Bio psycho what

Bio Psycho WHAT?

Ryan’s Psychology 2010

The Biology of Psychology• “Let’s brainstorm.”• “Watch it, you pea brain!”• “She’s the brains behind it.”• Use your brain!

When we listen to the words we use, it’s clear we know WHO rules the roost when it comes to human behavior.

But we’re still mystified by how it doesn’t always listen to what we think we’re telling it.

Heart or Head?

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For hundreds of years, the Greeks thought the heart and blood were the head honchos of human beings. Who can blame them? Weighing in at around 3 pounds, the human brain looks like a wrinkled, gray cantaloupe. Even in the most vibrant human being, it appears to be sitting around doing nothing. But you can’t tell a book by its cover, and you can’t tell the marvels of the human brain by looking at it. In essence, psychology is the study of what the brain does.�There’s a biological counterpart to every thought or feeling we have. The brain can radically change human behavior.

It’s Evolutionary, My Dear Watson

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We’re all winners from an evolutionary perspective.�The very fact that we’re alive means our ancestors possessed favorable characteristics that allowed them to adapt and flourish in their natural environment.�They passed those advantageous traits on to the next generation, who passed them onto their children, and so on until here we are.�We’re the “fittest” in the “survival of the fittest.”

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What did this evolutionary path mean for brains living here and now?�How do our brains help each one of us adapt to our environment today? How do they help us solve our problems, remember birthdays, and plan our future?

What is this link between our brains and our behaviors?The Case of

Phineas Gage

The Headquarters of Human Behavior

The brain contains more cells than there are stars in our galaxy.

More than 100 billion of them, to be exact.

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The brain contains more cells than there are stars in our galaxy. More than 100 billion of them, to be exact.�And each part works together to produce, direct, and choreograph what we think, feel, and do.

A Living Record of Time Travel

Oldest part of the brain

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One of the stories our brain tells us is the story of human evolution.�From the neck up, it’s structured in the order in which it evolved.�The BRAIN STEM, the bulb where the brain meets the spine, is the oldest part of the brain; the midbrain and higher brain evolved on top of it. As with your brain’s structure, so developed the behavior each part of your brain controls. They too go from primitive to most sophisticated.�The lower brain is responsible for aggression, territoriality, and rituals.�The midbrain holds the limbic system, the seat of powerful emotions, sexual instincts, and the sense of smell. Over the top arches the cerebral cortex, that part of the brain that regulates higher levels of cognitive and emotional functioning.�This is the site of reasoning, planning, creating, and problem solving, and it is the part that makes us human.

Hello Central!• The bottom-up approach is a useful way to

organize the brain …You can see how human behaviorevolved from base instincts to thoughtful planning.

From a psychological standpoint, you can see why it can be challenging to use your reasoning and self-control to keep from acting on powerful feelings or strong desires …. Those desires have been around a lot longer!

Reptilian Brain?!?

From a psychological standpoint, you can see why it can be challenging to use your reasoning and self-control to keep from acting on powerful feelings or strong desires ….

Those desires have been around a lot longer!

Get Your Brain Organized – each part is a specialist!Get your Brain

Worksheet and let’s fill it in! Regulates higher level thinking & feeling

Connect & communicate

Sensory & sleep

Eat, drink, sex, temp

Fear, emotionsLearning & memory

Balance & movement

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When psychologists talk about the brain, we’re almost always talking about the cerebral cortex – primarily, because it’s the part of our brain that makes us uniquely human.�The lower and middle portions often get overlooked.�However, these more primitive parts of our brains are the foundation on which our mental houses are built.�You couldn’t survive long without them. Cerebrum: the largest part of the human brain, associated with higher brain function such as thought and action Corpos callosum: allows the two hemispheres to communicate and coordinate their activities. Thalamus: Almost all sensory information enters this structure where neurons send that information to the overlying cerebral cortex. Hypothalamus: regulates eating, drinking, sexual arousal, body temperature Amygdala: involved in memory, emotion, and fear - Electrical stimulation of the amygdala in humans usually creates fear or anxiety, not aggressive behavior. When the amygdala is removed from laboratory animals, they show no fear. When the amygdala is damaged in humans, they lose their sensitivity to stimuli associated with strong emotions. Hippocampus: key player in converting short term memory to more permanent memory, and for recalling spatial relationships in the world about us Cerebellum: processes input from other areas of the brain, spinal cord and sensory receptors to provide precise timing for coordinated, smooth movements of the skeletal muscular system. A stroke affecting the cerebellum may cause dizziness, nausea, balance and coordination problems.

Left Brain, Right Brain• Do you prefer geometry or English?• Would you rather be a painter or a

writer?• Are you creative or logical?

Popular psychology would classify you as “right-brained” or “left-brained.”

Don’t say anything and look at this picture.

In what direction is the dancer turning?

If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.

Right Brain vs Left Brain

Sports psychologists put the “right brain/left brain” concept to good use.

• By teaching athletes to use BOTH sides of their brain, they help them improve their performance.

• Ex.: Tennis players naturally exercise their left brain every time they swing their racket.

• However, players can also use their right brain to play: They can visualize the perfect swing in their mind’s eye and practice it.

• It works!

Meet the Mother Lobes• Each half of your brain has four lobes.

• Parietal, temporal, frontal, and occipital

Front and Center! … the Frontal Lobes• …sit just behind your forehead• …newest additions to the human brain• … heavy duty responsibilities:

• Seat of purposeful behavior• They plan,• Make decisions,• And pursue goals.

• May inhibit or override more primitive behavior … the kind that gets us into social or legal trouble.

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… heavy duty responsibilities: Seat of purposeful behavior They plan, Make decisions, And pursue goals.

Temporally speaking …. The Temporal Lobes• …sit directly behind your ears –

Convenient!• Primary job is to make sense of what you

hear – Left Temporal Lobe allows you to understand speech.

• Damage to certain parts of the left temporal lobe can leave you with perfectly good hearing but completely incapable of understanding a word said to you.• ALL languages are foreign.

Parietals RULE!• …sit at the top of your head• …integrate sensory information from

opposite sides of your body• Your left parietal lobe makes sense of

information coming in from the right side and viceversa …

• These lobes help you understand what you’re touching.• When you reach in a pocket, your

parietal lobes help you tell the difference between a dime and a quarter just by the way they feel.

The Occipital Complex?

• Last but not least, if you cup your hand on the back of your head, you are hugging your occipital lobes.

• …makes sense of what you see – primary job is to process visual information.

Working with Half a Brain

• What happens when the two hemispheres can’t communicate?

• Would they fight with each other?• Would they get along?• Are there really people with “half

a brain?”

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