Behavioral Biology

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses bio-psychology, presenting a scientific explanation to certain psychological phenomena, such as learning, memory, perception, attention, motivation, emotion, and cognition. The paper examines the fields of cognitive neuroscience, psychopharmacology, neuropsychology, behavioral genetics, evolutionary psychology, and comparative psychology.

From the Paper:

"Biopsychology is unlike other branches of psychology in terms of its approach rather than subject matter. It studies a full range of psychological phenomena always on a biological premise and perspective. Scholars, philosophers and researchers in previous years observed the role that biological factors play in these phenomena, but the field did not evolve until the last century (Cooper). The book, "The Organization of Behavior," in 1949 by Canadian psychologist Donald O. Hebb was a key initiative. In the book, Hebb suggested that the brain (as qtd in Cooper) produced these diverse and complex psychological phenomena in overriding the traditional belief that psychological functioning was too complex to be derived from the simpler chemistry and physiology of the brain. Hebb clinically experimented on both animals and humans and observed their daily lives critically. His findings became a controversial basis for biopsychological analysis in the year his book was published. It was an unexplored field at that time and few universities even used the new term "biopsychology" or offered courses on the biology of psychological processes (Cooper). Yet, today, it is one of the most active fields in psychology: bio-psychologists are now employed to teach and conduct research. Several academic journals specialize on bio-psychological research as well."

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