Body
Hormonal factors
Hormonal factors have a strong influence on the behaviors within the parent-offspring conflict, especially within the realm of begging. This factor is important because of the mother’s ability to change the hormonal contact that the offspring will receive within development or within the egg. The hormonal factors that will be discussed are the different levels of testosterone, other androgens influences, parental influence on yolk hormones, and differences in male and female yolk androgens.
There is considerable evidence indicated that testosterone can be involved in different levels of effort in begging. In a research article published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, the higher the testosterone the more begging behavior is observed and the increase of resource success from the parents. This could show that there is a potential trade-off in testosterone-mediated begging behavior. It could also indicate that the endocrine system has some control over this offspring behavior and therefore begging could be part of the honest signaling models, reflecting the need of the offspring honestly. In such a case, the parent-offspring conflict is lessened by the honesty of the offsprings signal, benefiting the parent’s fitness as well as the offspring’s fitness (Goodship, 2011).
Androgens are involved in the environmental plasticity of begging in both the parent and the offspring. These interactions probably occur within the egg,
Blum consulted University of California at Berkeley behavioral endocrinologist Marc Breedlove about how hormones contribute to gender differences. Breedlove’s studies support the idea that there are biological differences between males and females that distinguish each gender’s behavior. This suggests that it’s worthwhile to look at human evolution to understand why these biological differences exist – what is the purpose of masculinity and why do masculine traits such as aggression develop predominantly in males?
Similarly the controls; untreated males and females) exhibited male and female characteristics respectively as this was somewhat intrinsic based on their genome, that is, what is contained in their genetic makeup and not dependent on the environment they were raised in. this is synonymous with the studies done with 16 males in that the majority of genetically male children behaved as male despite being raised as females. This behavior was already encoded in their DNA. However, with the 43 girls, the effect of testosterone was nil on the
There are two main biological explanations to aggression, neural and hormonal. The neural explanation is the serotonin and dopamine neurotransmitters and how they affect our aggression; the hormonal mechanisms are the testosterone and cortisol chemicals.
There are many theories that try to explain relationships between sexual selection and human reproductive behaviour. Evolutionary theory is one such theory.
Why do people behave the way they do? What makes us tick? While our environment molds some of who we are, much more comes from heredity and hormones. Genes passed on to us from our parents make up heredity, and glands throughout the body produce hormones. As generations progress, new psychological and behavioral traits are earned and learned. This paper will explain hormones and the endocrine system, glands associated with the endocrine system, behavior genetics, and evolutionary psychology.
Sexual reproduction has caused monogamy in some species. In these species, it is essential for the father to help raise the young, but the father won’t help unless he believes that the
They believe that those same androgens Wisniewski (2012) discussed cause sex changes that occur in the ultrastructure of the nervous system, specifically affecting brain areas that relate to behavior. Additionally, they allege that testosterone levels in boys spike significantly in something of a mini-puberty in the first few months after birth, creating an excellent opportunity for ethical human research and a basis for longitudinal studies. In research regarding later development, Alexander and Wilcox found that girls exposed to higher androgen levels in utero show stronger preferences for male-typical toys and playmates. Additionally, they have stronger male related personality traits such as aggressiveness and reduced interest in more feminine toys (2012). Their review suggests that the increased masculine behavior cannot be attributed to socialization (Alexander & Wilcox, 2012), implying that either imposed gender roles did not change the behavior, or the behavior was accepted and gender roles were modified or not imposed at
“Goy then went on to show that if you manipulate testosterone level – raising it in females, cutting it off in males – you reverse those effects, creating sweet little boy monkeys and rough-and-tumble girls. (Blum, 238)
Martin, after careful consideration and researching in unique methods, comes to an overall conclusion that there are cultural influences in the way egg and sperm interactions are presented in textbooks. This conclusion has many serious
The world of Genetics is one that is both fascinating and interesting. When tackling how genetics plays a role in behavior, one must look within the scope of what genetics is before dealing with how it plays a significant role in one’s behavior. Simply put, genetics is the study of genes. It is a biological component within the entire study of biology itself. Scientists who study genetics and perform research do so with the intent to learn more about how genetics affects the overall attitudes, behaviors and dispositions of individuals. It could be said that genetics is somewhat of a psychological-biological science as researchers look at the underlying patterns within the genes that cause
Offspring differ somewhat from their parents and from one another. Instructions for development are passed from parents to offspring in thousands of discrete genes, each of which is now known to be a segment of a molecule of DNA. This essay will explore some of the reasons behind how and why these differences in appearance arise, from the base sequence of DNA through to the observed phenotype.
biased between the male and the female reproductive biology. The article focuses on the role of
Another evolutionary explanation of gender development is mate choice, which suggests that gender role behaviours are related to reproductive strategies. It is thought that men will look for women who are young whereas women are usually more interested in the resources of a mate. This can be explained from an evolutionary perspective as mating with a physically attractive woman
This development perspective is based in large component on the fact that humans are mammals. Male and female mammals differ enormously in energetic investment in generating offspring. Female mammals produce not only eggs but also a body which fetal growth takes place. After birth, they are required to produce milk and care for their offspring until the age of weaning. Males are required to produce sperm at the time of fertilization, and that is all. Following investment, “which can take the form if provisioning a pregnant or lactating female or providing food for the young, is not required, and in many species, including most primate species, males do not directly participate or invest in rearing young” ((Standford, John, & Anton, 2013, p.
Behavior is party affected by human hormones present in the body built from genetic traits inherited from the individual’s parents. The genetic makeup of an individual combined with a certain environment, can affect behavior. Genetics is the science of analyzing traits inherited through generations. These traits are determined by genes that