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Friday, December 03, 2004

Going psycho

When I was younger, I learned that testosterone is a hormone produced by the testes in males and estrogen is produced by the ovaries in females (humans, of course). These were the two major sex hormones that we often talked about in high school science lessons. Also, these hormones were perceived to promote male and female sexual behaviour.

What I learned in pyschology was the total opposite to what I picked up in high school. I should think it was just on the surface of the human sciences. Of course, testosterone is crucial for maintaining the sex drive in human males and anyone knows that men castrated in an accident or for medical reasons almost always experience a decline in sex drive and behaviour. But, the removal of the ovaries in women does not affect their sex drives at all. Both men and women produce these two hormones but the difference is that men have more testosterone than estrogen in their bodies and vice versa for the women. However, in regulation of the sex drive for women, adrenal hormones like DHEA and testosterone are the ones that keep the dice rolling. Something new to me.

Here's another interesting one:

Researchers found that males born to stressed mothers had unsuually low levels of testosterone in their blood at time of birth. So, apparently, stressed mothers secrete hormones that inhibit the production of testosterone in male fetuses, and this in turn causes their brains to be less masculinized and more feminized. This brings about the birth of homosexual developments within children. So, blame it on science and nature - it is not their fault if they are gays or lesbians - I do not believe they should be treated differently just because religion says they are sinned for such outrageous, dirty behaviour. Well, go study some science before you preach! Sheesh.

Oh yes, hunger is a regulatory drive - a drive that preserves homeostasis in our system. Sex is a non-regulatory drive - you don't need a tissue for this thus you would not die because of lack of sex (despite an overly amorous someone might have told us).

What else? We have five primary tastes - sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami (savoury feeling). Right, our tongue is not divided into sections where specific tastebuds for our five primary tastes function. Taste receptor cells are distributed evenly throughout our tongue. If the food has more concentrated amounts of NaCl or LiCl, then we feel the salty taste. If the food has more concentrated amounts of acids (H+), then we feel the sour taste.

...

You know, reading psychology for two whole days is not a good thing. It makes your perceptions and thoughts slanted in the direction of their long-winded theories, especially when you have to force yourself to read them for a final paper in another 3 hours time.

Yun @ 6:42 AM | |

about me

Home: KL, Malaysia
School: U of A

I am someone who frets a lot - I call it a psychological disorder. I am constantly trying to escape my complex mind which, very often, drives me and my close companions to the edge of insanity. Born under the sun star Libra, I am greatly affected by a disease called "indecisiveness". Nicknames were never part of my dictionary until I met some people who decided to name me "turtle". Soon, I was representing a zoo of hamsters, "sotongs", pigs, cats, etc...

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