DIFFERENT VIEWS OF WHAT PSYCHOLOGY SHOULD BE

I. Approach #1: Neurophysiology

A. View of humans: We are our brains.

This is you  ==>

B. What psychology should be: the study of the brain. The idea that the brain had something to do with personality took a while to catch on, but once it id, it became a popular idea.

C. The neuropsychological approach was founded by quacks, biologists, and physicians.

• Phrenology (the study of personality by feeling bumps on the head) led people to believe two important truths: (a) the brain influenced personality and (b) specific parts of the brain were responsible for different traits.
However, despite these truths and despite its tremendous popularity, phrenology (called "bumpology" by critics) was quackery.

             Even today, there is much misinformation about the brain:

• Despite the brain being too complex to study at that time, biologists started to study it, in part, to show that phrenology was quackery.
• Physicians made some advances by studying people who had brain injuries. For example, the strange case of Phineas Gage made people receptive to the idea that the brain did affect personality.
  
• Our efforts to study the brain has a long history
• Examples of the neurophysiological approach's popularity today: Our belief in the importance of the body on the brain is reflected in our view of mental problems being medical problems. Think about how we talk about and treat a person who has a physical problem: They have an illness, should go to a hospital, see a doctor, and get medication. How do we talk about and treat someone who has a mental problem? They have a mental illness, should go to a mental hospital, see a doctor (a psychiatrist), and get medication.

Evidence (but not proof) for the idea that the physical brain controls thought, emotion, and behavior.

• Stimulating different parts of the brain can produce motor movements. This provides some hope for people who are paralyzed and want to walk again.
• Brain tumors have been known to change people's personalities.
• Dr. Oliver Saks was able to find people who had particular weaknesses (e.g., despite having good vision, not be able to distinguish a parking meter from a person) and correlate those deficits with problems in a particular part of the brain. You can learn about some of his interesting cases by reading his entertaining book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat."
• Video illustrating fronto-temporal dementia
• The strange case of cat poop and personality
• Drugs that may cause depression include some antidepressants, some anti-anxiety drugs, some opioids, and even some allergy medicines.

D. Objections/Problems with this "physical" approach

1. Philosophical question: The mind body problem: What is the relationship between the mind/soul and the body/brain?

                Some see near death experiences as evidence for more the mind being more than the body.

                However, there are scientific explanations for out-of-body experiences supporting the view that the mind is nothing more than the brain (video)

2. Two scientific problems with studying the human brain (Why we know so little about the brain)

#1 It is hard to see the brain and even harder to see what it is doing-- and even if you could see what it is doing, you would have trouble understanding what you were seeing. the brain, iTo illustrate these problems, suppose you wanted to know how people's brains reacted to hearing their name. Your first problem is how to see the brain: It is surrounded by a skull and has many layers. Your second problem is that, even if you could see it,  you can't see what it is doing with your naked eye: Its behavior involves sending electrical signals and microscopic amounts of chemicals. Your third problem is that, even if you could see what the brain is doing, how are you going to determine which of the millions of things the brain is doing are related to hearing the person's name.  Given these problems, you can understand why observing the brain has, until recently, not been possible. Now, thanks to technologies like PET scans and functional MRIs to help us see brain activity, and computers both to help us both keep track of that activity and  filter out the background brain activity ("noise"), we are better able to observe and understand brain behavior.

#2 Doing experiments on the human brain is difficult from both a practical and ethical standpoint.

 

 

       1. Being able to "read your mind" by knowing which button you will press before you know.

       2. Having people play computer video games by thinking about what move they want rather than by taking any physical action

       3. Strategies and technologies that have allowed the study of the brain to be scientific

F. Applications to Therapy: As  you can see from the table below, the general approach to therapy follows from the neurophysiological perspective

1. Specific Techniques (for "fixing the brain")

    a. Chemically changing the the brain's using drugs/medications--Commonly used to treat depression, anxiety, and to reduce symptoms, such as hallucinations, that people with schizophrenia may have.

     b. Electrical stimulation of the brain--ECT: Electroconvulsive Treatment, primarily for sever depression.

     c. Magnetic stimulation of the brain--Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), approved for treating depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

      d. Changing the brain's physical structure--Surgery

            In the past, surgery included lobotomy, but now usually involves removing tumors. 

                    Story of a person who had a lobotomy  (from PBS).

2. Questions/Objections to Biological Therapies

• Although some mental problems can be linked to problems with the brain, many cannot. Should we be trying to treat those problems as though they were biological/medical problems when they may not be?
• Do we know enough about the brain and how these drugs work to use them effectively?
• Are we treating symptoms rather than causes?
• What about the side effects of these drugs?
• Should people take responsibility for their actions rather than playing the brain blame game?
• New York Times article by a patient who  gives mixed reviews to the biomedical approach to mental problems

1. Explain why no single approach is sufficient to completely understand human behavior.

2. Explain the neurophysiological approach to psychology.

3. List at least three objections to the neurophysiological approach.

4. Describe at least one instance where the neurophysiological approach has been very successful.

5. Evaluate the statement: The neurophysiological approach is the most scientific approach to studying psychology.

6. Be able to explain how a neurophysiologist would diagnose a violent individual.

You should also:

1. Look at this very nice website that is designed for kids but has something (neurophysiological) for everyone. It starts by explaining the very basics of neurophysiology at a level an elementary school child could understand. However, you can also, if you wish, go fairly far beyond the basics at this site. A good beginning point is the link for "Exploring the brain and nervous system."
2. Review this concept map.
3. Take time out for a quiz on the neuron.
4. Take a short quiz quiz on the brain.
5. Watch this TED Talk to understand how recent advances in the brain help us understand people who have unusual characteristics.
6. Go through this nice tour of brain basics to learn how Alzheimer's disease affects the brain.
7. Take this short quiz.
8. Take advantage of this site that helps you learn the parts of the neuron
9. Be sure that you understand the basics of the neuron.
10. Learn about some of the cool new discoveries about the brain at Brainfacts

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