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Biopsychology refers to the use of principles biology to study different aspects of behavior and psychology in human beings as well as other animals. Several specialty areas in biopsychology may include development of mind, cognition, intelligence, language, emotion, perception, learning, memory, and several psychological disorders. In order to get master’s degree in biopsychology, psychology bachelor’s degree or at least sufficient psychology undergraduate coursework is required. On the other hand, perception refers to the process of becoming aware of something with the help of senses. Several specialty areas in perception may include critical thinking, personality, motivation, and senses such as sound, touch, taste, and hearing. In order to specialize in perception, a degree in cognitive psychology is required. Both of these fields are related to cognitive psychology.
After learning about biopsychology, I learned about many different chemicals involved in the development of personality. After learning about perception course, I found that people get more ability of predicting future behavior in some types of people.
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, psychologists can work in as psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, counselors, and in research or academic environment. Median pay of psychologists and psychology teachers was about $70,700 per year in 2014. On the other hand, for psychiatrists the pay was equal to or more than $187,200 per year. Therefore, after specialization in biopsychology or perception, an average income would be somewhere in between these ranges, and there will be an independency of working environment, i.e. one can start his or her own practice (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). Working as an independent psychologist can be one of the most exciting professions.
In a podcast, posted by Michael, Dr. Susan Weinschenk discussed some ideas about the application of brain science to web design (Michael, 2009). It is reality that our brain captures certain aspects of a website more than others as, for example, use of long sentences would take people away from the webpage. On the other hand, specific colors and their patterns produce more attraction as compared to others.
In another podcast titled “Ep 229: What Makes a Song Popular? How We Detect Melody”, it was noted that human beings like patterns and human liking for a certain thing increases by increased exposure (Michael, 2014). Everyday experience clearly shows that music is a cultural phenomenon that is based on mathematical principles, and both of these things cause humans to like music. Biopsychologically, it can be said that coinciding frequencies in music, appear nice as they regularly resonate the eardrum, thereby producing a calming effect.
Biopsychology and perception are related to each other in those areas where senses are involved as, for example, in the last example of liking the music, both the topics are involved. Music industry is one of the highly appreciated industries in the world; therefore, many people discuss music. One of the most important reasons behind this popularity of music industry is that it touches the psychology of human beings involving both biopsychology and perception.
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2015). Occupational Outlook Handbook. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/ooh/occupation-finder.htm
Michael. (2009). Episode 93: Your Brain on a Website. Retrieved from http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2009/05/episode-93-your-brain-on-a-website/
Michael. (2014). Ep 229: What Makes a Song Popular? How We Detect Melody. Retrieved from http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2014/10/ep-229-what-makes-a-song-popular-psychology-of-music-how-we-detect-melody/
