Regulation of Human Behaviour

This assignment provides a comprehensive study guide to accompany Bob Garrett's Brain & Behavior: An Introduction to Biological Psychology. It includes various references from books and journals, covering topics such as heartbeat feedback, leukocyte telomere length, working memory capacity, and more. The assignment is suitable for students looking for past papers and solved assignments on biological psychology.

Biological Psychology

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
BACKGROUND.............................................................................................................................1
REVIEW..........................................................................................................................................2
DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................4
Argument and suggestion.......................................................................................................4
Impact of topic in everyday livings........................................................................................6
Contribution to field of psychology.......................................................................................8
Strengths and limitations........................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Biological psychology basically refers to relation between psychological processes and
the underlying physiological events in daily life. It include the focus on functions of brain and
remaining nervous system in order to conduct regular activities by an individual such as
thinking, learning, feeling, sensing and perceiving. Moreover, biological psychology is also
helpful to study the physical basis of reception of internal and external stimuli by nervous system
including visual & auditory systems (Kevin and James, 2017). This assignment is based on
article named as 'Cognitive Control of Emotion' which is going to be reviewed further. The
present report is will focus on regulation of behaviour by physiological make- up and critical role
of genetics. It will also include description about influence of brain's biological and chemical set-
up on daily life activities.
BACKGROUND
The article studied capacity to manage and control emotion i.e. essential for human
adaptation. The cognitive control of emotion can be described as an intentional approach of
human being in order to select thoughts, emotions and behaviours as per actual requirement. It
include the basic selection of tasks or ideas by an individual which is favourable for them as per
specific situation. Moreover, this intentional psychological approach provide support to human
being that they will choose better one option from alternative choices to gain desired benefits and
refuse difficult tasks respectively. At the other hand, genetics plays important role in regulating
and controlling behaviour of a person because inherited traits from previous generation reflects
in their social interaction. Human being have a normal behaviour to engage another living beings
also like animals, birds, plants etc. as per their psychological likes or dislikes of lives which may
or may not be inherited from their parents. The character present gene of an individual has
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similarities with their previous generation due to which they have similar features like their
parents which reflects in social behaviour as well (Ring and et. al., 2015).
REVIEW
The selected article is based on regulation and control of human behaviour by
physiological make- up as well as genetics which depends upon several psychological
approaches. The cognitive control of emotion refers to an important factor in human beings due
to which they select suitable choices as per specific condition and behave appropriately. It
involves several hormonal changers in body which is regulated by physiological make- up and
chemical set up and it will reflect in behaviour of an individual. Moreover, it involves that levels
of hormone, effects of certain medication, homoeostasis, toxics level of substance in human body
affects behaviour of human beings. It has described about intentional approach of an individual
in order choose favourable option which is easier to conduct fro them and it will not harm them
in any manner (Garrett, 2014). However, Behavioural genetics can be considered as an
interdisciplinary effort to establish causal connections between genes, behavioural traits and
neural mechanisms in human being.
Article review presents the analysis on Attentional control and Cognitive Change in
respect of study influence of behaviour of human being. It involves that emotional regulation is
based on neurons and the functional imaging in humans to investigate control strategies is
suitable to analyse cognitive processes. However, it include the investigation of controlling
attention cognitive changes including emotionally evocative stimuli and these two forms of
emotion regulation depend upon interactions among prefrontal as well as cingulate desired
control systems. It also include cortical and sub- cortical emotion generative systems which
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impacts on regulating behaviour in respect of emotional findings in both humans and non-
humans.
On the basis of selected article, attention control is analysed in which it is studied that
selective attention is based on brain activation changes due to absence of corroborating
behavioural or physiological changes in terms of regulating behaviour. Additionally, it also
involves that attentional distractions avoid pitfalls by highly arousing stimuli and questions
remain precisely about procedures conducted by control system of brain. In addition to this, the
cognitive change include two factors such as controlled generation and regulation in which
emotional appraisal systems can be conducted by PFC, OFC and cingulate control systems
activation. It involves several expectations of beliefs and stimuli through analysing response
from the same. Several factors are transmitted from parents to an individual because of
transmission of similar DNA and few characters are in their gene which is also responsible for
regulating their reactions and reflects in their behaviour. Thus, genetics also plays an important
role to influence behaviour of an individual due to inherited features from previous generation
which impacts in regulation of changes in brain reaction to stimulate behaviour.
From the reference of article, it has been analysed that stimuli generates emotional
response and use if regulatory strategies in terms of controlling desired response which reflects
in behaviour of human beings. However, it is thoroughly observed and evaluated that different
strategies are utilised to modulate appraisal systems in differentiated manners and behaviour not
similar in various situations due to discriminated regulatory techniques of human beings. At the
other hand, functional architecture is studied to analyse that it is underlying the cognitive control
of emotion responding in healthy as well as psychological population in particular procedures
including control processes and subcortical regions.
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DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Argument and suggestion
Physiology is word that is derived from Ancient Greek which means “nature or origin”. It
deals with the scientific study of different functions and mechanism of living organism.
Physiological make up refers to related elements which motivate actions and cause reactions that
regulated behaviour of human beings. It basically involves two major psychological factors of
interest such as physical and behavioural which reflects in behaviour of an individual. Human
behaviour is regulated and controlled by their physiology mechanism and there is critical role
played by human genetics as well (Savolainen and et. al., 2014). The physiologic condition of
human allows to gain knowledge about the condition that is occurring in the normal human body
and body function. Human physiology allows to understand the overall mechanism of human
body that work in order to keep the human body with proper functioning. This is possible
through scientific enquires about biochemical, physical and mechanical of the human body.
There is strong relation between physiology and human behaviour as any changes in the
human physiology directly affects the behaviour of human along with the mental functioning.
Changes in the hormone levels, effects of certain medication, homeostasis, toxics level of
substance in human body affects behaviour of human beings. Homeostasis deals with controlling
and maintenance of internal environment of human beings. Human body undergoes with
different mechanisms, which helps them to regulate their body that includes glands, tissues, cells.
The main mechanisms of homeostasis deals with body temperature, blood sugar, blood pressure,
gas concentration and body fluid mechanisms (Jaušovec and Jaušovec, 2014).
Through the homeostasis mechanism the human body is able to be controlled and
maintain at constant condition. Hormone is a chemical messenger in that is released in the human
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body by different glands and cells that directly effects the cells of the human. This physiologic
changes in the body directly affect the behaviour of human beings. Both in case of high hormone
level or low hormone level the behaviour of humans are effected. There is chances of change in
the behaviour of human due to imbalance hormone levels which includes frequent mood swings,
body ache, vomiting, irritation and gastric issues etc.
Genetics studies are also involved with the study of genes and how this genetic make up
of a particular human being can effect and influence both physical and behavioural
characteristics in future generations. Human behaviour genetics is subfield of behaviour genetics,
it includes the role of genetic and environment impact on human behaviour (Hallvig and et. al.,
2014). Human behavioural geneticists have undergone the various types of inheritance of
behavioural traits. Behavioural geneticists study emphasis on both psychiatric and mental
disorder that includes bipolar disorder, alcoholism consumption, schizophrenia along with
behavioural and social characteristics which includes social attitudes and personality. As genes
acts as confounding variable, child get half of the alleles from their both parent, so the parenting
styles and traits can also affects the behaviour of individual or there can be genetic disorders that
can effect the behaviour.
In order to regulate and control the changing behaviour of human being there is need to
undergo regular medical check-up and follow the suggestion of doctors to maintain the blood
sugar, blood pressure, body temperature or level of hormone etc. The regular consumption of
alcohols, smoking can be avoided so that physiological issues does not affect the human body
function and mechanisms. To over genetics disorder, proper pedigree chart should be undergone
so that some precaution can be taken for cure through medicine or behavioural styles.
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At last, it has been suggested that further studies about human behaviour can be carried
by focussing more on psychological status as well as genetic traits. It is also recommended that
hormonal imbalance in body is responsible for inappropriate mental state due to which people
become aggressive many times so that it should be considered while studying regulation of
behaviour of human beings (Sjörs, Ljung and Jonsdottir, 2014). Moreover, further studies can be
enhanced in direction of imaging genomics with the help of combining pharmacogenomics in
order to achieve great future potential. At the other hand, it is essential to apply new strategy of
utilising experimental economics paradigm, with neurogenetic approaches which can render
valuable insight into human social behaviour.
Impact of topic in everyday livings
Human behaviour refers to different range of activities that are exhibited by humans and
which are influenced by genetic disorders, parenting styles or other human physiological factors.
As human behaviour is defined as the potential and expressed capacity for mental, physical
social activities, it is important to focus on physiological factors and genetic factors that
influence the behaviour pattern of human being during different phases of life. Nowadays, it is
very commonly found that the due to physiologic disorders or genetic disorders every other
individual is facing the health issues due to which their behaviour pattern is also affected (Tye
and et. al., 2014). Hormones are chemical messengers that are present in human body and travels
through blood to different organs to signal the physiologic mechanisms. It is commonly observed
in daily life that women are facing the issues of hormonal imbalance due to which they facing
heavy, irregular mensuration cycles, osteoporosis, indigestion, constipation, diarrhoea etc. All
this factors are affecting their health due to there is certain frequent change in their behavioural
pattern which includes frequent mood swings, irritation, anger, violence etc. Moreover, due to
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hormone imbalance like due to low level of estrogen in the human body, the chances of
depression level increases.
All over the world, depression issues and causes are arising very fast. Estrogen hormone
helps in increasing serotonin, this one of the chemical produced in brain that plays an important
role in stimulating and boosting moods. In case of estrogen deficiency, the level of serotonin
decreases which increases the contribution of mood swing and depression in human beings.
Thus, the behavioural pattern of human beings, the way of interaction with others are also
affected in daily life. To overcome this hormone imbalance faced by humans in daily life,
doctors are prescribing to undergo hormone replacement therapy to control the low estrogen
level. Doctors tends to prescribe HRT to both women and men through orally, topically and
consuming the pellets that are inserted under the skin.
High blood pressure commonly known as hypertension is most common health issues
faced by human being (Recio, Schacht and Sommer, 2014). In this arteries narrows down due to
which risk of heart diseases increases. Blood pressure is determined by amount of blood that
heart pumps and amount of resistance to which blood flow in arteries. This is another
physiologic mechanisms in the human body that effects both the health and behaviour of human
beings. In context with genetics, chromosomal abnormalities usually occurs during the foetus
development when something goes false in the process of replication of the cells. Some of
common genetic abnormalities that is found in daily life are Down syndrome, Klinefelter
syndrome and Turner syndrome. Down syndrome is mainly caused by an extra X chromosome,
Klinefelter syndrome is caused by an extra X chromosomes and Turner syndrome is caused by
missing X chromosomes. To deal with this genetic counselling are provided to determine any
abnormalities that exists and passed along to offspring.
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Contribution to field of psychology
The physiological make- up and genetics of an individual plays an important role in
regulating behaviour as per their psychology about specific factor. Every individual has their
own psychology which depends upon their physical make up and genetics including traits gained
by previous generation. Regulation of behaviour by several factors is essential to be analysed
because it is responsible for physical and mental well being condition of an individual. However,
human behaviour with influence of physiological make- up and genetics plays an important role
to analyse actual psychology of an individual due to chemical change in brain of an individual
(Haaker and et. al., 2015). It is necessary for psychologists to thoroughly evaluate real cause of a
person's behaviour in order to deal with them in proper way. At the other hand, psychological
response of an individual describes about appropriate medication for them in respect of making
them healthy.
The behaviour of human being can be classified as aggressive, assertive, passive and
passive- aggressive which is due to their hormonal or chemical change in brain. It includes
several approaches including emotional regulation, attentional control, cognitive change, future
directions and functional architecture by cognitive control. Moreover, there are various kinds of
chemical changes takes place in brain of humans which is responsible for their behaviour with
other people including reflection of genetic traits. It involves controlled generation in which
certain ways are includes which are discussed here. Initially, the neural correlates of anticipatory
responses which facilitate expected emotion events. However, these anticipations has been
connected with activation of dorsal medial (PFC) regions in respect of implicating in mental state
attribution. Meanwhile, influence in neural responses due to feel of stimulus in terms of non
painful and painful experiences. In addition to this, it is observed that direct top- down responses
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can be created with help of beliefs about stimulus along with bottom response which are usually
driven by perception of adverse stimuli (Kober and et. Al., 2014).
The psychological status plays major role in behaviour and response of human beings and
they regulate their mid sets as per specific situation. Mental condition of an individual regulates
their regular activities and facilitate to react in different situations. At the other hand, psychology
can be described as connection between brain and behaviour of human being because mental
situation of a person reflects in their physical actions or face expressions clearly. In contrary to
this, genetic traits which are transmuted to an individual from their previous generation also
reflects on their behaviour. Characters in gene of a child which they get from parents are similar
which can be easily observed as phenotypes and analysed in every life habits or activities.
However, this happen due to transmitted DNA from previous generation to the next in order to
facilitate inheritance and variation of traits respectively (Maurizio and et. al., 2014).
Strengths and limitations
The articles are usually written on the basis of some of practical facts and few of
hypothetical basis due to which every single theory is not able to implement practically.
However, different author's have differentiated point of view on same topic according their
studied and experimental research. Moreover, there are several strengths and weaknesses can be
observed in selected article as overall facts present here are not able to be applied in practical
manner so that they can be consider as limitations of the same. In addition to this, several
strengths and limitations of selected article are explained further –
Strengths –
According to this article, there is fact discussed about chemical changes takes place in
brain which is responsible for managing mental situation of an individual. However,
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psychological condition of a person will reflects in to their physical actions and face expressions
which is correct in practical way. Additionally, mental status of an individual can be analysed by
observing them thoroughly and it also reflects in their behaviour including physical as well as
emotional reaction among other people.
Limitations –
The regulation of emotions are regulated by cognitive approach which is helpful to
regulate behaviour of human being, but in certain cases it is not possible because mental patients
are not in condition to intentionally control the same (Grimm, Escera and Nelken, 2016). In
addition to this, people having stable mental position can also apply the cognitive approach
which is correct to be implemented in case psychological patient and not even on those people
who can be easily manipulated by talking about other facts. Moreover, the cognitive approach is
not implemented on mental patients which can be consider as limitation of this article.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been conclude that biological psychology can be consider as
helpful factor to study the physical basis of reception of internal and external stimuli by nervous
system. It involves the specific role physiological make-up and genetics in order to regulate
behaviour of an individual. However, it involves cognitive control of emotion in order to
intentionally select thoughts, emotions and behaviours in particular condition. Psychological
status of a person regulates by chemical changes which takes place in brain which reflects into
physiological make up to control behaviour of them. At last, it provide help to gain knowledge
about regulation of behaviour of human being due to physiological make- up and genetics which
helps to enhance further studies of similar topic.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Garrett, B. (2014). Study Guide to Accompany Bob Garrett’s Brain & Behavior: An Introduction
to Biological Psychology. Sage Publications.
Ring, C. and et. al., (2015). Effects of heartbeat feedback on beliefs about heart rate and
heartbeat counting: a cautionary tale about interoceptive awareness. Biological
psychology. 104. 193-198.
Savolainen, K. and et. al., (2014). Associations between early life stress, self-reported traumatic
experiences across the lifespan and leukocyte telomere length in elderly adults.
Biological psychology. 97. 35-42.
Jaušovec, N., & Jaušovec, K. (2014). Increasing working memory capacity with theta
transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). Biological psychology. 96. 42-47.
Hallvig, D. and et. al., (2014). Real driving at night–predicting lane departures from
physiological and subjective sleepiness. Biological psychology. 101. 18-23.
Sjörs, A., Ljung, T., & Jonsdottir, I. H. (2014). Diurnal salivary cortisol in relation to perceived
stress at home and at work in healthy men and women. Biological psychology. 99. 193-
197.
Tye, C. and et. al., (2014). Altered neurophysiological responses to emotional faces discriminate
children with ASD, ADHD and ASD+ ADHD. Biological psychology. 103. 125-134.
Recio, G., Schacht, A., & Sommer, W. (2014). Recognizing dynamic facial expressions of
emotion: Specificity and intensity effects in event-related brain potentials. Biological
psychology. 96. 111-125.
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Haaker, J. and et. al., (2015). Deficient inhibitory processing in trait anxiety: Evidence from
context-dependent fear learning, extinction recall and renewal. Biological psychology.
111. 65-72.
Kober, S. E. and et. Al., (2014). Near-infrared spectroscopy based neurofeedback training
increases specific motor imagery related cortical activation compared to sham feedback.
Biological psychology. 95. 21-30.
Maurizio, S. and et. al., (2014). Comparing tomographic EEG neurofeedback and EMG
biofeedback in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological
psychology. 95. 31-44.
Grimm, S., Escera, C., & Nelken, I. (2016). Early indices of deviance detection in humans and
animal models. Biological psychology. 116. 23-27.
Online
Kevin N. O. and James J. G., 2017. The cognitive control of emotion. [Online]. Available
through:<https://tu-dresden.de/mn/psychologie/allgpsy/ressourcen/dateien/lehre/
pruefungsliteratur_KN_2013/Ochsner-Gross-2005.pdf?lang=en>.
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