Differences between Psychology and Physiology

These two disciplines can be confused, since they study overlapping Biological phenomena.

The human being, as one of the most complex animals in existence, is the object of study of an infinite number of sciences. These try to unravel its mysteries and nature both on the physical or organic level, as well as on the psychological, social or spiritual level.

Two of these sciences are psychology and physiology, two disciplines at the center of which is the investigation and understanding of human functioning. Thanks to them, we know a lot about how we react to different situations and how we adapt to our environment. However, there are substantial differences between physiology and physiology, there are substantial differences between physiology and psychology, which we will try to elucidate.which we will try to elucidate throughout this article.

Psychology and Physiology: the two parts of a whole

From a general perspective, we can conceive of the human being as a whole made up of different planes, which could not live without each other. These planes refer to the physical or organic aspect of the person and to the psychological aspect, related to behavior and emotions.

Throughout the history of humanity, sciences were created and developed that, in parallel, had the mission of discovering the secrets of the functioning of both planes of the person: psychology and physiology.

However, despite the fact that both disciplines share the same subject of study (the human being), each one has specialized in its own field, each of them has specialized in different aspects of the organism.. While physiology is dedicated to investigating how the different parts of our body work, psychology tries to understand the fundamentals of behavior, conduct and mental processes of people.

As we said, both can be considered as two parts of a whole. Although they may seem independent, they are closely related and can influence each other.

An example that can help us to clarify these ideas is the one in which we compare the mind and the brain. Both concepts are closely related and one cannot exist without the other. and one cannot exist without the other; however, the former is part of the field of study of psychology, while physiology is responsible for studying the functioning of the latter.

However, within the field of psychology we also find the study of how brain functioning is manifested and made visible through people's behavior.

Differences between Physiology and Psychology

To delve a little deeper into the differences between psychology and physiology, below we will see a brief description of the characteristics of these two disciplines..

1. What is psychology?

According to the American Psychological Association (APA) itself, psychology is the science that studies the human mind and behavior, including both conscious and conscious phenomena.including both conscious and unconscious phenomena, feelings and thoughts.

This discipline was born out of the need to understand the role of mental functions and individual and social behavior, while exploring the physiological and biological processes underlying cognitive functions and behaviors, hence its close relationship with physiology.

Through the empirical method, researchers in psychology study behavior and mental processes, which include perception, cognition, cognition, cognition and cognitive processes. include perception, cognition, attention, emotions and affects, and personalityIn the empirical method, researchers in psychology study behavior and mental processes, which include perception, cognition, attention, emotions and affect, and personality, inferring causal relationships and correlations between different psychological and psychosocial variables.

Although psychological knowledge is usually applied to the evaluation and treatment of problems or conditions of a mental nature, it is also aimed at understanding and solving problems in various spheres of human life, such as academic environments, work, sports, and even the media and forensic investigation.

Finally, there is a whole range of branches of psychology that are devoted to the study of devoted to the study of certain specific aspects of the mind, cognition and human behavior. Some of them are:

• Clinical psychology.
• Cognitive and/or behavioral psychology.
• Developmental psychology.
• Forensic psychology.
• Health psychology.
• Neuropsychology.
• Social psychology.

2. What is physiology?

On the other hand, physiology refers to the science that is dedicated to the scientific study of the mechanisms, functioning and scientific study of the mechanisms, functioning, and their interactions, of a living system.. More specifically, it is a subdiscipline of biology that focuses on how organisms, organ systems, organs, organs, cells and biomolecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that are carried out in living systems, regardless of whether they are human beings or not.

This would also be one of the main differences between psychology and physiology. While psychology has traditionally focused on the study of the human mind and behavior, physiology the study of the functioning of any living organism..

In this particular case, since we are making a comparison with psychology, we will focus on animal physiology, which includes the study of the functioning of the human organism.

But not everything is different

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, although psychology and physiology have different specific objects of study, in matters of human research, both fields are interrelated.

This relationship becomes manifest from the first moment we understand that the functioning of our body and our organism, starting with the brain, affects the functioning of our mind, affects the functioning of our mindWe also understand that certain psychological processes and mental disorders are capable of altering the development of the activity of our organism in what is known as somatization.

Such is the level of connection between these two fields of study that this led to the emergence of psychophysiology. led to the emergence of psychophysiology, currently known as cognitive neurosciencea branch of study within psychology that studies the physiological bases underlying psychological processes.

For example, while psychology is interested in the causes or factors that provoke the appearance of a phobia, psychophysiology focuses on the study of how the brain organs involved in the fear response, such as the amygdala, function in this situation, trying to relate the psychological and physiological aspects of a state of stress and anxiety such as phobias.