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Copyright © 2006 by Allyn and Bacon

Chapter 1Biopsychology as a Neuroscience

What is Biopsychology, Anyway?

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Four Major Themes

Thinking about biopsychologyConnecting the text to real life

Clinical implications The evolutionary perspective

The comparative approach – what can we learn from other species?

Cognitive neuroscienceConnecting brain activity and cognition

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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

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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

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Other Disciplines of Neuroscience

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Other Disciplines of Neuroscience

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Biopsychological Research

Human and nonhuman subjects

Experiments and nonexperiments

Pure and applied research

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Human and nonhuman subjects

Differences are more quantitative than qualitative

Same basic structures (qualitative), but how much of each structure varies (quantitative)

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Human and nonhuman subjects

Fewer ethical restrictions

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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

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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

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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

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Divisions of Biopsychology

Physiological psychology

Psychopharmacology

Neuropsychology

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Divisions of Biopsychology

Psychophysiology

Cognitive neuroscience

Comparative psychology

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Converging Operations

Using multiple approaches to address a single question

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Converging Operations

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Converging Operations

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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

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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


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