Behavior and thinking Essay

Humans are conditioned to act according to stimulus that are present in their environment. Thus was the belief or Russian scientist/physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) (Encarta, 2008). Though noted also for his work in the field of physiology, he is more remembered for the conduct of experiments for the demonstration of conditioned and the opposite unconditioned reflexes, first done on dogs in 1889 (Encarta, 2008). Pavlov’s discovery of the â€Å"conditoned reflex† was of great importance to the field og biology, since it showed a physiological foundation for the development of creatures of diverse reactions, or, behaviors, in order for the organism to be able to adapt to their surroundings (Bluden, 2001). Many researchers have tried to know the link between the physical and the mental bridge (cited in Biology and Medicine, 2008). The intersection of how the mind thinks and the behaviors that will emanate from the person is addressed in the field of biopsychology,i. e. a scientific undertaking to determine the biological basis of a person’s behavior and his thought processes (Encarta, 2008). Accroding to Catherine Harris, in her position paper, â€Å"What is the most important psychological finding of the century? †, she states that one’s biological tendencies tend to play a good part in an individual’s mental disorders (Harris, 1999). In her paper, centuries of human evolution have created an indominatable â€Å"information processing system†, one that does not take failure lightly (Harris, 1999). Anti social behaviors evolve under the most extreme adaptive pressures to adapt to one’s environment (Harris, 1999). These are forms of â€Å"cheat† behaviors to allow people to adapt. For example, â€Å"obsessive-compulsive behaviors† may be a reaction to the society’s rules and rituals imposed on an individual (Harris, 1999). Crowding is another social behavior one is prone to adapt to often (Southwick, 2008). In his observations, overcrowding tend to display the breakdown of normal behaviors, an upswing in aggression and violence, among others (Soutwick, 2008). The mind and the body does act in unison, but the final link of that act still has to be known with furhetr studies and research.