Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Chapter 1 Biopsychology as a Neuroscience What is Biopsychology, Anyway? This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of the program.
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Four Major Themes Thinking about biopsychology Connecting the text to real life Clinical implications The evolutionary perspective The comparative approach – what can we learn from other species? Cognitive neuroscience Connecting brain activity and cognition
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon What is Biopsychology? “the scientific study of the biology of behavior” psychobiology, behavioral biology, behavioral neuroscience psychology: the scientific study of behavior Hebb (1949) proposed that psychological phenomena might be produced by brain activity
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Biopsychology is an integrative discipline Knowledge from other disciplines of neuroscience is applied to the study of behavior Each discipline studies a different aspect of the nervous system that informs our understanding of what produces and controls behavior
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Other Disciplines of Neuroscience
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Other Disciplines of Neuroscience
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Biopsychological Research Human and nonhuman subjects Experiments and nonexperiments Pure and applied research
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Human and nonhuman subjects Differences are more quantitative than qualitative Same basic structures (qualitative), but how much of each structure varies (quantitative)
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Human and nonhuman subjects Fewer ethical restrictions
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Experiments and nonexperiments Quasiexperimental studies – studies of groups of subjects exposed to conditions in the real world Not real experiments as potential confounded variables have not been controlled
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Pure and Applied Research Pure research – conducted for the purpose of acquiring knowledge Applied research – intended to bring about some direct benefit to humankind Some research projects may have elements of both
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Divisions of Biopsychology Six major divisions Each has a different approach, but there is much overlap Physiological psychology, psychopharmacology, neuropsychology, psychophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, comparative psychology
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Divisions of Biopsychology Physiological psychology Psychopharmacology Neuropsychology
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Divisions of Biopsychology Psychophysiology Cognitive neuroscience Comparative psychology
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Converging Operations Using multiple approaches to address a single question
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Converging Operations
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Converging Operations
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Scientific Inference The empirical method that biopsychologists use to study the unobservable Scientists measure what they can observe and use these measures as a basis for inferring what they can’t observe
Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon Critical Thinking The ability to evaluate scientific claims by identifying potential omissions or weaknesses in the evidence Morgan’s Canon – when several explanations are possible, give precedence to the simplest one