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Chapter I: The Bio-psychology model

Biological psychology is the scientific study of the biological bases of behavior and mental states. Because biological psychology and neuroscience both study the nervous system often using the same techniques (such as fMRI and MEG), it is difficult to say whether biological psychology is a branch of neuroscience (or vice versa) or whether they are one and same. Many researchers use the terms interchangeably. Biological psychology is also known as biopsychology, psychobiology, physiological psychology, behavioral neuroscience, and neuropsychology. (Fitzpatrick 2004 199-202)

Evolutionary psychology (abbreviated ev-psych or EP) is a theoretical approach to psychology that attempts to explain "useful" mental traits - such as memory, perception, or language - as adaptations, i.e,. as the functional products of natural or sexual selection. The purpose of this approach is to bring the functional way of thinking about biological mechanisms like the immune system into the field of psychology, and to approach psychological mechanisms in a similar way. In short, evolutionary psychology is focused on how evolution has shaped the brain. Though applicable to any organism with a nervous system, most research in evolutionary psychology focuses on humans.

Biological psychology, of biopsychology, is the application of the principles of biology to the study of mental processes and behavior, that is the study of psychology in terms of bodily mechanisms. The view that psychological processes have biological (or physiological) correlates, is the basic assumption of the whole field of biological psychology. Through a variety of research methods, psychologists in this field hope to uncover information that enriches human understanding of their own mental processes, as well as providing valuable data that enable those in medical fields to better treat patients with a variety of disorders, both physical and mental.

Biopsychology has been a prominent field of psychology from the start in Europe and North America and remains a major area of research and instruction in many countries. In the last two centuries, biopsychology has found new ways to answer old questions, has tackled important new questions, and has abandoned some problems as poorly defined. Carefully designed behavioral experiments and innovative biomedical techniques have been essential to its progress. (Smith 1999 391-412)

The current scope of biological psychology includes the following themes: Evolution of brain and behavior; development of the nervous system and behavior over the life span; psychopharmacology; sensory and perceptual processes; control and coordination of movement and actions; control of behavioral states (motivation), including sex and reproductive behavior, and regulation of internal states; biological rhythms and sleep; emotions and mental disorders; neural mechanisms of learning and memory, language and cognition; and recovery of function after damage to the nervous system. Developing from biological psychology and overlapping with parts of it are such fields as behavior genetics as well as hormones and behavior. Through all these methods, biological psychology is a hopeful domain, one that has much to offer in terms of improving the quality of life of the healthy as well as those suffering from disorders.

In the past, physiological psychologists received much of their ...