GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY
Chapter 3: The Psychological Basis of Behaviour
- Physiological Psychology studies the body’s response systems and how they translate internal
stimulation into action.
- The body has various mechanisms in responding to the environment.
- They are:
Receiving Mechanisms
- They include the receptors of external stimuli - the sense organs.
Reacting Mechanisms
- They include the muscles of the body and the hormones of the glandular system.
Connecting Mechanism
- They include the nervous system, which is divided into two: the central and the
peripheral nervous system.
A. THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
- The brain and its pathways extending throughout the body, compose the human nervous system.
- Movements, thoughts, hopes, aspirations - the very awareness that we are human are all related to
this system.
- The brain, an organ roughly half the size of a loaf of bread, controls our behaviour through every
waking and sleeping moment.
a. The Neuron
- Nerve cell, called neuron.
- The basic structural unit of the nervous system.
- Nervous impulses are coordinated and transmitted through them.
- Each neuron is a living cell with a nucleus and other parts common to all cells.
- As a specialized structure, it consists of the following parts.
Soma / Cell body
- Contains the nucleus and serves as the center for nourishment.
Dendrites
- Are short fibers projecting from the cell body.
- They receive activity (cellulipetal) from adjacent cells and conduct the
neural impulses to the cell body.
Axon
- A long extension at one side of the cell body that carries messages to other
cells, muscles, or glands.
- They conduct neural impulses away (cellulifugal) from the cell body.
Synaptic terminals / Buttons
- Are small knobs at the end of the axon branches that relay messages to
other cells.
, - The synaptic terminals contain synaptic vesicles with neurotransmitter
substances like acetylcholine and norepinephrine.
- The neurotransmitters substances are either excitatory or inhibitory, and
they play a significant role in the transmission of nerve impulses from
neuron to neuron in the junction known as the synapses.
Myelin Sheath
- The axon’s protective coating.
- It is an insulating material around the axon to prevent messages from short
- circuiting one another.
- The myelin sheath also serves to increase velocity with which the electrical
impulses travel through the neurons.
- Those neurons that carry the most important and urgently required
information have the greatest myelin concentration.
- Ex. When a hand touches a hot stove, the information regarding the pain
is passed through neurons in the hand and arm that contain a relatively
large quantity of myelin, speeding the message of pain to the brain.
Different kinds of Neurons
Sensory/ Afferent Neurons
- Conducts impulses from sense organs toward the spinal cord and the
brain.
Motor / Efferent Neurons
- Conducts impulses from the brain or spinal cord to the muscles and
the glands.
Interneurons
- Conducts impulses from a sensory neuron to a motor nerve cell.
b. Nerve Impulse Transmission
- A neuron manifests the ability to respond to a stimulus (a certain irritability).
- Once excited, the neuron generates and transmits nerve impulses to and from the brain.
- These neural impulses are electro - chemical in nature.
- When a neuron is irritated, the membrane is in its polarized state characterized by negativity inside
the membrane and positivity outside the membrane.
- Negatively charged ions (anions) predominate inside the membrane, while positively charged ions
(cations) predominate outside.
Chapter 3: The Psychological Basis of Behaviour
- Physiological Psychology studies the body’s response systems and how they translate internal
stimulation into action.
- The body has various mechanisms in responding to the environment.
- They are:
Receiving Mechanisms
- They include the receptors of external stimuli - the sense organs.
Reacting Mechanisms
- They include the muscles of the body and the hormones of the glandular system.
Connecting Mechanism
- They include the nervous system, which is divided into two: the central and the
peripheral nervous system.
A. THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
- The brain and its pathways extending throughout the body, compose the human nervous system.
- Movements, thoughts, hopes, aspirations - the very awareness that we are human are all related to
this system.
- The brain, an organ roughly half the size of a loaf of bread, controls our behaviour through every
waking and sleeping moment.
a. The Neuron
- Nerve cell, called neuron.
- The basic structural unit of the nervous system.
- Nervous impulses are coordinated and transmitted through them.
- Each neuron is a living cell with a nucleus and other parts common to all cells.
- As a specialized structure, it consists of the following parts.
Soma / Cell body
- Contains the nucleus and serves as the center for nourishment.
Dendrites
- Are short fibers projecting from the cell body.
- They receive activity (cellulipetal) from adjacent cells and conduct the
neural impulses to the cell body.
Axon
- A long extension at one side of the cell body that carries messages to other
cells, muscles, or glands.
- They conduct neural impulses away (cellulifugal) from the cell body.
Synaptic terminals / Buttons
- Are small knobs at the end of the axon branches that relay messages to
other cells.
, - The synaptic terminals contain synaptic vesicles with neurotransmitter
substances like acetylcholine and norepinephrine.
- The neurotransmitters substances are either excitatory or inhibitory, and
they play a significant role in the transmission of nerve impulses from
neuron to neuron in the junction known as the synapses.
Myelin Sheath
- The axon’s protective coating.
- It is an insulating material around the axon to prevent messages from short
- circuiting one another.
- The myelin sheath also serves to increase velocity with which the electrical
impulses travel through the neurons.
- Those neurons that carry the most important and urgently required
information have the greatest myelin concentration.
- Ex. When a hand touches a hot stove, the information regarding the pain
is passed through neurons in the hand and arm that contain a relatively
large quantity of myelin, speeding the message of pain to the brain.
Different kinds of Neurons
Sensory/ Afferent Neurons
- Conducts impulses from sense organs toward the spinal cord and the
brain.
Motor / Efferent Neurons
- Conducts impulses from the brain or spinal cord to the muscles and
the glands.
Interneurons
- Conducts impulses from a sensory neuron to a motor nerve cell.
b. Nerve Impulse Transmission
- A neuron manifests the ability to respond to a stimulus (a certain irritability).
- Once excited, the neuron generates and transmits nerve impulses to and from the brain.
- These neural impulses are electro - chemical in nature.
- When a neuron is irritated, the membrane is in its polarized state characterized by negativity inside
the membrane and positivity outside the membrane.
- Negatively charged ions (anions) predominate inside the membrane, while positively charged ions
(cations) predominate outside.
