The benefits of physiological psychology

This article asserts that physiological psychology offers specific benefits to theoretical psychology and the real world and also contributes in a more diffuse manner to an integrated perspective of the nature of man. Theoretical topics covered are: perception, with particular reference to pattern recognition; parallel distributed processing; subconscious perception. Real-world problems addressed are: the role of stress in illness; personality, learning and proneness to psychological disorder; the mechanisms of depression and anxiety. There is a brief discussion of eating disorders, sex, aggression, neuropsychology and the role of perceptual variety in brain development. It is argued that conversation between the physiological and psychological levels of explanation benefits theorizing at both levels.