Chapter 3: Physiological Bases of Behavior

Physiological Bases of Behavior

There are many physiological bases for behaviors. All behaviors are produced and controlled by the brain. Different brain regions are responsible for different behaviors. The brain, in turn, is affected by genetics, nutrition, and myriad environmental factors. 

The study of the physiological bases of behavior is biological or physiological psychology. Most studies in this field relate to the function of neurotransmitters and neurons.

In this chapter, we take a closer look at the communication in the nervous system. The basic hardware of the nervous system is the nervous tissue. Our nervous system is a living tissue composed of cells. There are two types of cells in the nervous system: GLIA and NEURONS or NERVE CELL. First, what is Neuron? It is the individual cells in the nervous system that receive, integrate and transmit information. It is the basic unit of the nervous system. Every neuron has different shapes, sizes and function. There are about approximately trillion of neurons throughout the body which involved in the control of body activities and behavior.

There are four parts of neuron; these are the cell body/Soma, dendrites, axons, and myelin sheath. Cell body contains the nucleus which provides nourishment and insulation. The function of Dendrites is to receive signals from neighboring neurons and carry them back to the cell body, while axons carries messages to the other neuron. Axons terminate in small bulges called TERMINAL BUTTON that send messages to other neurons. Lastly, Myelin sheaths are the fatty tissue and proteins surrounding the axons.

There are three kinds of neuron according to basic function; Sensory (Afferent neurons), Motor (Efferent neurons) and Association/Inter-neurons. Sensory neurons convey information from the body’s sense organs to the brain and spinal cord. This is initiated by receptors-specialized cells in the sense organs, muscles, skin and joints that detect physical or chemical changes and convert these into impulses that pass along the sensory neurons. Motor neurons carry impulses away from the brain and spinal cord to the reacting organs, the muscles and glands. Lastly, the Association Neurons connect the neurons together and combine the activities of the sensory and motor neurons.

In the other hand, Glial cells are the non-neural cells that surround the neurons and ensure that it can perform its function while holding them in place.

There are 3 steps of how the neurons fire; the resting state, the action potential and the Synapse: Sending the message to other cells. Resting state is the state of neuron when not firing a neural impulse. Action potential is the time when there is a release of the neural impulse consisting of a reversal of the electrical charge within the axon. Lastly the Synapse, in this situation, the neurons that send a signal across the gap is called synaptic neuron and the neurons that receive the signals is called the post-synaptic neuron.

Neurotransmitters are also known as the messenger. These are the chemicals that carry messages across the synapse or cell body of a receiving neuron. Neurotransmitter has five functions: these are the acetylcholine, Norepinephrine, dopamine, Gamma amino. Acetylcholine is located at brain, spinal cord, ANS, selected organs and release at neuromuscular junctions. Norepinephrine is also located at brain, spinal cord and it’s regulates physical logical arousal, learning, memory and emotion. Dopamine is only located at brain and it’s linked to muscle activity, emotional arousal, learning memory. Gamma Amino is also located at brain, spinal cord and it’s involved in motor behavior and arousal.

The Peripheral nervous system can be divided into somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system. Somatic nervous system is made up of nerves that connect to voluntary skeletal muscles and to sensory receptors. These nerves are the cables that carry information from receptors in the skin, muscles and joints to the central nervous system to the muscles. The Autonomic nervous system is concerned with the parts of the body that keeps us alive- the heart, blood vessels glands, and other organs that operate involuntarily without our awareness.

The Central nervous system has two parts: the brain and the spinal cord. The brain is the true core of the nervous system. It takes information from senses processes it, makes decision and sends commands to the rest of the body. The major parts of the brain is the Hindbrain (consist of medulla, pons, cerebellum), Midbrain (located between hindbrain and forebrain) and the Forebrain (largest part of the brain).

The Cerebral cortex consists of a mass of deeply folded, rippled, convoluted tissue. It has four major sections called Lobes. The Frontal lobe (lies at the front center of the cortex), the Parietal Lobe (located at the top of the head function), Temporal Lobe (found in lower center portion of the cortex), and the Occipital lobe (found at the back of the head). The Limbic System or the old brains are found in the inner margin of the upper brain which includes Thalamus (Inner chamber) and hypothalamus (below the inner chamber).

For Conclusion, Our Brain is the most important parts of the body because it controls other organs and our mind. Brain is like a command center that commands to other organs to move or make their own job.

Chapter 2: Factors of Human Development

                       "Factors of Human Development"

In the field of psychology, there have been many different areas of interest. One of the most popular areas of interest for those who study psychology is Human development. There are many great theorists that have different ideas concerning human development like Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson and Piaget.

By the way what is human development? Human development or also known as Developmental Psychology is the process of growing to maturity. In biological terms, this entails growth from a one-celled zygote to an adult. It focuses on the chronological processes or changes which are cumulative. It encompasses the physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional changes that occur in an individual. The journey of human development is started from the infancy and keeps continue till the death.

The three (3) Main factors of human development are Genetics/Hereditary, Environment (nature) and Human reproduction.

Chromosomes are rod-shaped structures that contain all basic hereditary information of an organism. Every organism has twenty-three (23) pairs of chromosomes. The smaller units that are composed of sequences of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) are called Genes. XX combination results to a female child while XY combination results to a male child. The first stage of human development is fertilization follow by ovum, embryo, fetus, infancy, birth, babyhood, childhood, puberty, adolescence, adulthood, middle age, old age and lastly Death. For every stage of human development, there are changes happening like physical change, emotional change, social change and cognitive change. Physical change refers to the changes in appearance of a baby. It includes height, weight, size and etc. Emotional change shows that your child is forming an independent identity and learning to be an adult. Social change refers to an alteration in the social structure of a social group or society, a change in the nature. Cognitive change refers to changes in mental skills such as memory or reasoning. 

Determination of twin is classified into two: the Fraternal twin and Identical twin.

Fraternal twins are conceived when a mother releases two separate eggs cell and these are fertilized by two separate sperms to form two separate embryos and the make two separate babies. It means 50% of their genes are share up. It can be boy/boy, girl/girl, boy/girl sets. Meanwhile Identical twins are conceived when a mother releases one egg and fertilized by one sperm from the father, and the embryo splits and two fetuses grow. If the zygote splits very early, they may develop separate placentas and separate sacs. These are called Dichorionic. But when the zygote split extremely late, it resulting to conjoined twin called Siamese twins. It is very rare type of twin.

There are different genetic defects like klinefelter’s syndrome XXY, Down syndrome and phenylketonuria. 

Klinefelter's Syndrome

Klinefelter’s syndrome XXY is an abnormal condition in a male characterized by usually two X and one Y chromosomes. 

Down Syndrome

Down syndrome is caused when zygote receives extra chromosomes (47 chromosomes) at the conception. Lastly Phenylketonuria (PKU) refers to child who is not able to produce an enzyme that is required for normal development. Sickle cell anemia refers to the disease characterized by abnormally shaped red blood cells. It can cause to the children to have poor appetite, swollen stomachs, yellowish eyes and cognitive difficulties. Tay-Sachs disease refers to a disease wherein the body is not capable of breaking down fats.

In conclusion, human development is a very important part of psychology because human development helps not only psychologist rather those who want to study the development of human from the fertilization until the death.  For me, we should love our parents because they are the reason why we live in the world today.

Chapter 1: General Psychology As a Science

“General Psychology as a Science”

In College life, you will encounter General Psychology that you didn’t encounter in you high school life. Every First year students in college has many question in mind, one of them is what psychology is. But do we really understand what is general Psychology or simply Psychology?

General Psychology is derived from the Greek words Psyche and logos, meaning soul and study. To Greeks, Psychology is simply a study of the soul.

According to Feldman, General Psychology is referring to the scientific study of human behavior and mental processes.

Human Behavior includes all overt action and reactions such as talking, facial expression, and movements. The term mental processes refer to all internal, covert activity in our minds.

The types of behavior are Overt (obvious), Covert (secret), Conscious (Aware of :), Unconscious (not aware of :), Rational (reasonable), Irrational (unreasonable), Voluntary (freewill), Involuntary (against in your freewill).

In Addition, there are schools of thought in Psychology. These are the Structuralism, Functionalism, behaviorism, Gestalt psychology, Psychoanalytic Approach, and Cognitive Approach.

One of these is the Structuralism.

Structuralism is founded by Wilhelm Wundt. Structuralism is a perspective that focused on the basic elements that constitute the foundation of perception, consciousness, thinking, emotions and other kinds of mental states and activities.

Functionalism is a school of thought in psychology. It is led by William James, focuses on what the mind does and how behavior functions. While the structuralists were looking inside the mind, searching for its structures, the functionalists were looking more at what was going on in the person’s interaction with the outside world and looking for the function of the human brain.

Behaviorism – After reading about Ivan Pavlov’s experiment with dogs, John B. Watson thought that conditioning could form the basis of a new perspective called behaviorism. Watson believed that to understand, one must observe it. Behaviorism focuses on how stimulus-response would produce a behavior.

Gestalt psychology is a German word means whole. “The whole is different from the sum of its parts.” This means that when basic elements that compose our perception of objects are considered together, they produce something greater and more meaningful than those individual elements alone.

Psychoanalytic Approach focuses on unconscious thought, conflict between biological instincts and society’s demands and early experiences. It gives emphasis on the influence of sexual and aggressive impulses on the way people think, feel and behave.

Cognitive Approach means thinking. This perspective focuses on how people think, remember, store and use information. In this view and individual’s mental processes are in control of behavior through memories, perceptions, images and thinking. “If you change the word, Change your thinking.”

Psychology can be related to science because it uses scientific method to find the conclusion or the final answer to every research paper. Also psychology can be related to physiology, anthropology, history and sociology. Moreover, there are areas of psychology and these are the Developmental Psychology, Social Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Clinical & Counseling Psychology, Cognitive psychology, Industrial & Organizational psychology, educational psychology and etc.

Areas of psychology  can be classified into two:

1. Pure psychology 

•   Developmental psychology 
• Social Psychology
• Abnormal Psychology

    2. Applied psychology

• Clinical and Counseling psychology
• Psychiatry
• Cognitive psychology
• Industrial and Organizational Psychology
• Educational psychology

For me, as a college student, Psychology can help me to determine what it is in mind of one person. Finally, psychology can help to encourage the other people that they must not waste their life rather they must take care of it because every life in the world is a gift from God.