Behavioral Biology of Women

1

Behavioral Biology of Women

Human Evolutionary Biology 1380

Spring Semester 2007

0

Tuesday & Thursday 10-11:30

Harvard Hall 102

Teaching Staff:

Professor: Cheryl Knott, ; Room 53F, Peabody Museum

Teaching Fellows:

Coren Apicella, , Room 56B, Peabody Museum

Office Hours: Please email us to set up a time to meet.

Course Description:

An exploration of female behavior from an evolutionary and biosocial perspective. Focuses on physiological, ecological, and social aspects of women’s development from puberty, through reproductive processes such as pregnancy, birth and lactation, to menopause and aging. Also explores female life history strategies in a variety of cultural settings. Topics include cognitive and behavioral differences between men and women and male and female reproductive strategies. Examples are drawn primarily from traditional and modern human societies; data from studies of nonhuman primates are also considered.

Requirements:

There will be one midterm exam, a cumulative final exam, 10 sections, and a final paper. For the paper you will interview a post-reproductive woman and do an evolutionary/life history analysis of her reproductive and life history decisions incorporating material you learn in the course. Alternatively, you can write a research paper on a topic approved by your TF. Length is approximately 10 pages. Your section grade will be based on your section assignments and participation. Attendance is mandatory.

Midterm20%

Final Exam40%

Final Paper20%

Sections20%

Books:

All books are available at the Harvard Coop and are on reserve at Tozzer libraries.

Required:

Ellison, P. T. (2001). On Fertile Ground. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA.

Small, M. (1998). Our Babies, Ourselves. Anchor Books: New York.

Recommended:

Johnson, M. H. and B. J. Everitt. (1995). Essential Reproduction. Blackwell Science: Oxford.

Readings:

Readings for each week (excluding the required texts) are posted on the website for downloading. The readings are designed to complement as well as supplement the lectures. One goal of the course is to be able to read and evaluate scientific literature. Some popular articles are also included. These will give you a sense of how female behavioral biology is represented in a variety of forums. The readings primarily deal with humans, but some also discuss our primate heritage.

Web Site:

On the course web site ( you can find the syllabus, lecture slides, lecture outlines and handouts, section assignments, readings and links to other sites relevant to the material in this course.

Sections:

Sections are 90 minutes long and meet 10 times during the semester. During some sections artifacts from the Peabody Museum will be brought in to illustrate topics covered that week in section and lecture.

SYLLABUS

Week 1:

Lecture 1: Thu. Feb. 1: Introduction: What do we mean by the “Behavioral Biology of Women”?

Campbell, A (2002). A Mind of Her Own: The Evolutionary Psychology of Women. Oxford University Press: Oxford, Chapter 1; Pages 1-33.

Ellison, PT (2001). Two Births. in On Fertile Ground. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1-15.

Week 2:

Lecture 2: Tue. Feb. 6: How are humans different? Primate Females and Evolutionary History

Lancaster, JB (1991) A feminist and evolutionary biologist looks at women. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology. 34:1-11.

Lecture 3: Thu. Feb. 8: Evolution of Sex/Sexual Reproduction/Sex Differences

Kimura, D (1999). Sex differences in the brain. Scientific American. 26-31.

Knott, CD (2001). Female reproductive ecology of the apes: implications for human evolution. in Reproductive Ecology and Human Evolution. Edited by: P. Ellison. Aldine de Gruyter: New York, 429-463.

Low, BS (1997) Cross-cultural patterns in the training of children: an evolutionary perspective. In L Betzig (ed.): Human Nature: a Critical Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 349-359. Article reprinted from the Journal of Comparative Psychology. 103:311-319 (1989).

Week 3:

Lecture 4: Tue. Feb. 13: Sexual Selection & Female Choice

Small, MF (1992) Female choice in mating. American Scientist. 80:142-151.

Borgerhoff Mulder, M (1990) Kipsigis women's preferences for wealthy men: evidence for female choice in mammals? Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology. 27:255-264.

Lecture 5: Thu. Feb 15: The Menstrual Cycle

Mader, SS (1992). Human Biology. Chapter 14: Reproductive System, Wm. C. Brown: Dubuque, p. 281-287.

Johnson, MH and BJ Everitt. (1995). Essential Reproduction. Chapter 4: Ovarian Function, Blackwell Science: Oxford, Pages 60-78.

Golub, S (1992) Psychological aspects of the menstrual cycle: Periods. Newbury Park: Sage Publishing, pp. 84-111.

Section 1: Evolutionary Theory and Sex Differences

Week 4:

Lecture 6: Tue. Feb. 20: Puberty/Puberty Rituals

Ellison, P. T. (2001). Why Grow Up? in On Fertile Ground. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 127-163.

Lecture 7: Thu. Feb. 22: Evolution of Menstruation/Menstrual Huts

Ellison, PT (2001). Last part of "Surviving the First Cut." in On Fertile Ground. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 43-49.

Finn, CA (1998) Menstruation: a non-adaptive consequence of uterine evolution. Quarterly Review of Biology. 73:163-173.

Clarke, J (1994) The meaning of menstruation in the elimination of abnormal embryos. Human Reproduction. 9:1204-1207.

Section 2: The Menstrual Cycle / Evolution of Menstruation

Week 5:

Lecture 8: Tue. Feb. 27: Female Reproductive Ecology

Ellison, PT (2001). Balancing Act. in On Fertile Ground. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 165-214.

Lecture 9: Thu. Mar. 1:Male Reproductive Biology and Ecology

Mader, SS (1992). Human Biology. Chapter 14: Reproductive System, Wm. C. Brown: Dubuque, p. 275-281.

Ellison, PT (2001). The Body Builders. in On Fertile Ground. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 249-280.

Mealey, L (2000). Chapter 10: Men's Strategies and Tactics. in Sex Differences: Development and Evolutionary Strategies. Academic Press: San Diego, 262-304.

Section 3: Male vs Female Reproductive Ecology & Strategies

Week 6:

Lecture 10: Tue. Mar. 6: Sexuality/Orgasm

Gould, SJ (1991) Male nipples and clitoral ripples: Bully for Brontosaurus. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., pp. 124-138.

Hrdy, SB (1981) A disputed legacy: The Woman That Never Evolved. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 160-188.

Angier, N. (1999). The Well-Tempered Clavier: On the Evolution of the Clitoris. in Woman: An Intimate Geography. Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston, 57-81.

Lecture 11: Thu. Mar. 8: Control of Female Reproduction/Sexuality

Smuts, B (1992) Male aggression against women: an evolutionary perspective. Human Nature. 3:1-44.

Smuts, B (1995). The evolutionary origins of patriarchy. Human Nature. 6:(1) 1-32.

Section 4: Control of Female Reproduction/Female Responses

Week 7:

Lecture 12: Tue. Mar. 13: Marriage/Polygyny/Female Cooperation and Competition

Sellen, DW, M Borgerhoff Mulder and DF Sieff. (2000). Fertility, offspring quality, and wealth in Datoga pastoralists. in Adaptation and Human Behavior. Edited by: L. Cronk, N. Chagnon and W. Irons. Aldine de Gruyter: New York, 91-114.

Mealey, L (2000). Chapter 9: Women's Strategies and Tactics. in Sex Differences: Development and Evolutionary Strategies. Edited by:Academic Press: San Diego, 213-261.

Lecture 13: Thu. Mar. 15: Female Reproductive and Life-History Strategies, Birth Control, Abortion, Infanticide

Gladwell M (2000) John Rock's error. The New Yorker. 76:52-63.

McAllister, F and L Clarke. (2000). Voluntary childlessness: trends and implications. in Infertility in the Modern World. Edited by:G. Bentley and C. G. N. Mascie-Taylor. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 189-237.

Optional Reading:

Boston Women's Heath Book Collective (1998). Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New Century. Simon & Schuster: New York, Chapter 13, Birth Control: 288-336. (read the descriptions of the methods and how they work)

Section 5: Life History Strategies

Week 8:

Lecture 14: Tue. Mar. 20: Conception/Fetal Loss/Fertility

Ellison, PT (2001). First part of "Surviving the First Cut". in On Fertile Ground. Edited by: Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 17-43.

Carlson, KJ, Eisenstat S and Ziporyn T (1996) The Harvard Guide to Women's Health. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Carlson, Chapter: Infertility: 322-330.

MIDTERM: Thu. Mar. 22: (includes material through March 15)

No section this week

SPRING RECESS - MARCH 24 - April 1

Week 9:

Lecture 15: Tue. Apr. 3: Pregnancy

Our Babies, Ourselves, Small, Chapter 1: The Evolution of Babies: 1-41.

Samuels, M and Samuels, N (1986) Pregnancy: Well Pregnancy Book. New York: Simon & Schuster, pp. 34-49.

Barker, DJP (1998). Mothers, Babies and Health in Later Life. Churchill Livingstone: Edinburgh, pp. 43-62.

Lecture 16: Thu. Apr. 4: Birth

Ellison, PT (2001). A Time to Be Born. in On Fertile Ground. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 51-80.

Davis-Floyd, RE (1990) Ritual in the hospital: giving birth the American way. In PL Whitten and DEK Hunter (eds.): Anthropology: Contemporary Perspectives. London: Scott, Foresman/Little, Brown Higher Education, pp. 275-285.

Rosenburg, KR and WR Trevathan. (2001). The Evolution of Human Birth.Scientific American. November 2001, 73-77.

Section 6: Pregnancy & Childbirth * Bones from Museum

Week 10:

Lecture 17: Tue. Apr. 10: Lactation

Our Babies, Ourselves, Small, Chapter 6: Food for Thought: 177-212.

Ellison, PT (2001). The Elixir of Life. in On Fertile Ground. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 81-126.

Hrdy, SB (1999) Old Tradeoffs, New contexts. In Mother Nature: a History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 351-380.

Lecture 18: Thu. Apr. 12: Motherhood/Parenting Strategies

Our Babies, Ourselves, Small, Chapters 2-5.

Hrdy, SB (1999) A New View of Mothers. In Mother Nature: a History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 27-54.

Section 7: Parenting Strategies and Ethnopediatrics

Week 11:

Lecture 19: Tue. Apr. 17: Menopause/Aging

Ellison, PT (2001). The Arc of Life. in On Fertile Ground. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 215-247.

Fausto-Sterling, A (1985) Hormonal hurricanes: menstruation, menopause, and female behavior: Myths of Gender: Biological Theories about Women and Men. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, pp. 90-122.

Lecture 20: Thu. Apr. 19: Evolutionary Perspectives on Fatness/Eating Disorders

Smuts, RW (1992). Fat, sex, class, adaptive flexibility, and cultural change.Ethology & Sociobiology. 13:(523-542.

Thompson, JK (1991) Body shape preferences: effects of instructional protocol and level of eating disturbance. International Journal of Eating Disorders. 10:193-198

Section 8: Evolutionary Perspectives on Eating Disorders

Week 12:

Lecture 21: Tue. Apr. 24: Agriculture/Demographic Transition

Bentley, GR, T Goldberg and G Jasienska. (1993). The fertility of agricultural and non-agricultural traditional societies. Population Studies. 47:(269-281).

Borgerhoff Mulder, M (1998) The demographic transition: are we any closer to an evolutionary explanation? Trends in Ecology & Evolution :266-270

Borgerhoff Mulder, M (2000). Optimizing offspring: The quantity-quality tradeoff in agropastoral kipsigis. Evolution and Human Behavior. 21:(6) 390-410.

Lecture 22: Tue. Apr. 26: FILM: China's Only Child

Holloway, M (1994) Trends in Women's Health: a Global View. Scientific American:76-83.

Sen, A. (1990). More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing.The New York Review of Books. 37: (20)

Section 9: Demographic Transition & Current Issues in Women's Health

Week 13:

Tue. May. 1:Women’s Health/Reproductive Cancers /Depression

Eaton, SB, Pike MC, Short RV, Lee NC, Trussell J, Hatcher RA, Wood JW, Worthman C, Blurton-Jones NG, Konner MJ, Hill KR, Bailey RC and Hurtado AM (1994) Women's reproductive cancers in evolutionary context. Quarterly Review of Biology. 69:353-367.

Foy, M. R., V. W. Henderson, T. W. Berger and R. F. Thompson. (2000). Estrogen and Neural Plasticity.Current Directions in Psychological Science. 9: (5) 148-152.

Leibenluft, E (1998). Why are so many women depressed? Scientific American. June 1998: 31-35

Lecture 23: Thu. May. 3:Work & Family in the 21st Century

Browne, KR (2002). Biology at Work: Rethinking Sexual Inequality. Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick, New Jersey, Pages 166-187.

Hewlett, SA (2002). Executive Women and the Myth of Having it All. Harvard Business Review. 5-11.

Crittenden, A (2001). Conclusion: How to Bring Children Up Without Putting Women down. in The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World is Still the Least Valued. Henry Holt and Company: New York, 256-274.

Section 10: The Price of Motherhood