Intro to Human Behavioral Biology PDF

Preview

Summary

Stanford：人类行为生物学
Human
Behavioural
Biology1.
人类行为简介Hormones
related
‑
all
used
to
explain
the
behaviour
of
murders Having
your
period Having
brain
tumour 
in
amygdala
(responsible
for
emotion
&
impulses) Eating
a
lot
of
junk
food large
fluctuations
in
blood
sugar
level Taking
anabolic
steroi...

Description

Stanford

HumanBehaviouralBiology

1. Hormonesrelated‑allusedtoexplainthebehaviourofmurders Havingyourperiod Havingbraintumour inamygdala(responsibleforemotion&impulses) Eatingalotofjunkfood largefluctuationsinbloodsugarlevel Takinganabolicsteroids‑helpbuildmuscle Avoidc Avoidcate ate ategoricalthinking goricalthinking Whydowethinkincategories? Easiertoremember Easiertoevaluate Whataretheharmsofcategoricalthinking? Differentcategoriescausemisunderstanding e.gdifferentlanguagescategorisesoundsindifferentways‑Finnishpeople cannotdifferentiate‘b’and‘p’sound Can’tdifferentiatetwofactsthatfallintothesamecategory Overestimatethedifferencesoftwofactsindifferentcategory e.g

59

60

‑fail pass‑

1category≈1bucket don’tlimityourperspective=don’tdrownyourvisioninasinglebucket bucket=atemporaryplatform=theeasierwaytoexplainthebiological influencesatthemoment Whatiscategoricalthinkinginbehaviouralbiology? e.g

Examplesofcategoricalthinking evenprofessionalbiologistscannotavoidc.t JohnWatson

‘Givemeachildatbirthfromanybackground,andletmecontrolthetotal environmentinwhichheisraised,andIwillturnhimintoanythingIwant himtobe,whetheradoctor,lawyer,beggar,orthief.’ notpossiblebecauseferalconditions(e.glotsofproteinnutrition)can bedifferent impossibletocontrolalltheenvironment oneofthefoundingfathersofBehaviourism Behaviourism Behaviourism=ifyoucancontroltheawards,thepunishment,the positive,negativereinforcement,youcanturnanybodyintoanything youwant drivenoutofacademiabecauseofscandal,butthenbecomeanexcellent advertisementexecutive EgosMoniz ‘Normalpsychiclifedependsuponthegoodfunctionofbrainsynapses,and mentaldisordersarearesultofsynapticderangement.Synapticadjustment willthenmodifythecorrespondingideasandforcethemintodifferent channels.Usingthisapproach,weobtaincuresandimprovementsbutno failures.’ synapticadjustment=frontallobotomy Portugueseneurologist inventedfrontallobotomies winnerofNobelprizeinPhysiologyandMedicine ConradLorenz ‘Theselectionforsocialutility.mustbeaccomplishedbysomesocial institutionifmankindisnottoberuinedbydomestication‑induced degeneracy.Theracialideaasthebasisofourstateshasalready accomplishedmuchinthisaspect.Wemayandwemustrelyonthehealthy instinctsofthebestofourpeoplefortheexterminationelementsofthe populationloadedwithdregs.’ oneofthefoundingfathersofe ethnolog thnology y discoveredimprintinginbirds Nazipropagandist Goalsofthisclass Avoidcategoricalthinking resistthetemptationofstayinginabucketandfindanexplanation 3Intellectualchallenges Acceptthereisnothingfancyinhumansthanotheranimals

e.ghamstersalsopresent‘Menstrualovulationsynchronicity’ air‑bornechemicalsignalsfromonehamstertoanother canprovebyelectricallyrecordingtheirolfactorysystems candisruptbyputtingamalehamsterbetweenthem‑malepheromones aruleofsynchronisation:thedominatefemalesynchronisesthesubordinate one inhuman:theWellesleyeffect firstshowninWellesleycollegein1970 inthefreshmenyear,womenfreshmenyearroommatestendedtolinkand synchronisetheircycle womenhaveolfactorydefects/closeinteractionswithmalesdidn’tsynchronise withtheirroommates individualswhoismoresociallyout sociallyout sociallyout‑going,e ‑going,e ‑going,extr xtr xtrovert,dominating overt,dominating overt,dominatingaremorelikely tosynchronisetheotherone Inthisclass,oencomparehumanwiththechimp‑geno Acceptthatweappeartobejustlikeeverybodyelseinsomecircumstances,butwedo somethingverydifferentwithsimilarity e.gchessplayersininternationalcompetitionsmaintainthesamebloodpressureas marathonathletes thoughtsv.srunning Humansdothingsthatanimalswouldn’tdo:language,sexuality,aggressivebehaviour, etc. e.gfollowthesameroutineforalongtime animalsdon’tdonon‑productivesex/talkaboutsex Generalstructureofthecourse varioustypesof‘buckets’ evolutionarytheory moleculargenetics behaviouralgenetics ethnology brain anthropology specificcases breakthebuckets

whatdoesthebehaviourlooklike?whathappenedtotheneurones?whathappened tocentralstimuli?...... Whystudythiscourse

depressive Booksrecommendation Chaos,byJamesGleick introduceadifferentwaytothinkaboutbiology cannotbreakbehaviourintopieces...