Behavioral sciencesKiran javed

Behavioral Sciences

A branch of science (as psychology, sociology, or anthropology) that deals primarily with human action and often seeks to generalize about human behavior in society

How behavioral science is different from layman’s understanding of behavior

Behavioral scientist study the behavior on the basis of systematic , relational, demonstrable-cause-effect relationship.

They involve scientific methods of inquiry.

The aim of behavioral scientist is to understand and predict the behavior

The core disciplines of behavioral sciences

1. Psychology2. Sociology3. Anthropology

1. Psychology• the study of mental processes and

behavior.

2. Sociology• Sociology is the study of human social

relationships and institutions.3. Anthropology• The aim of anthropology is to acquire a

better understanding of the relationship between the human and environment.

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the study of how an organism behaves all the times.

The study of how organism behave with other organism either of the same species or different one.

Importance of behavioral sciences

It examines the behavioral, psychological, and social processes, such as emotion, motivation, and language development, that contribute to health and disease.

It also examines the effects of illness or physical condition on human behavior and social relationships. 

This focus helps to design and evaluate behavioral and social ways of treating a variety of mental and physical diseases and disorders. 

Importance of behavioral sciences

Health promotion and maintenance

It establishes the fitness of individual in living environment.

Better human behavior and attitudes

Rationalize human actions.

Biopsychosocial model of healthcare

The idea the mind and body together determine health and illness logically implies a model for studying these issues.

The fundamental assumptions of biopsychosocial model is that health and illness are the consequences of the interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors.

What is biomedical model

According to biomedical model illness can be explained on the basis of aberrant somatic bodily processes, such as biochemical imbalances or neurophysiologic abnormalities.

It’s a reductionist model

Secondly it is a single factor model

Third its implicitly assumes mind body dualism

Advantages of biopsychosocial model

Biopsychosocial model of health and illness overcome the disadvantages of health and illness.

It says that biological, psychological and social factors are important determinants of health and illness.

Biopsychosocial model maintains that health and illness are caused by multiple factors and produce multiple efforts.

Mind and body cannot be distinguished in matters of health and illness

Clinical implications of biopsychosocial model

There are several implications of the biopsychosocial model for clinical practice with patient.

First, the model maintains that the process of diagnosis should always consider the interacting role of biological, psychological and social factors in assessing health and illness.

In biopsychosocial model treatment involve all there set of factors.

This model makes explicit the significance of the relationship between patient and practitioner.

Attitudes “ A tendency to react positively or negatively towards an

object” Attitude is always directed towards an object (person,

policy, material, object etc) It is always a positive or negative tendency in relation to

the object and the intensity varies according to the pervious experience of the person towards the attitude object

Attitudes are socially learned predispositions towards a certain object

In some cases, these attitude objects can be quite specific, such as a food, color, or individual. They can also be somewhat less specific.

Where do Attitudes Come From?

Our attitudes result from some very complex forces, but they are learned. And what is learned can be unlearned and changed.

We developed some of our attitudes by copying those of people who were important to us, particularly parents or older siblings

What are the attitudes of health professionals mostly

Health professions teachers from various disciplines and institutions usually report the following problems:

Health professionals, especially resident physicians, are not just arrogant but also oppressive (legaspi-Jose 1999).

Health professional show poor attitudes and abusive character (pagkatipunan 2003).

What are the desirable attitudes of health professionals

Patients must be able to trust doctors with their lives and wellbeing. To justify that trust, we as a profession have a duty to maintain a good standard of practice and care and to show respect for human life. In particular as a doctor you must:

Verbally expressing concerns to patients

Referring the patients relative to medical social services for counseling and financial assistance in the case the cannot afford the medicines

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make the care of your patient your first concern � treat every patient politely and considerately �

respect patients’ dignity and privacy �

listen to patients and respect their views �

What are the desirable attitudes of health professionals

give patients information in a way they can understand �

respect the rights of patients to be fully involved in decisions about their care

keep your professional knowledge and skills up to date recognize the limits of your professional competence �

be honest and trustworthy �

respect and protect confidential information �

make sure that your personal beliefs do not prejudice your patients’ care �

act quickly to protect patients from risk if you have good reason to believe that you or a colleague may not be fit to practice �

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What are the desirable attitudes of health professionals

avoid abusing your position as a doctor

work with colleagues in the ways that best serve patients’ interests.

In all these matters you must never discriminate unfairly against your patients or colleagues. And you must always be prepared to justify your actions to them.

What is brain

The brain constitutes about one-fifth of body weight and lies within the cranial cavity. The human brain serves many important functions ranging from imagination, memory, speech, and limb movements to secretion hormones and control of various organs within the body. These functions are controlled by many distinct parts that serve specific and important tasks.

 The brain has three main parts. Forebrain Mind brain Hind brain

What is mind

A mind is the set of cognitive faculties that enables consciousness , perception, thinking, judgment, and memory

Parts of mind

There are three parts of mind Conscious Unconscious Sub conscious

Conscious conscious mind is what most people associate with who

you are. The conscious mind communicates to the outside world and the inner self through speech, pictures, writing, physical movement, and thought.

Parts of mind

Subconscious The subconscious mind, on the other hand, is in charge of

our recent memories, and is in continuous contact with the resources of the unconscious mind.

Unconscious The unconscious mind is the storehouse of all memories

and past experiences, both those that have been repressed through trauma and those that have simply been consciously forgotten and no longer important to us. It’s from these memories and experiences that our beliefs, habits, and behaviors are formed.

Brain and mind functions

Two principal roles of the Central Nervous System (CNS) are in

1) operating motor control systems

2) generation of the MIND

spinal cord and brainstem reflex-control of voluntary muscles producing involuntary reflexes.

homeostatic motor control of involuntary muscles and gland secretions via sympathetic and parasympathetic systems

programmed automatic motor control via the basal ganglia and cerebellum acting to produce basic and conditioned motor control of behaviors and speech capability.

Brain and mind function

“THE MIND”, forming self-awareness and yields consciousness. The MIND manages sensory inputs and memories and

associates them with “event emotions”. Using memories and emotions, the MIND forms frameworks of

understanding expressing the intellect in cognition. Using intellect, the MIND makes decisions for initiating

volitional behavior and speech content.

Basal ganglia, producing behaviors and speech capability, the MIND makes decisions for selecting and initiating patterns of movement but has limited control over reflexes or the actual movement patterns themselves. Nevertheless, the MIND trains programs, consciously by trial and error testing in order to enhance automatic movement patterns represented by our movement finesse and behavior expressions.

Component of mind CONSCIOUSNESS

› Awareness of: Sensory input Motor responses

MEMORY› Memory Storage› Memory Recall › Memory Association (Thought)› Memory Retention and Forgetting

MIND & VALUES DEFINED IN EMOTION› Survival: Nutrition, Procreation› Self-Esteem - Recognition of Self as based on Pleasure/Displeasure Principles› Reinforcement of values by Culture and “For the Greater Good” of the Species

INITIATION OF BEHAVIOR AND SPEECH› Decision Making for initiating patterns of movement› Decision-Making for speech content

COGNITION › Structural/Functional Framework of Understanding› Determining Consequence of Actions› Perceived Spatial - Temporal Order of Events & Related Structure

PREDICTION (INTUITION)› Imagination› Vision

PERSONALITY and SPEECH (Mind Initiated (volitional) Motor Actions)

Component of CNS

The Central Nervous System (CNS) consists of the

Brian Spinal cord

Flow in the functional mind

The flow of function in the conscious MIND is from sensory inputs or memory storage to emotion centers.

Emotions are associated with inputs and stored memories and are held in the cingulate gyrus for recall.

MIND’s major utilizations of memory is in forming frameworks of understanding (cognition) leading to intellect and in making decisions for motor actions of behaviors and speech content.

Mind and behavior

The MIND’S power to reason, formulate cognition, and make decisions initiating motor actions are the bases of expressing behaviors and speech

The conscious MIND is the decision-maker for initiation of movement for willful simple motions or selection of patterned-motor responses from a repertoire of expressions defining behavior.

The MIND uses consequence and pleasure principles to determine behavior selections. Once these reflexes are initiated, the behaviors play-out according to the program, so much so, they can be difficult to interrupt. Examples are laughing, crying, patterns of movement and emotional expression. The MIND can modulate the extent of some reflexes but not entirely prevent them.

Mind and behavior

Homeostatic reflexes control much of our basic survival behaviors that include respiratory, cardiac, and urinary function as well as fight or flight actions.

The amygdala and hypothalamus, being the centers of reflexive control of emotions, are the primary areas of reflex based motivations.

The hypothalamus distributes involuntary actions through the two opposed autonomic systems, sympathetic and parasympathetic.

Willful behaviors are based on the need to fulfill food, sexual and self esteem desires.

Motivations, generated by the conscious MIND arise from the limbic system while emotion related involuntary behaviors are expressed through basal ganglia and motor cortices. Willful motivations generated from the MIND originate from the emotion-cortex, the cingulate gyrus.

Roles of doctor

Within the health care team, each professional brings a particular combination of training and experience which defines their role and responsibilities.

Diagnosis and prognosis Trust and the patient-doctor relationship Complex decision-making  A multidisciplinary approach Professionalism Leadership in health services and in the community Training the current and next generation of doctors Medical Education and Training

Roles of doctors

Trust and the patient-doctor relationship  Doctor-patient relationship involves acting in the patient’s

best interest, establishing bilateral trust and then maintaining it. Patients trust doctors to make a diagnosis, and appropriate treatment.

Diagnosis and prognosis Diagnosis is a key feature of a doctor’s expertise in

medical practice. The adequate application of history taking, physical

examination and interpreting investigations requires knowledge and understanding of the full range of clinical sciences. This allows trained medical practitioners to consider the full breadth of possible diagnoses in assessing and treating a patient. 

Complex decision-making Doctors are required to manage complexity and risk in

situations that can be characterized by uncertainty and where error can have serious consequences.

The skills required for such management are achieved through training, and through rigorous certification that ensures that both knowledge and performance are tested.

A multidisciplinary approach Doctors have the ability to apply skills and expertise in the

context of an increasingly multidisciplinary, team-based approach to health care.

Professionalism An important component of the professionalism of doctors

is their responsibility to maintain high personal ethical standards and show respect to others. Doctors abide by codes of ethics.

Leadership in health services and in the community Medical practice is characterized by taking responsibility for

overall clinical outcomes. As a result, doctors are uniquely placed to take on

leadership roles, including management and leadership of health services

Doctors’ concern with clinical standards, outcomes, effectiveness and audit mean that their routine practice works continuously to improve the quality of healthcare

Training the current and next generation of doctors Doctors display a professional commitment and obligation to

contribute to the education and training of others and doctors accept the responsibility to oversee the work of less experienced colleagues.

Medical Education and Training Doctors are trained in both basic and clinical sciences. Basic training exposes the doctor to all aspects of human

pathophysiology, throughout the spectrum of illness and injury. Doctors’ training also involves a lifelong process of learning