Instructor

This course is the equivalent of a three credit course and provides 45 hours of CE credit. Students learn by watching audiovisual lectures, reading assignments from materials provided on the course web site and standard texts, and interacting with their instructor via e-mail. They answer short essay questions after each lecture rather than taking exams. Previous students have found that this course takes between 45 and 95 hours of actual work to complete.

This course explores the manifold ways the brain and body work together to produce behavior and the cycle between behavior and physiology. The course begins with a description of the body’s organizational structure and genetics as related to behavior. The basic physiological ways information is received from the external and internal environments through a variety of sensors and then processed by the hormonal / nervous system are described. Typical psychophysiological dysfunctions and interventions are also described.

Students will understand how the field relates to human activities, evolution and Behavioral Genetics – evolution of behavior and communication, genetics of behavior, anatomy and physiology of the Central and Peripheral Nervous Systems, hormones and behavior – pheromones, sex, nerve – hormone interactions, mechanisms of Sensation/Perception – vision, hearing, touch (pain, electrical), smell, taste, balance/location, etc., motor control systems, eating and drinking disorders, biological rhythms and sleep, mechanisms of drug addiction, learning, Language, and Memory, the Malfunctioning Brain, emotions – stress, aggression, mental illness, and psychophysiological dysfunctions and interventions. They will learn to integrate these principles into their patient interactions to improve clinical outcomes.

Undergraduate biology and psychology before taking this course.

Materials provided

45 credit hours.

The Behavioral Medicine Research and Training Foundation is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Behavioral Medicine R&T Foundation maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

There is one year to complete the course. Courses not completed by that time are void and must be repurchased if still available.

No refunds are provided for courses not completed within one year of purchase.