CHAPTER 4
The Hormones and Behavior
WILLIAM C. YOUNG*
Oregon Regional Primate Research Center, Beaverton, Oregon, and Department of
Anatomy, University of Oregon Medical School, Portland, Oregon
I. Introduction
203
II. The Hormones Influencing Behavior and the Behavior Most Subject
to Hormonal Influence and Control
205
III. The Recording and Measurement of Behavior
207
IV. Fishes
210
V. Amphibians
212
VI. Reptiles
214
VII. Birds
216
VIII. Mammals
224
IX. Role of Hormones in the Patterning of Behavior
231
X. Concluding Remarks
236
References
239
I. Introduction
Inquiry into the manner in which the behavior of animals is influenced by hormones has had a course resembling in many ways the
inquiry into the relationship between other vital activities and the
hormones. Descriptive studies of behavior corresponding to the examination of tissue structure preceded experimentation, the first hints at
"cause-and-effect" followed glandular ablation and the transplantation
of the various endocrine organs and tissues, more precise information
was obtained when purified hormones became available, and currently
interest is being focused on the mechanisms by which the hormones
"condition" tissues to respond to the stimuli which elicit the types of
behavior associated with hormonal action. A difference in the development of the subjects is that at all times the acquisition of information
about the hormones and behavior has lagged behind—often by years—
* Support of the investigations conducted at the University of Kansas and the
Oregon Regional Primate Research Center was provided by research grant M-504
from the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health.
203