Introduction to Psychology
Fields

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Psychophysiology

Psychophysiology is the scientific study of psychological and behavioral phenomena as related to and revealed through physiological events.

Interdisciplinary fieldBrain and cognition

Type of entry
Interdisciplinary fieldAn area that draws on psychology together with other disciplines. Types are editorial labels, not an official classification.
Cluster
Brain and cognitionMind, brain, perception, language, emotion and animal behavior.
Sources opened
2 of 20 read as a full page, 2 as selected text or an abstract, 0 not verified.
Independent review
Admitted after correctionsClaude Code reviewer agent, separate from the writer, 2026-10-21. 8 claims checked against 2 sources opened by the reviewer.

What it studies

The Society for Psychophysiological Research states that its purpose is to foster research on the interrelationships between the physiological and psychological aspects of behavior. Its history page quotes a handbook definition of psychophysiology as the scientific study of social, psychological and behavioral phenomena as related to and revealed through physiological principles and events in functional organisms.

History and people

The Society for Psychophysiological Research was founded in 1960 as an international scientific society. An editorial in its journal says the Society, newly founded, captured the already considerable breadth of the field. The Society began publishing Psychophysiology in 1964, and the editorial says the field has grown greatly over the previous 40 years.

People and documented roles

The sources checked for this profile name no individual contributors.

The two sources opened name no pioneers or contributors other than the editorial's author, who is a commentator on the field, not a documented contributor to its origin. The Society's page names the handbook's editors only as editors of the quoted definition. Women and scholars outside Europe and the United States are not documented in the sources opened.

Dated milestones

  • 1960Society or organization formed. Year.The Society for Psychophysiological Research was founded; this is a society date, not the start of the field. [1][2]
  • 1964Publication. Year.The Society began publishing the journal Psychophysiology. [2]

Methods

The Society's history page says the emphasis is on integrating data from multiple levels of analysis, with measures of physical processes such as neural and hormonal ones. The editorial mentions hemodynamic brain imaging as a newer tool and notes the difficulty of manipulating emotion in the laboratory and verifying that the manipulation worked.

Training and applications

The editorial lists clinical, developmental and human-factors applications among the field's concerns and says behavioral medicine emerged as an overlapping field. The sources opened document no training routes or credentials, so none are described here.

Boundaries and limits

Both sources come from the Society and its journal, so they give the field's own account. They do not name individual pioneers, and the 1960 date marks a society, not the start of the field. The editorial describes the field by its scope rather than a formal definition, and this guide drew only on its abstract.

Evidence behind the claims

  • The Society for Psychophysiological Research was founded in 1960 as an international scientific society.

    History and peopleThe organization's own descriptionSources: [1] [2]Where: Society page opening sentence; editorial abstract

  • The Society states that its purpose is to foster research on the interrelationships between the physiological and psychological aspects of behavior.

    What it studiesThe organization's own descriptionSource: [1]Where: Purpose statement on the history page

  • The Society's history page quotes a definition from the forthcoming fourth edition of the Handbook of Psychophysiology: psychophysiology is the scientific study of social, psychological and behavioral phenomena as related to and revealed through physiological principles and events in functional organisms.

    What it studiesThe organization's own descriptionSource: [1]Where: Definition paragraph excerpted from the Handbook of Psychophysiology

  • The Society's page says the emphasis is on integrating data from multiple levels of analysis, including measures of physical (for example neural and hormonal) processes.

    MethodsThe organization's own descriptionSource: [1]Where: Paragraph following the definition

  • The editorial abstract says the Society for Psychophysiological Research, newly founded in 1960, captured the already considerable breadth of the field, and that the Society began publishing Psychophysiology in 1964.

    History and peopleDocumented in the sourceSource: [2]Where: Abstract, first sentences

  • The editorial abstract says the field has grown greatly over the previous 40 years and the journal has expanded with it, that behavioral medicine has emerged as an overlapping field, and that new technologies such as hemodynamic brain imaging continue to add to the field's tools.

    History and peopleDocumented in the sourceSource: [2]Where: Abstract, later sentences

  • The editorial abstract describes the field's range as including clinical, developmental and human-factors applications, methodological work, basic questions about reflexes and emotional behavior, and regional brain specialization in perception and cognition.

    Training and applicationsDocumented in the sourceSource: [2]Where: Abstract, sentences on breadth

  • The editorial abstract notes the conceptual challenge of manipulating emotion in the laboratory and verifying that the manipulation worked.

    MethodsDocumented in the sourceSource: [2]Where: Abstract, closing sentences

Where it appears

University examples

Examples show documented structures. They are not a ranking, a census, or a statement about admission or licensing.

In the Psy101 course

This is course relevance only. It is not evidence for the historical or practice claims on this page.See the full course map.

Sources and inspection

2 of 2 sources were opened and read at the level shown. A source marked as not verified supports no claim on this page by itself.

  1. [1]
    HISTORY - Society for Psychophysiological ResearchSociety for Psychophysiological Research, 2024. Society history. Supports the definition of the area.Selected text readRead an extract with the society's purpose statement, the 1960 founding and a definition the page attributes to a forthcoming Handbook of Psychophysiology, 4th edition (editors Cacioppo, Tassinary and Berntson); the page is shown as posted December 27, 2024.
  2. [2]
    EditorialPsychophysiology (Cambridge University Press), vol. 37, issue 1, by Gregory A. Miller, 2000. Original publication. Supports the history.Abstract onlyRead the abstract only (published January 2000); the full editorial text in the linked PDF was not read.

Independent source review: Claude Code reviewer agent, separate from the writer, 2026-10-21. Verdict: Admitted after corrections. Of 8 claims checked, 5 were supported as written, 3 were reworded and 0 were removed.