Recently in Hormones Category

We discussed in class yesterday some examples of how characters in the movie (namely Robert DeNiro's character, Michael) lacked emotion in certain circumstances where we would have expected to see some. I think we referenced when Michael, Nick, and Steven were being held captive how Michael really didn't express fear like we saw from Nick and Steven (Michael remained calm and coached both of them on). I found a couple of articles that might explain (partially at least) what was going on with Michael.

Strange calm in a sea of danger
What's the scariest part of a frightening experience

The first link discusses how people sometimes fail to exhibit fear in extremely threatening situations (a bear attack is described). We hear many stories like this where people take control of the situation rather than being immobilized by fear. The article explains that this may be due to noradrenaline in our brains. Noradrenaline is believed to be linked to filtering out information that isn't relevant to the threat and decision making. Thus, when Michael explains to Nick that they are going to have to leave Steven behind, the fact that they were friends was filtered out of the situation and the decision was made based only on the threat.

The second article is related to fearful situations and discusses skydiving. It explains how novice skydivers will experience the peak of anxiety/fear right before they are about to jump out of the plane whereas experienced skydivers will experience their peak hours before the jump and it slowly decreases as the jump nears. It is possible that Michael had  more experience with Russian Roulette, which allowed him to be calm while in the situation, as he readied himself for it hours before.
I had a similar experience today. While going downstairs to take a shower this morning I ran into a squirrel in my house! I instantly yelled "Oh F***" and proceeded to return to my room. It was an intense startle moment (definitely a flight response-some adrenaline was flowing). After collecting myself I went downstairs to get the thing out of my house-it had crashed through some ceiling tiles in our bathroom. After successfully getting it out by leaving the doors open and chasing it, I had to clean up the mess. While cleaning up the mess, another squirrel runs by me!  This gave me another startle response, but this time I just opened the doors and chased it out without avoiding it and collecting myself. Not quite a life or death situation, but you can see how my prior experience decreased the reaction and allowed me to deal with the situation much more effectively. 

Anyone else live in a crappy house where animals break in? Have an experience that relates to one of these articles?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36649379#36649379

Whenver we think about college students and their addictive behaviors, what comes to mind is alcohol and drugs.  Reeve (2009) states that addictive drugs, such as psychostimulants, are especially potent reinforcers because their repeated usage produces hypersensitivity to dopamine stimulation.  This is what is being compared to the feeling people get after tanning.  The behavioral approach system is related to the reward responsiveness feeling, which these tanners feel when they are just getting out of the booth. 

Now, studies have shown an addictive behavior to tanning, especially around the season of prom, graduation, and spring break.  Doctors have said that some people just have addictive behaviors and people who are addicted to tanning, are usually addicted to other things such as alcohol and drugs. In one study done on Northeast college students one third of them are shown to have a tanning addiction.  People feel better after they just got done tanning and that they have some sort of anxiety which they think tanning eliviates.

Although people know that it causes skin cancer, college students feel that they can't get skin cancer that young.  Experts think that tanning booths need to start screening tanners for an addictive behavior.

 

http://www.healthyplace.com/anxiety-panic/main/can-kids-blame-their-parents-for-social-phobias/menu-id-1059/

The study I've chosen to post here is related to something we discussed in class.(The idea that spending one's life blaming parents provides no relief for your troubles, it just makes life worse, and your time would be better spent focusing on bettering your situation).
The article starts out by stating that "Social phobia, a paralyzing fear of social situations, may be brought on by a combination of genetics and child-rearing methods." Of course, there's nothing we can currently do to change our genetics, but some researchers found that parents who are overprotective of or show rejection towards their children may be putting them at greater risk of developing social phobias.

Another interesting point was that the research team " found no link at all between family functioning and teenage social phobia." Contrary to what the title of my article (also a lyric in West Side Story) may indicate, growing up in a dysfunctional family does not appear to make one destined to failure, socially or otherwise.

I think these findings  (at least the latter one) would be very welcome to individuals who have grown up in very poor situations - these results can provide hope, encouragement, and perhaps even  a form of verbal persuasion (to help them believe they can succeed, personally and professionally).Bad things happen, but life goes on. I also think it is incredibly important for there to be motivational speakers who have overcome their tremendous obstacles and achieved success, such speakers may be thought to provide a type of vicarious modeling as well as indirect verbal persuasion.

As some of you may have heard, there's a woman coming to campus on the 20th who actually survived a saline abortion. Although I think her talk will partly focus on how young, pregnant women aren't given enough support, from a motivation/emotion standpoint I think her story is incredible. I cannot imagine the feelings one would experience knowing that you have been given the ultimate form of rejection - having people try to kill you. I think another motivation/emotion question that may merit attention in that situation is the impact that an abortion has on the mother. Here I am not just talking about the loss of the baby's life, but (as we have discussed in class) an expectant mother's body undergoes hormonal changes to prepare for the baby. When the changes have been made and there is no longer a baby, this can an even greater sense of loss. To tie this back into material in Reeve's Chapter 12, it could be said that women in this situation are facing both cognitive and biological bases for their conditions and need help that will address both of these bases.

 
Getting back to the main topic, I think one of the major take away points from the main article is that each person has their own unique set of problems. As discussed in class, it is not desirable to be happy and positive all the time, it is natural to have negative emotions and moods. Negative events provide contrast to positive ones, they have the potential to make people appreciate the "good things" more. Facing serious challenges in one's development might actually make a person stronger and better adjusted to the world, at least for some individuals (and if the challenges are not too overwhelming). This last point most directly relates to goal setting theory in Reeve's Chapter 8.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/us/25mobs.html?src=me

 

This article talks about what used to be something that used to be a non-violent act, but now in Philadelphia these flash mobs are turning violent.  The police have said that they had enough and they are starting to enforce curfew and hold parents responsible for having their children out late in the city.  There has been five flash mobs this year in the city, more than in any other part of the United States. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100325/ap_on_re_us/us_philly_teen_mobs_1

 

This article also quoted Temple University professor Frank Farley is an expert in risk-taking and thrill-seeking personalities. He says the flash mobs attract teens because they offer thrills and attract publicity.  Chapter 13 discusses risk taking personality about arousal.  It is more likely that the teens who are a part of these flash mobs  are high sensation seekers rather than low sensation seekers.  There have been findingd that sensation seekers have low levels of monoamine oxidase (Schooler, Zahn, Murphy, & Buchsbaum, 1978). 

 

So, first off - let me tell you - I don't go Googling things about semen.  Lol.  I actually Googled "crying," and this article came up.

http://pages.prodigy.net/unohu/endorphins.htm

I found this site that talks about all the ways in which we can release endorphines. Endorphins are released by overexposure to light, among other things such as having a sugar rush. Did you know that chocolate sweetended by aspartame may produce more endorphins than chocolate sweetened with sugar. Endorphins are released by stress, laughter, sexual activity, exercise, even pain from spicy foods.

The article also talks about ways to massage parts of the body to stimulate nerve endings, the effects of endorphins, how Autistic individuals have problems with reaching the same feeling from endorphins like we do because of a blockage. Also, it talks about the levels of endorphins, how it increases dopamine levels and decreases serotonin levels.

Check out this page and see if you can think of any other ways to make a person high on life off endorphines? and what you thought about it.

I chose this article because it explains the physiology behind one of my favorite past times: kissing / making out.  I was goofing around on the web the other day and through digg.com (great website - go to it!) I found the website below.  It's an article called "Why We Kiss: the Science of Sex." It's fascinating, so I wanted to share this article with you.

 

The article explains that although the use of pheromones to create attraction is thought to not work for humans, chemicals are still used in communication.  The article outlines how women are more attracted to the scent of a man who can help them to produce healthier children.  It also explains that twice as many adults turn their head to the right than the left while kissing.  (You're all thinking about which side you prefer, aren't you?)

 

Another cool topic covered by the site is that men and women see kissing differently.  Most women would never have sex with someone without kissing them first but most men would.  And men are more likely to initiate French kissing because saliva contains testosterone, and testosterone can increase arousal.  Indications show that men can also gauge the amount of estrogen a woman has (indicator of fertility) via this method.

 

However, the most fascinating part of the article (for me) was kissing's effects upon hormone levels.  In general, kissing releases a ton of hormones that make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but the site focuses on the levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) and oxytocin (the bonding hormone).  In long-term relationships, cortisol levels dropped after kissing. And oxytocin levels increased ONLY in the males.  My girlfriend wasn't too happy to hear this, but I now understand partly why I enjoy kissing so much.

 

During a quick search for more information, I found the other link.  At howstuffworks.com, they have a lot of information about how kissing works, its history, effects, and the anatomy of a kiss. It also includes more information on kissing's effects upon dopamine, serotonin, and adrenaline, too.

 

http://www.divinecaroline.com/22081/76045-kiss--science-sex

 

http://people.howstuffworks.com/kissing.htm

I was at www.askmen.com and saw this title for an article, so I couldn't resist.

As it's part of askmen.com, the article is geared towards providing advice for men - in this instance, particularly straight men.  The article is examining the traits of gay men and why straight women love the gays so much for them.  They talk about clothing style, physical fitness, sensitivity, faithfulness, and fun.

Most heterosexual men's fashion is based on three things: sneakers, wrangler jeans, and a t-shirt.  And while this is fine for us men, women are typically more sophisticated.  They want to be able to talk about their outfits, hair, skin care, etc.  Who is going to provide more to a conversation on hair, a straight guy who puts on a hat until it lies flat, or a gay guy who can compare and contrasts features of different products?

It's harder for women to maintain a set weight for various reasons - partly because their bodies are continuously preparing itself to hold a child each month.  As the article says, " [in] many instances, gay men simply take better care of themselves than we do . . ."  Their gay best friend is, however, someone who will tell them the new ways to lose weight or who will go to the gym with them.

 

The website tells how an article by the National Academy of Sciences in 2008 describes how heterosexual women's brains and homosexual men's brains are similar - making it more likely that their brains function the same way.  This would explain one reason why gay men tend to be more willing to talk about their emotions than we, heterosexual men, are.

 

Faithfulness is yet another quality that women love in their gay men.  They don't have to worry about the man leaving them for another woman.  It removes a deep-seated insecurity.

 

And lastly, gay men are just more fun.  They can comparatively talk about sex with women and give them tips from a guy's perspective on what feels good without being embarrassed.

 

This can all be explained with a simple answer: the psychological need for relatedness.  Gay men can just relate to straight women on levels that straight men cannot.  However, this is NOT an excuse to not try.

 

As my mom always says, "try walking in the other person's shoes for a while."  If we straight men try this, I'm sure we can all relate to females much better and avoid unnecessary arguments - because sleeping on the couch sucks!

 

http://www.askmen.com/dating/curtsmith_300/332b_why-women-love-gay-men.html

We talked about testosterone in class and how it affects sexual behavior, aggression, etc. In this article it discusses the benefits and risks of testosterone therapy and the question of whether or not it can make men feel like they did in their youth. Testosterone does a lot for men: helps maintain bone density, muscle mass, sex drive, sperm production, etc. But around the age of 40, men start producing less and less testosterone and therefore, may feel like something is changing in their bodies. Although it's unclear whether naturally declining testosterone produces symptoms for men, it has been seen that men with diseases that lower their testosterone have seen such symptoms as decreased sexual function, increase in fat mass, memory loss, mood changes, depression, etc. I have read some text refer to the decrease in testosterone as a man's menopause. The article recapped that studies have found that testosterone therapy is able to restore testosterone amounts to that of a youthful man, but it is unclear whether or not it there is any benefit of doing so. While there are benefits to testosterone therapy there are also risks: increased balding, acne, enlarged breasts, fluid retention, etc.

Here is the link to the two page article:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/testosterone-therapy/MC00030

When I was trying to come up with a topic for my blog entry this week I googled search for Oxytocin and google automatically added autism after oxytocin.  I thought that this was interesting and decided to continue to search for articles about this association.  In a journal article by Modahl et al. (1998) a connection was found between the presence of autism and  levels of oxytocin.  This article can be found at:  http://lynnwaterhouse.intrasun.tcnj.edu/Plasma%20oxytocin%20levels%20in%20autistic%20children.pdf

 

In my introduction to psychology class my professor asked if we would be more mad if our boyfriend/girlfriend had a sexual infidelity or an emotional infidelity. By a show of has we were able to see that more men would be upset by a sexual infidelity and more women would be more hurt by an emotional infidelity. Why is this the case? To understand mate selection will provide the answer to this. In the link below I found information regarding the answer to my questions and information about the physical appearance that impact mate selection based on evolutionary psychology ideas.

First-in the physical appearance of mates men tend to prefer younger women because they tend to be more fertile. Men like full lips, breast, and hip and a slim waist because this is the features that represent a woman who has a lot of estrogen in turn making her a good candidate for reproduction. Women are often attracted to men who have a more masculine build; broad shoulders, slim hips, a strong jaw line, clear face, and facial hair. This type of physic represents a man with a lot of testosterone therefore reinforcing that this man will be able to fulfill and provide for the family. The idea of infidelity as mention earlier is based on passing on ones genes. If a women has a sexual infidelity then the many is not 100 percent sure that the child they have together would be genetically his. Where the women in 100 percent sure the child she bears is of her genetics. A woman needs a man who is going to be there emotionally and provide support, energy, resources, and protection for her family. Therefore, a woman is going to be more concerned with an emotional infidelity than a sexual one. The first time I read his is was somewhat surprising to me however, after looking at it from an evolutionary perspective it is easy to see why this is the case.

 

http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/denisiuk.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090824115811.htm

 

 

According to this website, women judge men's faces for attractiveness on two parts: sexually and non-sexually.  

 

The first part determines if you have the characteristics of being a good mate.  They're looking for qualities that will help them determine if you have high levels of androgen (testosterone).  According to evolutionary psychology, this is a highly desirable trait to look for in a partner since testosterone is linked to aggression, which will lead to better protection and more food.  These traits will include strong cheekbones, a square jaw, full lips, and over all proportions of the overall face.

 

The second part is overall attractiveness of the face.  If these proportions of the face are symmetrical or not is one key point in determining the attractiveness.   

 

More on this topic can be seen during a short video on the next link.

 

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/science-of-sex-appeal-attractive-facial-features.html

 

First of all, I love the discovery channel.

 

The video quickly explains that although as children, we all have very similar faces.  However, because of puberty, our faces will change and become more prominent for the men and finer for the women (generally).  According to the video, a strong does of these hormones will indicate good health and fertility.  Also, by saying that someone is attractive, you're saying that they have good genes and would make a good partner for reproduction.

Depressed? Jolt Your Brain

First, read this article:

http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/art1965.html

I ran upon this article while looking at a link from Dr. Walsh's Drugs & Individual Behavior class, and I thought it would fit with some of the material we are currently covering. The article basically details how our bodies react to stress via natural physiological processes. These responses are why we feel physical symptoms to a perceived stressor. The stressor itself may not be anything that is physically challenging or even mentally challenging, but our perception of it can be manifested in both of these ways.  On Tuesday we mentioned cortisol as being a stress hormone that can have negative physical consequences, but it actually does more than that. It helps our bodies deal with the other physiological processes that respond to stress through allostasis, or the process of maintaining homeostasis. If cortisol levels do not respond properly to an acute stressor and are too low, other bodily processes can "run out of control" and cause physical damage (e.g. an autoimmune condition). Conversely, if cortisol levels are higher than they should be in response to stress, this can lead to decreased functioning of other bodily processes (hyperglycemia eventually leading to type 2 diabetes).  The article also describes how our own behaviors can affect how our body handles stress. I thought this article would be something that everyone might like to know in terms of staying healthy and a little of the physiology behind dealing with stress.  Next time you are feeling stressed out you can just say "man, I have a huge allostatic load that's bothering me right now" and see how people respond.    

http://www.sciencentral.com/video/2009/03/05/cuddle-hormone/

 

I found the above article while researching the hormone oxytocin after learning about it in class. A new study shows that participants who inhaled oxytocin were better able to remember faces a day later than participants who inhaled a placebo. However, those who received oxytocin were no better at remembering inanimate objects, like a house. By being able to better understand the effects of oxytocin on a basic level, it may help to understand more complex situations.

 

The article also mentions that oxytocin levels vary among people, which may be the reason some people are better able to recognize faces. Personally, I am not wonderful at remembering faces. It usually takes me a few times meeting a person before I am able to recognize them outside of that situation. Sadly, it took almost an entire semester for me to realize I had a classmate in two separate classes, a MWF class and a T/TH class, meaning I saw them everyday. There may be many reasons why I did not recognize that person, one being that in the classes the other person sat behind me so I did not see them throughout the class. But another reason may be that I might have lower oxytocin levels. How are you with remembering/ recognizing faces?