Holy shit
Tumblr, stop trying to science, you suck at it
This is worse than that “MRI of a brain dying” bullshit
I am so mad
The horror that is fake science.
TUMBLR I AM OFFENDED.
DO I HAVE TO PULL OUT THOSE SOCIAL BEHAVIOR STUDIES AGAIN AND BEAT YOU OVER THE HEAD WITH IT?
Okay yeah, granted, this blurb of stuff is has a liiiittle bit of partial truth, and then it TAKES THAT, THROTTLES IT, GUTS IT, RUNS IT OVER A COUPLE TIMES AND SLAPS IT ON A SLAB OF DRIPPING MORAL SUPERIORITY TO PROVE A POINT THAT ISN’T EVEN RELEVANT TO THE SCIENCE.
THE WHOLE SCIENCE: yes, oxytocin is a hormone that’s released from the pituitary gland and aids in pair-bonding, childbirth, and breastfeeding. It’s main physiological role is to stimulate the contraction of smooth muscle - therefore the childbirth and the breast-feeding. And while yes, it plays a behavioral role in pair-bonding (hence the nickname “the cuddle hormone”) it’s not the main chemical that makes you ~feel good~ during sex. The responsible chemicals for that are mainly the epinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine. And, here’s the part that’s important oxytocin can be released all the time by both males and females. It’s a hormone important not only for pair-bonding and parent-child bonding, but also prosocial behavior between companions and kin (aka when you hang out with your friends you get this going in your brain).
Also, to throw a little evolutionary psych theory in here, no, humans were not designed to only reproduce with one other individual. Although the parental investment theory does say that females are evolutionary programmed to be “choosier” during mate selection (and this makes sense, since the burden of reproduction is much heavier on the side of the female), there are studies out there that show that once a female is sure that there is a mate to aid her in caring for the offspring, there is actually a sort of urge for infidelity if the female does not believe her mate has the most superior genes.
Furthermore, the window of pair-bonding as facilitated by neurotransmitters and hormones is about four to five years. Speaking in a modern sense, this is generally when people “fall out of love.” From an evolutionary standpoint, this is when the offspring is not as helpless and dependent, and GUESS WHAT IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON TO THE NEXT MATING SEASON.
yeah, okay. Evolutionary theory is harsh, and explaining a behavior is very different from excusing it. Emotionally manipulating someone into having sex with you and then dumping them is a bad bad bad bad abusive bad thing, but you could’ve just said: “Emotional manipulation is bad, and it hurts people” instead of brutally mutilating scientific facts and smearing slut-shame all over people’s faces
I love when Joyce gets all science rant-y.
(Source: brynn3)
