Day 1 Flashcards
What is Biopsychology?
The scientific study of the biology of behaviour
Why do we use non-human subjects in research?
- Ethical considerations
- Easier to manipulate
- More simplistic/homogenous across individuals
- Comparative purposes
- Evolution
- Environmental influences
- Similar brain structure to humans
What’s the difference between experimental and non-experimental design?
Experimental:
- A variable is being manipulated
- Tests effects of IV on DV
ex. Placebo vs drug effects on mood ratings
- Double-blind (take away human biases)
- Random assignment fixes confounding variable issues (factor that influences outcome that you’re not trying to measure)
Non-experimental design:
The researcher does not
control the variables of interest.
Pure vs Applied research
Pure research: Conducted for the purpose of applying knowledge (no application in mind)
Applied research: Intended to bring about some direct benefit to human kind.
What are scientific Inferences? What’s the issue with them?
- The methods that biopsychology use to study the unobservable.
- Scientist measure what they can observe and then use these measures to make inferences about what they can’t.
- Every inference we make is prone to error
- More inferences = more error
What is critical thinking?
-The ability to evaluate scientific claims by identifying potential omissions or weaknesses in the evidence
-Use Morgan’s canon for this: Go with the simplest definition so you can limit inferences.
What are the two types of experimental design?
Type 1:
Between subject design
- Participants divided into groups and experience only one condition. These treatments are then compared to the other groups.
Type 2:
Within subject design
- All participants experience all events
- less participant variation (more reliable, cheaper)
- Not always possible
What are the three types of non-experimental design?
- Observational:
-Observing and describing relationships between groups without manipulating variables or randomly assigning participants - Not real experiments doesn’t control for confounding variables.
- Type of correlational research
- No direction of causation
- Case studies:
- focuses on a single individual
- more in depth
- Lower generalizability
*Quasi experimental:
- a research study that assesses the effect of an intervention on a population without random assignment
- Not real research, confounding variables not controlled.
What are the 6 divisions of biopsychology?
Psychological psychology: Neural mechanisms of behaviour. Direct manipulation of the brain
Studies the nature of mechanisms of behaviour through the direct manipulation and recording of the brain in controlled experiments
Ex. Surgical
Subject: animals
Focus on brain manipulation
Typically pure research
Manipulate nervous system in non human animals (ex. Taking out hippocampus of rats see how behaviour changes)
Comparative psychology: Comparing different species to understand evolution, genetics, and adaptiveness of behaviour
Compares species to understand evolution genetics adaptive behaviour
Engage in ethological research study of behaviour in an animal’s natural environment
Pharmacology: Effect of drugs on brain behaviour
Neural activity
Goal: develop drugs for therapeutic use or reduce drug abuse
Neuropsychology: Brain damage in humans
Study of the psychological effects of brain dysfunction
Type: case study and quasi experimental
Psychophysiology: Relation between physiological activity and psychological processes in humans
Usually measured with eeg
Study of how mind and body interact
Cognitive neuroscience: Neural bases of cognition
Newest division
Cognition= higher intellectual processes (thought, memory, attention)
Method= Functional brain imaging (records images in activity of brains while participant is engaging in mental activity)
Physiological psychology
- Figuring out how neural mechanisms of behaviour work by direct manipulation of the brain.
- Take laboratory animals and surgically remove or chemically alter parts of their brain to see how they act without it
Psychopharmacologie
- Effects of drugs on brain behaviour
Neuropsychology
Study the psychological effects of brain dysfunction in human patients.
Uses case studies
Psychophysiologie
Relation between physiological activity and psychological processes in humans volunteers using non-invasive physiological recordings.
Cognitive neuroscience
The study of neural mechanisms of human cognition through brain functioning imaging
Method= Functional brain imaging (records images in activity of brains while participant is engaging in mental activity)
Comparative psychology
Study of evolution genetics and adaptiveness of behaviour
use comparative methode
