An Introduction to Behavioral Endocrinology

Citation

Nelson, R. J., & Kriegsfeld, L. J. (2022). An Introduction to Behavioral Endocrinology (6th ed.). Oxford University Press (Sinauer).

Chapter Summary

The sixth edition has thirteen chapters, an appendix listing common hormones, a glossary and references, and runs to roughly 800 pages. The authors organize the book around one idea: hormones affect behavior by acting on one or more of three components of a behaving animal, namely input mechanisms (sensory and perceptual processes), the central processing of the nervous system, and output mechanisms (effectors and peripheral structures). The approach is comparative, with evidence from humans and other animals, and each chapter ends with a summary, discussion questions, suggested readings and a list of key terms.

Chapter 1: The Study of Behavioral Endocrinology

The opening chapter covers the historical roots of the field, beginning with Berthold's experiment, and defines hormones. It discusses the problems of studying behavior and what nonhuman animal models can teach, asks how hormones might affect behavior and how behavior might affect hormones, and sets out classes of evidence for hormone-behavior interactions. A long section surveys techniques, from ablation and replacement and immunoassays to brain imaging, genetic manipulation, optogenetics and RNA sequencing, and the chapter closes with a case study on kisspeptin.

Chapter 2: The Endocrine System

This is the physiological foundation: chemical communication, the general features of the endocrine system, and a tour of the major vertebrate glands and their hormones (protein and peptide hormones, steroids, monoamines and lipid-based hormones). It ends with how hormones are regulated and the cellular and molecular mechanisms of hormone action, including receptor types.

Chapters 3–4: Sex Differences in Behavior: Sex Determination and Differentiation; Sex Differences in Behavior: Animal Models and Humans

Chapter 3 treats sex determination and differentiation in mammals, birds, reptiles and fishes, atypical development, alternative reproductive tactics, and the organizational/activational hypothesis, with epigenetic and environmental influences. Chapter 4 asks why sex differences are studied and covers neural and molecular differences, animal models such as birdsong and the plainfin midshipman fish, and human gender role, gender identity, sexual orientation and sex differences in cognitive abilities.

Chapters 5–7: Male Reproductive Behavior; Female Reproductive Behavior; Parental Behavior

Chapter 5 follows male sexual behavior in rodents, primates (including humans) and birds, covering hormonal correlates and brain mechanisms. Chapter 6 covers the history of research on female behavior, the components of female sexual behavior, reproductive cycles, and the neural mechanisms of lordosis and primate sexual behavior. Chapter 7 begins with parental investment theory and sex differences, then treats parental behavior in birds and mammals, including endocrine correlates and neural changes.

Chapter 8: Hormones and Social Behavior

The chapter is divided into affiliation (adaptive function, hormones, the nonapeptides and opioids) and aggression (seasonal, pubertal and sex differences, individual differences, feedback of social experience on hormones, and brain mechanisms).

Chapters 9–10: Homeostasis and Behavior; Biological Rhythms

Chapter 9 turns to fluid balance, energy balance and the control of food intake, with the peripheral and central signals, anabolic and catabolic peptides, and the role of gonadal steroids. Chapter 10 covers biological clocks and circadian, circannual and seasonal rhythms, including the molecular clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, and links between rhythms, hormones and health.

Chapters 11–13: Stress; Learning and Memory; Hormones and Affective Disorders

Chapter 11 describes the stress response, its physiological and pathological effects, factors that change responsiveness, and psychological factors in coping. Chapter 12 examines hormonal effects on learning and memory, sex differences and seasonal fluctuation. Chapter 13 closes with androgens, eating disorders, postpartum depression, hormones and depression, perimenstrual syndrome and seasonal affective disorder.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–2

• Three components of behavior: hormones act on input, central processing or output mechanisms.
• Classes of evidence: the kinds of experiment needed to show that a hormone influences a behavior.
• Hormone classes and receptors: peptide, steroid, monoamine and lipid hormones, with their receptor mechanisms.

Chapters 3–7

• Organizational/activational hypothesis: hormones shape the developing nervous system and later activate behavior.
• Proceptivity, receptivity and attractivity: the components of female sexual behavior.
• Parental investment theory: the evolutionary framework for sex differences in parental behavior.

Chapters 8–10

• Challenge hypothesis: social experience can feed back to change hormone concentrations.
• Energy balance: peripheral and central signals that control food intake.
• Circadian clock: an endogenous timekeeper with the suprachiasmatic nucleus as master clock.

Chapters 11–13

• Stress response: the physiological reaction and its consequences for health and reproduction.
• Hormones and mood: endocrine contributions to postpartum depression, depression and seasonal affective disorder.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A unifying framework. The input, central processing and output scheme gives the many topics a common logic, and the opening chapter's classes of evidence teach readers how to judge a claim about a hormone.
• Comparative range. Chapters draw on rodents, birds, fishes, primates and humans, so students see why findings from one species do or do not generalize.
• Strong study features. The publisher lists learning objectives, margin definitions of key terms, chapter summaries, discussion questions, suggested readings and a learning activity new to this edition, plus online animations and a glossary.
• Attention to accessibility. The publisher states that, despite increased coverage of molecular and cellular approaches, the book aims to be accessible to students outside the biological sciences.

Limitations

• Length and specialization. Listings give about 828 pages, and the content assumes prior biological psychology; it is a text for a specialist course rather than a first introduction.
• Dense detail. Chapters on reproduction and feeding contain many species-specific and peptide-specific subsections, so readers who need only the general principles will have to be selective.
• Uneven coverage of topics outside reproduction and stress. Learning and memory (Chapter 12) and affective disorders (Chapter 13) are comparatively short in the contents listing, so those topics may need supplementing.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is a specialist text for a course that has already covered the basics of the nervous system. Kalat's Biological Psychology and Pinel and Barnes's Biopsychology are broad undergraduate textbooks that include hormones as one topic among many; Winn and Grealy's Biopsychology: The Basics is a concise first introduction. Read one of these first, then use Nelson and Kriegsfeld to study the endocrine side in depth.

Kandel's Principles of Neural Science is a comprehensive reference on neurons, circuits and brain systems that is far longer and more detailed than an introductory text; it complements this book by supplying neural detail that Nelson and Kriegsfeld mention briefly. Passingham's Cognitive Neuroscience: A Very Short Introduction is concerned with brain imaging and mental functions and overlaps little.

How to Use This Book

The book is meant for upper-level undergraduates and for graduate students in psychology, biology, anthropology or zoology; the publisher describes it as suited to such courses. An introductory biological psychology course and basic biology should be in place; some physiology helps.

For a single-semester module, read Chapters 1 and 2 first, since they provide the vocabulary, methods and logic of evidence used throughout. Then choose according to purpose: Chapters 3–7 for sexual differentiation and reproduction, Chapters 8, 11 and 13 for social behavior, stress and mood, Chapters 9–10 for feeding and rhythms. Use the learning objectives and discussion questions to organize revision, and use the suggested readings at the end of each chapter when selecting primary papers for a dissertation. Keep the appendix list of common hormones nearby while reading.