Biological approach

The Biological Perspective, often known as Biopsychology, is a relatively recent development in the science of psychology that is gaining popularity as a specialist section of psychology in the latest years. The study of the link between physiological or biological processes and behavior or psychological processes is the goal of Biological Psychology. The biological perspective holds that our behavior is the result of our genetics and physiology. This is the only method in psychology that looks at ideas, emotions, and behavior from a biological, and hence physical, perspective. This subfield of psychology investigates how our brain, neurotransmitters, as well as other biotic factors influence our psychology, conduct, thoughts, and emotions. The biological viewpoint is regarded as being the most scientific kind of research since it is highly reliant on experiments conducted that lend legitimacy to this perspective. The biological approach's theories favor nature over nurture. This conduct has been mostly triggered by the interaction between nature and the environment. One advantage of the biological method is that it makes accurate predictions. One problem is that most scientific theories are reductionist in nature, reducing behavior to the result of genes and certain other biological processes while disregarding the influences of infancy and our cultural and social environments (McLeod, 2017).

Background

Biological psychology originated as a field in the 18th and 19th centuries from diverse philosophical and scientific backgrounds. The biological viewpoint is essentially a method of seeing human issues and activities. Since its origin, the study of physiology and biomedical applications has played a vital role in psychology. Charles Darwin was the first to propose that evolution and genetics influence human behavior. Theories concerning the link with both body and mind date back to Aristotle, who proposed that both occur as facets of the same organism, with the mind being merely one of the body's functions. Behavioral scientists, such as American psychologist John B. Watson, have recently shifted their attention away from the supernatural or mental and toward visible human and animal behavior and their link to the neurological system William James proposed in Principles of Psychology (1890) that the scientific study of psychology must be founded on an understanding of science. (Waling,

Natural selection is described in Charles Darwin's publication On the Origin of Species (1859); characteristics that are inconsistent with a species' environment will end up dying out as it tries to survive and, over time, will transform down the generations so that only adaptive attributes will continue to stay in future offspring (Steinheimer, 2004). Phineas Gage, an American railroad supervisor, survived catastrophic brain damage induced by an iron rod piercing his cranium and damaging much of his left frontal lobe. In the discipline of neurology, the Gage case is significant. The documented alterations in their post-accident behavior are solid evidence for brain activity localization, which means that certain brain regions are connected with specific functions (Guy-Evans, 2020). Twin research provides evolutionary biologists with a natural kind of study in which the behavioral resemblance of identical twins may be compared to that of dizygotic twins. In other words, if inheritance i.e., genetics impacts a specific feature or behavior, identical twins must be more comparable to that trait than non-identical twins.

Drug use

Addiction is caused by each patient's physiology and heredity, per the biological model. People differ in their likes or disliking of addictive drugs or hobbies. Cocaine, for example, causes euphoria and other good emotions in part since it causes a buildup of dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked with sensations of pleasure and satisfaction. Some people may get so enamored with a substance or pastime that it becomes extremely appealing and impossible to resist. This problem will not be felt by another since he does not share the same pleasure. Similarly, the capacity to control impulsive wants with reasonable thought is a brain function that differs among individuals. Certain people may be unable of resisting some sort of urge. As a result of their genetic sensitivity, these persons are at a higher risk of having addiction (Skewes and Gonzalez, 2013).

The scientific study of the brain as an information processing model is known as cognitive psychology. It is about how we acquire and interpret information from the outside environment. Cognitive psychologists attempt to construct cognitive models of processing information in people's heads, such as perception, attention, language, memory, thinking, and consciousness. The mediation process takes place between both the stimulus and the response. The cognitive approach does not necessarily acknowledge physical and environmental aspects in affecting behavior. The cognitive method is likely the most prevalent approach in psychology now, having been used in a wide range of practical and theoretical situations. Cognitive psychology focuses solely on thought patterns. The cognitive method is reductionist in nature since it excludes processes such as memory from many other cognitive processes when analyzing a factor. However, in everyday life, we engage many cognitive processes at the same time (McLeod, 2015).

Background

In the 1950s and 1960s, the cognitive method sought to shift psychology, eventually becoming the dominant perspective in psychology by the late 1970s. Piaget and Tolman's work progressively rekindled interest in cognitive states. Tolman has a 'gentle demeanor.' Purposive Behavior in Animals and Man, his 1932 book, contained studies that behaviorism found hard to interpret. According to behaviorists, learning happens as a result of correlations among stimuli and responses. Tolman, on the other hand, proposed that learning is dependent on the associations generated between stimuli. He referred to this link as a cognitive map. However, the introduction of computers provided cognitive psychology with the language and analogies required to examine the human mind. Early computer use enabled psychologists to attempt to comprehend the intricacies of human thought by comparing it to anything simpler and superior (McLeod, 2015).

Evidence of Research

Tolman (1948) invented the terminology cognitive map, which refers to an input image of exterior elements or cues. He believed that people gather a huge number of hints from their surroundings and utilize them to form mental representations of their surroundings i.e., cognitive maps. They can attain the aim of recognizing where it is among complicated environmental elements by using this internal picture of the physical environment. This template allows for customizable shortcuts and routes. Tolman was the sole behaviorist who rejected stimulus- response theory, arguing that reinforcement is not required for learning to occur. He believed the conduct was essentially cognitive in nature. Miller's (1956) most well-known discovery is that human short-term memory is normally restricted to seven items of information, plus or minus two. Miller postulated a rule of human cognition and data processing stating that people can efficiently process a maximum of seven units, or bits of information at any given moment, plus or minus two pieces of information. This restriction relates to short attention span as well as a variety of other cognitive activities, such as discriminating between different voice tones and noticing things upon first look.

Drug Use

Because of our expectations, addictive behaviors are preferred above healthy ones, according to cognitive theory. When a person believes that the benefits and drawbacks of an addictive activity will outweigh the benefits and drawbacks of a healthy habit, he will choose addiction. Perhaps, for example, a person may assume that if the desire is not granted, it would cause damage. Actively listening to other individuals might help you form assumptions about this addiction. A drug dealer, for instance, maybe shown in a film as a sexually attractive person with a spectacular and adventurous existence. Once these assumptions have formed, they frequently resist adjustment Continued drug use creates problems in the brain's highly developed frontal cortex. It governs cognitive tasks such as making decisions, response control, reasoning, and remembering, according to brain scans in humans and neuropsychological research in nonhuman animals. A lot of drug addiction targets parts of the brain that impact our capacity to manage cognitive activities, as well as those that modify things like emotions (Carpenter, 2001)

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McLeod,         S.         A.         (2015). Cognitive          psychology.         Simply          Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive.html

McLeod,        S.        A.        (2017).         Biological        psychology.        Simply        Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/biological-psychology.html

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Skewes, M. C., & Gonzalez, V. M. (2013). The biopsychosocial model of addiction. Principles of addiction, 1, 61-70.

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