Issues with the role of neurotransmitters in the explanation of behaviour

Issues

• One advantage of neurotransmitters as an explanation of behaviour is that they support the nature side of the nature nurture debate, meaning that they believe that conditions can be predicted as they are inborn and therefore would be shown using blood tests etc. For example dopamine helps to regulate mood and rewards basic behaviour essential for survival therefore testing levels of dopamine means we can assess a persons behaviour

• However, using the neurotransmitter explanation of behv. means that we are removing responsibility from individuals for their own behv. for example, are criminals responsible for their aggression if it is caused by biochemicals? This may be a problem because cause and effect may be hard to establish as other factors such as upbringing may influence behaviour.

• A disadvantage of neurotransmitters as an explanation for behaviour is that they are reductionist as they ignore key influences on behaviour such as our upbringing. For example, they believe that mood is determined by the levels of serotonin in the…