01.

Psychology:
Definition, Brief History, and Background
 Psychology
• The scientific study of behavior and its mental processes.

• Etymology: Psyche (Mind or Soul) + Logos (Study)

• Universal symbol: Ψ (psi) - penultimate letter of the Greek

Alphabet)
 Brief History & Background
- Historically speaking, the study of man and its nature was under the
umbrella of Philosophy.

- Ancient Greek philosophers (e.g., Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, etc.) made

assumptions about man’s behavior.

- It was only in the latter half of the 19th century when psychology became a
science as a result of Wundt’s Psychology Laboratory in Leipzig, Germany
 02. Psychology:
Social Science and Natural Science Perspectives
02. Psychology’s Scientific Perspectives

 Social Science Perspective

- Man’s nature is shaped by the process of growth and development as
a result of its interaction with the environment.

- Courses such as social psychology, IO psychology, personality

psychology, etc. are clearly indicative of this perspective.
02. Psychology’s Scientific Perspectives

 Natural Science Perspective

- Fertilization of the ovum by the sperm cell in the fallopian tube and the
subsequent implantation in the uterus of the fertilized egg, speak of,
with unquestionable clarity, the biological nature of man.

- Courses such as psychopathology, psychopharmacology, and

biopsychology fits this perspective.
03. Mind-Body Debate
How is one related to the other?
The Mind-Body Debate
Do you believe that the body and mind are two separate entities
working independently from each other? Or do you believe that
mind and body influence each other
02. Psychology’s Scientific Perspectives
Ancient Times: Trephining
 Natural Science Perspective
- In the ancient times, people who exhibited weird or bizarre
behaviors were believed to be possessed by evil spirits.

- Treatment: Trephining – Boring a hole in the skull of the

patient to provide exit for the evil spirits. Bizarre behaviors?
Gone. Patient? Gone.
- Notable Lesson: it indicates that in the earlier times, the
perception was the mind and body were independent of
each other. Why?
The primary theories for the practice of trephining in ancient times
include spiritual purposes and treatment for epilepsy, headache,
head wound, and mental disorders.
 02. Psychology’s Scientific Perspectives
Ancient Times: Hippocratic-Galenic Approach
- Although the prevailing belief was that supernaturalism or demonology
was the cause of abnormal behavior, Hippocrates believed that the
cause of abnormal behavior was of natural causes.
Hippocrates
- He was referring to the imbalances in the humours (fluids) circulating
in the body: blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm.

- These humors determine the individual’s temperament (tendencies).

Thus, if there is an imbalance in these fluids, there would be
implication in behavior.

- Galen and his associates later on adapted the ideas of Hippocrates.

 Humor Season Element Organ Qualities Ancient Name Characteristics

Blood Spring Air Heart Warm & Moist Sanguine Courageous, Hopeful, Amorous

Yellow Bile Summer Fire Liver Warm & Dry Choleric Easily Angered, Bad Tempered

Black Bile Autumn Earth Spleen Cold & Dry Melancholic Despondent, sleepless, irritable

Phlegm Winter Water Brain Cold & Moist Phlegmatic Calm, Unemotional
 02. Psychology’s Scientific Perspectives
Ancient Times: Hippocratic-Galenic Approach
- Excessive blood to the brain: insomnia and delirium.

- Excessive black bile to the brain: depression.

- Excessive phlegm to the brain: epilepsy.

- Excessive yellow bile: aggressive tendencies.

02. Psychology’s Scientific Perspectives
Renaissance: Rene Descartes
- Rene Descartes introduced the Cartesian Dualism: Mind and Body; both
independent.

- Descartes recognized the vexing issues of how mind that is not made of
material could influence a physical brain.

- He proposed that mind and brain interact at a single point in space, which he
suggested was the pineal gland, the smallest unpaired structure he could find
in the brain.
 Later Years: Sigmund Freud
- Freud’s early works on conversion disorder/hysteria revealed clearly the
interaction between the mind and body.

- According to Freud, specific unconscious conflicts can produce particular

physical disturbances that symbolize the repressed psychological conflicts.

- These physical disturbances may involve voluntary sensory or motor

functions that are under the control of the central nervous system such as
blindness, deafness, glove anesthesia, or paralyses.
Anything repressed in the
unconscious can rise up to the
conscious level in a different form.
Such form may include dreams,
Freudian slips, or conversion
disorder.
04. Determinants of Behavior
Psychological, Socio-Cultural, & Biological
 What is Behavior?
- Earlier, we have already established that Psychology is
a scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
- Behavior, in turn, is any response or reaction to a
stimulus.
- This response or reaction can either be:
 normal or abnormal
 learned or inherent
 voluntary or involuntary
 conscious or unconscious
 overt or covert
 Types of Behaviors

1. Normal vs. Abnormal

4 D’s of Abnormality
 Dysfunction
 Distress
 Deviance
- Social
- Statistical
 Danger
- Self
- Others
 Types of Behaviors

2. Learned or Inherent
 Types of Behaviors

3. Voluntary or Involuntary
 Types of Behaviors

4. Conscious or Unconscious
Types of Behaviors

5. Overt or Covert
 Determinants of Behavior

Psychological Socio-Cultural Biological

From all these discussions, it becomes clear and evident that man is a biopsychosocial
being. However, before man becomes a psychosocial being, he is primarily a
biological being
05. Introduction to Biopsychology
Definition, Brief History, and Neuroscience
 Biopsychology

- The study of the physiological, evolutionary,

and developmental mechanisms of behavior
and experience (Kalat, n.d.).

- The scientific study of the biology of behavior

(Dewsbury, 1991).
 Father of Neuropsychology
Hebb was able to merge the
psychological world with the world of
neuroscience.

Publication of the Organization of

Behavior (1949) played a key role in the
emergence of the field.
Donald Hebb (1904 - 1985)
 Biopsychology
a.k.a. behavioral neuroscience or
neuropsychology, can be described as
a combination of two fields of study:

o Psychology: the scientific study of

behavior and mental processes.
o Neuroscience: the study of the
nervous system.
06. Man as a Biological Being
Fertilization process, Chromosomes, Genes, and DNA
 Fertilization Process
- 15 million – 200 million sperm per ml
(normal sperm count).

- Less than 15 million sperm per ml or

less than 39 million sperm total per
ejaculation (low sperm count).

- It would take only 1 egg and 1 sperm to

create a handsome/beautiful you.
 Fertilization Process
Fertilization: refers to the meeting of the female
sex cell and the male sex cell.

- Gonads: refers to reproductive organs that

produce the sex cells.

o Males – Testes; Spermatozoa (spermatozoon)

o Females – Ovaries; Ova (ovum)

- Fertilized egg is now called as zygote

 Fertilization Process
Zygote: gets implanted in the uterus and
continues to grow during the gestation
period (development period) for about 280
days; 39 weeks; or 9 calendar months.
 Chromosome, Gene, and DNA

What is a Chromosome?
These are bundles of tightly coiled DNA located within the nucleus of almost
every cell in our body. Humans have 46 chromosomes in their somatic (non-
reproductive) cells.

We inherit one set of 23 chromosomes from our mother and one set of 23
chromosomes from our father. So we have two sets of 23 chromosomes for a
total of 46 total count of chromosomes.
 Chromosome, Gene, and DNA

What is a Gene?
Genes are sections of DNA that contain the set of instructions to
produce one specific molecule in your body, usually a protein.

These proteins control how our body grows and works; they are also
responsible for many of our characteristics, such as our eye color,
blood type or height.

Dominant Gene: strongly influences a particular trait and definitely

will be expressed.

Recessive Gene: cannot determine a trait, unless paired with another

recessive gene.
 Chromosome, Gene, and DNA

What is a DNA?
DNA is a long molecule that contains our unique genetic code. Like a
recipe book, it holds the instructions for making all the proteins in our
bodies.

DNA is composed of two strands that wrap around each other to form a
double helix shape, like a spiral staircase.

Each strand of DNA is formed of four basic building blocks or ‘bases’:

adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T). The order, or
sequence, of these bases determines our unique genetic code and
contains the instructions for producing molecules in our bodies.
 Chromosome, Gene, and DNA
Double Helix
Storage of Genetic
Information using
Sequence of Bases
(Code of Inheritance)

Thread-like structures inside

the nucleus

Building blocks of life

Provides specific
characteristics

Section of a
Contains genetic chromosome or
information group of DNA
 Human Cells
- All human body cells contain 46 chromosomes (23 pairs);

- Except: Sex Cells

23 Chromosomes 23 Chromosomes 46 Chromosomes

 Chromosomes
First 22 pairs of chromosomes provide
programs or directions for the
development of the body and brain.
23rd pair of chromosomes:
o Females = XX or x chromosomes;
o Males = XY chromosomes
07. Major Divisions of Biopsychology
 1. Physiological Psychology
- It is the division of biopsychology that studies the neural mechanisms of
behavior through the direct manipulation and recording of the brain in
controlled experiments – surgical and electrical methods are most common.

- The subjects of physiological psychology research are almost always

laboratory animals because the focus on direct brain manipulation and
controlled experiments precludes the use of human participants in most
instances.

- e.g., implanting a microelectrode in one specific area of the brain of the rat
via stereotaxic surgery to observe any changes in behavior and the function
of the stimulated area.
2. Psychopharmacology
- Focuses on the manipulation of neural
activity and behavior with drugs.

- Although drugs are sometimes used by

psychopharmacologists to study the
basic principles of brain-behavior
interaction, the purpose of many
psychopharmacological experiments is
to develop therapeutic drugs or reduce
drug abuse. Usually prescribed to reduce pain, anxiety,
depression, occurences of seizures, etc.
- e.g., use of medical-grade marijuana
 3. Neuropsychology
- The study of psychological effects of brain damage in human patients.
Because human volunteers cannot ethically be exposed to experimental
treatments that endanger normal brain function, neuropsychology deals
exclusively with case studies and quasiexperimental studies of patients with
brain damage resulting from disease, accident, or neurosurgery.

- e.g., a stroke patient may experience any of the following:

- Broca’s Aphasia: disturbance in the normal manner of speaking (motor in

nature).

- Wernicke’s Aphasia: inability to comprehend written or spoken words

(sensory in nature.

Phineas Gage
 4. Psychophysiology
- Studies the relation between physiological activity and psychological
processes in human subjects.

- Because the subjects of psychophysiological research are humans,

psychophysiological procedures are typically non-invasive; that is,
the physiological activity is recorded from the surface of the body
(e.g., measuring brain activity via scalp electroencephalogram (EEG).

- e.g., use of EEG to measure and compare mental arousal among

patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and those who do
not have such condition.
5. Cognitive Neuroscience
- Refers to the study of neural mechanisms involved in
cognition or in the acquisition of knowledge or the higher
mental processes.

- It is concerned with what is happening in the brain when

one is learning something.

- The major method of cognitive neuroscience is functional

brain imaging: recording images of the activity of the
living human brain while a participant is engaged in a
particular cognitive activity.

- e.g., neural processes involved while playing a new song

with a guitar.
 6. Comparative Psychology
- Comparative psychologists compare the behavior of different species in order
to understand the evolution, genetics, and adaptiveness of behavior.

- e.g., studying primate behavior in comparison to human behavior.