"OUR CHEATING HEARTS"

1. What is the thesis of the article? (One or two sentences only.)
   : The thesis of this article is that human specie is designed to have multiple mates—practicing polygyny— through natural selection (evolution).
   
2. In what ways are the strategies employed by men and women to pass on the next generation at odds?
   : The strategies employed by both male and female to pass on their genetic information is polygyny. For female, in order to produce the fertile offspring, they should find the healthy, clever male individual. However, female tends to cheat on her mate because she want a more fertile offspring, but also that female individual want parental care from her husband/mate. For male, they tend to cheat because the more they produce a child, the higher possibility for their genes to be passed on. So the strategy that humans use to expand their gene pool is being polygynous.
   
3. What conclusion does the article draw about monogamy?
   : The article states that monogamy, one life-long mate, is not natural for humans. It convinces us that the reason that can justify that is because being polygynous would enable us to spread our genes and then our genes could be passed on to our children. However, what is natural does not mean that it is the right thing to do. There are many moral issues involved. Also, there are many obstacles for people to maintain their marriage and monogamy: natural selection encourages people to cheat on their wives/husbands, humans’ minds are easily amendable against the monogamy, economic inequality, and etc.
   
4. In your own words explain the last paragraph of the article.
   : The last paragraph of the article to trying to inform us that everyone is not naturally moral, despite the fact that we could be. We have everything that would make us a moral person, but it actually depends on our decisions and actions.
   
5. What are you personal reactions to the article?
   : I would not contradict the article since the author mentioned the valid reasons for those claims. Evolution creates and shapes who we already are, so why couldn’t it make us polygynous. Being polygynous would exponentially spread ones’ genes and be able to pass it on to the next generation. Despite the fact that I absolutely disagree with polygamy or polygyny, I still agree that it is in the human nature to cheat so that their kinds could survive and reproduce. Toward the end of the article, it is mentioned very often that it depends on one’s ethic and morality rather than just natural selection. I do agree with that concept; it actually depends on each individual. And, cheating could not be justified by just evolution; ones cannot use it as the reason for fooling around.

Principles of Biological Psychology

Everything psychological is simultaneously biological.
: There would always be a biological explanation for our actions and thoughts. Inside our bodies, neurons are working to stimulate physical responses. Beneath our actions and thoughts, there would always be a biological justification.

The nervous system is complexity build from simplicity.
: Our nervous system works in systems, meaning, there are systems, sub-systems, smaller sub-systems, and so on. The smallest sub-system is what we all known as “neurons”. What a single neuron can do is to create an electrical spark, and pass on the message. However, our nervous system is made from billions of neurons, creating a complex nervous system.

The brain is both specialized and integrated.
: There are parts of the brain that are specialized in doing something such as hormone secretions, etc. However, some other parts of the brain need to work together in order to stimulate a behavior/response. So they are both specialized and integrated.

The nervous system is “plastic” especially at early ages of development.
: We are able to shape people’s nervous system at the certain age. The nervous system, including the brain, is very easily developed as you grow up.

The Story of a Boy Without a Penis

People are not designed to be working against its nature. I always believe that people gender roles are determined and justified by their biological reasons; that their hormones determined how their personalities would be. However, as I read this article, I am exposed to the ideas that genders are not determined by hormones, because “Joan” received hormone treatments, which should have completed the transformation – from a boy to a girl. It is mentioned in the article that “sexual identity exists in a kind of continuum and that nurture is more important than nature in determining gender roles.” Although I disagree to that, but it does make sense since Joan did not response to the treatments as expected, and her personalities are tomboyish. I found it very surprising that “John” – the former “Joan”— turns out to have a tomboyish personality. “She” received the hormones treatments and everyone treated her as though Joan is actually a girl. How would is be possible that she has a male personality. To tell you the truth, I am still pretty confused of what pushes Joan to have those tomboyish personalities.