Introduction to Biological Psychology

Introduction to Biological Psychology

• Biological Psychology, also known as Behavioural Neuroscience or Psychobiology, applies biological principles to studying behaviour, focusing on physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms in humans and animals.
• Behaviour is defined as any action an organism takes in response to stimulation, linking biology with behaviour and environment.
• Biological Psychology is interdisciplinary, drawing on biology, neuroscience, physiological psychology, genetics, and evolution to understand human experience.

Methods of Biological Psychology

• Experiments: Use varied methods like knockout mice, optogenetics, and randomisation to study specific behaviours in controlled environments.
• Quasi-experimental Studies: Similar to experiments but do not randomly assign participants.
• Case Studies: Focus on individual organisms to understand behaviour.

Instruments of Biological Psychology

• Animals: Commonly used in studies, ranging from rats and mice to monkeys and cats.

The Level of Analysis: Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)

• DNA carries genetic instructions for organism growth, function, and reproduction.
• Behavioural genetics examines the influence of genes on behaviour.

The Level of Analysis: The Neuron

• Neurons are the fundamental units of the brain.
• Neurons process information, breaking it down and relaying it to other parts of the brain and body.
• Neuronal communication is analogous to a computer, where the brain = CPU, the body = computer, and the neurons = communication/information processing.

The Level of Analysis: The Brain

• The brain, comprised of over 86 billion neurons, is responsible for sensing and perceiving.
• Brain development continues until approximately age 21, fully myelinated.

Levels of Analysis: The Social Level

• Social level analysis considers how DNA, neurons, and the brain contribute to human experience at a social level.
• Biological psychology explains how humans function in the world and how we experience the world.

Evolutionary Psychology

• Evolutionary Psychology investigates human experience by considering its evolutionary context, even with its apparent contradictions.

• Nikolas Tinbergen's four questions (mechanism, development, evolution, and adaptive value) guide this investigation, offering deep understanding of how behaviours evolved.

• These four questions can be applied to any behaviour or trait to understand its evolutionary context.

• Crying in infants, for example, can be examined through these lenses to understand its biological and evolutionary functions. External causes include hunger, pain, and discomfort. Internal causes involve regulating physiological processes like body temperature, neurological development, and the limbic system. The fixed trajectory of crying in the first three months can be studied. It is an honest signal, however it does have metabolic costs and dangers from predation or parental abuse. Crying elicits care from parents or caregivers and the behaviours that lead to it are universal behaviours across infants.

• Comparative evidence from primates and hunter-gatherer societies suggests historically continuous care/contact to infants.

• Crying is a functional behaviour, conveying infant health and triggering care-giving responses.

Explore the core concepts of Biological Psychology, which combines principles from biology and psychology to understand behavior and its physiological, genetic, and developmental underpinnings. The quiz covers methods of experimentation, including case studies and quasi-experimental designs, and highlights the interdisciplinary nature of this fascinating field.