Understanding Biological Psychology

Understanding Biological Psychology is an accessible and distinctive new core textbook, designed to help students to appreciate the central role that biological processes play in psychology. Its innovative syntheses of theory with methods, and biological processes with mainstream psychological topics, give conceptual clarity to a complex and often confusing field.

The text is divided into three main parts. The first section on “Foundations” presents the conceptual and scientific bases of biological processes in psychology, including evolution and genetics, brain structures and functions, neurons and neurotransmission, sensory and motor systems, hormones, and learning and plasticity. The second section on “Approaches” introduces the main research tools in biological psychology (and more broadly “behavioral and cognitive neuroscience”), such as psychogenetics, psychopharmacology, psychophysiology, and neuroimaging. The final section on “Applications” surveys the relevance of biological psychology to a selection of important research areas, including anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, emotion and personality, and cognition and consciousness.

Throughout the text, students are encouraged to adopt a critical approach to the subject, learning the importance of asking the right scientific questions.

An accompanying website for students and lecturers is available at www.blackwellpublishing.com/corr. It includes 300 password-protected, multiple-choice test questions, web resources, and a “Science in Mind” tutorial designed to stimulate critical discussion.