Biological psychologists study behavior by researching and studying how behavior and experiences relate to individual as genes and physiology. Biological psychology also investigates questions of how the brain and connected to consciousness. This branch of psychology stresses the goal of relating biology to the issue of psychology. This is called by many different words such as psychobiology, biopsychology, physiological psychology or behavioral neuroscience.
Brain functioning is the main focus for biological psychology. Studying the brain, biological psychologists attempt to find the best ways to help with recovery after brain damage, or what specific part of the brain helps us learn language or is involved in storing memories. Also researchers study what biological factors make people more likely to be affected with psychological disorders. Historical Development.
The idea that the mind and body work in unison and that this unison should be used in medical and psychological treatments physical dates back to the times and work of Hippocrates, Avicenna, Paraclesus and Galen. Each of these early practitioners saw man as the combination of interactions between the mind and body. They recognized the need to identify illness and disease as a result of this connection. To treat the entire individual and reach the goal of optimal health, not just the state of being illness free the mind and body must be treated (Rice, 1986).
Influential Theorists Charles Darwin is considered an important theorist of biological psychology because he came up with the theory that motivation is a result of biological necessity. Santiago Ramon y Cajel, another leading theorist because of his breakthroughs in understanding the firing structures of the brain. He was the first to demonstrate the organized structure of the brain, before it had just been considered a collection of cells. (Wickens, 2005).
In the 1930s, J. Z. Young demonstrated in a video called The Squid and its Giant Nerve Fiber, preparing a squid giant axon for electrophysiological study and demonstrating some experimental techniques (Lisieski, 2010). He discovered that he could locate a neuron on a giant squid and keep it alive for hours in the lab. Because squid neurons are much larger than human neurons, it was easier to study their how they worked (Wickens, 2005). Relationship With Other Fields.
The field of biological psychology is a combination of experts in the areas of anatomy, anthropology, behavioral medicine, biochemistry, clinical neuropsychology, endocrinology, genetics, molecular biology, paleontology, psychiatry, psychophysiology, and many more. Biological psychology is closely related to biopsychology, comparative psychology, behavioral neuroscience, physiological psychology, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary biology, neurobiology, neuropsychology, and health psychology. All of these fields have some basis in the mind-body connection.
Neuropsychology is the study of human behavior and the nervous system. Biopsychology is founded in the fields of behavioral and biomedical science with knowledge and techniques that are important to health and illness and the application of the knowledge and the techniques related to prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation (Schultz & Schultz, 2004). Major Underlying Assumptions four different ways. The physiological explanation is activity of the brain or other organs, the effect of hormones on behavior.
The ontogenetic explanation are elements such as genes, nutrition, experiences and their interactions. The evolutionary explanation is the history of a structure or behavior The functional explanation, which describes why something evolved the way it did (Kalat, 2008). The major underlying assumptions of a biopsychological approach is that humans act the way we do because of specific brain mechanisms that have evolved through natural selection over thousands of years (Wickens, 2005). Conclusion.
Biopsycology is a combination of many different sciences to answer a similar question, how behavior and experiences relate to individual as genes and physiology. From it’s historic beginings and its bright future, this area of psychology is fairly new, but extremely important to learning how the brain functions and why. References Kalat, J. (2008). Biological Psychology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. Lisieski, Mike. (2010). Vintage squid neuroscience video. Retrieved from: http://cephalove. southernfriedscience. com/? tag=neurons Rice, R. D.(1986).
The mind-body spirit connection: Ancient and modern healing strategies for a traumatic birth and the sick newborn. Pre-and Peri-Natal Psychology Journal, 1(1). Retrieved from: http://www. birthpsycology. com/healing/rice. html Schultz, D. P. & Schultz, E. S. (2004). A history of modern psychology. Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education. Wickens, A. (2005). Foundations of Biopsychology. Harlow, England: Prentice Hall. Retrieved electronically November 26, 2007 from: http://www. psypress. com/common/supplementary/184169360X/part1. pdf.