心理学专业外语：The biological approach to psychology

The biological approach to psychology
心理学的生物学研究方法
‘All that is psychological is first physiological ’ Anon.
“所有心理的东西首先起源于生理的。

”阿农
Origins and history
1.起源和历史
Sometimes known as the physiological,biopsychological, neurophysiological,nativist(considering nature rather than nurture) or innate approach.
这种方法有时被认为是生理学的、生理心理学的、神经生理学的、先天论者（考虑先天遗传因素而非后天环境因素）或先天的研究方法。

The biological approach to psychological matters has integrated with and run parallel to the rest of psychological thought since early Greek times-the Greek physician Galen suggested that personality and temperament may be linked to the levels of body fluids such as blood and bile in the body.
心理问题的生物学研究方法已经与自希腊早期以来的其余心理学思想融合而且并行存在，希腊医生盖伦认为人的个性和气质可能与体液水平相关联，如人体内的血液和胆汁的不同配合。

As knowledge of human anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and medicine developed, important insights for human behaviour and experience were gained.Penfield for example mapped the role of various areas of the
cerebral cortex through microelectrode stimulation with conscious patients. Sperry investigated the effects of splitting the cerebral hemispheres on consciousness and psychological function.
伴随人体解剖学、生理学、生物化学和医学知识的发展，人类对自身的行为和经验有了重要的见解。

例如潘菲尔德通过微电极刺激有意识的患者绘制出了大脑皮质的不同区域的作用。

斯佩里研究了大脑两半球的分裂对意识和心理功能的影响。

The field will progress still further as the technology to isolate the effects of genes and scan the living brain develops.
随着旨在杜绝基因的影响并能审视活体大脑发育的技术发展，这一领域会取得更大的进步。

Assumptions
2.理论假设
Biologically orientated psychologists assume that
生物学取向的心理学家假定：
all that is psychological is first physiological- that is since the mind appears to reside in the brain, all thoughts, feelings and behaviours ultimately have a physical/biological cause
所有心理的东西首先起源于生理的-这是因为，自从人类意识在大脑中出现，所有的思维、情感和行为最终都可以归结为生理/生物学的原因。

human genes have evolved over millions of years to adapt behaviour to the environment. Therefore, much behaviour will have a genetic basis 人类基因已经过数百万年的进化演变来使人的行为适应环境。

因此，人类许多行
为都有基因基础。

psychology should, therefore, investigate the brain, nervous system, endocrine system, neurochemistry, and genes
因此，心理学应该研究大脑、神经系统、内分泌系统、神经化学和遗传学。

it is also useful to study why human behaviour has evolved in the way it has, the subject of evolutionary/sociobiological theory
它对于研究为什么人类的行为以这种方式进化，对进化论和社会生物学理论都是很有用的。

Methods of investigation
3.研究方法
The biological approach mainly adopts a nomothetic approach to generalise biological influences on behaviour to all humans with similar physiology, but finds the use of particular ‘special case studies’ very useful. 生理学的研究方法主要是采用常规的研究方法来归纳出对所有具有相似生理特征的人来说影响其行为的生物性因素，但是他们发现使用独特的“特殊案例”的研究方法是很有用的。

Most common techniques include
大多数常见的技术包括：
laboratory experimentation-stimulating, giving drugs to, or removing parts of the body to see what effect it has on behaviour
实验室实验法——刺激、给予药物、或者摘除身体的某部位来观察它们对行为有什么样的影响。

laboratory observations-controlled observations of physical processes, e.g. sleep
实验室观察法——对人的生理过程的控制的观察，例如：睡眠
Areas of explanation
4.阐释内容
Biopsychological researchers have contributed to an understanding of 生理心理学研究者在对以下几方面的理解做出了贡献：
gender development-e.g. the influence of genetic and hormonal predispositions on gender behaviour and identity
性别发展-例如，基因的和荷尔蒙的倾向对性别行为和性别认同的影响。

aggression- e.g. investigating the role of the limbic system
攻击-例如，研究边缘系统在攻击行为中的作用。

abnormality-e.g. the dopamine hypothesis and enlarged ventricle theory of schizophrenia
变态-例如，提出了精神分裂症的多巴胺假说和脑室扩大理论。

memory-e.g. brain scans of areas involved during memory tests or the effect of brain damage on memory
记忆-例如，扫描了记忆测试时所激活的脑区和大脑损伤对记忆的影响。

motivation-e.g. the role of the hypothalamus in homeostasis
动机-例如，体内平衡时下丘脑的作用。

awareness-e.g.biological theories of sleep,dreams and body rhythms
警觉-例如，睡眠、做梦和身体节律的生物学理论。

Practical applications
5.实际应用
Biopsychology’s main applications have been to
生理心理学的主要应用在于：
localisation of function-e.g. the effect on behaviour of brain damage to certain areas such as language control centres on the left side of the brain
机能定位-大脑的某些部位的损伤对行为的影响，例如语言控制中枢位于大脑的左半球。

therapy-such drug treatment, psychosurgery, or electroconvulsive therapy for mental disorders such as schizophrenia or depression
治疗-对精神障碍如精神分裂症、抑郁症的药物治疗、心理外科、电休克治疗。

Strengths
6.优点
Biopsychology has contributed to psychology in many ways:
生理心理学对心理学的贡献包括很多方面：
The approach is very scientific, grounded in the hard science of biology with its objective, materialistic subject matter and experimental methodology.
这种研究方法是非常科学的，它凭借客观性、唯物论以及实验方法立足于严苛的生物科学领域。

It provides strong counter-arguments to the nurture side of the
nature-nurture debate.
它在先天与后天之争中，为反驳后天教养的一方提供了强有力的论证。

Biopsychology’s practical applications are usually extremely effective, e.g. the treatment of mental disorder.
生理心理学的实际应用通常都是非常有效的，例如对精神障碍的治疗。

Weaknesses
7.缺点
Reductionism- the biopsychological approach explains thoughts and behaviour in terms of the action of neurones or biochemicals. This may ignore other more suitable levels of explanation and the interaction of causal factors.
还原论-生理心理学的研究方法从神经元和生物化学作用的角度解释了思维和行为。

这可能忽视了一些其他更合适的解释水平和表示因果关系的因素的相互影响。

The approach has not adequately explained how mind and body interact-consciousness and emotion are difficult to study objectively. 这种研究方法不能充分地解释人的心理和身体是如何相互作用的，并且意识和情感很难被客观的研究。

Over simplistic- biopsychological theories often oversimplify the huge complexity of physical systems and their interaction with environmental factors.
过分简单化，生理心理学的理论往往将非常复杂的生理系统和它们与环境因素的相互作用过分简单化了。