Why Are Psychologists Concerned With Human Biology?

Psychology is the field of study of the behavior of humans and animals. Since humans are biological organisms, psychologists research topics such as the effect of brain damage on people's thinking processes, how body organs absorb medication and how chemicals in the environment or food affect human thought. Biology is important when determining the cause of a mental illness, as well as determining which drugs to use as a treatment.

Animal Behavior

• Several interdisciplinary topics combine research in psychology and biology. One of these topics is animal behavior. Psychologists frequently perform studies on animals, such as white lab rats. The researcher can observe the behavior of a lab rat when giving it a medication, such as a painkiller, and determine which nerve transmissions the chemicals in the painkiller are blocking. Knowledge of human biology allows researchers to perform experiments on rats and use that data to design studies with humans.

Neurobiology

• Neurobiology research focuses on the physical organs that make up the nervous system. Psychologists study nerves and other structures in the human body, including connections to other organs such as the brain and the heart, and how nerves transmit information through chemical and electrical signals. The International Brain Research Organization publishes research on nerve cells and sections of the brain such as Broca's area and the thalamus.

Medications

• Psychologists also study medications. According to Rutgers University, the field of psychopharmacology focuses on how to use medications either to treat mental illness, or to alter human mood or consciousness. This is necessary to determine which drugs are safe to give to patients, and which ones are the most likely to lead to abuse or dependency. Pharmacists also study lethal dosages, since they are looking for a safe drug that has an effective therapeutic dose much lower than its toxic dose.

Drug Mechanisms

• Human biology explains the mechanism of a drug's psychological effect in the brain. According to Rutgers University, studies of the frog venom curare provide information on nerve transmissions in the brain. Curare, which hunters use in the Amazon rain forest to paralyze prey, is shown to act not on an individual nerve fiber or a muscle fiber, but on the nervous system transmission between these two organs, the synapse.

Senses

• Biological experiments provide information about sensory changes when a human suffers brain damage. Damage to the hypothalamus, a structure in the brain, affects whether a person experiences hunger or thirst. According to Rutgers University, analyzing the physical nerve receptors in the brain provides information into the separate chemical signals in the brain that specifically direct a human to eat or drink.