RE: Psychology Addict # 55 | The Role Biology Plays in Defining Who We Are - A Critical Discussion.
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I won't pretend to understand this as completely as the other commenters seem to, but damn girl you talk a good talk!
This is a topic that is very much at the forefront of my mind on a more layperson level, especially regarding pronoun selection. But that's not what you are discussing here so I digress.
I have two questions.
First is regarding S's statement about will-to-life as an internal force that pushes us forward and channels our life focus mostly towards sex, and all for the sake of reproduction I wonder how old he was when he thought that, and did he have the good fortune to move beyond those years when sex is a diminished drive. What is the will-to-life in your sixties, which is where I am now? I very much have a will to live, perhaps even more so, and feel more womanly than I did as a young woman in my breeding years. Is this a product of developed self-awareness independent of biology? Does meta-cognition cause the will-to-live after breeding is no longer possible? Perhaps the will to live is a human construct.
The second question is about those prenatal sex hormones. Are you saying that the presence or lack of prenatal sex, with another or oneself presumably, affects depressive natures in life? And more for female offspring than male? If so, our doctors could be telling us this, and advising sex toys along with folic acid. I know my urge for sex was much stronger during pregnancy, especially the last trimester, than after. Is this for the psychological health of the future human?
Very interesting essay! Thank you!
Hey there @owasco,
It’s so nice to see your comment here 😊 Thank you very much for taking the time to read my post and provide feedback on it! It means a lot to me.
So, let’s see how well I can clarify your queries!
Prenatal sex-hormones here (in this context) are not related to sexual intercourse. In this discussion, these are rather related to sex-hormones that act on human embryos and shape foetal development in sex differentiated ways. Which is determined by the presence of the Y chromosome, that produces the differentiations of primal gonads into testes. This happens around the sixth week of foetal development. Then, production of male sex-hormones such as testosterone begin, if enough of such hormones are produced male external genitalia is formed (at around week 9 of foetal development)!
Remember:
XY – Male, and
XX – Female :D
These sex hormones play an important part in neural development. But this will depend on their increased presence (in males) or decreased presence (in females). And here is when we start talking about how the pre-natal exposure to them; in other words, how they influence differently (due to their higher or lower levels) the initial formation of neural networks in males and females foetuses, and how these are associated with the gender typical characteristics discussed in the post. For example:
In females: greater hemisphere interconnection, which helps us to be better at skills such as verbal communication, but that makes us more prone to emotional psychological disorders.
In males: greater brain volume and more lateralization, which is linked to men’s greater ability in visuo-spatial tasks, and also their higher likelihood to present aggressive behaviour.
Cool right?! :D
Humans’ psychological health indeed stem from biological processes that start in pre-natal stages and continue to unfold throughout the entire course of life. However, this is not to say they hold the key to guaranteed well-being for ever and ever. One’s mental health is dependent on the interplay of biological, social and mental processes. These are not independent from one another. But sure, a peaceful gestational period and a loving, secure childhood lay solid grounds for that. As it provides infants with greater resilience and emotional stability :)
And I suppose this leads me to your first question. Schopenhauer finished his work The world as will and representation when he was 30 years-old. I don’t know how long he’d been working on it. But it’s safe to say that was while he was a young man. He live until the age of 72, he was alone with his two little doggies. His only true life-companions. All-in-all he was a moody man who didn’t achieve much recognition during his life. He didn’t have a lot of success with women either. Ops! Still, his later works discussed many other important things. For, Schopenhauer philosophised with length about compassion, ethics and morality.
Nowadays, what first was coined by him as the will-to-life is popularly understood as an individual’s inner-drive to pursue aims and find meaning. It is important to notice that Schopenhauer’s views on it (on the will-to-life), although influential, are no more than his theoretical views, which have been rejected by other great philosophers; namely, Friedrich Nietzsche. Contrarily to Schopenhauer, Nietzsche thought that the inherent suffering of life can be overcome. I agree with Nietzsche. And due to some of the reasons you brought up: high-order cognitive functions, and metacognitive functions (smart girl you are! 😉).
The way I see all this is that throughout the different stages of our lives we are driven by different mechanisms, of course, when we are young is mostly about attraction, sexuality. This is the workings of evolution after all. But, as this calms down, especially for us women (because men are different) we draw our will and find purpose and meaning also from other means. Chief among them, emotional strength and stability.
Nope! None of our psychological processes happen independently from our biology. None! They all arise from our brain activities. Before being social and mindful animals, we are biological entities. And this is why when we look after our bodies we feel good mentally, and when we feel good mentally we find strength and motivation to look after ourselves and keep on going. It’s the cycle of the human condition.
Isn’t beautiful? :D
Thank you for asking these questions dear @owasco :) I am very pleased to hear you found this post interesting. Your words are indeed very encouraging. If you have any further queries, please ask away. I am more than happy to make everything clear!
I wish you all the best.
Have a wonderful week ahead.