What is Biological

Psychology?
Is it a neuroscience?

Efni, Kayan, Kezia, Gilles

Study of behaviour
(and experiences?)

• Biological Psychology is psychology: the study of

behaviour based on principles of biology:
• What determines behaviour of humans (and
other animals) from the perspective of a
biologist

• Social Psychologist emphasize the relevance

of social relations,
• Developmental psychologists describe mainly
cognitive, social and emotional
developmental aspects
• Clinical Psychologists deal with patients and
their emotional disturbances
Biological Psychology

• Study of Physiological, Evolutionary, Developmental

Mechanisms of behaviour and experience

Biological Psychology is approximately synonymous

with the terms BioPsychology, Psychobiology,
Physiological psychology, Behavioural Neuroscience;
all have an interest in brain-behaviour relations.

I prefer with John Pinel that Biological Psy is the best

term, considering that it covers all biological laws
and knowledge (including physics, and chemistry)
for the explanation of behaviour, that is Psychology).
Biological Psychology is perhaps a
more broad discipline than
behavioral neuroscience
• Behavioral neuroscience is the scientific study of how brain
activity influences behavior.
• Biological Psychology studies more biological variables than
the brain: Also the immune system (autoimmune diseases,
Covid-19), the endocrine system and the content of the gut
influence our behaviors (type of number of bacteria;
microbiota).
• For example: during stress, the
brain is activated, the immune system
is less active, higher chances for
infections,
• For example: what we eat or not
eat, affects via microbiota (over 100
trillion microbial cells) the building
blocks of our brain, influencing
metabolism and transmission of
neurotransmitters in our brain.
A few techniques and study objects

Brain Lesion studies, chemical, electrical

Drug studies, systemic, local
Electrical/magnetic stimulation, inside brain,
Genetic studies (Twin studies) regarding behaviour and cognition
Animal models for neurologic and psychiatric diseases
Hormones affect behaviour
Role of environment; gene environmental interactions
Ontogenetic studies
Parental behaviour
Biological factors affecting learning, emotions
Neurochemical and electrical analyses of behaving animals
Effects of microbiota on behaviour
Biological Psychologists

• do not use common-sense explanations.

• Instead: they use physiological, ontogenetic, evolutionary and
functional explanations
• Physiological: activity of the brain and other organs, the
machinery, the hardware. How do hormones influence sleep
and wake, what happend in your spinal cord when you walk,
which process in the brain and body cause eating behaviour.
What happens in the autonomic nervous system during
emotions?
• Ontogenetic explantions: how does a structure of behaviour
develops, including the influences of genes, nutrition,
learning and experiences. Growth and development
influences many behaviours, also feeding behaviour. How to
inhibit impulses: smell of tasty food; 100K IDR now or 200K
next week? (=through maturaton of the frontal cortex)
• Evolutionary explanations: Based on a comparative (=between species
approach) and study nonhuman subjects. The brains of humans are
similar in fundamental ways to the brains of other mammals—they
differ mainly in their overall size and the extent of their cortical
development. In other words, the differences between the brains of
humans and those of related species are more quantitative than
qualitative, and thus many of the principles of human brain function
can be clarified by the study of nonhumans

• Functional approaches: Why does an organism performing the

behaviour ? Example: Why do we use language when speaking?
language enables us to do things: to share information, to enquire, to
express attitudes, to entertain, to argue, to get our needs met, to reflect,
to construct ideas, to order our experiences and make sense of the world.
Why do we sleep? Why do birds sing? Why do (some) young women (and
man) make themselves attractive? Is there a relationship between the
two examples?
rats, mice, and humans
each have approximately
30,000 genes of which
approximately 95% are
shared by all three
species.
Biological Psychology is an
integrative discipline.

• Neuroanatomy. The study of the structure of the nervous system and its constituent
building blocks
• Neurochemistry. The study of the chemical bases of neural activity
• Neuroendocrinology. The study of how hormones influence our behaviour and the
interactions between the nervous system and the endocrine system
• Neuro- and Psychopathology. The study of nervous system dysfunction
• Neurop- and Psychopharmacology. The study of the effects of drugs on neural
activity and behaviour
• Neurop- and Psychohysiology. The study of the functions and activities of the
nervous system
• Neuroimmunology. The study of the interaction of the immune and nervous
systems.
• Ethology. Study of animal behaviour imostly in their natural habitad.
• Behaviourists: study of animal behaviour under strict controlled conditions
• New is: study of Gut-brain interaction: feeling nauseated before giving a
presentation, or feel intestinal pain during times of stress. Altered gut microbiota
→ altered central nervous system (CNS) processing.
 • The study of psychology spans
different topics at many
different levels of explanation,
which are the perspectives that
are used to understand
behavior.
• Lower levels of explanation are
more closely tied to biological
influences, such as genes,
neurons, neurotransmitters, and
hormones
• Middle levels of explanation
refer to the abilities and
characteristics of individual
people
• Highest levels of explanation
Behaviour can be explained relate to social groups,
organizations, and cultures
(Cacioppo, Berntson, Sheridan,
at different levels & McClintock, 2000).

And none is better than the others,

they are complementary!!!
More refined: What are the levels of analysis in
brain-behavioral relations studies (behavioural
neuroscience or biological psychology?

• molecular, cellular, systems, cognitive, and social levels of analysis.

Molecular: the genes and chemistry of proteins within neurons. This may
include the study of how genes and the chemistry of proteins affect behaviour
and can be altered by the environment. Epigenetics: The study of changes in
gene expression with no changes in DNA sequences, which can occur naturally
or through the influence of environmental factors.
Cellular: Physiological properties of cells within the brain. What happens with
cells in the hippocampus when we learn something new
System level: Which are the brain circuits involved in vision, grasping (overt),
and covert (fantasizing, daydreaming, planning)
Cognitive level: Which brain processes are involved in higher mental processes,
such as language (partly overt, partly covert), attention, self-awareness,
consciousness, planning
Social level: Neurobiology of social processes
 Neuropsychology:
The study of brain (dys)functions in
human(s) (patients).

Clinical Neuropsychology deals with patients and their

brain dysfunctions. Close relationships with Neurology
and Clinical Psychology. Neuropsychological tests are
used to have objective indicators of subjective complaints
Because human volunteers cannot ethically be exposed to
experimental treatments that endanger normal brain
function, neuropsychology deals almost exclusively with
case studies and quasi-experimental studies of patients
with brain dysfunction resulting from disease, accident, or
neurosurgery.
The outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres— the cerebral
cortex—is most likely to be damaged by accident or
surgery; this is one reason why neuropsychology has
focused on this part of the human brain.
There are many other neurological patients as a
consequence of CVA, Epilepsy, neurodegenerative diseases
(Parkinson disease, various types of dementia).
The study of the neural basis of cognitive processes mostly
in the brains of healthy persons is called Cognitive
neuroscience. Mostly fMRI and EEG (or in combination).
Is Biological Psychology a neuroscience?

No, BP is the study of behaviour in humans and animals, however, it uses biological explanations and
biological/physiological measures. BP has intimate interactions with many neuro-disciplines

The interest in Biological explanations have increased since the knowledge about the brain has
increased through brain imaging studies, patient studies and often invasive studies in related animal
species. Now we have developmental neuroscience, and social neuroscience. Many disciplines
within psychology use “brain or neuro” measures.

Many (or all ?)psychological, psychiatric and neurological diseases have their origin in the brain. Also
many traditional bodily diseases, such as diabetis, and cardiovascular problems have consequences
for brain functioning. That is why brain-behaviour studies are important.
Task: One hour

Choose one article and answer the

Come up with two journal articles in What is the species studied? (not following questions: How it is studied? Design? What is
the domain of biological psychology two studies with human subjects). What is the research the Control groups?
question?/hypothesis?

Why is this biological psychology?

Or do you prefer another discipline
What is the conclusion? Note that name? At which level is the analyses
What are the dependent variable(s),
What are the outcomes? the results are not the same as taking place?
the independent variables.
conclusions
Why did you like/dislike these
articles?

Make a PowerPoint presentation

(max 5 slides in toto for the two
articles) and answer these
questions. You might be chosen to
present your homework in class
today.