3.4 Putting It All Together: The Nervous System and the Endocrine System

Now that we have considered how individual neurons operate and the roles of the different brain areas, it is time to ask how the body manages to put it all together. How do the complex activities in the various parts of the brain, the simple all-or-nothing firings of billions of interconnected neurons, and the various chemical systems within the body work together to allow the body to respond to the social environment and engage in everyday behaviours? In this section, we will see that the complexities of human behaviour are accomplished through the joint actions of electrical and chemical processes in the nervous system and the endocrine system.

Electrical control of behaviour: The nervous system

The nervous system (see Figure 3.13), which is the electrical information highway of the body, is made up of nerves, which are bundles of interconnected neurons that fire in synchrony to carry messages. Made up of the brain and spinal cord, the central nervous system (CNS) is the major controller of the body’s functions; it is tasked with interpreting sensory information and responding to it with its own directives. The CNS interprets information coming in from the senses, formulates an appropriate reaction, and sends responses to the appropriate system to respond accordingly. Everything that we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste is conveyed to us from our sensory organs as neural impulses, and each of the commands that the brain sends to the body, both consciously and unconsciously, travels through this system as well.

Nerves are differentiated according to their function. A sensory (or afferent) neuron carries information from the sensory receptors, whereas a motor (or efferent) neuron transmits information to the muscles and glands. An interneuron, which is by far the most common type of neuron, is located primarily within the CNS and is responsible for communicating among the neurons. Interneurons allow the brain to combine the multiple sources of available information to create a coherent picture of the sensory information being conveyed.

The spinal cord is the long, thin, tubular bundle of nerves and supporting cells that extends down from the brain. It is the central pathway of information for the body. Within the spinal cord, ascending tracts of sensory neurons relay sensory information from the sense organs to the brain while descending tracts of motor neurons relay motor commands back to the body. When a quicker-than-usual response is required, the spinal cord can do its own processing, bypassing the brain altogether. A reflex is an involuntary and nearly instantaneous movement in response to a stimulus. Reflexes are triggered when sensory information is powerful enough to reach a given threshold and the interneurons in the spinal cord act to send a message back through the motor neurons without relaying the information to the brain (see Figure 3.14). When you touch a hot stove and immediately pull your hand back or when you mishandle your cell phone and instinctively reach to catch it before it falls, reflexes in your spinal cord order the appropriate responses before your brain even knows what is happening.

If the central nervous system is the command centre of the body, the peripheral nervous system represents the front line. The peripheral nervous system (PNS) links the CNS to the body’s sense receptors, muscles, and glands. The peripheral nervous system is itself divided into two subsystems, one controlling external responses and one controlling internal responses.

The somatic nervous system (SNS) is the division of the PNS that controls the external aspects of the body, including the skeletal muscles, skin, and sense organs. The somatic nervous system consists primarily of motor nerves responsible for sending brain signals for muscle contraction.

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is the division of the PNS that governs the internal activities of the human body, including heart rate, breathing, digestion, salivation, perspiration, urination, and sexual arousal. Many of the actions of the ANS, such as heart rate and digestion, are automatic and out of our conscious control, but others, such as breathing and sexual activity, can be controlled and influenced by conscious processes.

The autonomic nervous system itself can be further subdivided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems (see Figure 3.15). The sympathetic division of the ANS is involved in preparing the body for behaviour, particularly in response to stress, by activating the organs and the glands in the endocrine system. The parasympathetic division of the ANS tends to calm the body by slowing the heart and breathing and by allowing the body to recover from the activities that the sympathetic system causes. The sympathetic and the parasympathetic divisions normally function in opposition to each other, with the sympathetic division acting a bit like the accelerator of a vehicle and the parasympathetic division acting like the brake.

Our everyday activities are controlled by the interaction between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. For example, when we get out of bed in the morning, we would experience a sharp drop in blood pressure if it were not for the action of the sympathetic system, which automatically increases blood flow through the body. Similarly, after we eat a big meal, the parasympathetic system automatically sends more blood to the stomach and intestines, allowing us to efficiently digest the food. Perhaps you have had the experience of not being hungry at all before a stressful event, such as a sports game or an exam when the sympathetic division was primarily in action, but suddenly found yourself feeling starved afterward as the parasympathetic takes over. The two systems work together to maintain vital bodily functions, resulting in homeostasis, which is the natural balance in the body’s systems.

The body’s chemicals help control behaviour: The endocrine system

The nervous system is designed to protect us from danger through its interpretation of and reactions to stimuli, but a primary function of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems is to interact with the endocrine system to elicit chemicals that provide another method for influencing our feelings and behaviours.

A gland in the endocrine system is made up of groups of cells that function to secrete hormones. A hormone is a chemical that moves throughout the body to help regulate emotions and behaviours. When the hormones released by one gland arrive at receptor tissues or other glands, these receiving receptors may trigger the release of other hormones, resulting in a series of complex chemical chain reactions. The endocrine system works together with the nervous system to influence many aspects of human behaviour, including growth, reproduction, and metabolism. As well, the endocrine system plays a vital role in emotions. Because the glands in men and women differ (see Figure 3.16), hormones also help explain some of the observed behavioural differences between men and women.

The pituitary gland, which is a small, pea-sized gland located near the centre of the brain, is responsible for controlling the body’s growth, but it also has many other influences that make it of primary importance to regulating behaviour. The pituitary secretes hormones that influence our responses to pain as well as hormones that signal the ovaries and testes to make sex hormones. The pituitary gland also controls ovulation and the menstrual cycle in women. Because the pituitary has such an important influence on other glands, it is sometimes known as the “master gland.”

Other glands in the endocrine system include the pancreas, which secretes hormones designed to keep the body supplied with fuel to produce and maintain stores of energy; the pineal gland, which is located in the middle of the brain, secretes a hormone that helps regulate the wake-sleep cycle called melatonin; and the thyroid and parathyroid glands, which are responsible for determining how quickly the body uses energy and hormones as well as controlling the amount of calcium in the blood and bones.

The body has two triangular adrenal glands, one atop each kidney. The adrenal glands produce hormones that regulate salt and water balance in the body, and they are involved in metabolism, the immune system, and sexual development and function. The most important function of the adrenal glands is to secrete the hormones epinephrine, also known as adrenaline, and norepinephrine, also known as noradrenaline, when we are excited, threatened, or stressed. Epinephrine and norepinephrine stimulate the sympathetic division of the ANS, causing increased heart and lung activity, dilation of the pupils, and increases in blood sugar, which give the body a surge of energy to respond to a threat. The activity and role of the adrenal glands in response to stress provide an excellent example of the close relationship and interdependency of the nervous and endocrine systems. A quick-acting nervous system is essential for immediate activation of the adrenal glands, while the endocrine system mobilizes the body for action.

The male sex glands, known as the testes, secrete a number of hormones, the most important of which is testosterone, the male sex hormone. Testosterone regulates body changes associated with sexual development, including enlargement of the penis, deepening of the voice, growth of facial and pubic hair, and the increase in muscle growth and strength. The ovaries, the female sex glands, are located in the pelvis. They produce eggs and secrete the female hormones estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen is involved in the development of female sexual features, including breast growth, the accumulation of body fat around the hips and thighs, and the growth spurt that occurs during puberty. Both estrogen and progesterone are also involved in pregnancy and the regulation of the menstrual cycle.

Recent research has pinpointed some of the important roles of the sex hormones in social behaviour. James Dabbs Jr., Marian Hargrove, and Colleen Heusel (1996) measured the testosterone levels of 240 men who were members of 12 fraternities at two universities. They also obtained descriptions of the fraternities from university officials, fraternity officers, yearbook and chapter house photographs, and researcher field notes. The researchers correlated the testosterone levels and the descriptions of each fraternity. They found that the fraternities with the highest average testosterone levels were also more wild and unruly, and one of these fraternities was known across campus for the crudeness of its behaviour. On the other hand, the fraternities with the lowest average testosterone levels were more well-behaved, friendly, pleasant, academically successful, and socially responsible. Terry Banks and James Dabbs Jr. (1996) found that juvenile delinquents and prisoners who had high levels of testosterone also acted more violently. Richard Tremblay and colleagues (Tremblay et al., 1998) found that testosterone was related to toughness and leadership behaviours in adolescent boys. Although testosterone levels are higher in men than in women, the relationship between testosterone and aggression is not limited to males. Studies have also shown a positive relationship between testosterone and aggression as well as related behaviours, such as competitiveness, in women (Cashdan, 2003).

Keep in mind that the observed relationships between testosterone levels and aggressive behaviour that have been found in these studies do not prove that testosterone causes aggression; the relationships are only correlational. In fact, there is evidence that the relationship between violence and testosterone also goes in the other direction. Playing an aggressive game, such as tennis or even chess, increases the testosterone levels of the winners and decreases the testosterone levels of losers (Gladue, Boechler, & McCaul, 1989; Mazur, Booth, & Dabbs, 1992), and perhaps this is why excited soccer fans sometimes riot when their team wins.

Recent research has also begun to document the role that female sex hormones may play in reactions to others. A study about hormonal influences on social-cognitive functioning (Macrae, Alnwick, Milne, & Schloerscheidt, 2002) found that women were more easily able to perceive and categorize male faces during the more fertile phases of their menstrual cycles. Although researchers did not directly measure the presence of hormones, it is likely that phase-specific hormonal differences influenced the women’s perceptions.

At this point, you can begin to see the important role hormones play in behaviour, but the hormones we have reviewed in this section represent only a subset of the many influences that hormones have on our behaviours. In the chapters to come, we will consider the important roles hormones play in many other behaviours, including sleeping, sexual activity, and helping as well as harming others.

Image Attributions

Figure 3.13. Used under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Figure 3.14. Used under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Figure 3.15. Used under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Figure 3.16. Used under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Long Descriptions

Figure 3.13. The nervous system is made up of the central nervous system, which consists of the brain and spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system. The peripheral nervous system is both autonomic, controlling internal activities of organs and glands, and somatic, controlling external actions of skin and muscles.

[Return to Figure 3.13]

Figure 3.15. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system:

[Return to Figure 3.15]

References

Banks, T., & Dabbs, J. M., Jr. (1996). Salivary testosterone and cortisol in delinquent and violent urban subculture. Journal of Social Psychology, 136(1), 49–56.

Cashdan, E. (2003). Hormones and competitive aggression in women. Aggressive Behavior, 29(2), 107–115.

Dabbs, J. M., Jr., Hargrove, M. F., & Heusel, C. (1996). Testosterone differences among college fraternities: Well-behaved vs. rambunctious. Personality and Individual Differences, 20(2), 157–161.

Gladue, B. A., Boechler, M., & McCaul, K. D. (1989). Hormonal response to competition in human males. Aggressive Behavior, 15(6), 409–422.

Macrae, C. N., Alnwick, K. A., Milne, A. B., & Schloerscheidt, A. M. (2002). Person perception across the menstrual cycle: Hormonal influences on social-cognitive functioning. Psychological Science, 13(6), 532–536.

Mazur, A., Booth, A., & Dabbs, J. M., Jr. (1992). Testosterone and chess competition. Social Psychology Quarterly, 55(1), 70–77.

Tremblay, R. E., Schaal, B., Boulerice, B., Arseneault, L., Soussignan, R. G., Paquette, D., & Laurent, D. (1998). Testosterone, physical aggression, dominance, and physical development in early adolescence. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 22(4), 753–777.