[Music] what is biological psychology biological psychology focuses on the relationship between our biological makeup and our behavior and experiences it is responsible for discovering that the structure of our nervous system including our brains and the action of chemicals have a big effect on our behavior however an important question is how much of our biology affects us some biological psychologists take a reductionist argument to answer this question saying that behavior and experiences can be explained in terms of brain structure and chemicals this has led to a lot of important discoveries for example in the effect of drugs on our mood and behavior however other psychologists take the view that we cannot adequately explain complex human behavior and experience just in terms of brain structure and chemicals there are other psychological variables which need to be considered for example how we act alone compared to how we behave in groups some of the assumptions of biological psychology include the following one all that is psychological is first biological that since the mind appears to reside in the brain all thoughts feelings and behaviors ultimately have an identifiable and measurable biological cause to behavior therefore also has a genetic basis and is therefore influenced by our DNA genes and biological molecules what are some of the strengths of biological psychology one of the main strengths of the biological approach is the use of sophisticated equipment such as MRI scanners which provide an objective and precise way of measuring brain structure it is arguably the most important Sun using laboratory type experiments a further strength of the biological approach is the practical applications that it offers much of the research in this area is very useful as it may be used to diagnose and develop treatments and therapies for illnesses or problems for example studies of the brain have implications for those who have suffered brain injury or disease because they have demonstrated the plasticity of the brain what are some of the weaknesses of biological psychology a problem with the biological approach is that by using such a scientific approach and testing behavior in laboratory conditions the measurement of behavior often lacks ecological validity for example some studies have measured people sleep in laboratory conditions with electrodes attached to their scalp which is not typical of how people normally sleep participants have been asked to complete unusual tasks in many studies that use the biological approach which again are not typical of everyday behaviors however it is also true that laboratory experiments enable researchers to have more control of their procedures ensuring that extraneous variables can be controlled another potential problem with the biological approach is that they can be very costly and time-consuming because of the use of sophisticated equipment and lengthy procedures this often leads to such studies having small samples and it could be argued that such a sample is not representative and we should therefore be careful generalizing the results [Music] I hope this video has been useful for helping your understanding of psychology be sure to check out some of our other videos for information on other approaches to psychology thank you for watching [Music] you