BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

whats the example for evolutionary influences

trivers

what was trivers theory

that romantic relationships are driven by evolution

with trivers theory what did women invest

• more investment

• health risks from carrying baby and looking after it

with trivers theory what did women look for

• ambition

• shelter

• high earning capacity for her and her child

with trivers theory what did men invest

• not much

• could have many children compared to females

with trivers theory what did men look for

• young

• fertile

localisiation of brain

Localisation of function meaning that there are different areas of the brain that perform specialised functions. the areas have certain jobs. The cerebral cortex  is made up of 4 lobes e.g. frontal parietal temporal and occipital. The frontal lobe is linked to problem solving and emotions one care of this would be phineas gage as he suffered damage to his frontal lobe and it made him be more aggressive

what is a neurotransmitter

chemical messengers passed from the presynaptic neuron to the postsynaptic neuron across the synapse

what does dopamine do

controls bodily movements and emotional response

it affects essential functions of brain which impact mood, sleep, memory and learning

neurotransmitter example

cacioppo

cacioppo theory

roots of mate attraction by giving an fmri scan to males whilst looking at women

the images were ranged from unattractive to attractive

cacioppo results

dompamine released when attractive female no dopamine released when unattractive

example for formation of relationship

oxytocin

waht is oxytocin and whats it linked to

it is a chemical messenger

linked to birth behaviours ( breast milk production)

pregnancy (contractions)

what does the more oxytocin in a mum mean

more nuturing

what does skin to skin contact help with

mum and child learn each others scents which forms a bond and when oxytocin is released ot strengthens the bond and causes the new-born to seek it out

what are the main components of drug therapy

antipsychotics

antianxiety

antidepressants

what are the two trypes of antipsychotics

typical and atypical

how do typical anti psychotics work

• treat positive symptoms of schizophrenia ( delusions, hallucinations)

• bind to dopamine receptors and block them

• by reducing dopamine positive symptoms are stopped

how do atypical antipsychotics work

• treat positive and negative symptoms

• bind to dopamine but they do it temporarily and rapidly dissociate to allow normal dopamine transmission

what are the 3 types of antidepressents

maoi, ssri, tricyclics

how do maoi’s work

it blocks monomine oxidase that breaks down seratonin in the brain

how do ssri’s work

• it increases the levels of serotonin by binding onto the presynaptic neuron in order to prevent the serotonin in the synapse from reabsorbing it back into it.

how do tricylics work

• block noradrenaline reuptake and serotonin reuptake where as ssri’s only break serotonin reuptake

what are the two types of anti anxiety drugs

benzodiazepines, betablockers

what do beta blockers do

• reduce adrenaline and noradrenaline activity

• these neurotransmitters would normally bind to cells of the heart or other parts of the body that are stimulated during sympathetic arousal therefore these drugs work by slowing the jeartrate and blood pressure down

how do benzodiazepines work

• slowing activity in central nervous system through enhancing the production of GABA (inhibitory system)

Effectiveness of drug therapy (PEEL) short term

P - Drug therapy does seem to be effective in the short term.

E - Soomro et al (2008) reviewed 17 pieces of research where the effects of SSRIs on patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) were recorded. They discovered that patients who were given the SSRIs found them to be much more effective than patients who were given a placebo. This was evidenced by the reduced levels of OCD in the patients who took the SSRIs.

E – If patients who take antidepressants show lower levels of depression compared to patients who are on no medication, then this is evidence that drug therapy works.

L – Therefore, drug therapy can be said to be effective, but it is unclear from the evidence how long the effects of the drugs worked for, and if patients were still experiencing lower depression rates once they came off the SSRIs.

Effectiveness of drug therapy (PEEL) inaffective

P – Drug therapy is not always effective, in fact, it can be quite ineffective.

E - Drug therapy does not treat the underlying cause of the mental illness; it only treats the symptoms of it because it only targets physical aspects of an individual, not psychological.

E – For example, many psychological therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy and dream analysis aim to uncover the reason for why the mental illness happened in the first place. They look for a trigger to the mental illness and then try to deal with that issue so the individual can be truly cured.

L – This means that drug therapy is ineffective, especially in the long term because if only symptoms are treated, they will return once the drug therapy stops.

Ethics of drug therapy (PEEL) symptoms

P – Drug therapy can, in some cases, be unethical because of the symptoms they can cause in some patients.

E - There are side effects to drugs, which can make this type of treatment unethical, e.g. physical harm such as headaches and nausea or psychological harm such as memory loss.

E – If medical professionals try to persuade patients to use drug therapy by saying that the benefits to mental health outweigh the side effects, patients may feel pressured to engage in the therapy.

L – Even though drug therapy is unethical due the risk of harm, some mental illnesses are worse than the side effects of drug therapy and may save a patient’s life. Therefore, the benefits do outweigh the costs.

Ethics of drug therapy (PEEL) consent

P – Drug therapy can be unethical because even though consent may be given, it may not be valid/informed.

E - It is not always possible to guarantee valid consent from patients. Some of them may not be in a fit mental state to give consent, or they may not fully understand what it is that they are taking or why.

E – This means that the therapy should be fully explained to the patient, or there should be a responsible adult who can agree to the therapy for the patient.

L – If consent is valid, the therapy will be ethical and patients can take some responsibility for their treatment.

raines methodology + (scientific)

P - pet scans were used as a research method

E - positive emission tomography. the patients were injected with a radioactive tracer which is left in the brain it ammits a gammar ray.

E- scans are scientific and provide solid observable evidence of results meaning raine could show some sort of a cause and effect relationship between brain areas and violent crime

L - it provides empirical evidence about the ngri murderers compare to the control group

raines methodology - (causation)

P - we cannot establish causation between brain functioning and violence

E - as raine pointed out findings dont show that violence is due to biology alone other factors such as upbringing must influence violence

E - social learning theory, violence can be learnt though observation

L - not the cause of violence other factors such as learning through observation

procedures - (soecific group)

P - only murderera were studied

E - the murderera were ngri's and there were 41 in total 39 men and 2 wome the control group was the same

E - many violent crimes dont involve murder e.g robbery so its only for a very specific group

L - negative, low generalisablilty

procedure +

P - raine did have strict procedures in place for the research

E - the experime t can be repeated dye to it being in a lab and that none if them were in meds and that they were the same age, sex

E - you can test retest as you have the same standardised procedures

L - can be replicated and reliability can be checkef meaning for valued and trusted research

raines ethical issue

P - informed consent

E - not understwnding the research cuz insanity

E- invasive research snd will be published

L - isnt informed consent and advicate should be present

raines ethival issure harm

P - phychological harm

E - anxious or low self esten cuz of task

E - problem cuz important test yo see if theyre insane and sentance gets droppef

L - raine shoule of explainef thst the tested performsncr was not linked to brsin activity for ngris

social implications (onmy looking at scans)

P - courts use only biologicsl wvidence

E - if reseach says violent behaviour is innate peopel with similar braind abnormaitieswould be imprison without social consuderation

E - brain could be altered after a crime

L - increase taxes not enough space

socual implication judicial

P- effects judicial system

E - takes away free will if its biologicsl they couldnt be imprisoned

E - if no prision they could re affend as theres no deterent

L - raine didnt support this

understwnding alzhiemers theory

2004 the world wide alzheimers disease neuroimaging initiative was establish to predict and monitor the on set of alzhiemers

understwnding alzhiemers ethical

• informed consent

• placebos

• privacy and confidentiality with patients right and body

understanding alzhiemers economic

• 850,000

• 26bil/yr

raine ethical issue

• informed consent

• mental heslth issues ngri

• not understand invasive and will be published

• should be an advocate there

raine ethical issue psychological harm

• anxious low self asteeem hard task

• important because test decides it insane or not

• should of explained that the test performance doesnt affect the brain activity

raine social

only biological

if someone has a similar brain, then they would be put in prison

beain could be altered after crime

increase taxes shorter sentances

understwnding consiousness

consciousness rises when information from different brain regions is integrated into a global workspace in the prefrontal cortex

understanding consciousness, ethical

labour practices

• employ chidren

• work over time

• minimum wage

  cultural

• bribary or gift giving so they would work for them

• not understanding language

  gender discrimination

• women less pay

• limited career advsnces