Question: How much do you think psychology could relate to biochemistry?

Matthew Longo answered on 9 Mar 2019: last edited 9 Mar 2019 12:49 pm

All aspects of our mental lives are implemented in our nervous system, which at its base is intrinsically a biochemical system. So in a deep sense biochemistry is inextricably related to psychology. There is a lot of research investigating the roles of specific hormones and neurotransmitters (e.g., seratonin, GABA, oxytocin, dopamine, etc.) in specific brain areas in many aspects of mental life and how they can lead to disease. For example, Parkinson’s disease is related to dysfunction of dopamine in a specific area of the brain called the basal ganglia. Understanding the biochemical basis of Parkinson’s has allowed for novel ways to treat patients by trying to re-balance levels of dopamine. In that sense, understanding the role of dopamine in Parkinson’s disease is as important as understanding the role of insulin in diabetes.

Even though biochemical processes are at the base of all psychological processes, that doesn’t mean that thinking about biochemistry is the best way to try to understand every mental function. As an analogy, all of our food is at base made out of sub-atomic particles like electrons and protons. But a cookbook that described the desired arrangements of electrons and protons in a curry would be impossible to use. Sub-atomic particles simply are not the right level of analysis when thinking about how to cook food. Similarly, if we are interested in understanding aspects of high-level cognition like reading or social interactions, thinking at the level of biochemical processes may not be useful or illuminating.