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PSYCHOBIOLOGY I
Theme 1ª: Concept of psychobiology
Psychobiology is the study of mind and behavior. Biology is divided in three categories
REDUCTIONISM (atomic) ORGANICISM (holistic) Horizontal Vertical Upward causation Two-way causation Cost is at the bottom, effect at the top It all happens in the same level Reductionism -> Provincial biology which accepts reductionism as constitutive, explanatory and theory.
Organicism -> Autonomous biology, which accepts reductionism as constitutive but not explanatory or theory.
- Level of organization (1)
- Reductionism versus organicism (2)
- Proximate versus ultimate cause (3)
Infra-organismic (cell and molecular bio.)
Organismic (organismic biology)Supra-organismic (populational biology)
An example of explanatory would be explaining DNA through behavior, and of theory explaining things through the terms of physics and chemistry (inferiority complex)
- Proximate versus ultimate cause This third concept has to do with the temporal scale in which you look for and establish causal relationships. The distinction between proximate versus ultimate cause has led to the definition of two biology’s, functional biology ad evolutionary biology. These two have changed in many ways since Mayr implanted the categorization of these biology’s more than 50 years ago.
Biology principles:
Design and a function (optimality principle) Antagonist options (trade-offs) Conflicts of interest (coevolution) Levels of organization (causal relations) Comparative perspective (evolutionary tree) Model and approach (model animals and biological approach) Organism and environmental (interpenetration, niche construction) Inheritance (genetic, epigenetic, and environmental) Biology (biologists)
- Design and a function (optimality principle) Survival is based in the optimal design to maximize biological efficiency: the imperatives of survival and reproduction. This said, the study of the various organization levels that we are considering must reveal a tendency to functional configurations that are more efficient. Design <-> Function What function is maximized? Natural selection tends to shape the design of organisms so as to maximize the balance between the benefits and the costs. Biological fitness benefits>costs
- Antagonist options (trade-offs) When the solution to different biological problems are not compatible or are antagonized because they require the use of resources that are limited due to temporal simultaneity or energy, or because it generates collateral problems, organisms tend to activate a solution of compromise, the so called trade-offs , that only allow suboptimal solutions in relative terms, even though the final solution can be considered the best possible. The existence of trade-offs explains why the design of organisms is so imperfect. Trade-offs have been thoroughly studied especially in relationship to life-history theory. Survival versus reproduction
Social bonding, oxytocin and vasopressin: we are not particularly interested in understanding humans but yes in genetically bases or physiological bases of social bonding, studying various species. In what species is it involved and why. Monogamous specie versus polygamous specie. These two species differ in their social bonding
