2-1: Biological Psychology

Question 1

What do biological psychologists do?

Answer 1

Measure biological, physiological, or genetic variables in an attempt to relate them to psychological and behavioural variables.

Question 2

What schools did biological psychology emerge from?

Answer 2

Originates from early structuralist and functionalist psychological studies

Question 3

What do biological psychologists seek to understand?

Answer 3

Because all behaviour is controlled by the central nervous system, biological psychologists seek to understand how the brain functions in order to understand behaviour.

Question 4

What are the key areas of focus for biological psychologists?

Answer 4

• Sensation and perception
  
  • Motivated behaviour (sex, hunger, thirst)
  • Control of movement
  • Learning
  • Memory
  • Sleep and biological rhythms
  • Emotion
  • Reasoning
  • Decision making
  • Consciousness

Question 5

Why is biological psychology considered reductionist?

Answer 5

It explains complex phenomenon with simple elements.

An example of this is how biological approach often suggests that psychological problems can be treated like a disease, and therefore solved with drugs.

Question 6

Why is a reductionist view of psychology sometimes beneficial?

Answer 6

By reducing behaviour to simple elements, it allows researchers to study cause and effect.

Question 7

What do cognitive psychologists do?

Answer 7

They are a type of biological psychologist.

They rely on the functionalist insights in discussing how affect–or emotion–and environment or events interact and result in specific perceptions.

They study the human brain in terms of specialized parts, or systems, and their exquisitely complex relationships.

Question 8

What do cognitive psychologists study?

Answer 8

The human brain in terms of specialized parts, or systems, and their exquisitely complex relationships.

Question 9

What are the four areas of the brain?

Only give the names.

Answer 9

1. Frontal lobe
2. Occipital lobe
3. Parietal lobe
4. Temporal lobe

Question 10

What is the frontal lobe?

Answer 10

Also known as the motor cortex, this portion of the brain is involved in motor skills, higher level cognition, and expressive language.

Question 11

What is the occipital lobe?

Answer 11

Also known as the visual cortex, this portion of the brain is involved in interpreting visual stimuli and information.

Question 12

What is the parietal lobe?

Answer 12

Also known as the somatosensory cortex, this portion of the brain is involved in the processing of other tactile sensory information such as pressure, touch, and pain.

Question 13

What is the temporal lobe?

Answer 13

Also known as the auditory cortex, this portion of the brain is involved in the interpretation of the sounds and language we hear.

Question 14

What are the two main systems of the nervous system?

Answer 14

1. Peripheral
2. Central (brain and spinal cord)

Question 15

What is the peripheral system?

Answer 15

The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is responsible for connecting the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain and spinal cord, to the rest of the body. It serves as a communication network that enables information to be transmitted between the CNS and various parts of the body, including muscles, organs, and sensory receptors.

It is divided into two subsystems:
1. Autonomic (controls internal activities of organs and glands)
2. Somatic (controls external actions of skin and muscles)

Question 16

What is the autonomic system?

Answer 16

A subsystem of the peripheral system in the nervous system. It controls internal activities of organs and glands.

It is further divided into two subsystems:
1. Sypmathetic (arousing)
2. Parasympathetic (calming)

Question 17

What is the somatic system?

Answer 17

A subsystem of the peripheral system in the nervous system. It controls external actions of skin and muscles.

Question 18

What are some examples of biological/cognitive research?

Answer 18

1. Internal versus External Focus on Performance
   a. Focusing on external objects (e.g. skiis) increases performance compared to focusing on your own body (internally, e.g. your feet).
2. Visual Attention
   a. The brain’s ability to selectively filter unattended or unwanted information from reaching awareness—diminishes with age, leaving older adults less capable of filtering out distracting or irrelevant information.
   b. When asked to identify faces in an image, older adults had a harder time ignoring irrelevant information in the background (e.g. the Eiffel Tower) than younger adults.

Question 19

What other names does biological psychology go by?

Answer 19

Biopsychology and psychobiology

Question 20

What did William James argue regarding biological psychology?

Answer 20

In The Principles of Psychology (1890), William James argued that the scientific study of psychology should be grounded in an understanding of biology.

Question 21

What are the subfields within biological psychology?

Answer 21

Behavioral neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychology

Question 22

What are biological psychologists interested in measuring?

Answer 22

Biological, physiological, or genetic variables in an attempt to relate them to psychological or behavioral variables