Biological+SAQ1+(Determinism)




 Determinism relates to the biological perspective in that it states that certain psychological (personality) traits are pre-determined, or inherited. One deterministic aspect of the biological perspective is the influence of altered brain structures on behavioural changes. In 1874, Karl Wernicke, a German neurologist and psychiatrist, discovered that damage to the temporal lobe causes a type of aphasia, in which the person loses the ability to understand language, yet still retains the ability to speak clearly, but the words that are put together make no sense. This supports the idea that changes in brain structure results in an unconscious and involuntary change in behaviour.

An example of a case study that emphasises how determinism relates to the biological perspective would be the case of Phineas Gage. He was a railroad construction foreman now remembered for his incredible survival of an accident which drove a large iron rod through his head, destroying his frontal lobe which is responsible for one’s personality and controlling emotions. The effect of this accident resulted in an involuntary change of his personality and social functioning. He became impatient, vulgar, and capricious. This study illustrates the link between determinism and one's physical brain structure because, as a result of the damage caused to his frontal lobe, Phineas Gage unintentionally altered his behaviour and entire personality.  Furthermore, schizophrenics have been shown to have smaller brains and enlarged ventricles in comparison to people without schizophrenia. Stevens (1982) showed that many people with schizophrenia display symptoms that clearly indicate neurological disease. It can be argued that schizophrenia is a disorder caused by chemical imbalance, given the fact that dopamine hypothesis suggests the imbalances in the brain chemicals when the excess levels of dopamine floods the system is the cause of schizophrenia. However, the dia-thesis stress model, or the life stress you get from the surrounding environment that you are in, may be the cause of schizophrenia, and cause of such brain abnormalities. The more deterministic, biological etiology of schizophrenia alleviates the role of free will in causing the disorder, portraying schizophrenia as a direct result of biological factors within the body and therefore an illness like any other. If human behaviour is biologically determined, then free will is reduced and much of our behaviour is determined by our genetic make-up and may change as a result of infection or damage. This is a good, detailed response that has been improved by making sure that it //relates evidence back to the question//.

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It can be argued that genetic predisposition can explain how determinism relates to the biological perspective. Even though environmental factors predominate in the development of drug addiction, there is still evidence of a genetic vulnerability to drug abuse. Adoption studies have shown that adopted children of alcoholic parents have higher rates of alcohol problems than those of parents without this history – they are three times more likely to develop drug dependence than those from non-alcohol-dependent parents (Cadoret et al., 1995). Prescott and Kendler (1999) also reported that 47% in monozygotic and 32% in dizygotic twins have ‘high lifetime alcohol consumption.’ Although there may be indirect evidence implicating a specific gene or genes related to alcohol dependence, Schuckit et al. (1996) found that individuals from families in which there were high levels of problem drinking had a lower physiological response to alcohol than matched controls. As a result, this can lead the person to become a heavy drinker, hence have drinking problem. On the other hand, there is a number genes in the process of addiction, such as genes for enzymes involved in alcohol metabolism (Whitfield, 2005), as well as the dopamine D2 receptor gene. This gene can influence the initiation and effect of a variety of drugs. For instance, Connor et al. (2005) found that male adolescents with dopamine D2 receptor gene tried alcohol and became intoxicated more often than those without it – they were also more likely to develop a smoking habit and experience a marijuana ‘high’. In addition, an argument relating determinism to the biological perspective is the neuroadaptive effects of substances on behaviour. The neuroadaptive effects occur when the reward system in the brain is disrupted by the intake of the drug which results in a release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, causing pleasure (White, 1996). Repeated use of stimulants will produce changes in the mesolimbic dopamine system, which depletes dopamine from the system and will cause normal rewards to lose their motivational significance whilst becoming even more sensitive to pharmacological activation by stimulants.

A good example of how material for Paper 2 can also be used for Paper 1. In contrast to the previous response, it would benefit from some clarification at the end: summarise explicitly //how// the details serve to explain biological determinism.

 