Biological Psychology

Looking back at the rungs of the ladder analogy used to describe the different levels of analysis in psychological research we can see that one of those levels deals with the impact biology has on our mind. When you think of biology you can also think of evolution and when evolution is involved you can surely thank Charles Darwin. Many theories Darwin discovered have implications in the field of psychology.

There are two terms associated with evolution that are a good idea to know, genotype and phenotype. The genotype of an organism is it's genetic code whereas the phenotype is the observable characteristic brought about by the active genotype. Essentially throughout the evolutionary process a genotype will emerge through some means such as mutation which causes a phenotype such as perhaps a longer beak on a bird to develop. Over time the bird with the longer beak lives longer and has more children allowing it to spread it's mutation allowing that phenotype to survive. Evolution is brought about by stresses brought by the environment and success can be measured by the mating success of a subject.

Three major evolutionary achievements for humans that have led to where we are today is out bipedalism, the ability to walk upright and therefore free up our hands, our encephalization, the enlargement of our brains for more complex functions, and the development of language allowing for us to describe the world around us in a more useful way.

Our bodies make use of the nervous system to allow for the input, processing, storage, and output of information much like a computer does. Our nervous system can be broken up into two main parts, the central nervous system which is the brain and the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system which is the other connections of the body that link our central nervous system (CNS) to the other organs and limbs. The peripheral nervous system (PNS) also tends to take care of automated functions for us such as instinctive reactions.

The brain is part of the CNS and is responsible for pretty much everything we are. The brain is broken up into individual parts which each have their own functions and responsibilities but are all interconnected to some degree and can adapt over time. The brain is divided into two hemispheres separated by the central sulcus which is a deep grove running down the center. The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and is used in producing and understanding language. The Right hemisphere controls the left side of the brain and is known for it's use in temporal and spatial relationships, analyzing nonverbal information and communicating emotion. Although the two hemispheres of the brain are divided in their functions they are able to communicate with each other via the corpus callosum.

Apart from the two hemispheres the brain is also broken up into multiple lobes. The frontal lobe is responsible for planning, thinking and long term memory as well as many other functions. It is located in the front of the two hemispheres and is connected to the motor cortex. The temporal lobe is mostly responsible for hearing as well as some language and visual processing. The parietal lobe is mostly known for its use in touch and response to internal stimuli. The occipital lobe is mostly for vision and reading comprehension.

Two critical areas of the brain to look at are Broca's and Wernicke's area which is used for language. Broca's area is responsible for maintaining grammatical structure of language whereas Wernicke's area is responsible for maintaing the meaning of words. If damage occurs to either of these areas it is possible that language capabilities will become diminished or non existent.

The hippocampus is another critical area of the brain used for memory and spatial navigation.

The brain is made up of billions of neurons which make trillions of connections. These neurons are responsible for controlling out mind and body. Different types of neurons exist in the brain such as sensory, motor, internuerons and mirror neurons. Sensory neurons are responsible for sensing the world around. Motor neurons are used in reacting to stimuli and moving your body. Interneurons allow for cross talk between neurons and mirror neurons allow for the collective actions a species takes.

Neurons are made up of multiple parts which each has their own tasks to accomplish. The soma (body) is the main processing area of the neuron and also includes the nucleus, damage to this area is fatal for the neuron. Dendrites extend from the soma and receive information from other neurons. The axon carries signals from the neuron and terminal buttons are used with neurotransmitters. Neurons fire in an on off style such as the case with computers known as all or none law and also have a refractory period between firings in which another firing cannot exist. There are two types of communication between neurons, electrical and chemical. Electrical communication is extremely rapid with practically no refractory period. It is useful for reflexes and other quick decisions. Chemical communication makes use of nuerochemicals to make complex thought and other actions. This method has a small refractory period but is good for complex reasoning.

Research Methods

Using good research methods is a necessity in scientific studies to ensure that the findings we conclude are accurate and useful. When research is performed incorrectly it can lead to many issues including possible harm to subjects. In order to ensure that research is conducted properly, scientists have certain safe guards in place which help keep errors to a minimum. Standardization and operational definitions are a good start when it comes to keeping data accurate and unbiased. When using standardization scientists ensure that any tests they are performing are done in a similar manner with the same questions and technique being applied to each subject. After the test is completed the same scoring method is then used to calculate the outcome. This prevents different subjects having different outcomes solely because they were tested differently for the same research. Operational definitions are when the variables in a study are clearly represented by how they are measured in the context of a study. 

Control procedures are another helpful tool when performing research so that results are not skewed by inaccurate information. Double-blind testing is performed when both the researcher and the subject are unaware of certain parts of a test. This ensures that neither party can accidentally alter the results of the test with their own predisposition or behavior. Another fine example of control procedures is the widely used placebo controls in which a group of research participants are given a fake test (placebo) such as a sugar pill in the case of drug studies which allows researches to observe whether or not the medication itself is causing the effects or if instead the idea that it is supposed to work is causing participants to believe it is working. Without such control groups it is possible that medicine such as pain killers would not have any real use but rather you would trick yourself into thinking they are working and thus cease the pain you feel. 

The reason we can sometimes have issues with our conclusions is due to two modes of thinking known as intuitive and analytical. When it comes to intuitive thinking we can talk about our reflexes and initial thoughts. For example when you first see someone and make a judgement you are using intuitive thinking which is fast but can sometimes be incorrect. Analytical thinking is usually slow and reflective which allows us to examine our subjects and dive further into what is going on. When using analytical thinking we are able to do complex functions such as mathematics. 

When it comes to actually administering a study there is much to think about but the first that will be considered here is how to go about the research. 

• Naturalistic observation occurs when a subject is observed in their natural environment. This would be for instance watching college students as they work in class or a library rather than bringing them to a laboratory for observation. The reason this method might be used is that it has high external validity meaning the findings can be applied to the real world. The main problem with naturalistic observation is that because the researcher is not controlling the variables the study is low in internal validity which keeps us from inferring causation. 
• Case Studies are when a researcher will examine one person or a small number of people, often over an extended period of time allowing them to study rare or unusual phenomena. These studies often allow of existence proofs which can show that something actually occurs and can offer insight for later systematic testing. The issue with case studies are that they are typically anecdotal (an issue with pseudoscience) and do not allow us to infer causation. 
• Correlational designs can help predict behavior by studying how certain variables cause other variables to change. Again though this study cannot infer causation. Correlational studies make use of positive and negative correlations to represent findings. A perfectly positive correlation is when one variable goes up so does the other and a perfectly negative correlation is when one variable goes up the other goes down. Correlations can be based from -1 to +1. 
• Experimental designs are used in a laboratory setting and allow us to infer causation thanks to the researcher being able to manipulate the variables. These studies are high in internal validity but are not high in external validity. Experimental designs use independent and dependent variables to test hypothesis. An independent variable is manipulated by the researcher and the dependent variable is influenced by the change in the independent variable. The dependent variable is the thing being measured. 
• Self-report measures are when surveys and questionnaires are used to do research. Using self-report studies allows for a large amount of the population to be studied over a relatively short period but is reliant on a few key features. In order to have a good study the participants must be selected at random  which also is a key for generalizing the results. We also must assume that the participants of such a study are honest in their reports and able to accurately study themselves. 

 

Origin of Psychology

Psychology is the applied and academic study of the human mind and behavior. The goals of psychological study are to describe, explain, predict and change human behavior.  Many consider Wilhelm Wundt to be the father of modern day psychological study. Wundt is the first person to have called themselves a psychologist and differentiate psychology as an actual science on the same level of biology or physics. The first laboratory dedicated to psychological research was created by Wilhelm as well. The other prominent figure in early psychology is William James who is widely associated with modern day American psychology. William is credited with offering the first academic class on psychology as part of his teachings.

Early psychological perspectives can be simplified to two main ideas, Structuralism and Functionalism. Structuralism is the study of the human brain and behavior broken down into individual elements as with the periodic table. Functionalism on the other hand has a focus on how each behavior and part of the brain has a specific function. Functionalism can be linked to the work of Charles Darwin in that our behaviors evolve with social, cultural, and environmental stresses. After these two preliminary ideas we can spawn much of the more modern ideas about the human mind.

• Psychodynamic theory comes from the mind of Sigmund Freud as a substitute for physics study of thermodynamics. It is based on the principle that our minds use a type of psychological energy that can be measured to determine thought and behavioral processes. 
• Behaviorist theory has roots based on the work of Ivan Pavlov and his classical conditioning approach to animal behavior. Essentially it is the idea that human minds can be conditioned into behaving a certain way through use of a punishment and reward system. 
• Humanistic theory is based around the idea that human beings are essentially good willed creatures and will strive to better ourselves and our surroundings in an effort to realize our full potential. 
• Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes as they occur in the brain.
• Evolutionary psychology studies the way in which the evolutionary process affects our behavioral tendencies. 
• Biological psychology is the study of how our biological makeup plays a roll in the way we behave and think.
• Sociocultural psychology studies how much influence the culture we are exposed to has over our minds. 
• Positive psychology studies the way in which positive reinforcement affects our minds. 
• Ethnic Subdivisions is the study in which we look at how different ethnicity's have different psychological profiles and behave differently from one another. 

When studying psychology one can look at the layout of a ladder with many rungs where each rung represents a level of analysis. Each level of analysis can tell us something different about the way we think and behave. Without looking at multiple rungs of the ladder it can be difficult to get even a partial understanding of the way the human brain works. These layers cover from the structure of the brain in a biological and physical sense to the functions, thoughts, feelings, and emotions caused by the mind. 

Studying psychology isn't always as straightforward as we might hope. Our minds are able to trick us into a few very real issues that can cause unwanted errors in the scientific method of research. Naive Realism is an issue where we assume that "seeing is believing" and end up trusting out intuitive perception of the world. Our perceptions are generally right such is the case when avoiding collisions while driving however sometimes we are mistaken in our preliminary assessment of a situation. 

Human beings suffer from a continued bias towards our own thoughts and belief as is the issue with confirmation bias. When suffering from confirmation bias scientists tend to focus on evidence that will prove a theory correct rather than any contradicting evidence which may disprove a theory. This is almost always a subconscious action on the researchers part but can happen to even the best of us. Belief perseverance is another bit of bias we face where even after evidence comes forward to disprove something we believe in we tend to still believe in the inaccurate theory.

Science is not able to prove or disprove every claim it comes against. These are known as Metaphysical claims. One type of claim would be the case of religion. With a metaphysical claim there is no way to measure with scientific instruments the idea that is put forth and without such evidence there is no way for science to either stand for or against the claim. A secondary limitation to science is pseudoscience which is often a claim found in advertisements that sounds like scientific truth but often relies on a lack of safeguards against bias and an over reliance on anecdotes.  

Two large debates in the world of psychological study are the nature-nurture debate and the free will-determinism debate. Nature-nurture has a focus on how much of our behavior comes from our biological and evolutionary structure (nature) and how much we change based on our social and environmental contact (nurture). With the free will debate scientists are focused on how much we control our own fate and to what degree we have free will when it comes to our actions and behavior.