BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Alcovendas, Sheinne Chelsea |BioPsych Quiz
Topic Outline:
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What is BioPsych?
Biological Explanations of Behavior
Career Opportunities
The Use of Animal in Research
Introduction to Biological Psychology
Biological Psychology is the study of
physiological (Brain and organs), evolutionary
perspective, and developmental mechanisms of
behavior and experience.
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“marked fitness” – attracted in ideal
characteristic
evolutionary perspective example: when it
comes to partner merong tinatawag na
marked fitness
progressive development of brain
(developmental mechanisms
3 Points to Remember
1. Perception occurs in your brain
2. Monism and Dualism
3. Being cautious what is an explanation and
what is not.
Monism
Monism is the idea that a universe consists of one
Dualism
Dualism is the idea that mind and body are
different or minds are one type of a substance and
matter is another.
Biological Explanations of Behavior
1. Physiological Explanation – relates a
behavior to the activity of the brain and
organs
2. Ontogenic Explanation – describes how a
structure or behavior develops.
- Ontogeny  process of individual’s
development
3. Evolutionary Explanation – reconstructs
the evolutionary history of a structure and
behavior
- Call attention to behavioral similarities
among related species
- Theory of Evolution
4. Functional Explanation – describes why a
structure evolved as it did.
- It answers the question “why”
Type of explanation from Birdsong
1. Physiological – under the influence of
testosterone, male songbirds develops
bigger brains enabling them to sing.
2. Ontogenic – in certain species, a young
male bird learns its song by listening to
adult males. It requires genes and an
opportunity to hear appropriate songs
3. Evolutionary – certain species have similar
songs. This suggest that the two evolved
from a single ancestor.
4. Functional – in most bird species, only the
male sings. He sings for the reason of
reproduction to attract females or to warm
others of its territory.
Career Opportunities
1. Neuropsychologist – conducts
behavioral tests to determine the
abilities and disabilities of people with
various kinds of brain damage
2. Psychophysiologist – measures heart
rate, breathing and other body
processes and how they vary from one
person to another.
3. Clinical Psychologist – helps people
with emotional problems; employed by
hospital, clinic, private practice or
college.
4. Counseling Psychologist – short term
therapy (day to day problems)
5. Neurologist – treats people with brain
damage or neurological disorder
6. Neurosurgeon – performs brain
surgery
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Alcovendas, Sheinne Chelsea |BioPsych Quiz
7. Psychiatrist – prescribed medications
8. Physical Therapist – provides exercise
and other treatments to help people.
– Plasticity  is the ability to heal on its
own.
9. Occupational Therapist – helps people
improve their ability to perform functions
of daily life.
10. Social Workers – helps people with
personal and family problems.
The Use of Animals in Research
1. Similarity of behavior mechanism and
convenience to study non-human species.
2. Interest in animals for their own sake.
3. Learning about animals shed light on
human evolution.
4. Legal and ethical restrictions from using
humans for aversive research experiments
Degrees of Opposition
Minimalist
Minimalist are the one who tolerates certain types
of animal research.
Minimalist have ethical restrictions in using animal.
Abolitionalist
Abolitionalist are the one who maintains that
animals have the same rights as humans.
The 3 “R’s”
Reduction – as many experiments as necessary
but as few laboratory animals as possible para
hindi rin maging endangered species yung mga
animals.
Replacement – avoiding or replacing the use of
animals (digital or may mga nabibili for dissecting
animals like frog pero hindi totoo pero parehas pa
rin sila kung ano yung nasa loob ng katawan nila)
Refinement – minimizing the pain during the
process of experiments para mabawasan yung
stress ng mga animals