CHAPTER 1 WHAT IS BIOPSYCHOLOGY?

The Origins of Biopsychology Nature and Nurture THE ORIGINS OF BIOPSYCHOLOGY *Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system and its role in behavior. *This identifies the subject matter of the investigation rather than the scientists training. *Biopsychology is the branch of psychology that studies the relationship between behavior and the body, particularly the brain. *Biopsychologists try to go beyond the mechanisms of how the brain works and focus on the brains role in behavior. THE ORIGINS OF BIOPSYCHOLOGY *In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, cementing psychology as its own discipline. *Before biological psychology could emerge as a separate subdiscipline, evidence would have to be offered that the biological approach could answer significant questions about behavior. THE ORIGINS OF BIOPSYCHOLOGY *The mind-brain problem deals with what the mind is and what its relationship is to the brain. *Neuroscientists believe we should think of the mind as simply a collection of things that the brain does, like thinking, sensing, planning and feeling. *The impression is that a mind is just an illusion, a sense of mind is nothing more than the awareness of what the brain is doing. THE ORIGINS OF BIOPSYCHOLOGY *Monism is the idea that the mind and the body consist of the same substance. *Idealism - everything is the non-physical mind. *Materialism - the body and mind are physical. *Dualism is the idea that the mind and the brain are separate. *The mind is nonmaterial and the body is material. *The mind influences behavior by interacting with the brain. THE ORIGINS OF BIOPSYCHOLOGY *A model is a proposed mechanism for how something works. *Scientists often resort to the use of models to understand whatever they are studying. *A model can be in the form of a theory. *A model can also be a simpler organism or system that researchers study in an attempt to understand a more complex one. THE ORIGINS OF BIOPSYCHOLOGY *Descartes reasoned through his use of a hydraulic model that sensations, memories and other mental functions were produced as animal spirits

flowed through pores in the brain controlled by the pineal gland. *He believed the pineal gland was the seat of the soul, the place where the mind interacted with the body. THE ORIGINS OF BIOPSYCHOLOGY *Descartes lack of anatomical knowledge illustrated how a model or theory can lead researchers astray. *Empiricism refers to testing ideas through direct observation and experimental manipulation rather than logic, intuition or other means. THE ORIGINS OF BIOPSYCHOLOGY *Luigi Galvani (1700s), and later Guztav Fritsch and Eduard Hitzig (1870) showed that nerves operated by electricity. *Hermann von Helmholtz demonstrated that it was not in fact electricity, but neural conduction was a biological phenomenon, which opened up the functioning of nerves and the brain to scientific study. THE ORIGINS OF BIOPSYCHOLOGY *Localization is the idea that specific areas of the brain carry out specific functions. *Developed from the case of Phineas Gage, and Paul Brocas discovery of the area in the left side of the brain responsible for the ability to speak. *Phrenology, developed by Franz Gall, is the idea that each of the 35 different faculties of emotion and intellect are located in a precise area of the brain. THE ORIGINS OF BIOPSYCHOLOGY *Equipotentiality, a position Karl Lashley researched, holds that the brain functions as an undifferentiated whole. *The extent of the damage, not the location, determines how much function is lost. *Todays research tells us that functions are as much distributed as they are localized. *Behavior results from the interaction of many widespread areas of the brain. NATURE AND NURTURE *The nature versus nurture question asks how important heredity is compared to environmental influences in shaping behavior. NATURE AND NURTURE *The gene is the biological unit that directs cellular processes and transmits inherited characteristics. *Genes are located on chromosomes within the nucleus of a cell, although a few can be found within mitochondria. *Every human body cell has 46 chromosomes arranged in 23 pairs, including sex chromosomes designated X or Y .

*XX indicates female, XY indicates male. NATURE AND NURTURE *Each fertilized egg, or zygote, receives 23 chromosomes from the male parents sperm cell and 23 chromosomes from the female parents ova (egg cell), which merge to restore the chromosome number to 46. *The new organism is referred to as an embryo for the first eight weeks of life, and as a fetus from then until birth. NATURE AND NURTURE *Genes are made of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which is a double-stranded chain of chemical molecules that resembles a ladder that has been twisted around itself. *Each rung is composed of two of four bases: adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine (A, T, G, C), ordered to form the code that carries all our genetic information. *Genes exert their influence simply by providing the directions for making proteins.

NATURE AND NURTURE *Because chromosomes are paired, most genes are as well. *A gene on one chromosome is matched up with one for the same function on the other chromosome. *A dominant gene will produce its effect regardless of which gene it is paired with. *A recessive gene will have an influence only when it is paired with the same recessive gene of the other chromosome. *An X-linked characteristic is one produced by an unpaired gene on the X chromosome. NATURE AND NURTURE *Dominance and recessiveness can be illustrated through the results of two different matings of brown-eyed individuals. *All four parents have brown eyes, but one has two genes for brown eyes and the other three have a gene for blue eyes and a gene for brown eyes. *The parent who has identical genes for eye color is homozygous for eye color. *Each of the others has different genes for eye color and is heterozygous for eye color. NATURE AND NURTURE *In this case even though all four parents have the same phenotype

(characteristic) of brown eyes, their genotypes (combination of genes) are different. *The first couple can produce only brown-eyed children because one parent has only dominant brown-eyed genes to offer. *The second couple has one chance in four of producing a blue-eyed child. *The heterozygous parents are carriers for blue eyes. NATURE AND NURTURE *Some genes blend their effects rather than showing dominance and recessiveness *For example, type AB blood. *Many characteristics are determined by several genes rather than a single gene pair they are polygenic. *For example, height and behavioral characteristics such as intelligence and psychological disorders. NATURE AND NURTURE *Genes do not provide the script for behaving intelligently or instructions for homosexual behavior. *They control the production of proteins. *The proteins in turn affect the development of brain structures, the production of neural transmitters and the receptors that respond to them, and the functioning of the glandular system. NATURE AND NURTURE *In 1990 a consortium of geneticists at 20 laboratories around the world began a project to identify all the genes in our chromosome, or the human genome. *The goal of the International Human Genome Project (IHGP) was to map the location of all the genes on the human chromosomes, and to determine the genes codes, that is, the order of bases within each gene. NATURE AND NURTURE *In 2000 the IHGP and a private organization simultaneously announced rough drafts of the human genome. *Three years later the IHGP had brought the map to 99% completion and reduced the number of gaps from 150,000 to 341. *The gene map doesnt answer what genes do, but it does make it easier to find the genes responsible for a particular disorder or behavior. NATURE AND NURTURE *Natural selection those whose genes endow them with more adaptive capabilities are more likely to survive and transmit their genes to more offspring. NATURE AND NURTURE *The effects of the genes themselves are not necessarily rigid; they can be

variable over time and circumstances. *A large number of genes change their functioning late in life. *The functioning of some genes is even controlled by experience. *Genes also have varying degrees of effects. *Some determine the persons characteristics and others only influence them. NATURE AND NURTURE *Heritability is the percentage of the variation in a characteristic that can be attributed to genetic factors. *The calculation of heritability is based on a comparison of how often identical twins share the characteristic with how often fraternal twins share the characteristic. *The reason for this comparison is that identical twins develop from a single egg and therefore have the same genes, while fraternal twins develop from separate eggs and share just 50 percent of their genes.

NATURE AND NURTURE *Heritability is not an absolute measure, but tells us the proportion of genetic influence relative to the amount of environmental influence. *Vulnerability means that genes contribute a predisposition for the disorder which may or may not exceed the threshold required to produce the disorder. *For example, environmental challenges such as neglect or emotional trauma may combine with a persons inherited susceptibility to exceed that threshold. NATURE AND NURTURE *Psychologists no longer talk about heredity versus environment, as if the two are competing with each other for importance. *Both are required, and they work together to make us what we are.