...The Importance of Biology in the Study of Psychology Ashley B. McVey Cecil College Abstract Whether it is the study of biopsychology and other fields of psychology or neuroscience, all psychologists and scientists are trying to understand the functions of the brain. The body and mind connection and how it reacts to certain behaviors or illnesses. Most all psychological functioning can be reduced to underlying brain processes. This should serve as reason alone as to why biology plays an important part in the study of psychology. Psychological factors play a role in whether a person develops a mental illness and in how well they recover from a mental illness, yet biological and genetic risk factors, or predispositions, are fundamentals to understanding mental illnesses. In this paper, we will look at Parkinson’s disease as an example of how biology has brought us to a deeper understanding of the psychology of mental illness. Psychology is an academic and applied discipline that involves the scientific study of mental functions and behaviors. Psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in individual and social behavior, while also exploring the psychological and neurobiological processes that underlie certain functions and behaviors. For this reason, biology plays a very important role in the study of psychology. Psychology determines what people perceive to feel and behave, but underlying it all, ultimately determining the way we act...
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...Cognitive Psychology Tonya Hill PSY/360 June 17, 2013 Eric Tomlinson The Definition of Cognitive Psychology Cognitive Psychology is a psychological perspective that addresses mental processes such as thinking, problem solving, remembering, believing, and speaking, and seeks to identify behavior by characteristics other than its obvious properties (Defining Cognitive Psychology 2011). It includes mental representation and the use of abstract constructs to find relationships between brain structure and their functions (Willingham, 2007).This area of psychology is important in order to acquire knowledge and gain an understanding on how a person’s mental process works. Four Key Milestones in Cognitive Psychology There are at least four key milestones in the development of cognitive psychology as a discipline and they are as follows: the failure of behaviorism, the computer metaphor and information processing, abstract constructs of artificial intelligence and neuroscience. Behaviorism was similar to cognitive psychology but it failed to identify mental processes. Freud’s psychoanalysis required that mental processes be identified in the study of cognitive psychology but behaviorism failed to meet this need. All aspects of the human psyche needed to be accommodated especially in the area of language and memory. This lead psychologists to really rethink behaviorism and gave support for the development of another area of science that would focus attention on...
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...Cognitive psychology is a scientific subset of psychology that studies mental processes including thinking, memory, perception and learning. This discipline focuses on cognition and acquiring information. Cognitive psychology studies how an individual distinguishes, learns and retains information; thinks, rationalizes and responds. Cognitive psychology, according to the text, focuses on how a person feels on the inside. (Willingham, 2007). 1.2 Identify key milestones in the development of cognitive psychology as a discipline. Cognitive psychology developed as a deeper analysis of mental processes associated with behavioral psychology (behaviorism). The development of cognitive psychology is largely attributed to Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis. Its development includes several milestones and key approaches which make cognitive psychology one of the most important disciplines of psychology. The basic foundation of cognitive psychology is Alderian psychology. The evolution of cognitive psychology is evident in several main approaches which are presently influential: Ellis’s “Rationale Emotive Therapy” Beck’s works in cognitive therapy Computational cognitive approach Cognitive neuropsychology 1.3 Discuss the importance of behavioral observation in cognitive psychology. Observation must be made in order to understand and explain behavior. Cognition, in the mental and inner sense, can only be measured by observing behavior patterns; inner states are not visible. 1.4 Explain...
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...What next for Psychology? The word Psychology, derived from two Greek words, ‘Psyche’ (Ψυχή, breath or the soul) and ‘logos’ (study) (Clark, 2014), is the field of scientific study devoted to the functions of the human brain and human behaviour (Clark, 2014). From the philosophical debates of ancient Greek scholars (Psychology Network, 2014), to the sophisticated scientific study performed by specialists in the field today (Queens University, 2014), humankind has sought to discover and unravel the secrets of the human brain. This long journey through the millennia has seen a dramatic evolution in the nature of psychology (Origins, 2014), however, it was not until the nineteenth century that a truly scientific discipline was born (Thomas, 2014). Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1920) (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2014), set up the first psychology laboratory, situated within the department of philosophy, at the University of Leipzig in 1876 (Thomas, 2014). The facility was devoted to physiological experimentation through scientific methodology, and it was also where the theory of introspection, which posited that reflection and interpretation of lived experiences could help to develop a model of consciousness, was developed. (Thomas, 2014). Since this time, psychology as a ‘scientific’ specialty has grown into a discipline with many branches, with each of these branches being devoted to a particular aspect or paradigm (Ritchie & Grenier, 2002) This essay will present a concise account...
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... The foundations of psychology | | | Blaine Waddell | 5/29/2011 | PSY/300 Katherine Bowen | Psychology is a science of behavior and mental functioning that uses both quantitative and qualitative research studies to develop and test hypotheses and put forward theories and models that explain human behavior.” (Kowalski & Westen, 2005) When psychology was first founded there were only a few foundations of psychology. The most popularly used in the 1800’s were called, structuralism and functionalism. Structuralism focuses on identifying and analysis basic elements of experiences. These experiences even include mental events like perception. Research for this form of approach to psychology comes from verbal accounts of experiences. Functionalism focuses on the belief that optimal learning conditions can be created by knowing how the brain uses and processes information; thereby it is considered perceptional also. As time went on and the science of psychology progresses more approaches to present day psychology emerged. Behavioral, psychoanalytic, cognitive, social/cultural, humanism, physiological, and clinical are all popular approaches to modern day psychology. The physiological approach is the learning how the brain effects behavior and how behavior can affect the brain. The behavioral approach...
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...Biological Foundations in Psychology Biological Psychology Paper Vanell Wilson Manon Doll March 13, 2010 Biological Psychology Biological Psychology is defined as “the study of behavior and experience in terms of genetics, evolution, and physiology, especially the physiology of the nervous system” (American Heritage Dictionary). Biological psychology uses biology as an approach to understand human and animal behavior. Psychology has now developed into a wide-ranging discipline and is concerned with understanding behavior and mental processes from a variety of perspectives. Biological psychology is the branch of science that attempts to explain behavior in terms of biology, is therefore the study of the brain and how it causes or relates to behavior (Foundations of Biopsychology). The brain contains more cells than there are in the universe. There are over 100 billion cells and each parts works together to produce, direct, and choreograph what we think, feel, and do. The study of the brain is one of the most rapidly expanding areas in modern science today, and part of this development is a quest to understand how it’s physical and chemical structure gives rise to human behavior. Arguably, there is no other discipline that can give us greater insight into ourselves, as well as having the potential to change people’s lives for the better (Foundations of Biopsychology). The ancient Greeks were among the first to realize that the brain was the organ of the mind, Plato...
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...Foundations of Psychology Larry Eckel PSY 300 December 5, 2011 Liz West Foundations of Psychology According to “Foundations of Psychology” (1948), “psychology is the study of human nature. It is the study of man, man as a living being, acting in an ever-changing world, responding to things and events and other people. If you know what man is, if you know the full answer to the question about the nature of man, then you know what human nature is and what psychology comprises” (Chapter 1, Para. 1). Many varying thoughts have changed over time to the study of psychology. These thoughts include functionalism, behaviorism, structuralism, psychoanalysis, and humanistic. According to Kowalski, R., & Westen, D. (2009), structuralism was introduced by Edward Titchener because of his interest in the study of structure in consciousness. He believed that with experimenting in psychology to be the best attempt for science to understand psychology. Titchener states that “attention implied too much free will” to be an accurate and useful. Later, psychologists continued to study the consciousness with feelings and sensations that could only be told by only the person reporting them. This was one of the thoughts that were most prominent in the early years of psychology. The other thought that was also prominent was functionalism. Unlike structuralism that focused on the mind, the work of functionalism looked at the function, or role, that psychological actions can help people...
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...Cognitive Psychology The field of psychology is made up of different branches and each branch gives a range of different ideas and theories toward the compound field of psychology. Cognitive psychology is one branch that focuses on how cognition directly affects human behavior. Primarily cognitive psychology tries to uncover the underlying mental processes that play a role on particular human behaviors. Cognitive psychology was created in distinction of behavioral psychology. Major human functions can be observed through theories from the cognitive branch of psychology. These things can range from language, problem solving skills, memory functioning, and perception. Cognitive psychologists have developed many theories over the years that have made major contributions to the general field of psychology. The Foundation of Cognitive Psychology Prior to cognitive psychology becoming a significant branch of the psychology field, behavioral psychology was the main branch within psychology. Cognitive psychology came about when psychologists began to have questions about the behavioral method to psychology. Several psychologists felt that the behavioral approach to psychology had many gaps when it came to basic human functions such as memory, language, and learning. Psychologists attempted to fill these gaps by comparing the human mind to a computer (Willingham, 2007). Psychologists and scientists who studied artificial intelligence considered that the human mind functioned similar...
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...Foundations of Psychology Lisa Sauer Psy/300 2/23/2014 Belky Schwartz There are four major schools of thoughts in psychology that have been adapted by psychologist today. First let us look at the study of behaviorism; this discipline suggests that behavior is a learned process by external events. As with Pavlov and his dog experiment, human behavior then is much the same, our behavior is not from brain processes but from learned experiences. And that human behavior has nothing to do with thoughts or feelings but just with our learned experiences. Behaviorist does not try and study the actual workings of the brain. These researchers are much more interested in behavior as to what goes in must come out. Many behaviorists see the mind as a “black box” because the mind cannot be studied scientifically (Psychology, 6th Edition R. Kolwaski, 2011). The next school of thought would be that of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis where most behavior is on an unconscious level and humans are not even aware of the process. The three levels of that the theory rests on are our actions are because of our thoughts, wishes and wants. Then most of these ideas take place on our unconsciousness and lastly these processes compete with one another and so that we may actually not be aware of why behavior is occurring. Psychodynamic psychology uses studies to understand their theories and have been criticized heavily for relying on lying to subjects to get results. This type of work has a moral...
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...Origins of Psychology Abstract “Psychology has a long past but only a short history.” This simple almost satirical statement by Hermann Ebbinghaus is key to understanding the history and underpinnings of modern psychology. From a flawed seventh century B.C. experiment by the King of Egypt to Socrates, Plato, Hume, Liebniz, and others, psychology has a very long past but only a short scientific history. Philosophical Background In the seventh century B.C., the King of Egypt conducted what many, including psychology historian Morton Hunt, consider to be the first psychology experiment. Though flawed and rudimentary, the king tested his idea that thoughts and language came from the mind. Although unscientific, the idea of the minds overall ability to do more was put to the test. Socrates (460-399 B.C.) often considered and referred to as a father of philosophy, stated “One thing only I know and that is I know nothing.” This realization came when he concluded that philosophy can only begin when one learns to doubt, particularly the thoughts and ideals that each individual holds dear and sacred. In short, real philosophy cannot start until one’s mind begins to examine itself. Again the mind is central and paramount. To modern psychology he gave the Socratic Method of questioning, which demanded definitions...
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...The Science of Psychology Foundations of Psychology Suzette Lee [ Monday, April 02, 2012 ] PSY300 Psychology is a scientific study that investigates the main components of the brain, the mind and the body in different fields of psychology in order to understand and conduct observations of the mental process of the human mind, and observable behavior. Psychology is often used to understand the unknown of human behavior, and their potential patterns that observe the actions of self expression on how people feel and store memory. The study of the mind is an observation of a person’s mental awareness of both the conscious and unconscious mentality. Structuralism was the dominant school of psychology in Germany and the U. S. between1890-1920, and was the school of thought based on the notion that the object of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related. Structuralism explores areas of the mind, focus mainly with sensation and perception in vision, hearing and, touch through introspection, or the systematic observation of one’s own conscious experiences, although Functionalism was the protest against structuralism and had the assumption that functionalism was more practical and concerned with commonsense issues, structuralism believed that mental functions were not subject to introspective analysis which it was the shaping of the mind that could be analyzed. Another school of thought is behaviorism, in which...
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...Foundations of Psychology Dorothy Forrest June 8, 2012 Sarah Bihms Foundations of Psychology The miscellaneous condition of psychology is a scientific investigation of humankind mind, body, and behavior. Psychology includes different departments of psychology to apprehend and supervise observations on the mental technique of a person mind and behavior. Psychology is regularly used to establish the secrecy of the human behavior. Observation was the way to study a person mind to become aware of the mental conscious and unconscious states. As time went by psychology was established, alone with some major schools of thoughts. The paper below will examine the foundation of psychology, identify the major schools of thought in psychology, and examine their major underlying assumptions such as, behaviorism, psychoanalytic/psychodynamic, humanistic, and cognitive. In addition, it will identify the primary biological foundations of psychology linked to behavior such as, brain, central nervous system, peripheral nervous System, and genetics/evolution. Behavioral Theory Behavioral psychology, also known as behaviorism, is a learning theory established on the notion that behaviors are gathered by conditioning. Conditioning develops from influenced of the environment. There are two major types of conditioning classical and operant. Classical conditioning is a procedure used in behavioral training where a naturally stimulus is paired with a response. Operant conditioning...
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...Foundations of Psychology General Psychology 300 December 4, 2011 Foundations of Psychology A variety of theories make up the foundations of psychology ranging from the physiological to the unconscious. Psychology traces its roots to philosophers such as Charles Darwin, psychologists such as Sigmund Freud or B.F Skinner and various physicians and biologists. Scientific Experimentation is the method of some of the perspectives use, while some rely solely on clinical observation. The biological foundation of psychology is biopsychology. Neuroscientists “investigate the electrical and chemical processes in the nervous system that underlie these mental events” (Kowalski, 2009, p. 6, para. 1). Mental events include thoughts, feelings, and fears just to name a few. When studying the brain, neuroscientists observed patients with severe brain trauma, concluding they showed lack of language and memory or a drastic change in personality. These results proved that the brain and behavior worked together. One of the issues arising from the study of biopsychology is the term localization of function, meaning to the extent to which different parts of the brain control different functions. The belief at one time was that each psychological function happened in a specific part of the brain, when after several observations realized psychological circuits are distributed throughout the brain and contribute to a psychological event. Once the biological foundation of psychology was built, it...
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...Cognitive Psychology Psych 560 May 20, 2013 Prof. Pitt Cognitive Psychology The brain is one of the major faculties that provide sense to human life. The numerous and various abilities of the human brain are truly amazing. However, although it is a common thought that man may think extraordinarily, human emotions have great influence to how human beings think, and use his brains. It is the reason why any activity facilitated or performed by the brain is called a mental processes or cognition. Cognition refers to the process that involves mental or cognitive ability such as in learning, comprehension, judging, thinking, problem-solving, remembering and recalling (Kendra, 2011). Neisser (2009) defined cognition as the “act of knowing, and cognitive psychology is the study of all human activities related to knowledge”. (Page 1) Cognitive psychology is a part of the larger field of cognitive science and is related to various disciplines in psychology such as neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy. The main thrust of cognitive psychology is how the people acquire, store and process information. Compared with other dominant approaches in psychology for example, the behaviorism approach which is concerned with the observable behaviors, the cognitive approach focuses on internal mental states. Unlike psychoanalysis which is focused on subjective perceptions, the cognitive psychology approach...
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...Biological Psychology Paper Individual Week 1 Psy 340 Biological Psychology Paper Individual Week 1 Since man first began to think, he asked the question of how, where, and why. Man wanted to know how and why the thought process occurred. We want to know where we actually live. Where is conscious thought? It was once believed that our thoughts and soul were housed in our hearts. As man began to understand and study the human body, these beliefs changed. We now know that every thought, emotion, belief, and impulse begins in the brain. The primary focus of biopsychology is to understand the mind versus brain relationship. Biological psychology is a sub-field and combination of two separate academic areas of scientific study. Biology literally means the study of life. Physiology is the study of how the body functions. Human psychology studies the mind and the resulting behavior of people (Pinel, 2009). The fields of psychology and physiology are studied together in order to achieve a better understanding of each area and their interdependent functioning and relationships. Biological psychology is also known as: biopsychology, neuroscience, neurobiology, and even behavioral science (Bickhard, 2009). Historically, biological psychology began with the ancient Greeks. Theorists and philosophers across time have added to biology and psychology. Plato, Socrates, Descartes, Galen, and Galvani have all given life to this field. Descartes thought that pineal gland of the...
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