ABSTRACT
Social scientists increasingly are turning to psychobiological assessments in order to replace or complement more traditional self-report measures, to illuminate the psychological mechanisms underlying psychological phenomena of interest, and to provide empirical assessments of the physical and psychological consequences of experienced events. This chapter reviews the basic anatomical and physiological nature of three pertinent bodily systems: autonomic, endocrine, and immune. It utilizes illustrative examples to show what can be gained from research assessing specific parameters of these systems, focusing on the key methodological, practical, and analytical issues. It closes by considering some of the next steps for this expanding research area, providing resources that might assist the reader in these pursuits.
