The Relationship Between Psychology And Neururoscience And The Human Mind

The human brain is an incredibly complex organ responsible for basic physiological reflexes like breathing but, at the same time, creating master pieces of literature like The Odyssey. The brain is responsible for many things, and it takes multiple fields of study to truly understand it as a whole. Neuroscience focuses on the inner workings of the brain and how it functions, while psychology focuses largely on the mind and behavior. The idea that “mental activity is brain activity,” (Churchland 2002) allows both psychologists and neuroscientists alike, to study not only the brain, but its actual impact on human behavior. Without neuroscience, psychologists would not have a cause behind human behavior. However, without psychology, neuroscientists

However, the fact that neuroscience needs psychology is more difficult to establish. In this modern era of scientific advancements where much more is understood about the physiology of the brain, it is easy to think that neuroscience is all that matters when it comes to understanding the human mind. However, without psychology there is no application for neuroscience findings. One way to understand the relationship between psychology and neuroscience is to compare the brain to a computer and the mind to software, it would not make sense to mechanically take apart the hard drive of a computer to learn how to operate a computer program like Microsoft Office (Munger 2007). There are many complicated aspects of human behavior that psychology can study and isolate that neuroscience alone would miss. Neuroscientists must understand human behavior in order to make inferences about the brain, and psychology is the best source of knowledge of human behavior. Neuroscience may explain the physiological processes giving rise to psychological focusses like personality or development, but it alone cannot solve behavioral problems or treat patients with psychiatric

Mental illness is an epidemic in the United States that effects millions of people each year. Groundbreaking research in neuroscience and pharmaceuticals will assist in the attenuation of the epidemic, however the necessary research cannot get its start without psychology. For example, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is characterized by compulsive behavior often in the form of excessive cleaning or grooming. Recently, neuroscientists have been able to block compulsive behavior by manipulating part of the orbitofrontal cortex. These neuroscientists would not have known to associate OCD with the orbitofrontal cortex without research from clinical psychology indicating that the majority of compulsive behavior was triggered by a visual conditioned stimulus specific to each person with the disorder (Holmes, Craske, & Graybiel 2014). Psychology not only points neuroscience research in the right direction, it also allows findings in the brain to have real application for people in