Biological and Psychological Explanations of Schizophrenia

Two places to look for a cause

Schizophrenia is a serious mental health condition. A person living with it may experience hallucinations or strong beliefs that others do not share, and may withdraw or find motivation hard; the ICD is the classification doctors use to describe these clinical characteristics. People do live with the condition and recover from episodes of it, and support exists. This module is not about how it feels to have schizophrenia. It is about how psychologists try to EXPLAIN where it comes from, which is a different question and the one the exam asks. ⭐⭐ An explanation is a THEORY about a cause, and this course sets two of them side by side. What makes them different is simply WHERE each one looks. The BIOLOGICAL explanation looks INSIDE the body, in the chemistry and the structure of the brain. Its best known form is the dopamine hypothesis. The PSYCHOLOGICAL explanation on this course, social drift theory, looks OUT IN THE WORLD, at what happens between a person and the society around them. ⚠️ Neither is proven, and you are not asked to believe either one. You are asked to explain each fairly and to give the doubt that hangs over it. ⭐ And the specification is tidy about this: it attaches ONE standard doubt to each. The biological account is questioned through the nature and nurture debate. Social drift is questioned through the cause and effect problem. So carry one habit through the whole module: for any explanation, name the MECHANISM it proposes and the DOUBT the course attaches to it, because a question here always wants both.

Inside the brain, or out in the world

The two explanations answer the same question, where does schizophrenia come from, by looking in two different places. Read each column as a theory being proposed, not as a fact being stated.

Tap the two that look inside the brain

Tap the TWO statements that belong to the BIOLOGICAL explanation, the one that looks inside the body, rather than to social drift.

• The symptoms are linked to unusually high activity of the messenger dopamine.
• Rejection by others leads a person to disengage and drift down the social scale.
• Differences are found in the structure of the frontal lobes and the hippocampus.
• The condition is often found in poorer areas after a person has become unwell.

What the dopamine hypothesis points to

A psychologist gives a biological explanation for the symptoms of schizophrenia. According to the dopamine hypothesis, what are those symptoms linked to?

• Unusually high activity of the messenger dopamine in the brain
• A complete absence of dopamine from birth
• Being rejected by society and drifting into poorer areas
• A deliberate choice the person has made

Words these explanations turn on

Five terms a question on schizophrenia will expect you to use precisely. Each explanation is a proposal, so the definitions say what each one claims, not what is true.

Match each feature to what it is

Two that are true of social drift

Select the TWO statements that correctly describe the social drift explanation.

• It is a psychological explanation that looks at what happens between a person and society, not inside the body
• It proposes that rejection and disengagement can pull a person down the social scale
• It locates the cause in unusually high dopamine activity
• It has been proven to be the true cause of the condition

Name the mechanism and the doubt

A question on schizophrenia is not asking you to pick a winner. It is asking you to explain a theory fairly and then to say honestly where it is weak. ⭐ So give each explanation in two parts. First the MECHANISM: where it looks, and what it proposes. The dopamine hypothesis, high dopamine activity inside the brain. Social drift, rejection pushing a person down the social scale. ⭐ Then the DOUBT the course attaches to it, and why that doubt bites. For the biological account the doubt is nature and nurture. Locating the condition in brain chemistry may be too quick, because it can leave out a persons experiences and circumstances, which also seem to matter. ⚠️ For social drift the doubt is cause and effect, and it is worth stating carefully. Suppose people with schizophrenia are more often found in poorer areas. That is a LINK. It does NOT tell you the direction. Did hardship contribute to the condition, or did the condition make it hard to keep work and housing, so the person drifted there afterwards? A link on its own cannot separate those, and social drift is only one of the two readings. That second half, the doubt explained rather than just named, is where the higher marks sit.

Order the drift the theory proposes

Social drift theory proposes a sequence. Put its steps in the order the theory sets out. This is what the theory suggests, not a claim about any particular person.

• A person begins to experience the symptoms of the condition
• The symptoms make everyday functioning, such as work, harder to keep up
• The person meets rejection from others and starts to disengage
• Losing hold of work and connections, the person drifts down the social scale
• The person is now more likely to be found in a lower-income situation

Build the evaluation that credits

Assemble a fair evaluation of the biological explanation, the kind this specification rewards.

The explanations run

Five quick decisions about the two explanations. Three lives.

Ice cream and sunburn

Leave psychology aside for a screen. On a hot summer day, two things go up together: shops sell far more ice cream, and far more people turn up with sunburn. Plot them week by week and they rise and fall almost in step. ⭐ It would be silly to conclude that eating ice cream gives people sunburn, or that being sunburnt sends people out for ice cream. The two are linked, but neither is behind the other. ⭐⭐ A THIRD THING sits behind both. The hot, sunny weather brings out the ice cream vans AND the bare skin, and it is the weather doing the work. The link between the two is real; the direction anyone might read into it is not. This is the single most useful habit in the whole topic. Whenever two things are found together, three readings are open, not one. The first brings about the second, the second brings about the first, or a third thing brings about both. A link on its own cannot tell you which. ⚠️ Hold that as you go back to the two theories. Finding people with a condition more often in poorer areas is a link like ice cream and sunburn. It is genuine, and it is exactly the kind of thing that has three possible readings rather than one.

Complete the schizophrenia explanation facts

An explanation that locates schizophrenia inside the body, in the chemistry and structure of the brain, is a _____ explanation. The best known biological account is the _____ hypothesis, which links the symptoms to unusually high activity of that brain messenger. The psychological account on this course is social _____ theory, which proposes that rejection and disengagement pull a person down the social scale. The biological account is questioned through the _____ and nurture debate, for locating too much in the body and too little in experience. Social drift is questioned through the _____ and effect problem, because a link between low social position and the condition does not show which came first.

Judge the two explanations

An exam question asks you to explain and evaluate the two explanations of schizophrenia. Work through how to build a strong answer.

• You start with the biological explanation. What must a full point include?
• You turn to social drift. A study finds the condition more often in poorer areas. How should you use it?
• You finish the answer. What earns the most credit here?

Explain both explanations and their doubts

Explain the biological and the psychological explanations of schizophrenia, and give the criticism the course attaches to each. Write about them as theories to be explained fairly, not as facts to be believed.

• Name the biological explanation and say where it looks for the cause
• Explain the dopamine hypothesis and mention the brain structures the account points to
• Give the nature and nurture doubt about the biological account, and say why it bites
• Name the psychological explanation and explain what social drift theory proposes
• Give the cause and effect doubt about social drift, using the idea that a link does not show which came first
• Finish by saying why both are best treated as explanations to weigh rather than as proven facts