PSY 320 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Psych, Behavioral Neuroscience, Monism
Document Summary
Are the mind and brain separate (dualism) or is the mind part of the brain (monoism). Behavioral neuroscience accepts a monist position on the brain/mind problem. The mind is the outcome of the working brain. You have billions of neurons/ connections and the overall activity of that complex web moment to moment is what produces you are thinking. Descartes proposes that the soul is outside of the body. This is opposite of beliefs today: nature/ nurture problem. Debate on whether animals inherit behavioral capacities or if they gain them through experience. Nature/ nurture is a black and white approach. Times in psych where one extreme vs the other. Ex: skinner in 50s and 60s believed that everything is about the environment. More understanding about dna and genetics in the 80s brought about a change. Idea took root that genes can produce behavior. Enforces that physical and psychological attributes effects behavior.
