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The history of
PHYSIOLOGICAL
PSYCHOLOGY
 PHYSIOLOGICAL
What Is
PSYCHOLOGY?
>The Greek word “Physis” means nature or origin and “logia” means the scientific study
of, hence physiological psychology terms as the branch of biological psychology that
deals with the workings of the brain and body.

>It studies how the different working of the body has a direct link to the brain.

>Physiological Psychology uses controlled experimental conditions to stimulate the

brain and study its effect on behaviour.

>It involves direct manipulation and recording of the brain by primarily using
surgical or electrical stimulation on animals for research.

>Their aim is to develop theories about how neural mechanisms control behavior.
 PHYSIOLOGICAL
The history of
PSYCHOLOGY
>Physiological studies dates back to ancient civilisations of India and Egypt.

>Jean fernel (1497-1558), the French physician who introduced the term “physiology”

>The history of physiological psychology can be dated back to Avicenna, a physician who in
“the canon of medicine” recognised physiological psychology as a treatment for illnesses.
He used to link physical and psychological illnesses together.

>The physiological society was founded in London in 1876 as a dining club.

>The American physiological Society was founded in 1887, this society was devoted
to scientific researches, fostering education etc in the physiological sciences.

>19th century physiologists such as Michael Foster, Max Verworn and Alfred Binet based
on Haeckel’s ideas elaborated on what came to be known as “general physiology”.
 Hippocrates
>He is traditionally referred to as the "Father of Medicine"

>He is known for his theory of humors.

>According to this doctrine, the body contains within itself the power
to re-balance the four humours and heal itself.

These humor vary along 2 different dimensions

 Plato
> Teacher of aristotle.

> He provided insights into the theoretical structure of the human

mind.

> He developed a rough framework of human behavior, reasoning

and impulses

>Anamnesis-learning was a matter of unlocking and utilizing the

inbuilt knowledge.
 Aristotle
>Theoretical philosopher and logician.

> He is originator of anatomy as a special branch of knowledge.

> He contributed to comparative anatomy, as well as to human

anatomy.

> He coined a series of technical terms used in the modern

nomenclature.
 Galen theory
> Galen (129–c. 216 AD) was a key figure in the early development of Western physiology.
His
teachings incorporated much of the ancient Greek traditions including the work of
Hippocrates and Aristotle.

> The Galenical school was responsible for voluminous writings, many of which are still
extant. One emphasis was on the humors of the body, which were believed to be
important in disease. Humours are blood , phlegm , black bile , yellow bile
[It was believed that illness was caused by these humours being out of balance]

>Another was the cardiopulmonary system, including the belief that part of the blood
from the right ventricle could enter the left through the interventricular septum.

>Galen viewed the body as consisting of three connected systems: the brain and nerves,
which are responsible for sensation and thought; the heart and arteries, responsible for
life-giving energy; and the liver and veins, responsible for nutrition and growth.
 Rene Descartes
> Rene Descartes was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely
considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science.

> Descartes has often been called the father of modern philosophy, and is largely seen as
responsible for the increased attention given to epistemology in the 17th century.

> In psychology, Descartes is mostly known for his concept of Dualism.

> In line with his dualist teachings on the separation between the soul and the body, he
hypothesized that some part of the brain served as a connector between
the soul and the body and singled out the pineal gland as connector.

> Descartes advanced a theory on automatic bodily reactions to external

events,which influenced 19th-century reflex theory.

> Though most of Descartes' theories have since been disproved ,

Descartes opened the door to new thinking and experimenting related to
the brain's function and relationship to behavior.
 Luigi Galvani
> Italian physician and physicist who investigated the nature and effects of what
he conceived to be electricity in animal tissue.

> His discoveries led to the invention of the voltaic pile, a kind of battery that
makes possible a constant source of current electricity.

> the early 1780s, animal electricity remained his major field of investigation.
Numerous ingenious observations and experiments have been credited to him; in
1786, for example, he obtained muscular contraction in a frog by touching its
nerves with a pair of scissors during an electrical storm.

>Again, a visitor to his laboratory caused the legs of a skinned frog to kick
when a scalpel touched a lumbar nerve of the animal while an electrical
machine was activated.
 Camillo golgi
>Camillo Golgi was an Italian biologist and pathologist known for his works
on the central nervous system.

>Golgi is also credited with the discovery of two types of sensory receptors in muscle
tendons: Golgi tendon organ and Golgi-Mazzoni corpuscles. Golgi was the first to be
successful in staining myelin component of axon, which he used to discover the myelin
annular apparatus.

>He experimented with metal impregnation of nervous tissue, using mainly silver (silver
staining). In early 1873, he discovered a method of staining nervous tissue that
would stain a limited number of cells at random in their entirety.

>Golgi was the first to give clear descriptions of the structure of the cerebellum,
hippocampus, spinal cord, olfactory lobe, as well as striatal and cortical lesions
in a case of chorea.

>He further developed a stain specific for myelinusing potassium dichromate

and mercuric chloride. Using this he discovered the myelin annular apparatus,
often called the funnel of Golgi-Rezzonico.
 William James
> He was an american philosopher historian and
psychologist

> He was the first educator to offer psychology course in

United States

> He is known as "father of american psychology".

> He wrote one of the earliest textbooks in the new field THE
PRINCIPLES OF PYSCHOLOGY in 1890

> His theory contained 3 major concepts

Pragmatism, Functionalism and James-Lange Theory of Emotion
 3 Major Concepts Of His
>Pragmatism-
Theory
James wrote considerably on the concept of pragmatism. According to pragmatism, the
truth of an idea can never be proven. James proposed we instead focus on what he
called the "cash value," or usefulness, of an idea.

>Functionalism-
James opposed the structuralist focus on introspection and breaking down mental
events to the smallest elements. Instead,
James focused on the wholeness of an event, taking into the impact of the environment
on behavior.

>James-Lange Theory of Emotion-

The James-Lange theory of emotion proposes that an event triggers a
physiological reaction, which we then interpret. According to this theory, emotions are
caused by our interpretations of these physiological reactions.
Both James and the Danish physiologist Carl Lange independently proposed the theory.
 Modern Psychology
> The history of modern psychology spans centuries, with the earliest
known mention of clinical depression appearing in 1500 BCE on an
ancient Egyptian manuscript known as the Ebers Papyrus.

> The beginnings of modern psychology are usually traced to the year
1879. That's when Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) established the first
dedicated psychological laboratory at Leipzig.

> Modern psychology has spawned three major theoretical paradigms:

cognitivism, behaviorism, and depth psychology

> Modern psychology has spawned three major theoretical paradigms:

cognitivism,behaviourism and depth psychology
 CONCLUSION
Philosophes and psychologists alike have often debated the mind body
question. Physiological Psychology is directly related to this debate. As
it progresses, physiological psychology lends new evidence to support
the brain's relationship with behaviour and the body. Rene Descartes
dualist approach to physiological psychology has long been and
underlying principle in biopsychology. With the discovery of new
technologies, biopsychology has advanced the knowledge of how the
brain works, affects behaviours, and interacts within itself. This new
knowledge has led to an understanding of many behavioral disorders,
which in turn has led to treatments and even cures for psychological
disorders.