PSY 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Chromosome, Twin, Thymine
Chapter 1: What is Biopsychology?
- Neuroscience: the multidisciplinary study of the nervous system and its role in behavior
- The Origins of Biopsychology
- Neuroscience identifies the subject matters of the investigation rather than the
scientist’s training (biologist, physiologist, anatomist, neurologist, chemist,
psychologists, or psychiatrist)
- Biological Psychology: the branch of psychology that studies the relationships
between behavior and the body, particularly the brain
- Behavior is overt acts and also internal events like learning, thinking, and emotion
- Psychology has a long history
- Prescientific Psychology and the Mind-Brain Problem
- Mind-brain problem deals with what the mind is and what its relationship
is to the brain
- Mind, like weather, is just a concept; it is not a something; it does not do
anything
- Monism: the idea that the mind and the body consist of the same substance
- Materialistic Monism: the body and mind and everything else are physical
- Dualism: the mind and the brain are separate
- Descartes and the Physical Model of Behavior
- Model: a proposed mechanism for how something works
- Descartes used a hydraulic model to explain the brain’s activity
- Descartes lacked an understanding of how the brain and body worked, so
he relied on a small amount of anatomical knowledge and a great deal of
speculation
- Empiricism: gathered information through observation rather than logic,
intuition, or other means
- Helmholtz and the Electrical Brain
- Scientists showed that animal spirits were not responsible for movement,
but instead nerves operated by electricity
- This started a biological phenomenon about how the brain and nerves in
the brain work
- The Localization Issue
- Localization: the idea that specific areas of the brain carry out specific
functions
- Emerged in the first half of the 19th century
- Phineas Gage
- Railroad construction worker when a dynamite explosion drove an
iron rod through his skull and frontal lobes
- Survived with no impairment of intelligence, memory, speech, or
movement
- Became irresponsible and profane and was unable to abide by
social conventions
- Broca’s area was found after Broca performed an autopsy on a man who
lost his ability to speak after a stroke (Broca’s area is responsible for
speech)
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Document Summary
Neuroscience: the multidisciplinary study of the nervous system and its role in behavior. Neuroscience identifies the subject matters of the investigation rather than the scientist"s training (biologist, physiologist, anatomist, neurologist, chemist, psychologists, or psychiatrist) Biological psychology: the branch of psychology that studies the relationships between behavior and the body, particularly the brain. Behavior is overt acts and also internal events like learning, thinking, and emotion. Mind-brain problem deals with what the mind is and what its relationship is to the brain. Mind, like weather, is just a concept; it is not a something; it does not do anything. Monism: the idea that the mind and the body consist of the same substance. Materialistic monism: the body and mind and everything else are physical. Dualism: the mind and the brain are separate. Descartes and the physical model of behavior. Model: a proposed mechanism for how something works. Descartes used a hydraulic model to explain the brain"s activity.
