PSYC62H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Behaviorism, Tylenol (Brand), Nicotine
PSYC62
LECTURE 1
Intro
• Psychoactive substances have impact on nervous system and enormous impact on society
o Focus on the individual
o Alcohol/tobacco use
▪ Purposes of acquiring nicotine
▪ It has addictive properties and have become accepted
▪ Nicotine replacement treatments(NRTs)
o Rx drugs for psychiatric indications
▪ 1950s
▪ Can use drugs to treat addiction to drugs
o Broad areas of inquiry
▪ Major classes of psychoactive drugs
▪ Drug actions in body
• Molecular effects of that drug
• Site of action (usually synapse)
▪ Drug effects on behaviour
• Overall effect on biology of the organism
• E.g. increased heart rate, overall arousal in psychological response
Psychopharmacology
• Study of how drugs or substances affect mood, perception, thinking, or behaviour
• Psychoactive drug
o Achieve above effect by acting on NS
• Behavioural pharmacology
o Study of how drugs affect behaviour
o Sometimes behavioural pharmacologists emphasize principles used in field of behaviour
analysis
• Neurophyscopharamocology
o Study of nervous system and how these changes alter behaviour
• Drug: administered substance that alters physiological functioning
o Definition has limitations
▪ Based on this definition, food could be considered a drug
• Do not restrict the perception of a drug to a specific form or usage
o Risk of eludig ooforig sustaes… suh as?
• The term drug lacks precise definition
Psychoactive drugs: Manner Of Use
• Instrumental use: drug use to experience the effects of a drug
o Use of alcohol to feel relaxed
• Recreational use : use to feel effects of a drug
o Using alcohol to feel its intoxicating effects
o May lead to misuse of drug, drug abuse
Nomenclature for Drugs
• Trade names
o Tylenol
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Intro: psychoactive substances have impact on nervous system and enormous impact on society, focus on the individual, alcohol/tobacco use, purposes of acquiring nicotine, nicotine replacement treatments(nrts) Site of action (usually synapse: drug effects on behaviour, overall effect on biology of the organism, e. g. increased heart rate, overall arousal in psychological response. Drug effects: determined by dose: dose: ratio of amount of drug per unit of body, ex: tylenol, take 1-2 pills every x hours, dosages according to body size. Subdomains of pharmacology: pharmacodynamics, how drugs affect biological actions, ssris, pharmacokinetics, how drugs pass through body from point of entry, pharmacogenetics, how genetic differences influence drugs pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic effects. Objective and subjective effects: objective, pharmacological effects that can be directly observed by others, ex: your heart rate is 120. Subjective: effe(cid:272)ts that (cid:272)a(cid:374)"t (cid:271)e see(cid:374) dire(cid:272)tl(cid:455, ex: describe the drug effects, communicative.
