THE RATIONAL AND IRRATIONAL ACTION/ CONCEPT OF
CHAPTER ONE
THE CONCEPT OF BEHAVIOUR
Biological psychologists assume that behavior is determined by events occurring inside the organism especially the nervous system. In this quest to understand behavior, they emphasize the behaving organism. They are influenced by the awareness that behavior emanates from the organism under the control and regulation of the brain.
What causes us to behave the way will do? Is our behavior really the act of free choice? For years psychologists have debated whether human behavior is something we are born with or re-acquired. They are four sources of human behavior. They are premiring(natural), formative years, contemporary society and creativity. Behavior is a movement in psychology that advocates the use of strict experimental procedures to study observable behavior (or responses) in relation to the environment (or stimuli). The behaviorist view of psychology has its roots in the writings of the British association of philosophers, as well as in the American functionalist school of psychology and the Darwinian theory of evolution, both of which emphasize the way that individuals adapt and adjust to the environment.
Behaviorism was first developed in the early 20th century by the American psychologist John B. Watson. The dominant view of that time was that psychology is the study of inner experiences or feelings by subjective, introspective methods. Watson did not deny the existence of inner experiences, but he insisted that these experiences could not be studied because they were not observable. He was greatly influenced by the pioneering investigations of the Russian physiologists Ivan P. Pavlov and Vladimir M. Bekhterev on conditioning of animals (classical conditioning). Watson proposed to make the study of psychology scientific by using only objective procedures such as laboratory experiments designed to establish statistically significant results. The behaviorist view led him to formulate a stimulus-response theory of psychology. In this theory all complex forms of behavior—emotions, habits, and such—are seen as composed of simple muscular and glandular elements that can be observed and measured. He claimed that emotional reactions are learned in much the same way as other skills.
Watson's stimulus-response theory resulted in a tremendous increase in research activity on learning in animals and in humans, from infancy to early adulthood. Between 1920 and mid-century, behaviorism dominated psychology in the
Skinner's position, known as radical (or basic) behaviorism, is similar to Watson's view that psychology is the study of the observable behavior of individuals interacting with their environment. Skinner, however, disagrees with Watson's position that inner processes, such as feelings, should be excluded from study. He maintains that these inner processes should be studied by the usual scientific methods, with particular emphasis on controlled experiments using individual animals and humans. His research with animals, focusing on the kind of learning known as operant conditioning—that occurs as a consequence of stimuli, demonstrates that complex behavior such as language and problem solving can be studied scientifically. He postulated a type of psychological conditioning known as reinforcement.
Since 1950, behavioral psychologists have produced an impressive amount of basic research directed at understanding how various forms of behavior are developed and maintained. These studies have included the role of (1) the interactions preceding behavior, such as the attention span and perceptual processes; (2) changes in behavior itself, such as the formation of skills; (3) interactions following behavior, such as the effects of incentives or rewards and punishments; and (4) conditions prevailing over all the events, such as prolonged emotional stress and deprivations of the essentials of life.
Some of these studies were conducted with humans in rooms especially equipped with observational devices and also in natural settings, as in school or at home. Other studies used animals, particularly rats and pigeons, as subjects, in standard laboratory settings. Most studies with animals required simple responses. For example, the animal was trained to press a lever or peck a disk in order to receive something of value, such as food, or to avoid painful stimulation, such as a slight electric shock.
At the same time, psychologists have undertaken studies using behavioral principles on practical problems. This work has yielded a body of knowledge known as behavior modification, or applied behavior analysis. Applied behavioral research has been carried out in three main areas. The first focuses on the techniques of psychological treatment for troubled adults and children with behavior disorders. This area is known as behavior therapy. The second centers on improving teaching and training methods. Some studies have explored the teaching processes used in the educational system from preschool to college; others have focused on training in business and industry and in the armed forces. Methods of programmed instruction have been developed. Many studies have dealt with the problems of improving teaching and training methods for handicapped children at home, in school, or in institutions.
CHAPTER TWO
BEHAVIOURIAL TRAITS AND ITS INFLUENCE ON HUMAN AND ANIMALS
Behavior has extended its influence on psychology in three ways. It has replaced the mechanical concept of stimuli and responses with a functional concept that emphasizes the meaningfulness of stimulating conditions to the individual. It has introduced a research method for the experimental study of a single individual. Finally, it has demonstrated that behavioral concepts and principles can be applied to many practical problems.
The term biopsychology denotes a biological approach to psychology, rather than a psychological approach to biology. Most biopsychologists are trained experimental psychologists who have brought their knowledge of biology to the study of psychological phenomena. These phenomena include behavior and underlying psychological processes, such as learning, memory, perception, attention, motivation, emotion, and cognition.
Biopsychologists work in a variety of overlapping fields of study. Scientists in cognitive neuroscience primarily study the brain to understand the neural mechanisms of mental processes. Researchers in the field of psychopharmacology examine how drugs affect the psychological functions of the brain. Scientists in the field of neuropsychology study the psychological effects of brain damage in humans. Researchers in behavioral genetics study how genes influence behavior and psychological traits. Evolutionary psychologists investigate how evolution shapes psychological processes. Comparative psychologists study animal behavior by comparing findings among different species. Comparative psychology often entails ethology, the scientific study of the way animals behave in their natural habitat.
Because biopsychology combines biological and psychological approaches, it can be viewed either as a specialized field of psychology or as a specialized field of biology. However, most biopsychologists receive the majority of their training from university psychology departments.
CHAPTER THREE
NATURE AND NURTURE AS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR AFFECTING HUMAN AND ANIMAL
One of the oldest issues in research on intelligence is whether individual differences in intelligence and developmental changes are driven by nature (genes) or nurture (experience). This has always been a controversial topic in psychology but the issue is now largely settled. By analysing the correlations in intelligence of groups of differing degrees of genetic relatedness (mainly twins) and groups that do or do not share the same rearing environments (adopted children), behaviour geneticists can calculate the heritability of intelligence. Heritability is the proportion of the differences between individuals that are accounted for by genetic effects. It is clear that there is a large genetic effect on differences in intelligence. Estimates vary, but it is accepted the heritability of IQ is substantial and lies somewhere between 40 per cent and 70 per cent. However, heritability is a concept that applies to differences within populations. The figure of 50 per cent (or whatever) does not mean that for any specific individual you can say that 50 per cent of their intelligence is due to their genetic heritage and 50 per cent is due to their environment. It could be that for any individual (someone with a genetic defect for example) nearly all of their measured ability is determined by genes and for yet another (someone reared in a dark cupboard, for example) it could be entirely environmental. Nature versus nurture in the IQ debate
Evidence suggests that family environmental factors may have an effect upon childhood IQ, accounting for up to a quarter of the variance. On the other hand, by late adolescence this correlation disappears, such that adoptive siblings are no more similar in IQ than strangers.[14] Moreover, adoption studies indicate that, by adulthood, adoptive siblings are no more similar in IQ than strangers (IQ correlation near zero), while full siblings show an IQ correlation of 0.6. Twin studies reinforce this pattern: monozygotic (identical) twins raised separately are highly similar in IQ (0.86), more so than dizygotic (fraternal) twins raised together (0.6) and much more than adoptive siblings (~0.0). [15] Consequently, in the context of the "nature versus nurture" debate, the "nature" component appears to be much more important than the "nurture" component in explaining IQ variance in the general adult population of the United States.
CHAPTER THREE
NATURE AND NURTURE AS IN IMPORTANT DETERMINANT OF RATIONAL AND IN IRRATIONAL ACTION
Although genes contain all the information an organism uses to function, the environment plays an important role in determining the ultimate phenotype—a dichotomy often referred to as "nature vs. nurture." The phenotype of an organism depends on the interaction of genetics with the environment. One example of this is the case of temperature-sensitive mutations. Often, a single amino acid change within the sequence of a protein does not change its behavior and interactions with other molecules, but it does destabilize the structure. In a high temperature environment, where molecules are moving more quickly and hitting each other, this results in the protein losing its structure and failing to function. In a low temperature environment, however, the protein's structure is stable and functions normally. This type of mutation is visible in the coat coloration of Siamese cats, where a mutation in an enzyme responsible for pigment production causes it to destabilize and lose function at high temperatures.[47] The protein remains functional in areas of skin that are colder—legs, ears, tail, and face—and so the cat has dark fur at its extremities.Siamese cats have a temperature-sensitive mutation in pigment production.
Environment also plays a dramatic role in effects of the human genetic disease phenylketonuria.[48] The mutation that causes phenylketonuria disrupts the ability of the body to break down the amino acid phenylalanine, causing a toxic build-up of an intermediate molecule that, in turn, causes severe symptoms of progressive mental retardation and seizures. If someone with the phenylketonuria mutation is kept on a strict diet that avoids this amino acid, however, they remain normal and healthy.
The genome of a given organism contains thousands of genes, but not all these genes need to be active at any given moment. A gene is expressed when it is being transcribed into mRNA (and translated into protein), and there exist many cellular methods of controlling the expression of genes such that proteins are produced only when needed by the cell. Transcription factors are regulatory proteins that bind to the start of genes, either promoting or inhibiting the transcription of the gene.[49] Within the genome of Escherichia coli bacteria, for example, there exists a series of genes necessary for the synthesis of the amino acid tryptophan. However, when tryptophan is already available to the cell, these genes for tryptophan synthesis are no longer needed. The presence of tryptophan directly affects the activity of the genes—tryptophan molecules bind to the tryptophan repressor (a transcription factor), changing the repressor's structure such that the repressor binds to the genes. The tryptophan repressor blocks the transcription and expression of the genes, thereby creating negative feedback regulation of the tryptophan synthesis process.[50]
Differences in gene expression are especially clear within multicellular organisms, where cells all contain the same genome but have very different structures and behaviors due to the expression of different sets of genes. All the cells in a multicellular organism derive from a single cell, differentiating into different cell types in response to external and intercellular signals and gradually establishing different patterns of gene expression to create different behaviors. No single gene is responsible for the development of structures within multicellular organisms; these patterns arise from the complex interactions between many cells.
Within eukaryotes there exist structural features of chromatin that influence the transcription of genes, often in the form of modifications to DNA and chromatin that are stably inherited by daughter cells.[51] These features are called "epigenetic" because they exist "on top" of the DNA sequence and retain inheritance from one cell generation to the next. Because of epigenetic features, different cell types grown within the same medium can retain very different properties. Although epigenetic features are generally dynamic over the course of development, some, like the phenomenon of paramutation, have multigenerational inheritance and exist as rare exceptions to the general rule of DNA as the basis for inheritance.