Biology and Behavior
2-1 Why are psychologists concerned with human biology?
No principle is more central to today’s psychology, or to this book, than this: Everything psychological—every idea, every mood, every urge—is biological. We may talk separately of biological influences and psychological influences, but they are two sides of the same coin. To think, feel, or act without a body would be like running without legs. Without our bodies, we would be nobodies.
Biological psychologists study the links between our biology and our behavior. These links are a key part of the biopsychosocial approach, which is one of the Four Big Ideas that appear throughout this text. In later chapters, we’ll look at some of the ways our thinking and emotions can influence our brain and our health. In this chapter, our exploration of the biology of the mind starts small and builds from nerve cells to the brain. We’ll also see how our brain states form the waking and sleeping mind.