Biopsych: The Endocrine System Flashcards
What is the Endocrine System?
Controls vital functioning, yet works slower than nervous system (and more effective). done via glands in the body, uses hormones as chemical messengers in bloodstream.
How does the endocrine system control behaviour?
Behaviour is the result of hormones. This system allows us to grow, go through puberty and reproduce.
- glands secrete hormones into bloodstream (e.g. Thyroid gland produces thyroxine- can work to influence heart rate as well as increasing metabolism rates)
- also regulates other parts of our lives, e.g. the rhythm of our heart and how much we sleep.
- hormones increase or decrease specific processes within the cell to change way cell behaves.
What is the glands
What are the 2 major stress systems?
- Acute (sudden) stressors
- Chronic (ongoing) stressors
They are both co-ordinated by the hypothalamus (a midbrain structure) here we look at acute
What is fight or flight?
When a threat is detected, the body is forced to make a fight or flight decision on how to respond to the threat. This is argued to be an evolved process. This experience will occur to anything that may be a stressor to the individual.
What is the sympathomedullary pathway?
- hypothalamus triggers sympathetic branch of ANS.
- ANS stimulates adrenal medulla
- Stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline released into blood
- FF response triggered.
- blood carries oxygen and glucose to muscles.
What are some of the effects of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system?
Sympathetic - fight or flight: increased heart rate, contracts rectum, dilates pupils, inhibits saliva production, inhibits digestion and increases breathing rates
Parasympathetic - rest and digest: constricts pupils, stimulates digestion, relaxes rectum, stimulates saliva production, decreases heart rate and decreases breathing rates.
How is human behaviour not being limited to just 2 responses a weakness of the fight or flight response?
Gray suggests that first response to danger is to avoid confrontation, demonstrated by a ‘freeze’ response. During this, humans are hyper vigilant while they take in the situation to decide the best course of action for threat. Suggests the fight or flight response is limited and doesn’t fully explain the complex cognitive and biological factors that underpin the human response to stress/danger.
How is the fight or flight response not explaining the stress responses in females a limitation?
Taylor suggests females adopt a ‘tend and befriend’ response in stressful/dangerous situations. Women are more likely to protect their offspring (tending) and form alliances wit other women (befriend), than fight or flee. A beta bias - assumed females responded the same way as males until Taylor. Therefore the original theory is limited in its application to females, and this has provided an alternative explanation applicable to females.
What’s a final issue about this theory having a negative effect on our health, especially in modern day life?
may have been a useful survival mechanism for ancestors, who faced genuinely life-threatening situations (e.g. predators), modern day life rarely requires such intense biological response. the activation of the response can increase blood pressure and cause damage to blood vessels and contribute to heart disease - suggesting the response is a maladaptive response in modern day life.
