Week 1 - Perspectives on the Brain, Mind and Mental Health Flashcards
In what most basic way might you define what the brain is?
An organ of the human body
What is an organ in the biological sense?
A structure of the body that serves a particular function, such as the lungs or heart
What is the definition of a biological system?
A group of interrelated organs and tissues that work together to serve a particular function
What are the constituent parts of the nervous system?
- Brain
- Spinal cord
- All of the peripheral nerves of the body
What are neurons?
Brain cells that relay messages within and between brain areas, and from the brain to the rest of the body and back
What are the five different types of neuron?
- Multipolar neuron
- Pyramidal neuron
- Purkinje cell
- Bipolar neuron
- Unipolar neuron
What is the main similarity between the different types of neuron?
They all have a cell body and lots of branching dendrites
What are glial cells?
Cells that play a supporting and protective role within the brain
What function do glial cells perform?
They clear away waste, such as dead neurons
What is meant by the term plasticity?
The ability of the brain to adapt and change as a result of experience
What does the field of cognitive neuroscience investigate?
The ‘thinking’ functions, and the processes within the brain that support these
What does the field of neuroanatomy investigate?
The structure and organisation of the brain
How would a cognitive neuroscientist study the brain?
They would monitor living participants using a variety of technical equipment, such as fMRIs
How would a neuroanatomist study the brain?
They would study the brain postmortem using techniques such as slicing and staining to make features of the brain tissue more easily visible
What does the field of neurogenetics investigate?
The genetics which underpin the nervous system
What does the term translational research mean?
Reserarch which is conducted in a laboratory setting and can be carried across to have a clinical impact
What is meant by the term mental state?
Mental activities which include thinking, beliving and feeling
What viewpoint regarding the brain did the French philosopher Rene Descartes propose?
That the body and mind are different entitities - the brain is physical, whereas the mind takes on a more ethereal form
What approach to the mind did the American philosopher John Searle propose?
That minds and bodies are not different entitiies, and that mental states are an intrinsic property of complex biological systems - that you could not have mental states without a functioning brain
What may be a problem with John Searle’s approach to the mind?
His proposition would mean that when the brain dies, the mind dies with it, which could raise ethical questions about when the mind begins and ends
What are the three components of the mind which Sigmund Freud proposed?
- Id
- Ego
- Superego
What areas of personality do the Id, Ego and Superego deal with?
- Id: instincts
- Ego: reality
- Superego: morality
What does the Id component of the mind do?
It operates on the pleasure principle, making demands based on basic instincts such as hunger, and then provides a sense of pleasure when these demands are satisfied
What does the Ego component of the mind do?
The Ego sits between the Id and the Superego, mediating between them, and is also our conscious decision-making component
What does the Superego component of the mind do?
It is the seat of social morality, telling us right from wrong. It is our conscience and includes our personal aspirations of our ideal selves
What is meant by the term psychodynamic approach?
It is an approach to understanding the mind which infers that the mind is created from a dynamic interaction between the Id, Ego and Superego
What explanation for the cause of mental health problems did Freud propose?
That mental health problems arose due to an unresolved conflict between the Id and Superego
What is meant by the term behaviourism?
An approach in psychology that is concerned with observable behaviours, rather than the concept of the mind (it does not take in to account thoughts or feelings)
What is the behaviouristic approach to psychology?
That to understand ourselves, we do not need to refer to the concept of the mind at all, that all behaviours are learned through interaction with environment
Which psychologists were pioneers of behaviourism?
Ivan Pavlov and Burrhus Skinner
What is subjective evidence?
The type of evidence given when a person reports how they are thinking or feeling
What is objective evidence?
The type of evidence that can be verified by others and includes the outward behaviours of an individual
What is quantitative data?
Data that can be counted or measured in numerical values
What is qualitative data?
Non-numeric information such as interviews, diaries, answers to survey questions, audio-visual recordings and images
What is cognitive psychology?
It is the study of internal mental processes such as perception, thinking, memory, attention, language, problem solving and learning
What processes does cognitive psychology help us to understand?
- Perception
- Thinking
- Memory
- Attention
- Language
- Problem solving
- Learning
How do cognitive psychologists conduct research?
By gathering empirical data from scientific research methods
What is the evolutionary approach?
A scientific view which argues that humans and other organisms are a product of biological evolution
What is plasticity?
The idea that biological organisms change as a response to their environment
What is phenotypic plasticity?
The property of organisms to produce distinct phenotypes in response to environmental variation
What is a phenotype?
An individual’s observable traits, such as height, eye colour, blood type
What is the medicalised approach (with regards to mental health in particular)?
An approach which suggests that mental health is the same as or an extension of physical health, and therefore requires medical treatment
What is psychopharmacology?
A field of psychiatry which focuses on how substances such as drugs affect the brain and mind
What is the name of the holistic model of health psychology as developed by George Engel?
The biopsychosocial model
What does the biopsychosocial model propose?
That biological, psychological and social factors are all
What are the different types of self?
- Bodily self
- Perspectival self
- Volitional self
- Narrative self
- Social self
What is interoception?
The sense that helps you understand and feel what is going on inside your body
What are the two big changes that the WHO wants to bring about with regards to mental health?
- Reduce stigma and discrimination
- Improve services for mental health
What is reductionism?
A level of analysis that narrows the focus from large to small scale
What is the WEIRD population effect?
The particular focus of psychological studies on people from Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic countries
