Psychology Questions: Page 1 (Kelsey)

How does neuroscience help or hinder the credibility of psychology as a science?
    Neuroscience greatly helps the credibility of psychology as a science.  It advances the understanding of human thought, emotion, and behavior, which all relate to studying psychology.    Neuroscientists, like psychologists work to describe the human brain and how it functions normally.  Neuroscience is now officially considered a unified field that integrates biology, chemistry, and physics with studies of structure, physiology, and behavior.  These sciences include learning more about human emotional and cognitive functions.  Everything psychological is also biological because biology underlies our behavior and mental processes.  This means that every idea, mood, and urge is a biological happening.  There are two types of neuroscientists that deal with psychological related studies.  Cognitive neuroscientists study functions such as perception and memory in animals by using behavioral methods and other neuroscience techniques.  Behavioral neuroscientists study the processes underlying behavior in humans and in animals. 

How do the brain and body work together to explain how humans think, feel and act?
    Humans think, feel, and act with their bodies.  Without their bodies; genes, brain and body chemistry, and appearance would be nothing.  The brain enables minds to see, hear, remember, think, feel, speak, and dream.  Without these traits controlled by the body and brain, a human would be nobody.  The brain runs and controls just about everything humans do, even when they’re asleep. The brain controls and monitors all of the body systems to make sure every body system is getting what it needs. Although the brain controls all of the body's systems, it, too, is part of one of those systems: the nervous system.  Nerves send signals from the brain to wherever these signals must be sent to in the body.  A lot of information comes into the brain through the spinal cord at the base of the brain. Without these brain signals, humans wouldn’t be able to move or feel anything in their body.  Information leaves from the brain to make body parts like arms and legs do their job, such as walking.  There is also a great deal of incoming information from the body to the brain like hot, cold, and pain.  Without these body functions working together with the brain, humans would fail to think, feel and act in ways that their body could not control. 

What is the difference between cognitive psychology and neuroscience?  
     Cognitive psychology is the study of the human mind and mental processes; studies are usually in regards to learning, memory and problem solving. Cognitive psychology can be considered a study of how the mind works with the environment, in regards to decisions and actions.  It is involved in perception, learning, memory, and reasoning.  On the other hand, Neuroscience is the scientific study of the brain and is more relevant to biology than to psychology.  It revolves around the mechanisms of the nervous system rather than subjective emotional experiences.   It is a field of study that deals with the structure, development, function, chemistry, pharmacology, and pathology of the nervous system.  Therefore the main difference is that cognitive psychology deals mostly with how the human mind works, while neuroscience deals mostly with the nervous system as a whole, and its relation to biology and other sciences. 

How do gender roles play a role in how we study human beings and how they think?
      In the study of humans, socio-political issues arise in classifying whether a sex difference results from the biology of gender.   Humans have inherited natural traits that were adaptive in a prehistoric environment, including traits that had different advantages for males versus females.   A man's brain is made to think more systematically and mechanically, while the brain of a woman is made to think with empathy and fundamentalism. This will cause some things to come easier or thought to be different between men and women, causing inequalities that cannot be changed.  Girls score higher on self-report scales of empathy which include measures of perspective taking, orientation towards another person, empathic concern, and personal distress. Masculine and feminine cultures and individuals generally differ in how they communicate with others. Generally speaking, feminine people communicate more and prioritize communication more than masculine.  The way we are, behave and think is the final product of socialization. Since the moment we are born, we are being shaped into the being society wants us to be. Through socialization we also learn what is appropriate and inappropriate for both genders.

How does culture play a role in how people behave?
     People behave differently in ways their culture has encouraged and taught them to behave.  One's lifestyle is a collection of behaviors and habits that they are responsible for. People's values and beliefs certainly affect their behaviors. Culture and lifestyle choices are the outcomes of those values.  Culture influences behavior by the individual adapting to ways of the others around them.  The culture into which you are born will influence how you see the world. We gain understanding of our personhood; our communication skills develop as to how we relate with the rest of society. It affects how we see ourselves "fitting" in the world around us.  We are influenced in a negative or positive manner by the lifestyle of our environment. We learn to cope in our personal surroundings, using the same coping mechanism we see demonstrated in our immediate environment.  One’s perception of life is greatly influenced by the culture and lifestyle of your caregiver. Your behavior will directly compare with their influence upon you. This is the core influence upon how our personality and character develop.   There is in all human beings an instinct knowledge of some level of good and bad. It may not be very distinguished, but it is present. Cultural conditioning and cultural norms do not force us to become who we are. We choose to become who we are, under the influence of cultural norms.  We behave the way we do because we choose our personality, develop our character and express it through freewill.

How do studies of twins help us to understand the genetics behind psychology?
    Studies on twins determine how genetics and environmental factors may contribute to intelligence, aggression and addictions.  Most of the twin’s studies compare identical twins, having 100% genetic similarity, with non identical twins, with about 50% genetic similarity. If the identical twins show more similarity for this trait than the non-identical twins, then the excess is assumed to be down to genetic factors.  This type of analysis would then allow the researchers to estimate the heritability of specific traits and quantify the effect of genetic factors on the individual trait. Psychologists have long known that a twin study is not a true experimental design, but it has led to some interesting insights into the influence of genes on human behavior.  These studies of twins help us in understanding genetics because it is a good way to test contributions of genes and environment comparing with nature vs. nurture.  People differ from one another because of the complex interaction between their genetic makeup and their environment. Effects of genes and environments cannot be separated for individuals, but they can be separated at the population level through twin studies. Other less common types of twin studies include the twins-reared-apart design, which focuses on twins who were adopted into separate homes when they were infants. These twins do not share their environments so genetic influences are thought to account for their similarities. Cases like these are to examine whether or not the same genetic and environmental factors influence two or more behaviors.  A psychologist suggests that a shared genetic factor primarily accounts for depression and anxiety.  Behavior geneticists study the genetic influences on individual differences in behavior. The behavior genetic paradigm begins with specifying the behavior of interest. Whether or not biological relatives are more likely to also express the behavior is explored next. If so, heritability can be estimated from adoption and twin studies. Relationships with the brain can then be identified. If brain function is related to the behavior and they share genetic influences, this suggests a specific pathway from gene function to behavior. Also, the molecular genetic evidence can be explored.  Twin studies are powerful approaches for studying development of genetics.

Explain how evolution plays a role in Psychology?
    Through the trait perspective, evolution determines the traits and personalities of humans.  Evolution has helped to develop traits such as memory, perception, and language, and has adaptations, as the functional products of natural selection or sexual selection.  Evolution has also affected much of the behaviors of people.  The evolution of behavior is that behaviors can have a genetic basis. Not all behaviors are genetically based but many are genetically influenced.  These behaviors can evolve by natural selection.  Natural selection is the process by which traits become more or less common in a population due to consistent effects upon the survival or reproduction of their owners. It is a key mechanism of evolution.  Humans have many evolved traits such as cognitive structures, and psychological mechanisms.

How does technology play a role in helping us understand the brain and its functions better?
    Technology uses a great amount of knowledge which greatly affects our brains functions.  The way we learn through experience of using technology causes us to learn a lot more about the way the brain works when we are dealt a difficult task of figuring out how to use technology such as computers, and advanced phones.  We notice that our aged teens know a lot more about technology than our parents.  This shows that because we were brought up during a time of technological advancements, this knowledge comes almost natural to us, whereas our parents take a longer amount of time learning about technology and how it’s used.