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Hormones and Behavior

Official Journal of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology

Hormones and Behavior publishes original research articles, reviews and special issues concerning hormone-brain-behavior relationships, broadly defined. The journal’s scope ranges from laboratory and field studies concerning neuroendocrine as well as endocrine mechanisms controlling the development or adult expression of behavior to studies concerning the environmental control and evolutionary significance of hormone-behavior relationships. The journal welcomes studies conducted on species ranging from invertebrates to mammals, including humans.

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SBN Member Books

Members may submit books they have either authored or edited for inclusion in this section using the Book Submission Form.

• The Wingsnappers: Lessons from an Exuberant Tropical Bird

  Barney A. Schlinger, Author, Yale University Press, 2023. ISBN: 9780300269413
  This book is the story of a remarkable bird, the golden-collared manakin (Manacus vitellinus) of Panama. Males perform one of the most physically complex and noisy courtship displays of any animal on the planet. Schlinger delves into the specialized neurons, muscles, bones, and hormonal systems underlying the manakin’s courtship behavior, creating a rich life-history account that integrates field and evolutionary biology with behavioral neuroendocrinology, biomechanics and general ornithology.

• Patterns of Parental Behavior, from Animal Science to Comparative Ethology and Neuroscience

  Gabriela González-Mariscal, Editor, Springer, 2022. ISBN: 978-3-030-97761-0

  The book reviews the neurohormonal circuits underlying parental behavior in: rodents, carnivores, lagomorphs, primates, swine, bovines, sheep, and humans. It shows that results coming from the laboratory can be translated into useful information for raising mammals on the farm and it stimulates biologists to gain insights into the underpinnings of the complex mechanisms governing mammalian behavior in the wild. It also discusses the implications of this research for human parental behavior.

• Soul Mate Biology — Science of Attachment and Love

  Gregor Majdic, Author, Springer , 2021. ISBN: 978-3-030-67212-6

  What is love? We know more than ever before about what is happening in the brain when we love. We understand why our hearts beat faster when we are in love, we know why we sweat and why we feel anxious when the loved one is away, and we have some ideas about how feelings of attachment form in the brain. This book will guide you through the complicated labyrinth of genes, molecules and brain cells that are involved in the feelings of love, attachment, affection, and also sexual reproduction.

• The Parental Brain: Mechanisms, Development, and Evolution

  Michael Numan, Author, Oxford University Press, 2020. ISBN: 9780190848675

  The Parental Brain: Mechanisms, Development, and Evolution presents a comprehensive analysis of how the brain regulates parental behavior in nonhuman animals and in humans, how these brain mechanisms develop, and how such development can go awry, leading to faulty parental behavior. Also, the proposal is examined that the maternal brain served as a foundation or template for the evolution of other types of strong prosocial bonds in mammals, such as the hyper-prosociality that occurs in humans.

• Estrogen Effects on Traumatic Brain Injury, 1st Edition Mechanisms of Neuroprotection and Repair

  Kelli A. Duncan, Editor, Academic Press, 2015. ISBN: 0128014792
  Bringing together leading researchers and practitioners to explain the basis for their work, methods, and their results, chapters explore what is known about the role of estrogens following damage to the brain. Topics covered include: induction of estrogen response, consequences of estrogen action, and mechanisms underlying estrogen mediated neuroprotection.

• Neurobiology of Social Behavior: Toward an Understanding of the Prosocial and Antisocial Brain

  Michael Numan, Author, Academic Press, 2015. ISBN: 9780124160408

  Social neuroscience is a rapidly growing, interdisciplinary field which is devoted to understanding how social behavior is regulated by the brain, and how such behaviors in turn influence brain and biology. Existing volumes either fail to take a neurobiological approach or focus on one particular type of behavior, so the field is ripe for a comprehensive reference which draws cross-behavioral conclusions. This authored work will serve as the market’s most comprehensive reference on the neurobiology of social behavior.

  The volume will offer an introduction to neural systems and genetics/epigenetics, followed by detailed study of a wide range of behaviors – aggression, sex and sexual differentiation, mating, parenting, social attachments, monogamy, empathy, cooperation, and altruism. Research findings on the neural basis of social behavior will be integrated across different levels of analysis, from molecular neurobiology to neural systems/behavioral neuroscience to fMRI imaging data on human social behavior. Chapters will cover research on both normal and abnormal behaviors, as well as developmental aspects.

• Brain Aromatase, Estrogens, and Behavior

  Jacques Balthazart and Gregory F. Ball, Editors, Oxford University Press, 2012.

  Estrogens, such as estradiol, can occur in brain as the result of ovarian secretion of the hormone into the blood. In male vertebrates, the testes secrete androgens, such as testosterone, into the blood and this class of steroid hormones can be converted into estrogens in the brain via the action of the enzyme aromatase, which is expressed in the male brain in man species. Finally, estradiol can be synthesized de novo from cholesterol. This book collects chapters by experts in the field that considers how estradiol is synthesized in the brain and what its effects are on a variety of behaviors. Special attention is paid to the enzyme aromatase that is distributed in discrete regions of the brain and is highly regulated in a sex-specific and seasonal-specific manner. Recently it has become clear that estrogens can act in the brain at two very different time scales, one is rather long lasting (days to weeks) and involves the modulation of gene transcription by the hormone-receptor complex. A second mode of action is much quicker and involves the action of estrogens on cell membranes that can result in effects on second messenger systems and ultimately behavior within minutes. Thus this book highlights novel views of estrogen action that are still under-appreciated namely that estrogens have significant effects on the male brain and that they can act on two very different times scales. This volume will be of interest to basic researchers and clinicians interested in the action of estrogens.

• Brain Development and Sexual Orientation

  Jacques Balthazart, Author, Morgan & Claypool Publishers, 2012. ISBN: 978-1615044597

  In this fascinating book, Jacques Balthazart presents a simple description of the biological mechanisms that are involved in the determination of sexual orientation in animals and also presumably in humans. Using scientific studies published over the last few decades, he argues that sexual orientation, both homosexual and heterosexual, is under the control of embryonic endocrine and genetic phenomena in which there is little room for individual choice. The author begins with animal studies of the hormonal and neural mechanisms that control the so-called instinctive behaviors and analyzes how this animal work may potentially apply to humans. The book does not focus exclusively on homosexuality, however. Instead, the book acts as a broader guide to the biological basis of sexual orientation, and also discusses important gender differences that may influence sexual orientation. While firmly grounded in the scientific literature, this text is developed for a broader audience and will be of interest to psychologists, researchers, students, and anyone interested in the biological factors that determine our sexuality.

  Features
  * The book features a glossary to guide lay readers through the more scientifically-rigorous research chapters
  * Unlike similar books, this text focuses primarily on animal research and examines how this research may be applied to humans

• Hormones, Talent, and Career

  Diana Derval, Johan Bremer, Authors, Springer Nature, 2012. ISBN: 978-3-642-25713-1

  The media now regularly feature breakthroughs on the influence of prenatal hormones on the brain and behavior, for instance the link to financial performance or risk management. Based on these findings and their own measurements performed on 3,500 people in over 25 countries, the authors present the Hormonal Quotient (HQ), a scientific and holistic career management and personal development tool.

• The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction

  Larry Young and Brian Alexander, Authors, Current (Penguin Group), 2012. ISBN: 978-1591845133

  How much control do we have over love? Much less than we like to think. All that mystery, all that poetry, all those complex behaviors sur­rounding human bonding leading to the most life-changing decisions we’ll ever make, are unconsciously driven by a few molecules in our brains.

  How does love begin? How can two strangers come to the conclusion that it would not only be pleasant to share their lives, but that they must share them? How can a man say he loves his wife, yet still cheat on her? Why do others stay in relationships even after the ro­mance fades? How is it possible to fall in love with the “wrong” person? How do people come to have a “type”?

  Physical attraction, jealousy, infidelity, mother-infant bonding—all the behaviors that so often leave us befuddled—are now being teased out of the fog of mystery thanks to today’s social neuroscience. Larry Young, one of the world’s leading experts in the field, and journalist Brian Alexander explain how those findings apply to you.

  Drawing on real human stories and research from labs around the world, The Chemistry Between Us is a bold attempt to create a “grand unified theory” of love. Young and Alexander place their revelations into historical, political, and social contexts. In the pro­cess, they touch on everything from gay marriage to why single-mother households might not be good for society. The Chemistry Between Us offers powerful in­sights into love, sex, gender, sexual orientation, and family life that will prove to be enlightening, contro­versial, and thought provoking.

• An Introduction to Behavioral Endocrinology, Fourth Edition

  Randy J. Nelson, Author, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-87893-620-5

• The Biology of Homosexuality

  Jacques Balthazart, Editor, Oxford University Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0199838820

  In this fascinating book, Jacques Balthazart presents a simple description of the biological mechanisms that are involved in the determination of sexual orientation in animals and also presumably in humans. Using scientific studies published over the last few decades, he argues that sexual orientation, both homosexual and heterosexual, is under the control of embryonic endocrine and genetic phenomena in which there is little room for individual choice. The author begins with animal studies of the hormonal and neural mechanisms that control the so-called instinctive behaviors and analyzes how this animal work may potentially apply to humans. The book does not focus exclusively on homosexuality, however. Instead, the book acts as a broader guide to the biological basis of sexual orientation, and also discusses important gender differences that may influence sexual orientation. While firmly grounded in the scientific literature, this text is developed for a broader audience and will be of interest to psychologists, researchers, students, and anyone interested in the biological factors that determine our sexuality.

  (Also available in French from Éditions Mardaga)

• Photoperiodism: Biological Calendar

  Randy J. Nelson, David L. Denlinger, and David E. Somers, Editors, Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-0195335903

• Neurobiology of the Parental Brain

  Robert S. Bridges, Editor, Academic Press, Burlington, MA, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-12-374285-8

• Sex and the Brain

  Gillian Einstein, Editor, The MIT Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-262-05087-6

  This collection of foundational papers on sex differences in the brain traces the development of a much-invoked, fast-growing young field at the intersection of brain and behavior. The reader is introduced to the meaning and nature of sexual dimorphisms, the mechanisms and consequences of steroid hormone action, and the impact of the field on interpretations of sexuality and gender.

  Building on each other in point-counterpoint fashion, the papers tell a fascinating story of an emerging science working out its core assumptions. Experimental and theoretical papers, woven together by editor's introductions, open a window onto knowledge in the making and a vigorous debate between reductionist and pluralist interpreters.

  Five major sections include papers on conceptual and methodological background, central nervous system dimorphisms, mechanisms for creating dimorphisms, dimorphisms and cognition, and dimorphisms and identity. Each section builds from basic concepts to early experiments, from experimental models to humans, and from molecules to mind. Papers by such leading scholars as Arthur Arnold, Frank Beach, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Patricia Goldman-Rakic, Doreen Kimura, Simon LeVay, Bruce McEwen, Michael Merzenich, Bertram O'Malley, Geoffrey Raisman, and Dick Swaab, illustrate a rich blend of perspectives, approaches, methods, and findings.

  Sex and the Brain will show students how a scientific paper can be analyzed from many perspectives, and supply them with critical tools for judging a rapidly emerging science in a contentious area.

• Handbook of Neurochemistry and Molecular Neurobiology: Behavioral Neurochemistry and Neuroendocrinology

  Jeffrey D. Blaustein, Editor, Springer, 2006. ISBN: 978-0387303628

  The Handbook is intended to be a service to the neuroscience community, to help in finding available and useful information, to point out gaps in our knowledge, and to encourage continued studies. It represents the valuable contributions of the many authors of the chapters and the guidance of the editors and most important, it represents support for research in this discipline. Based on the rapid advances in the years since the second edition.

• Hormones and Animal Social Behavior

  Elizabeth Adkins-Regan, Author, Princeton University Press, 2005. ISBN: 0-691-09247-8

  A guide to the fascinating connections between animal social behavior and steroid and peptide hormones--a synthesis designed to make it easier for graduate students and researchers to appreciate the excitement, engage in such integrative thinking, and understand the primary literature. Emphasizes concepts and principles, hypothesis testing, and critical thinking.

• The Neurobiology of Parental Behavior

  Michael Numan, Thomas R. Insel, Authors, Springer, 2003. ISBN: 0-387-00498-X

  The Neurobiology of Parental Behavior takes an integrative and multilayered approach to the study of the biology of parental behavior.The research reviewed includes an analysis of the role of developmental factors, experiential factors, hormones, genes, neurotransmitters/neuromodulators, and neural circuits in the control of parental behavior.

• Sexual Differentiation of the Brain

  Akira Matsumoto, Editor, CRC Press, 2000. ISBN: 0849311659

• Atlas of Endocrine Organs: Vertebrates and Invertebrates

  Akira Matsumoto and Susumu Ishii, Editors, Springer-Verlarg Telos, 1992. ISBN: 0387531580