Psychology 2220A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Brain Size, Convergent Evolution, Mendelian Inheritance

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2220A/B
• Professor: Yves Bureau

Document Summary

Thinking about the biology of behaviour: from dichotomies to interactions. People tend to think in dichotomies; bad-good, right-wrong, often b/c it is simple and easy. Rather than thinking in either/or ways, consider how they interact in a situation. Cartesian dualism: descartes argued that the universe consists of two elements: physical matter, human mind (soul, self, spirit) Cartesian dualism viewed the mind and body as separate entities, such that the church deals with the mind, and doctors and scientists deal with the body (brain). Watson, behaviourist, believed that all behaviour is the product of learning (nurture) Ethology, the study of animal behaviour in the wild, focuses on instinctive (nature) behaviours: both extremes are presently thought to be wrong, but most psychologists. It is a combination of the two that produces certain behaviours and the extent to each influence differs according to the situation. Problems with traditional dichotomies: mind-brain dualism: physiological-or-psychological thinking.