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Biological psychology, the study of the physiological bases of behaviour. Biological psychology is concerned primarily with the relationship between psychological processes and the underlying physiological events—or, in other words, the mind-body phenomenon. Its focus is the function of the brain.
- William McDougall
William McDougall (born June 22, 1871, Chadderton,...
- Behavioral Science
Behavioral science, any of various disciplines dealing with...
- William McDougall
Departing from traditional textbooks, XBio presents biology as detective work; a bold search for knowledge, and not just its memorization. XBio is a collaboration between and. This program was supported in part by a grant to iBiology from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The Bio-Dictionary helps you to understand common terms in biology.
- Issues and Debates
- Investigation of Inheritance
- Methods of Studying The Brain
- Timeline
Free will vs. determinism
It is strongly determinist as it views behavior as caused entirely by biological factors over which individuals have no control.
Nature vs. nurture
The biological approach is firmly on the nature side of the debate; however, it does recognize that our brain is a plastic organthat changes with experience in our social world, so it does not entirely deny the influence of nurture. Cross-cultural researchinvolves studying a particular behavior (e.g., gender, facial expressions) across different cultures. If the behavior is found to be similar across cultures, psychologists conclude that differences in behavior are biologically (i.e., nature)...
Holism vs. reductionism
The biological approach is reductionist as it aims to explain all behavior by the action of genetic or biochemical processes. It neglects the influence of factors such as early childhood experiences, conditioning, or cognitive processes.
Twin studies provide geneticists with a kind of natural experiment in which the behavioral likeness of identical twins (whose genetic relatedness is 1.0) can be compared with the resemblance of dizygotic twins (whose genetic relatedness is 0.5). In other words, if heredity (i.e., genetics) affects a given trait or behavior, then identical twins sho...
It is important to appreciate that the human brainis a highly complicated piece of biological machinery. Scientists have only just “scratched the surface” of understanding the many functions of the workings of the human brain. The brain can influence many types of behavior. In addition to studying brain-damaged patients, we can find out about the w...
The Voyage of the Beagle(1805 – 1836) – Darwin formulated his theory of natural selection by observing animals while traveling the world. Harlow (1848): Phineas Gage brain injury case studyprovides neuroscience with significant information regarding the working of the brain. Darwin (1859) publishes On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selec...
Mar 17, 2023 · The investigation of any aspect of behaviour may involve the study of (i) causation and mechanisms, (ii) development, (iii) evolution and (iv) function or current utility. These are Tinbergen’s ‘four questions’. In the study of causation and development a mix of correlational and experimental strategies can be used.
Mar 10, 2023 · The biological perspective is a way of looking at psychological issues by studying the physical basis for animal and human behavior. It is one of the major perspectives in psychology and involves such things as studying the brain, immune system, nervous system, and genetics.
Nov 21, 2019 · Abstract. William James famously defined psychology as the science of mental life. Much ink has since been spilled over the concept of the mental, but less so over the notion of life. In this article, I argue that psychologists should address life as an equally important concept. First, I briefly articulate Aristotle’s idea of the soul (or ...
Biological psychology – also known as biopsychology or psychobiology – is the application of the principles of biology to the study of mental processes and behaviour. Biological psychology as a scientific discipline emerged from a variety of scientific and philosophical traditions in the 18th and 19th centuries.
