Mind-Body Relationship in Psychobiological Studies

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Proposed Research Paper

The general topic of my paper is the relationship between the mind and the body. In contrast, the research question is, to what extent do psychological factors and physiological factors influence a persons character, reactions, and behavior? It is evident from the literature that I have worked with that the body has a strong influence on the mind, so perhaps I will attempt to classify these influences in my final paper.

Need for the Study

The problem of the relationship between the mind and the body is an old one, and scholars were trying to answer it centuries, even millennia ago. Nowadays, it seems clear that the key to this problem is a complex one. It lies in scrupulous and detailed research into the correlation between a persons physiological events and what they experience psychologically.

Numerous studies investigate this correlation. It is possible to provide many examples of such research. For instance, Díaz (2011) explores the phenomena of aggression and violent behavior; the author seeks their biological mechanisms, analyzing different brain centers activity. Alim et al. (2012), as well as Stein (2009), look into such a trait of character as resilience, and investigate it from different angles; the first study deals with resilience, how it can help with avoiding substance abuse, and how it can be used by medics, whereas the second one examines resilience as a general ability to resist stress, and describes various neurobiological processes and characteristics associated with this trait of character. It might be said that the articles by De Bellis (2005) and Stein and Vythilingum (2009) both deal with the issues of emotional attachment, but from completely different angles. While Stein and Vythilingum (2009) discuss the topic of love and emotional attachment, their physiological grounds, and their types according to the patterns of the brain activity, De Bellis (2005) analyzes the psychological, educational, and neurobiological aftermath of the absence of love in childhood that led to child neglect.

However, the mind-body relationship is a broad term that includes numerous aspects and nuances. In contrast, the mentioned studies provide only fractions of the answer, only small pieces of the great puzzle. Without them, it would be impossible to answer the question properly. However, to paint a broader picture, it is also important to conduct more general studies summarizing the existing results. A broad picture may be useful in several spheres (e.g., in law  to judge criminals more justly and rehabilitate them more effectively, in artificial intelligence  to perhaps assist in building an AI, etc.), and will also have important cultural consequences, allowing for viewing the world more scientifically. Thus, I hope that my study will perhaps be another small step towards building this great picture.

Advancing Scientific Knowledge

For psychologists, my research will be useful because it will attempt to summarize the existing knowledge on the topic and find the currently present gaps in it. Creating a broader picture may, in particular, assist in realizing what is already known on the topic, and what issues require further investigation, which helps plan future studies.

Theoretical Foundations

The school of psychobiology supports my research topic best. The key assumption of this school is that there exist correlations between physiological and psychological factors, and these correlations can be studied. It might be said that this schools representatives investigate the very same topic of the mind-body relationship, including the variables related to both physiological and psychological aspects of human functioning in their studies and researching the correlations between these variables.

References

Alim, T. N., Lawson, W. B., Feder, A., Iacoviello, B. M., Saxena, S., Bailey, C. R.,&Neumeister, A., M.D. (2012). Resilience to meet the challenge of addiction: Psychobiology and clinical considerations. Alcohol Research, 34(4), 506-515. 

De Bellis, M. D. (2005). The psychobiology of neglect. Child Maltreatment, 10(2), 150-172. Web.

Díaz, J. L. (2011). The psychobiology of aggression and violence: Bioethical implications. International Social Science Journal, 61(200/201), 233-245. Web.

Stein, D. J. (2009). The psychobiology of resilience. CNS Spectrums, 14(2, Suppl. 3), 41-47.

Stein, D. J., & Vythilingum, B. (2009). Love and attachment: The psychobiology of social bonding. CNS Spectrums, 14(5), 239-242.

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