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Biological explanations of schizophrenia focus on genetic inheritance, neurochemical imbalances, and structural abnormalities in the brain. These explanations have been supported by a substantial body of research, though they have also attracted criticism for being reductionist and deterministic. In this lesson we examine the genetic basis, the dopamine hypothesis, and neural correlates of schizophrenia.
Key Definition: Biological explanations propose that schizophrenia is caused primarily by physiological factors — genes, neurotransmitter activity, and brain structure — rather than psychological or social factors.
The observation that schizophrenia tends to run in families led researchers to investigate its genetic component using family studies, twin studies, and adoption studies.
Family studies compare the rates of schizophrenia among biological relatives of a diagnosed individual. The closer the genetic relationship, the higher the concordance rate:
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