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Understanding Psychology: Areas that impact the study of Religion

Understanding Psychology: Areas that impact the study of Religion. James A. Van Slyke, PhD. Neuroscience. The study of the neural systems of the brain Communication between neurons Functions of the neuron. Neuroscience. Studying different areas of the brain and their functions

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Understanding Psychology: Areas that impact the study of Religion

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  1. Understanding Psychology: Areas that impact the study of Religion James A. Van Slyke, PhD.

  2. Neuroscience • The study of the neural systems of the brain • Communication between neurons • Functions of the neuron

  3. Neuroscience • Studying different areas of the brain and their functions • Cerebral Cortex • Sulci (small grooves) • Fissures (large grooves) • Gyrus (bumps) • The cortex is primarily composed of cells • gray matter vs. white matter • white matter is composed of more myelinated neurons

  4. Neuroscience • Different lobes of the brain • Frontal – Planning, reasoning, motor control • Parietal – Integrating information – Where? • Temporal – Object identification – What? • Occipital – Primary visual processing

  5. Neuroscience • Internal Structures • Corpus callosum – connects hemispheres • Hippocampus – learning & memory • Cerebellum – coordination of movement

  6. Cognitive Neuroscience Linking specific aspects of cognition with a brain area – Localization of Function

  7. Hippocampal Damage and Amnesia • Severe anterograde amnesia follows bilateral damage to the hippocampus • Patient H.M. suffered from severe epilepsy • Portions of temporal lobe removed as treatment • Following surgery, H.M. showed severe anterograde amnesia • No retention for events since 1953 • Can recall events prior to 1953 • H.M.’s amnesia attributed to hippocampaldamage • Basis for Explicit vs. Implicit Memory 15.7

  8. Social and Affective Neuroscience Relatively new field Focused on areas of the brain associated with emotion and relationships • Amygdala – implicit aspects of emotion • Emotional valence to memories • Fight or flight response • Cingulate/Limbic Cortex – emotional attachment • Mothering instincts • Damage leads to decreases in empathy

  9. Neuroscience • Tools • MRI – Magentic resonance imaging • Provides structural layout of the brain • Similar to an X-ray • fMRI – (functional magnetic resonance imaging) • Estimatesareas of the brain active during a task • BOLD response • Measures the amount of blood oxygenation levels in the brain

  10. Cognitive Science • Neural Networks • Interconnections between neurons • PDP processing • Parallel distributed processing • Information embodied in the patterns of neural activation • Thoughts, beliefs, values, goals represented in neural networks

  11. Cognitive Science • Identifying the cognitive programs used in human thought and reason • Software vs. Hardware • Examples • Attention • Consciousness • Memory

  12. Neuropsychology • Psychological functions associated with the brain • Often used in the assessment of TBIs (Traumatic Brain Injuries) • Or congenital disorders • psychological dysfunction genetically inherited • Damage to different areas of the brain causes deficiencies in psychological functions • Neuropsychologists identify psychological problems and suggest treatments

  13. Neuropsychology • Language processing • Primarily in the Left hemisphere • Broca’s Area – Frontal lobe – Speech production • Wernicke’s Area – Temporal Lobe – word comprehension

  14. Neuropsychology • Aphasias • Dysfunctions in language • Broca’s aphasia • Unable to communicate words and concepts • Retains comprehension and definition • Wernicke’s aphasia • Difficulty associating words with correct objects • Can produce speech, but words don’t make sense

  15. Neuropsychology • Agnosias • Loss of knowledge in a particular category • Visual agnoisa • Inability to recognize objects • Visual perception intact • Prosopagnosia • Inability to recognize faces • Fusisformgyrus

  16. Evolutionary Science • Evolutionary psychology • Identifying adaptive cognitive programs with psychological functions • Gender differences • Mate selection • Social relationships • Cheater detection • Reciprocal cooperation • Working with tools and artifacts • Cultural norms based on a shared human nature

  17. Evolutionary Science • Comparative psychology • Studying animal behavior as approximations of human behavior • Primatology – study of chimpanzees and apes • Similarities in adaptive behaviors • Foundations of religious behavior • Increased brain size • Tool Use • Language • Living in a group • Morality • Cooperation

  18. Developmental Psychology • Study of the developmental stages of human life • Infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood • Examples • Freudian stages of psychosexual development • Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development • Questions • Stages to spiritual development? • What does spirituality look like at different ages? • Adolescence vs. adulthood

  19. Psychodynamic Psychology • Study of the internal unconscious processes that impact behavior • Emotions • Relationships • Perceptions • Freudian psychology • Object Relations Psychology

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