Scenario to start: A 40-year-old man exhibits bizarre behaviors (punches colleague, affair, embezzles money).
Possible explanations: He's a creep, midlife crisis, or a gene mutation causing specific neurological disease.
Polls conducted to gauge student opinions on genetic influence on behaviors, political opinions, religion, etc.
Emphasis on challenging existing beliefs about behavior and biology.
Key Concepts
Hormones and Behavior
Example cases: A woman committing murder during her period, brain tumors causing aggression, junk food inducing violent outbursts, anabolic steroids leading to aggression.
Important Takeaway 1: Physical conditions in the body can influence brain function and behavior.
Important Takeaway 2: Thoughts and brain activity can affect physical states of the body.
The Complexity of Human Behavior
Understanding human behavior, social behavior, and abnormal behavior is extremely complex.
Humans tend to categorize and simplify continua (e.g., colors, lengths, speeds) to ease understanding and memory.
Categorical thinking helps but also introduces issues:
Difficulty differentiating within the same category or near boundaries.
Failing to see the broader picture.
Application in Behavioral Biology
Understanding human behaviors require nuanced, non-categorical thinking.
Challenges in accepting that human behavior can sometimes be explained by basic biology:
Recognizing human physiology similar to other species.
Not falling into categorical thinking.
Interconnectedness of genes, hormones, environmental stimuli, and historical evolutionary pressures in explaining behaviors.
Course Structure
First Half
Introduction to various domains: Evolutionary theory, molecular genetics, behavioral genetics, ethology, brain function, endocrinology.
Overview of different buckets of knowledge to set the stage for integrated understanding later.
Second Half
Focus on specific behaviors: Sexual behavior, aggressive behavior, parental behavior, schizophrenia, depression, etc.
Multi-faceted examination of each behavior from various biological perspectives.
Emphasis on interdisciplinary understanding and integration of knowledge.
Logistics
No prerequisites required; aimed at students from various disciplines.
Weekly catch-up sections for students without a strong background in specific topics.
Important dates: Midterm on May 3rd, Final on June 4th.
Reading materials: Books by the instructor and James Gleick's "Chaos".
Course materials and lecture notes will be available online.
Conclusion
Goal: Developing an integrated understanding of how biology influences behavior and vice versa.
Emphasis on breaking away from traditional categorical thinking to embrace complexity and interconnectivity in behavioral biology.