Psychology Atlas

How The Mind Works
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Branches of Psychology

Biological Psychology

Also Known As Biopsychology
Physiological Psychology and Neuroscience

The branch of psychology, also called biopsychology or neuropsychology, that studies physiological processes within the human body, including the brain, the nervous system, neurotransmitters and hormones, and how they shape behavior and mental life.

Facts
Central Question
How do the brain, the nervous system and the rest of the body's biology give rise to behavior and to mental experience? 1
Key Debate
The mind-body problem: how a physical brain and body relate to subjective mental experience, a question debated since antiquity that remains unresolved among competing accounts running from strict physical monism to forms of dualism. 1
Connections

Associated With

Alexander Luria, Psychologists

Founded modern neuropsychology, the field the branch article itself names as one of its own alternate names (biopsychology or neuropsychology).

Source Wikipedia: Alexander Luria

Includes

Source Nobel Prize: David H. Hubel Biographical
Source Gordon G. Gallup Jr. (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: James-Lange Theory
Source Wikipedia: Paul D. MacLean

The manipulation is physiological (an injected arousal agent), so the study is placed in the biological branch as well as social psychology.

Source Nobel Prize: Torsten N. Wiesel Biographical
Source Wikipedia: Cannon-Bard Theory
Source Zing-Yang Kuo (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Behavioral neuroscience
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Opening definition
    the biological and neural substrates underlying human experiences and behaviors, as in our psychology
  • History section
    what is the connection between the mind and body? The debate is formally referred to as the mind-body problem
  • Introduction
    Behavioral neuroscience applies the principles of biology to study the physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behavior in humans and other animals.
Simply Psychology, Branches of Psychology
Simply Psychology (Saul McLeod Ltd)
  • Page text
    Biological psychology focuses on studying physiological processes within the human body, often including the study of neurotransmitters (chemical messengers that transmit messages from one neuron to the next) and hormones.
  • Branches of Psychology, Biological section
    Biological psychology focuses on studying physiological processes within the human body, often including the study of neurotransmitters.
View the Source
Wikipedia: James-Lange Theory
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: James-Lange Theory of Emotion, Theory section
Quote, Includes: James-Lange Theory of Emotion, Theory section
The basic premise of the theory is that physiological arousal instigates the experience of emotion.
Wikipedia: Cannon-Bard Theory
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Walter Cannon, Theory mechanism section
Quote, Includes: Walter Cannon, Theory mechanism section
The key component of the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion is that when the thalamic discharge occurs, the bodily changes occur almost simultaneously with the emotional experience.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Paul D. MacLean
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Paul MacLean, Infobox: field
Quote, Includes: Paul MacLean, Infobox: field
Neuroscience
View the Source
Wikipedia: Alexander Luria
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Alexander Luria, Lead section
Quote, Associated With: Alexander Luria, Lead section
was a Soviet neuropsychologist, often credited as the father of modern neuropsychology.
View the Source
Gordon G. Gallup Jr. (Wikipedia)
Includes: Gordon G. Gallup Jr., Lead
Quote, Includes: Gordon G. Gallup Jr., Lead
(; March 24, 1941, July 22, 2026) was an American psychologist and academic at the University at Albany's psychology department, known for his research in biopsychology.
View the Source
Zing-Yang Kuo (Wikipedia)
Includes: Zing-Yang Kuo, Lead
Quote, Includes: Zing-Yang Kuo, Lead
Kuo; simplified Chinese: 郭任远; traditional Chinese: 郭任遠; pinyin: Guō Rènyuǎn; Jyutping: Kuo Yam6 Yun5; 1898-1970) was a Chinese experimental and physiological psychologist.
View the Source
Nobel Prize: David H. Hubel Biographical
Includes: David H. Hubel, Biographical
Quote, Includes: David H. Hubel, Biographical
The years of hospital training were interrupted by a year of clinical neurophysiology under Herbert Jasper, who was unequalled for his breadth and clarity of thinking in brain science.
View the Source
Nobel Prize: Torsten N. Wiesel Biographical
Includes: Torsten Wiesel, Biographical
Quote, Includes: Torsten Wiesel, Biographical
When my studies were completed I returned to Professor Bernhards’s laboratory at the Karolinska Institute in 1954 to do basic neurophysiological research.
View the Source

Take a Related Quiz

Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.