foundations of biological psychology- lecture 1

Question 1

what is physiological psychology?

Answer 1

study of neural mechanisms of behaviour by direct manipulation of brains of non human in controlled experiments

Question 2

what is psychopharmacology?

Answer 2

manipulation of neural mechanisms using drugs and observing effects on behaviours e.g. caffiene

Question 3

what is neuropsychology?

Answer 3

the study of psychological effects of brain damage

Question 4

what is psychophysiology?

Answer 4

study of relationship between physiological/biological activity and pyschological processes

Question 5

what is cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 5

the study of neural mechanisms involved in higher cognitive functions such as memory and perception

Question 6

what is comparative psychology?

Answer 6

the study of behaviours across different species to understand the role of evolution, genetics and adaptiveness

Question 7

what is the comparative approach?

Answer 7

• the cross species comparison of biology and behaviour
• diff species have the same basic structure (qual)
• but the vary in size (quant)

Question 8

strengths of using nonhuman subjects

Answer 8

• brains have similar structure
• simpler brains make interactions easier to observe
• can aid animal welfare
• helps understand evolution
• fewer ethical implications

Question 9

integration disciplines in biological psychology

Answer 9

psycho-neuro-endocrinology (PNE)
psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI)

Question 9

limitations of using non human subjects

Answer 9

• strict ethical legalisation
• cant answer all questions about human behaviour

Question 9

what is psycho-neuro-endocrinology and psycho-neuro-immunology

Answer 9

exploring nervous, hormonal and immunal pathways that link psychological factors (e.g. stress) to ill health

Question 10

what approach is taken in biological psychology

Answer 10

causal approach
behaviour is linked to identifiable events within bioogical systems
‘if x then y’

Question 11

investigating the causal approach

Answer 11

• somatic intervention
• behavioural intervention
• correlational approach

Question 12

what is somatic intervention

Answer 12

when the investigator can manipulate the biological system to see the effect on behaviour
e.g. administer stress hormone (SI)- increase feeling of stress (behaviour change)

Question 13

what is behavioural intervention

Answer 13

when investigator can manipulate experiences to see if this affects biological systems
e.g. expose individual to stressful situation (BI)- changes in hormone levels (somatic effects)

Question 14

what is the correlational approach

Answer 14

observing whether biological measures covary with behavioural measures
e.g. changes in hormonal levels (somatic measures)- self reported stress (behavioural measures)

Question 15

problems with correlational approach

Answer 15

spurious correlations
- correlation doesnt prove causality
- same behaviours can occur for diff reasons
- physiological systems dont work in isolation- they recieve input from the external world and other physiological systems making simple correlation tricky

Question 16

what is the deterministic approach

Answer 16

identifying physical cause for all observed behaviours
extreme form= reductionism- all behaviours reduced to physical activity

Question 17

problems with reductionism

Answer 17

doesnt hep understand more complex phenomena e.g. consciousness, love, religious experience, morality
mindy/body problem

Question 18

what is the mind/body problem

Answer 18

dualism vs monism

Question 19

what is dualism

Answer 19

e.g. rene descartes
the mind, soul and body are seperate but communicate with the pinneal gland- makes intuitive sense
e.g. mind seperate to brain (soul)
BUT how can somthing with nophysical properties, location or mass produce physical changes in the brain and then body

Question 20

what is monism

Answer 20

western view of singularity of mind and body
Human thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc are simply the product of complex
neurological / neurochemical / neuroelectrical / neurohormonal activity
BUT
Other, more complex behaviours cannot be explained in terms of simple physiological actions