Hormones in GD

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  • Hormones
    • ROLE
      • in the womb hormones act upon the brain development and stimulate growth of reproductive organs
      • at puberty, a burst of hormonal activity causes the secondary sex organs
    • TESTOSTERONE
      • predominant in men (women produce 10% of what men do)
      • development of male sex organs
      • produced at week 8 of gestation
      • masculinising the brain, development of specific areas like spatial skills, competition and aggression
      • Deady et al research support, found it has an impact on typical male and female behaviours, key role in gender development
        • correlational, cause and effect can't be established
        • socially sensitive, high levels of masculinity implies men are not natural carers, not only biological facts contribute
    • OESTROGEN
      • primarily female, small amounts in men
        • feminises the brain, promoting neural connections for equal use of both hemispheres
      • determines female sexual characteristic and mestruation
        • responsible for physical and emotional changes during menstruation e.g PMS
      • evidence for it being necessary for female only behaviours from Albrecht and Pepe (1997)
        • increasing oestrogen levels in pregnant babboons led to hieghtened cortisol production which assisted in the development of foetuses. Key role in sex behaviours
      • uses scientific methods, e.g to measure oestrogen levels and cortisol production. Objective, firm conclusions in dev of sex
      • considerable objections to PMS, stereotypes female experience, leads to dismissal of women's emotions
    • OXYTOCIN
      • a hormone that acts as a neuro transmitter.
        • produced by men and women to control key aspects of the reproductive system
      • reduces the stress hormone cortisol
        • facilitates bonding
          • the 'love' hormone
            • released in large amounts during labour, make women fall in love with their babies. Stereotype that men aren't as good caregivers
      • research support, Van Leengoed et al (1987) found a relationship with maternal behaviour
        • rat mothers injected with an antagonist of oxytocin to inhibit production showed maternal behaviours later, link to gender dev
          • can't extrapolate to humans, we have much more complex neuro anatomy
            • criticised on the grounds of animal ethics, operating under the premisies of the hierarchy of intelligence suggests it okay to operate on animals.
              • pointless to hurt animals when results cannot be generalised

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