PSYC 100A Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Central Nervous System, Peripheral Nervous System, Autonomic Nervous System

• School: University of Victoria
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100A
• Professor: Smith Martin

Document Summary

Plato located the mind in the head, aristotle thought it was in the heart. Franz gall proposed that phrenology, the study of bumps on the skull, could reveal a person"s mental abilities and character traits. Though phrenology as an explanation for our character traits faded, it focused attention on the localization of function. Biological perspective: concerned with the links between biology and behaviour. Includes psychologists working in neuroscience, behavior genetics, and evolutionary psychology. These researchers may call themselves behavioural neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, behavior geneticists, physiological psychologists, or biopsychologists. Within the last century researchers have discovered: 1) among the body"s cells are nerve cells that conduct electricity and talk to one another by sending chemical messages across a tiny gap that separates them. 2) specific brain systems serve specific functions (though not the functions gall supposed). 3) we integrate information processed in these different brain systems to construct our experience of sights and sounds, meanings and memories, pain and passion.