Introduction

• Dualist


  Mind is different & separate from matter. —> Ergo: “where in the brain is the mind”
• Materialist

  Mind is what brains do. ……………—> Ergo: “how do brain mind?”
• Psychobiology


  The study of the biological basis of human behaviour
• Systems that produce an organism's responses to its environment


  • Immune system
  • Endocrine system
  • Nervous system
• Case studies for why to study psychobiology


  • For educational psychologist: AD/HD & muscle tone
  • For consultants / expert witnesses: False memory & neuroplasticity
  • For clinicians: Psychosomatic illnesses & brains producing minds
• Social psychology studies the 'why' and 'what' of human behaviour, while biological psychology studies the 'how' of human behaviour.
• No psychological theory or concept can violate biological (physical) principles, and no psychological research question can be outside a biological framework.
• Psychology definition


  Literally “The study of the soul/mind”- but what is the mind
• What are the 2 contrasting philosophical position?


  Dualist and Materialist
• How to remember the dualist position?


  Dual = 2–> distinct/ different —> brain and mind are 2 completely separate worlds/ realms

  Homer think about donut + eats donut—> thought in diff realm to material world

  
• Trick to remember the materialist position


  The mind is an activity that brains do-> analogy: walk/ing is what legs do
• What is the pragmatic position?


  Pragmatically what is psychology: “ The study of the behaviour of the (human) brain”—> The study of human behaviour

  (Study of what brains do/ study of what brains make our bodies do)
• Human behaviour


  An organism's internally coordinated response to its internal or external environment
• Defining human behaviour as 'what people do' is problematic because non-human animals still behave
• Defining human behaviour as 'what organisms do' is problematic because things like hair growth and resting heart rate are unlikely to be called behaviours
• Defining human behaviour as 'an organism's response to its environment' is problematic because things like tripping over a rock and falling down are not behaviours, but responses to the rock (in the environment)
• Defining human behaviour as 'an organism's internal coordinated response to environment' is problematic because things like eating when feeling hungry are not internal responses