What does an understanding of biological processes offer to psychological explanations?

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Alistair Smith                                      U205353X                                                TMA 2                

What does an understanding of biological processes offer to psychological explanations?  

By studying the brain we can conceive hypothetical structures of personality making predictions of behavioural outcomes, through an outsider and insider viewpoint.  Technological advancement can reveal brain abnormalities and understand the chemical activity of brain cells.  Gaining a clearer understanding of psychological brain processes and their determents of behaviour.

(Francis Crick 1994) a biologist claimed all psychological events could only be explained in brain activity.  Social phenomena, explained in terms of genes and biology of the brain.  Known as reductionism, it offers two theoretical approaches.  Psychological phenomena could be explained through the framework of the basic sciences and simple principles such as stimulus and response associations.  These brain sciences can be organised in a descending hierarchy with the more generalised at the top and the complex tapering at the bottom.

(Bolton and Hill 1996), made a counter claim that many psychological phenomena cannot be reduced to physiological or biological terms.  Psychology is concerned with processes, whereas physiology is structure.  This eclectic approach leans towards biology and psychology being reciprocal.

When brain and mind are combined they form an emergent property, something not evident when looking at components individually.  Behavioural phenomenon arises from physical brain interaction and the minds interpretation of the social environment.

The brain comprises of neural chemical pathways.  Mind, is philosophical even spiritual.  Rene Descartes (1596-1650) claimed that a stimulus could initiate an almost mechanical reflex action.  Descartes analogy drew on technology of his day envisioning a human mechanical machine in which levers, gears and hydraulics led to bodily actions.  Termed dualism- a philosophical perspective that draws an absolute distinction between brain and mind.

Scientists reject the idea that mind can exist physically from the brain.  A key feature remains; mental processing can be termed using an engineering analogy, where energy is transposed either electrically or chemically into the end result of bodily movement.  Psychologist’s interests lie with neurons and synapses these form part of the nervous system.  Variations in the functioning of this system can be associated with differences in behaviour and the mind.

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The synapse is the junction between neurons; it is thought that an abnormality in a number of synapses in the brain may be the root of psychological disorders.  Chemical transmitters pass messages across the synapse.  The synapse like a switch operates in one of two states; excitation the message continues across the synapse to the next neuron, or inhibition the activity is suppressed and no message is passed.  Schizophrenia may be associated with abnormalities within certain types of neuron transmitter.  Parts of the brain may be abnormally active and people’s attention may be drawn to stimuli usually ignored.

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