and uses this approach in tackling the issues in psychology.  Biological psychology examines the relationship between mind and body, neural mechanisms, and the influence of heredity on behavior. (Mcleod, 2023)

Fun fact: It is the only approach in psychology that examines thoughts, feelings, and behaviours from a physical point of view! (Mcleod, 2023)

How is the biological approach relevant to psychology?

The biological approach heavily focuses on investigating our physical body. In fact, it is assumed that our every thought and action is due to our nature, whether it is because of our genetics or our hormones that causes us to act in certain ways. 

Below are some ways that researchers use the biological approach to provide answers about human behaviours:

• Use of Comparative Method - studying other animals’ behaviours and relating them back to humans

  • As this approach believes that our behaviours are based on our physical bodies, there is an underlying assumption that behaviours are the same across all species, which allows knowledge gained by studying other animals such as rats, dogs and cats to be generalised to humans (McLeod, 2023)

• Physiology - studying how our physical features affect our behaviour

  • E.g how our hormones affects our mood, or how the brain functions

• Inheritance - studying how what we inherit from our parents (and by extension, what we inherit from our ancestors from million of years ago) affects us 

Evaluating the biological approach

A strength of the biological approach in analysing psychological problems is how scientific the process of conducting research and collecting data is. Researchers utilize rigorous empirical methods, and their results are often reliable and practical, which has helped yield useful treatments for many psychological disorders (Cherry, 2023). This allows conclusions to be drawn from evidence that are usually unbiased from human opinions. 

However, this approach is known to be reductionistic. Because of the assumption that any reason for our behaviours must be from our nature, there is the possibility that the reason why someone behaves a certain way could also be due to external factors such as our environment or our childhood upbringing, and these would not be accounted for due to the aim of the biological approach, which is to explain all behaviour by the action of genetic or biochemical processes (McLeod, 2023).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the biological approach to psychology is a view on psychological issues that focuses on how our physical bodies affect the way we think and behave. It allows researchers to better understand how our brain works and uses a very scientific approach in investigating these issues. However, due to how complex human nature is, relying on the biological approach alone is not enough to explain and account for every psychological problem we face in reality. As such, it is also important to have other perspectives such as the cognitive approach that emphasises on other aspects of human behaviour in order to have a clearer picture of why we think, act, and feel in certain ways. 

Works cited 

Cherry, K. (2023). The Role of the Biological Perspective in Psychology. [online] Verywell Mind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-biological-perspective-2794878. [Accessed on 1 Sept. 2024]

Mcleod, S. (2023). Biological Psychology. [online] Simply Psychology. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/biological-psychology.html. [Accessed on 1 Sept. 2024]

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Mcleod, S. (2023). Comparative Psychology | Simply Psychology. [online] Simplypsychology.org. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/comparative-psychology.html. [Accessed on 2 Sept. 2024]