Approaches, The Biological Approach-AQA A Level Psychology

The Biological Approach – AQA A Level Psychology (Approaches) | Complete Lesson PowerPoint

Teach the Biological Approach confidently with this ready-to-use, 19-slide lesson for AQA A Level Psychology (Paper 2: Approaches in Psychology). It links back to the Cognitive Approach and sets up the move to the Psychodynamic Approach, so it slots straight into your Approaches unit.

What’s covered

• The main assumption that everything psychological is first biological
• Genes and behaviour, including twin studies and concordance rates
• Genotype vs phenotype (Phenotype = Genotype + Environment)
• Neurochemistry and behaviour: serotonin and depression, dopamine and schizophrenia
• Evolution and the adaptive nature of behaviour: random mutation, survival advantage and reproduction
• Evaluation: scientific methods (fMRI, EEG), practical applications (drug therapies such as SSRIs), biological determinism and reductionism

What’s included

• Clear learning objectives
• Retrieval starter: Cognitive Approach recap quiz with answers
• “Is your personality just a chemical cocktail?” hook to start discussion
• Illustrated key vocabulary slide (genotype, phenotype, evolution, neurochemistry)
• Nature–nurture listening task on twin studies, with questions and answers
• Strengths and limitations slides with AO3 points students can use in essays
• Terminology matching check with answers
• Summary slide and link to the next lesson

Why teachers love it

• Ready to teach, with no preparation needed
• Answer slides follow each task, so it works for self-marking and cover lessons
• Retrieval, discussion, listening and checking tasks keep students active throughout
• Fully editable PowerPoint (.pptx)

Suitable for: AQA A Level Psychology (7182) Year 12 or Year 13, revision, cover lessons and independent study.

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