EPTOn February 22 2011 23:05 fush wrote:
so based on this, how can you conclusively say that external factors have no influence on anything? you've essentially only pointed out that it's impossible to conduct the ideal experiment to test this out.
so based on this, how can you conclusively say that external factors have no influence on anything? you've essentially only pointed out that it's impossible to conduct the ideal experiment to test this out.
That's all that i was trying to say. I was just pointing out that his statement doesn't make any sense.
we all have genes coding for the same hormones. DNA only facilitates differentiation of sexual organs in gestation, it has little to no role in determining level of hormonal production past that point.
Uhhh...what? So women produce more estrogen than men because of...external factors? Don't be ridiculous. DNA -> sex -> hormone production. DNA governs the level of hormone production, not in a direct way. but in the formation of organs that do directly create hormones.
testosterone hasn't been linked with competition. "competitiveness" is a complex behavior that isn't so easily modelled or explained, so not sure where you got that idea. association by a few observations as to male sexual "competition" (which is just a coined term btw, not necessarily directly related to "competitiveness" in this sense) doesn't justify causation by testosterone. hence, your last conclusion in this quote is wrong - or at least completely unjustified with current data.
First of all, I believe the correct spelling is "modeled." Just so you know. And you are condemning my lack of data (even though I identify myself as not being an expert), and then you make very bold claims with no data to back it up. Point me to a journal article that reinforces your claims and then we can talk.
And there have been many links between testosterone levels and social standing or levels of aggression. A simple search in JSTOR or another article database will show you these findings, which are far too numerous to list here. These may not be exactly what people think of as "competitiveness," but I think that most would agree that they are related.
DNA isn't the end all. that line of thought ended maybe 20 years ago. fact of the matter is DNA gives you the blueprint for all the structures you need to build a "city" (ie. your body), but the actual building depends heavily on other factors (ie. maternal condition in gestation, plastic learning in youth). you won't find anyone today in developmental science that will contend that.
I won't argue with you here, because I don't keep up to date on current biology research. However, all I said is that the instructions for cell reproduction for every cell is coded within one's DNA, and I believe that statement is still correct. All I was trying to do was correct the original author's complete disassociation between DNA and brain formation.
