Regulatory behavior essay example

Introduction

The behaviors that people exhibit are subject to hormones and the nervous system. As such, behaviors are a result of complex manifestations in body systems.

Role of the nervous system

The nervous system is a complex body system coordinates an animal’s activities in response to the world in which a person lives. It organizes and determines the reactions of a person to his/her environment. It is made up of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), peripheral nervous system (nerves and other nervous structures). The nervous system controls all of the adjustments (such as sweating and concentrating) that people need to make in order to respond to their environment.
In response to the emotional behaviors of an animal, the nervous system through the autonomic branch increases or decreases conversely with the parasympathetic branch to allow for mobilization of energy for rigorous behavior or otherwise depending the situation. As such, nervous system controls the activities that lead to changes in heart rate, the size of the blood vessels shunt and the circulation of the blood to the areas it is needed most to supply energy. The nervous system works in coordination with the hormonal responses to reinforce autonomic responses.

The effect of fear, aggression, or anxiety on the specified behavior

Aggression is a form of social interaction that includes fighting, threat and attack. Aggressive behavior arises when two or more individuals conflict over limited resources such as territories, mates, and food. Aggression can involve threat behaviors such as postures and gestures that warn the target of aggression to leave a will. Aggression is expected to yield submission were the target stops the competition for resources or mates. In most cases, aggression is related to reproduction. Male animals tend to establish the territories within which they attract females during the breeding season. The males defend themselves from intrusion by other males and hence the aggression. The secretion of androgens modifies the brain thereby making neural circuits that control sexual behavior attributable to testosterone.
Aggression in human beings causes a person to feel more assertive and in authority to lay claim of a resource or a right. For instance, a person who has truant behavior uses aggression to instill fear in other people of being questioned, and reprimanded. In human beings, other brain regions apart from the hypothalamus and the periaqueductal gray matter are involved in aggression. Increased activity of the serotonergic activity synapses inhibits aggression. Physicians use serotonergic drugs to treat extremer aggression (violent behavior) in human beings. The drugs restore serotonergic axons whose destruction facilitates aggressive attacks through the removal of the inhibition effect.
Fear is a manifestation of discomfort and perceived danger. In response to behavior such as timidity or nervousness, fear causes a person to feel that a situation is threatening. A conditioned emotional response is produced to repulse the agent causing fear.
Anxiety heightens awareness and preparedness of an animal to a situation that needs a reaction. Anxiety is the physiological, psychological and the behavioral state that is induced in humans and animals by a threat to their wellbeing or survival. Expectancy, arousal, autonomic and neuroendocrine activation characterize anxiety. These changes help one to cope with adverse or unexpected situations. Anxiety when responding to a behavior may worsen response to a behavior when it triggers the release of hormones to divert energy and attention from the task. Moreover, pathological anxiety interferes with the ability of individuals to handle challenges in life.

Function of the hormones involved and how they relate to the behavior

Hormones are the chemical messengers that are released from the endocrine glands and that travel through the blood system to influence the nervous system to regulate behaviors such as mating, aggression, and the parenting of individuals. The hormones that influence behavior include testosterone, esradiol, progesterone, oxytocin, vasopressin, and cortisol.
Cortisol’s role is to increase the metabolism of carbohydrate. It mediates the responses to stressing situations. Esradiol hormone is responsible for regulating sexual motivation and performance in both males and females. Testosterone is responsible for shaping the males secondary characteristics. It promotes sexual behaviors and motivation. Oxytocin is a hormone produced in females. It stimulates the contractions during birth and later milk letdown. The hormone also promotes social bonding. Vasopressin is associated with the absorption of water into the kidneys and it affects memory and learning. Other hormones that influence human behavior are prolactin and thyroxine. Prolactin influences actions associated with reproduction and water balance. It also influences behaviors that are related to parental care. Thyroxine on its part influences neural development.

Effects of regulatory impairments on the specified behavior

Regulatory impairment refers to the inability of certain hormones and organs to perform as desired due to limitations resulting from disease or poor development. The regulation could be the release of a hormone in excess or in inadequate quantities. Regulatory impairments lead to inability of individuals harboring them to fail in their response to situations and behaviors. The individuals may fail in emotional recognition. For instance lesions of the amygdale resulting from a degenerative disease or a surgery impairs the victim’s ability to recognize emotional facial expressions. The individuals may have other senses functioning normally such as hearing but the coordination that leads to proper interpretation of sight may fail. The hearing may also fail to detect the anger and fear being expressed by another person. As such, the inability to coordinate senses and attach to them the necessary interpretations is the main result of regulatory impairment in relation to behavior.

Conclusion

The bodily functions in the nervous system especially the neurological ones cause the production of hormones that help the body to respond to the environment.

References

Albany. edu. (n. d.). Emotion. Retrieved 07 14, 2015, from http://www. albany. edu/faculty/cafrye/apsy601/ch10emote. html
Nelson, R. (2015). Hormones and Behavior-. Retrieved 07 14, 2015, from nobaproject. com: http://nobaproject. com/modules/hormones-behavior
Steimer, T. (2002). The biology of fear- and anxiety-related behaviors. Dialogues Clinical Neuroscience , 4(3): 231–249.