The Biological Approach

14
FIGURE
Chapter 1 Introduction to the Science of Psychology
1.5
Visualizing Brain Activity
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques allow biological psychologists to
study the brain activity accompanying various mental processes (Poldrack & Wagner,
2004). This study found that, while reading, males (left) and females (right) show
different patterns of brain activity, as
indicated by the brightly colored areas
(Shaywitz et al., 1995).
Removed due to copyright
permissions restrictions.
By end of the 1960s, however, behaviorists’ lack of attention to
mental processes was seen by more and more psychologists as a serious limitation
(e.g., Ericsson & Simon, 1994). As the computer age dawned, psychologists began to
think about mental activity in a new way—as information processing. At the same
time, progress in biotechnology began to offer psychologists new ways to study the
biological bases of mental processes. Armed with ever more sophisticated research
tools, many psychologists today are trying to do what Watson thought was impossible: to study mental processes and, as shown in Figure 1.5, even watch the brain perform them. So psychology has come full circle, once again accepting consciousness,
in the form of cognitive processes, as a legitimate topic for research (Haynes & Rees,
2005; Kimble, 2000).
Psychology Today
Approaches to the Science of Psychology
䉴 Why don’t all psychologists explain behavior in the same way?
We have seen that the history of psychology is, in part, the history of the differing ways
in which psychologists have thought about, or “approached,” behavior and mental
processes. Today, psychologists no longer refer to themselves as structuralists or functionalists, but the psychodynamic and behavioral approaches remain, along with some
newer ones known as the biological, evolutionary, cognitive, and humanistic approaches.
Some psychologists adopt just one of these approaches, but most are eclectic (pronounced “ek-LECK-tick”). This means that they blend aspects of two or more
approaches in an effort to more fully understand the behavior and mental processes in
their subfield (e.g., Cacioppo et al., 2000). Some approaches to psychology are more
influential than others these days, but we will review the main features of all of them
so you can more easily understand why different psychologists may explain the same
behavior or mental process in different ways.
The Biological Approach
biological approach The view that
behavior is the result of physical
processes, especially those relating to
the brain, to hormones, and to other
chemicals.
As its name implies, the biological approach assumes that behavior and mental
processes are largely shaped by biological processes. Psychologists who take this
approach study the psychological effects of hormones, genes, and the activity of the
nervous system, especially the brain. When studying memory, for example, these