What does an understanding of biological processes offer to psychological explanations?

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What does an understanding of biological processes offer to psychological explanations?

By studying the brain we can conceive hypothetical structures of personality making predictions of behavioural outcomes, through an outsider and insider viewpoint. Technological advancement can reveal brain abnormalities and understand the chemical activity of brain cells. Gaining a clearer understanding of psychological brain processes and their determents of behaviour.

(Francis Crick 1994) a biologist claimed all psychological events could only be explained in brain activity. Social phenomena, explained in terms of genes and biology of the brain. Known as reductionism, it offers two theoretical approaches. Psychological phenomena could be explained through the framework of the basic sciences and simple principles such as stimulus and response associations. These brain sciences can be organised in a descending hierarchy with the more generalised at the top and the complex tapering at the bottom.

(Bolton and Hill 1996), made a counter claim that many psychological phenomena cannot be reduced to physiological or biological terms. Psychology is concerned with processes, whereas physiology is structure. This eclectic approach leans towards biology and psychology being reciprocal.

When brain and mind are combined they form an emergent property, something not evident when