Hereditary vs. Hormones In this essay I will compare and contrast the influence of hereditary and hormones reflection on human behavior. First I will talk about genetics, also referred to as heredity. Then I will speak on hormones. Also in this essay I will discuss the endocrine system, identification of hormones and the glands responsible for secreting them, and genetics, behavior genetics, and evolutionary psychology. Hereditary To compare heredity effect on behavior you have to start with the old question is it nature or nurture? The importance of nature versus nature is simply your belief of the way a person was raised determines their behavior, like a child being taught to hate and when they reach maturity they are more likely to hate (nurture), or the flipside a person who was raised to hate but when they get old enough to make their own decision on hate they decide it is not right (nature). What we know is a person height, weight, eye color, etc. is all genetically inherited. What we do not know is if a person behavior is based on their upbringing or their instincts. Hormones Hormones are chemicals that are released into the body by cells or glands in order to influence other cells; together they are called the endocrine system. Hormones are stimulated and inhibited by many factors including mental activities. What play the roles in regulating the endocrine system are sunlight, temperature, and other hormones. Hormones are responsible for the stimulation of growth, hunger, sex drive, and immune system. It also plays a part in fighting, fleeing, puberty and parenting. If the endocrine system is out of balance you can see in a major way how it affects one behavior. When the endocrine system is out of balance a person is more likely to become more sexual or less sexual, also a person can become more violent, or more or
References: http://genealogy.about.com/cs/geneticgenealogy/a/nature_nurture_2.htm http://www.simplypsychology.org/naturevsnurture.html http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evolutionary-psychology/#EvoPsyTheMet http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evolutionary-psychology/