Psychology · The approaches (content)
BIO — Biological approach
Psychology · SL / HL · syllabus-mapped notes
The neuron and neurotransmission
How neurons signal across the synapse, and how that process shapes mood, memory and behaviour.
Chemical messengers
Neurotransmitters and hormones as the body's signalling molecules, and their role in behaviour.
Localization of function and neuroplasticity
Whether specific brain areas run specific behaviours, and how experience reshapes the brain.
Brain imaging techniques
Using PET, fMRI and MRI to study brain-behaviour links, with their strengths and limitations.
Genes and behaviour: inheritance, diathesis-stress and epigenetics
The extent behaviour is inherited and how genes interact with the environment to shape it.
Animal research and its ethics
The value of animal models in studying human behaviour and the ethical considerations involved.
Biological reductionism
The strengths and limitations of explaining behaviour by its simplest biological parts.