Thursday, August 9, 2012

Assumptions of a Biopsychology Approach

Explore the major underlying assumptions of a biopsychology approach.


The prefix bio- stands for biological. Psychology is the scientific study of behavior (Pinel, 2009). Together as biopsychology, it means the biological study of behavior. The biopsychology approach views behavior from the perspective of the brain, nervous system and other biological functions (McGraw-Hill, 2011). Within the biopsychology approach, heredity and evolution are studied. Biopsychologists research to discover if behaviors are inherited from our ancestors or if they evolved naturally through mankind. Psychologists look at several biological functions to understand behavior. These include individual nerve cells and how they join, inherited behaviors from parents or other ancestors, functioning of our body in relation to our emotions, etc. Biopsychology is considered one of the neurosciences. Biopsychologists usually stand on the nature side of the nature-nurture debate. This means they usually believe that our genetic makeup and neurosystem is the root of our behaviors.

McGraw-Hill. (2011). Psychsmart. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Pinel, J. (2009). Biopsychology (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

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