What is Physiological Psychology?
Physiological psychology studies the biological bases of behavior, cognition, and consciousness. It links mind, body, and brain.
Think of it as the intersection between psychology and biology, answering: How does the brain produce behavior and mental states?
Early Theories About the Mind and Body
1. Encephalocentric Theory – Hippocrates (460–379 BCE)
- The brain is the organ of the mind.
- Epilepsy originates in the brain.
- First ideas of lateralization (different sides of the brain serving different functions).
2. Cardiocentric Theory – Aristotle (384–322 BCE)
- Believed thoughts come from the heart.
- The brain’s role was just to cool the blood and regulate the heart.
- A huge historical debate: brain vs. heart as the center of thought.
Dualism vs. Monism
Dualism
- Plato (~428–348 BCE): The body and soul are separate.
- Body: visible, changeable, mortal.
- Soul: invisible, unchanging, immortal.
Monism
- Epicurus (341–270 BCE): The soul is material.
- It’s made of “fine particles.”
- Rejects immortality of the soul.
- Leads toward materialism (mind = matter).
This sets the stage for a key debate:
- Is the mind something immaterial (dualism)?
- Or is it simply a function of the brain/body (monism)?
Rene Descartes (1596–1650 CE)
- Famous for mind-body dualism (“Cartesian Dualism”).
- Human body = a machine, operates by reflexes.
- The mind is immaterial but interacts with the body via the pineal gland.
- Introduced the idea that experiments could test these hypotheses.
This shaped how early science approached the brain.
Phrenology and Localization
- Franz-Joseph Gall (1758–1822 CE):
- Proposed phrenology – cranioscopy (skull bumps reflect mental faculties).
- Wrong, but important: it introduced localization of function (different brain regions = different functions).
- This principle proven correct - see cortical maps and language areas
- Paul Broca (1824–1880 CE):
- Studied patient “Tan” who had speech loss.
- Discovered Broca’s Area: region for speech production in the left frontal lobe.
- A major scientific confirmation of localization.
Consciousness and the Brain
- Materialism – everything about the mind is reducible to physical brain activity.
- Identity Position – mental states are identical to brain states.
- Reductionism – complex phenomena explained by simpler mechanisms.
- Current View: Monism (brain and mind are not separate).
- David Chalmers:
- Easy Problems: Which brain activities produce which conscious states?
- Hard Problem: Why does brain activity create subjective experience at all?
- Panpsychism: The idea that consciousness might be a fundamental property of all matter.