Differences between Psychology and Physiology

The human being, as one of the most complex animals that exist, is the object of study of countless sciences. Which try to unravel its mysteries and nature both in the physical or organic plane, as well as in the psychological, social or spiritual plane.

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 the environment. However, there are substantial differences between physiology and psychology, which we will try to elucidate throughout this article.

• Related article: "What is Physiological Psychology?"

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 plans refer to the physical or organic aspect of the person and the psychological aspect, related to behavior and emotions.

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

However, despite the fact that both disciplines share the subject of study (the human being), each of them has specialized in different aspects of organisms. While physiology is dedicated to investigating how the different parts of our body work, Psychology attempts to understand the fundamentals of behavior, conduct, and mental processes of people. people.

As we said, both can be considered as two parts of a whole. Which, despite the fact that they may seem independent, 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; however, the first of them is part of the field of study of psychology, while physiology would be in charge of studying the functioning of the second.

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

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Differences between Physiology and Psychology

To delve a little more into the differences between psychology and physiology, we will now 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 mind and human behavior, including both conscious and unconscious phenomena, feelings and thoughts.

This discipline was born with the need to understand the role of mental functions and individual and social behavior, while at the same time explore the physiological and biological processes that underlie cognitive functions and behaviors, hence their close relationship with physiology.

Through 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 the 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 problem solving in various spheres of human life, such as academic environments, work environments, sports, and even the media and forensic investigation.

Finally, there is a whole range of branches of psychology dedicated 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 that science that is dedicated to the 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, cells, and Biomolecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that are carried out in living systems, regardless of whether they are sere human 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 covers the study of the functioning of any living organism.

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

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But it's not all differences

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, despite the fact that psychology and physiology have objects of different specific study, in questions of human investigation, both fields are interrelated.

This relationship becomes evident from the first moment in which we understand that the functioning of our body and our organism, beginning with the brain, affects how our mind works; as well as the fact that certain psychological processes and mental disorders are capable of altering the development of our organism's activity 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, now known as cognitive neuroscience, a branch of study within psychology that is responsible for studying the physiological bases underlying psychological processes.

For example, while psychology is interested in the causes or factors that cause 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 as is typical of phobias.