• Question: How different is neuroscience to psychology?

    Asked by anon-283765 to Christina on 27 Mar 2021.
    • Photo: Christina Brown

      Christina Brown answered on 9 Mar 2021:

      Neuroscience not that separate a subject, especially because it was borne from psychology. However, the brain is such a complicated thing to study that people like me focus on certain aspects of the biology moreso than what is traditionally thought of by psychologists. My degree in Neuroscience was part psychology but most of it was pure biology: anatomy, physiology, molecular biology etc. I would also say I’m more of a biologist because I am more interested in how other parts of the body works (heart, lungs) than learning about some aspects of psychology.
      I do not work with people, I work on animal models that can help me investigate what brain cells are important for learning and memory. I record from brain cells in mice to test if they are connected to the brain area involved with emotion, and can then manipulate those brain cells to see if their behaviour changes. Because I use mice, I can’t be sure that what I see can be extrapolated to humans – but we get so much information and detail that we cannot possibly do in human experiments!
      I know people that also do similar work to me but call themselves psychologists, although they mainly look into the behaviours of animals and do not use molecular biology techniques to label/record from specific brain cell populations. Therefore it can be just due to your preference on what you wish to be called.

Comments

  • Photo: Dennis

    Dennis commented on :

    Hi MahnurA. Christina already provided an overview of what neuroscience is. I’d like to add a bit about psychology.

    Psychology is a broader church than neuroscience, that’s because you can’t put people, their behaviours, their identities, their lived experience, and their aspirations into boxes. There are a constellation of ways of exploring these dynamics. My orientation is within clinical psychology and positive psychology so within my area we can also use qualitative methods (such as interviews, ethnography, grounded theory – please look them up when you have time). But, of course, that’s not the only way to explore human behaviour. And I’m not going to say that my orientation is the best way to study human behaviour. That’s why psychologists who differ from my orientation will use other methods such as brain scanners or more sophisticated experiments. Some psychologists will also be guided by genetics while others will use personality tests. Psychology is fun because you get to choose what you think will be useful for you in navigating the intricacies of human behaviour.

    I hope I have shown you the beauty of psychology. Good luck with your studies, ManhurA! 😃