Nurture on the other hand is a view, is a view proposed by the social approach suggesting that behavior is affected by socialization and environment. The natural and sexual selection in the evolutionary approach are two important factors to account for the survival of the fittest. When there is a change in the environment, a danger, a situation which needs quick adaptation to survive, the individuals who adapt the fastest and the better are the ones to survive and therefore to pass on their genes onto the next generation. The individuals that fail to adapt die, and their genetic makeup is lost. In the sexual selection, individuals from every sex have genes, which provide them with attractive characteristics to attract the
Cortisol is sometimes referred to as a ‘stress hormone’ because it is produced in times of stress. The high levels of cortisol are not surprising as many depressive episodes are preceded by stressful events. Given this, the high levels of cortisol may be a result rather than a cause of depression – they may be produced as a response to stress rather than a cause of the disorder. The Biological Model states that psychological disorders are caused, at least in part, by biological factors. This suggests that treatment should
Psychologists working from the biological perspective argue that we can inherit a predisposition to anxiety disorders (Morris & Maisto, 2010). In addition, research has shown that there are several parts of the brain that are involved with fear and anxiety, which reinforces the biological connection to anxiety disorders. Many psychologists theorize that anxiety is the result of excessive activation of the brain mechanism responsible for the fight-or-flight response (2011). Fight-or-flight is our brains way of determining the level of danger in a situation. When we are confronted with danger, like the smell of smoke, or a car coming toward us on the street two brain circuits become active and relay information about the danger.
There are now new studies out that have yielded results showing that stimulations or lesions in to the ventral medial prefrontal cortex can accelerate the extinction process (Mohammed & Quirk, 2002). There are other new studies that have shown other parts of the brain such as areas of the hippocampus help to speed up extinction (Maren and Holt, 2004; Keene and Bucci, 2008). All of these studies are of particular interest to researchers because their findings may help in treating people that are suffering from anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Before these procedures can be used on human subjects it is important that researchers narrow down which area of the brain not only speeds up the extinction process but does it with the least amount of side effects. Some researchers have proposed that the ventral medial prefrontal cortex plays a key component in fear conditioning (Baratta et al., 2000).
Individuals are considered to have an increased risk to be a fragile X carrier if they have: • Family history of fragile X syndrome • Family history of mental retardation, developmental delay or autism of unknown cause • Infertility problems associated with elevated follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels, premature ovarian failure (POF) or unexplained early menopause. Fragile X syndrome causes a range of symptoms. Fragile X syndrome causes a range of symptoms. Fragile X syndrome is caused by a change in the Fragile X Mental Retardation (FMR1) gene. This gene is located near the bottom of the chromosome and gives it a “fragile appearance”.
The main question is why do the more emotionally arousing events in our life become so buried deep in our memories. The researchers studied the participants physiologically and found that the arousing stimuli triggered the release of stress hormones. This would then cause the neurotransmitters to increase the activation of the amygdale, which helps encode the emotional aspects of experiences to long term memory. (McGaugh & Roozendaal, 2002) This shows that extreme emotional memories are stored in a different way to other memories. James, 1890 once claimed that ‘an impression maybe so exciting (or
If, as the article implies, humans are subject to similar chemical influences, there may answers to common questions like, “why am I attracted to … . ?,” or “what is it about ….. I just don’t like?” The idea that we all may react to chemical signals to mate or fight without thinking, raises some social concerns. It opens the door for a myriad of inappropriate physiological responses. It may be a hard sell to a future human resources director that I was, “unconsciously reacting to a coworker’s chemistry.” The idea of a direct link to the brain also raises important theological concerns.
With the right environment, nurture, and determination I’m sure one can excel to their full capacity in traits such as intelligence or athleticism. I may be incorrect and I even might have my own bias but that is what I truly think and believe. Before we tackle on this longly debated predicament, we must understand that there are many different perspectives on the nature versus nurture topic. A biological psychologist might approach the problem focusing on genetic, hormonal, and neurochemical explanations of behavior, leaning more towards
Stress and Life Change Within this essay the term stress will be discussed and how life changes can affect people’s lives causing a person to feel stressed. Seiye (1956) defines stress as “The individual’s physchophysiological response, mediated largely by the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system, to any demands made on the individual.” (Gross 2001) p174 The essay will also cover and explore the evolutionary perspective focusing on how stress affects the sympathetic state and the endocrine system, and how primary and secondary appraisal fits in with this; it will also discuss how divorce, as a major life, change can have both positive and negative outcomes. Stress is something that can be termed differently by each individual, what it may mean to one person, it may mean something different to another, it could be that it is the meaning that an individual attaches to an experience rather that the experience itself, that causes one to feel stressed. Stress can also be a good thing, it can be what drives us to get out of bed each day and carry out daily routines. Lack of stress, termed as ‘distress’ can cause lack of motivation and boredom, which can have a negative effect on life and can lead to many other problems such as alcohol or drug abuse.
Physiological ‘Stress’, marked by the secretion of glucocorticoid hormones and often referred as the negative consequence of an animal’s failure to cope with changing environment, in certain circumstances, is a need in ensuring survival and allowing adaptation to such change (Wielebnowski et al. 2002; Moberg 2000; Mostl and Palme, 2002; Menargues et. al. 2008). But if it persists for a prolonged duration, the continuous action of high concentration of Glucocorticoid on liver, muscle and adipose tissues, loses it adaptive value, adversely impacts the muscle and bone impairing the endocrine and immune function, degrading the body mass, individual fitness and causing reproductive failure resulting the long-term behavioural changes as supported by the Cort-fitness hypothesis (Munck et al.