week 1 Flashcards
1. Define biological psychology and the importance of the field. 2. Identify a few historical icons. 4. Biological explanations of behaviour. (33 cards)
Define Biological Psychology.
A field of study that relates behaviour to bodily processes (genes, nerves, neurotransmitters, brain circuitry).
Identify 8 historical icons.
Aristotle Hippocrates Galen René Descartes Thomas Willis Johannes Peter Muller Charles Darwin Santiago Ramon Cajal
What was Aristotles understanding of the Localization of function?
The Cardiocentric view - The heart initiates thought and behaviour. It is the root of intelligence and source of nerves in the body. The brain existed only to help balance the heart’s function
What did Hippocrates believe was the most powerful organ?
Brain-centered view -
“The brain is the most powerful organ of the human body”…. “eyes, ears, tongue, hands and feet act in accordance with the discernment of the brain”
What did Hippocrates mean when he referred to heredity in his writings?
The child “is healthy when it comes from healthy parts, diseased when it comes from diseased parts”
What did Hippocrates suggest about the humors of the body?
Humors of the body are chemical systems regulating the human body: the gall bladder(yellow bile), spleen(black bile) , lungs(phlegm water) and liver(blood air)
Any excess or decreased amount of any of them would be a sign of illness
What did Hippocrates mean when he referred to homeostasis in his writings?
health = balance between humors
“Health is primarily that state in which these constituent substances [i.e., humors] are in the correct proportion to each other, both in strength and quantity, and are well mixed. Pain occurs when one of the substances presents either a deficiency or an excess, or is separated in the body and not mixed with others”
What is Galen the father of?
Father of Experimental Physiology - First to study the structure of the nervous system through dissection and observation.
What did Galen discover?
Arteries carry blood (it was thought to be water), to parts of the body
Described valves of the heart
Observations around bones, muscles, and nerves
How did Galen advance Hippocrates bodily humors theory?
Typology of Human Temperament;
If there is an imbalance between the humours then there could be different personality types ->
The ideal temperament means humours must be balanced **
What was the purpose of the pineal gland during the 4-17th century?
Pineal gland = behaviour
Anterior (part of the pineal gland)= perception/imagination
Middle (part of the pineal gland) = reason
Posterior (part of the pineal gland) = memory
What was René Descartes considered the father of?
Father of Modern Philosophy
How did René Descartes view the pineal gland?
Pineal gland as the seat of the soul, most important organ. The central point between the mind and the body.
What was René Descartes concept of the reflex?
Concept of the Reflex – likened to hydraulics of machines, which is connected to the pineal gland
An automatic reflex to move your hand when hurt.
It was thought that nerves are hollow tubes allowing flow of “animal spirits” from the pineal gland which inflates muscles causing the withdraw movement.
- Connection between the soul and body
What was a “problem” that Descartes brought up first?
The Mind-Body problem
What is Monism?
Mind and body is considered the same thing
What is Dualism?
Mind and body are different kinds of substance that exist independently, that interact.
What is Penonmenalism?
physical objects and events are reducible to mental objects, only mind.
How did Descarte understand the Mind-Body Problem?
Dualism
The mind is invisible –consciousness
The body has a physical size that occupies space
Non-material soul and a material body
The pineal gland is point of contact
What is Thomas Willis the founder of?
Founder of Neurology
Assigned behavioural and physiologic functions to the brain
What is the Circle of Willis?
circle of arteries at base of the brain
Internal carotied arties that branch into small per artieries that supply oxygen and blood (oxygeniated blood) to over 80% of the cerebruim
What did Johannes Peter Muller discover?
First to experimentally isolate components of the nervous system to see how they function
Doctrine of Nerve Energies: The nature of perception is defined by the pathway over which the sensory information is carried. The origin of the sensation (i.e., the stimulus) is not important
It is not caused by for example, the “blueness” of the sky, rather our optic nerve
What 2 principles did Charles Darwin found?
Principle of Natural Selection
Principle of functionalism
What is the Natural Selection Principle?
Process in nature by which only the organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characters in increasing numbers to succeeding generations while those less adapted tend to be eliminated