foundations of biological psychology- lecture 1 Flashcards
what is physiological psychology?
study of neural mechanisms of behaviour by direct manipulation of brains of non human in controlled experiments
what is psychopharmacology?
manipulation of neural mechanisms using drugs and observing effects on behaviours e.g. caffiene
what is neuropsychology?
the study of psychological effects of brain damage
what is psychophysiology?
study of relationship between physiological/biological activity and pyschological processes
what is cognitive neuroscience?
the study of neural mechanisms involved in higher cognitive functions such as memory and perception
what is comparative psychology?
the study of behaviours across different species to understand the role of evolution, genetics and adaptiveness
what is the comparative approach?
- the cross species comparison of biology and behaviour
- diff species have the same basic structure (qual)
- but the vary in size (quant)
strengths of using nonhuman subjects
- brains have similar structure
- simpler brains make interactions easier to observe
- can aid animal welfare
- helps understand evolution
- fewer ethical implications
integration disciplines in biological psychology
psycho-neuro-endocrinology (PNE)
psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI)
limitations of using non human subjects
- strict ethical legalisation
- cant answer all questions about human behaviour
what is psycho-neuro-endocrinology and psycho-neuro-immunology
exploring nervous, hormonal and immunal pathways that link psychological factors (e.g. stress) to ill health
what approach is taken in biological psychology
causal approach
behaviour is linked to identifiable events within bioogical systems
‘if x then y’
investigating the causal approach
- somatic intervention
- behavioural intervention
- correlational approach
what is somatic intervention
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)
what is behavioural intervention
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)
what is the correlational approach
observing whether biological measures covary with behavioural measures
e.g. changes in hormonal levels (somatic measures)- self reported stress (behavioural measures)
problems with correlational approach
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
what is the deterministic approach
identifying physical cause for all observed behaviours
extreme form= reductionism- all behaviours reduced to physical activity
problems with reductionism
doesnt hep understand more complex phenomena e.g. consciousness, love, religious experience, morality
mindy/body problem
what is the mind/body problem
dualism vs monism
what is dualism
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
what is monism
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
