Physiological Psychology

Reflection Journal 1

Roots of Physiological Psychology

Psychology investigates an enormous range of phenomena: learning and memory, sensation and perception, motivation and emotion, thinking and language, personality and social behaviour, intelligence, infancy and child development, mental illness, and a lot more. Psychologists examine these topics from many different perspectives. Clinical psychology - is dedicated to the study, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illnesses and other emotional or behavioural disorders. More psychologists work in this field than in any other branch of psychology.

Counselling psychology - is closely related to clinical psychology. Counselling psychologists may treat mental disorders, but they more commonly treat people with less-severe adjustment problems related to marriage, family, school, or career.

Cognitive Psychology - the scientific study of cognition. Cognition means the process of knowing, and cognitive psychology is the study of all mental activities related to acquiring, storing, and using knowledge. Cognitive psychology spans the entire spectrum of conscious and unconscious mental activities: sensation and perception, learning and memory, thinking and reasoning, attention and consciousness, imagining and dreaming, decision making, and problem solving. Other topics that seem to fascinate cognitive psychologists include creativity, intelligence, and how people learn, understand, and use language.

Social psychology - the scientific study of how people think, feel, and behave in social situations.

Health psychology - the application of psychology to the promotion of physical health and the prevention and treatment of illness. Researchers in this area show that human health and well-being depends on both biological and psychological factors (mainly dealing with stress).

Perception - Perception is the mental process that translates these impulses into things we can recognize and understand: people, objects, places, sounds, tastes, and smells. Perception is such a natural process that most people don't even realize it. But to cognitive psychologists, perception is one of the great mysteries of the mind. They wonder about questions such as:

*"How do we perceive the world in three dimensions even though the images projected into the eyes are two-dimensional?"

*"Why do we perceive melodies in music, rather than a series of disconnected notes?"

*"What causes visual illusions?"

One area of study in perception is pattern recognition, the ability to recognize familiar forms in a large area of sensory information (recognizing your friend's face in a crowd). Another area of perception is the difference between perceiving and imagining (see something that isn't really there). Some cognitive psychologists think that perceiving and imagining are quite similar, but others disagree.

Reflection Journal 2

Referring to the nervous system is composed of trillions of nerve cells, as well as other cells which maintain and support the nerve cells. The scientific name for a nerve cell is a neuron. Neurons function electrically to create thought and action in our bodies. There are three basic characteristics that indicate that the user is dependent on a drug. First, the user continues to use the drug for an extended period of time. Second, the user finds it difficult to stop using the drug. They may drop out of school, steal, go to jail, lose their jobs, or leave their families ...