Discuss how hormones trigger temporary and/or permanent changes in brain and behavior.
The essay can include a short introduction explaining how hormones work. However, this should be kept short and the core aspect of the essay should be about the actual changes induced by hormones.
Discussion on temporary changes in brain and behaviour (activating effects) These can include:
1. Homeostatic hormones
Need explaining homeostasis –internal balance important to regulate physiological systems in an organism.
Example of homeostatic hormone: insulin. Explain how it works and discuss why it is important.
Another example of homeostatic hormone is vasopressin which regulates body fluids.
Discussion on permanent changes in brain and behavior (organizational effects):
Sexual hormones. Gonadal hormones act differently on males and females; role of testosterone at early stages of sexual differentiation.
Consequences of early sexual hormones in males and females on:
Physical appearance
Brain development (leading to differences in size, volume, connectivity)
Cognitive abilities
The consequences of early sexual hormones can be discussed along three views:
1. There is a male brain and a female brain (gender differences exist and sex-linked traits persist across time and culture because they are passed on via inherited biological sex);
2. Brains are intersex (sex affecting the brain does not entail that there are two distinct types of brains, “male brains” and “female brains,” as there are two distinct types of genitalia);
3. The gender similarity hypothesis (males and females are more alike than they are different on most, but not all, psychological variables).
2. Gluco-corticoids hormones: response to stress.
Explain how these hormones work (Fast response and slow response) and why they are important.
