Understanding Behavioral Biology

• Behavioral biology explores the intricate links between physiological states and behavior, underscoring how changes in one can significantly impact the other. This relationship is complex, as it traverses various scientific disciplines, from genes and hormones to environment and evolution.

Avoiding Categorical Thinking

• The course urges moving beyond simplistic, categorical thinking (viewing behavior through single-discipline lenses such as genetics or ecology alone) to appreciate the nuanced interactions that shape behavior. This approach avoids the dangers of reductive explanations, which historically have led to significant ethical and scientific missteps.

Three Intellectual Challenges

• Recognizing our similarities with other animals, where basic physiological and behavioral responses show little to no differentiation.
• Identifying our unique human attributes, like language and non-reproductive sexual behaviors, that set us apart from other species.
• Exploring the realms where human behavior exhibits unprecedented complexity, necessitates understanding through a multi-disciplinary approach beyond traditional biology.

Course Structure and Learning Goals

• The first part of the course focuses on introducing various 'buckets' or categories of biological theory (e.g., evolutionary theory, genetics, ethology, and neuroscience).
• The latter part applies a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding specific behaviors, illustrating the interplay of factors from milliseconds before a behavior occurs to evolutionary scales.
• A key goal is to equip students with a nuanced understanding of human behavior that rigorously avoids compartmentalization and acknowledges the profound impact of biological, environmental, and developmental factors.