The Biological (physiological) Perspective This perspective explains behaviour in terms of the biology of the person or the animal studied It assumes that changes in biology can affect behaviour.

It assumes that.. The brain is the most important part of an animal or human when explaining behaviour Other physical parts can also be important e.g. glands secreting hormones like………………………………………….

It assumes that.. Behavioural or emotional problems can be treated by changing the biology e.g. by …………………………………………….. Animals can be used to study human behaviour so long as the biology of the species is similar

Physiological psychology studies Dement and Kleitman (sleep and dreaming) Sperry (split brain study) Maguire (differences in brains of taxi drivers and non taxi drivers) (All of these use the physiological perspective)

The perspective is Reductionist This means it reduces behaviour to explanations using small parts of the person/animal. Sociology Smaller Psychology Biology Chemistry

Reductionism- good or bad idea? + it simplifies things- we can give a single cause for some behaviour _ it can be too simplistic- not much of our complex behaviour is really due to a single cause.

Strengths of the perspective Can test hypotheses using controlled conditions (Maguire, Sperry, Dement and Kleitman) For each study, show what was controlled in the measurement or testing

More strengths: Using technology helps to give reliable results which can be repeated and which are precise. Which studies show this strength, and how?

More strengths: Results can be used to help people Which study or studies give useful results? Say why.. Finding out about brains which are unusual can help understand normal brain function Which study or studies show this strength, and how?

But- weaknesses… The technology can be expensive and people must be trained to use it.. Which study or studies show this problem, and how?

And more problems.. The controlled conditions might reduce ecological validity Which study or studies show this problem, and how?

And more problems.. To be ethical, researchers cannot choose which groups people belong to, so samples can be small and hard to find.. Which study or studies show this problem, and how?