Endocrine system

• Not a part of the nervous system but is important in the biochemistry of the body. A network of glands throughout the body that manufacture and secrete chemical messengers called hormones.
• Pituitary gland - located in the brain and is called the master gland because it instructs the other glands to secrete hormones when necessary.

  • controlled by the hypothalamus which is just above it in the brain
  • the front part of the pituitary releases ACTH which is involved in the stress response
  • travels in the bloodstream to the adrenal gland and instructs it to release cortisol
  • the back part of the pituitary gland produces oxytocin
• Adrenal gland - adrenaline - physiological changes such as increased heart rate
• Testes - testosterone, masculine characteristics linked to aggression
• Ovaries - progesterone and oestrogen, female characteristics
• Pituitary gland - master gland, oxytocin and ACTH - oxytocin (tend and befriend response during stress. also released during mother and baby bonding)

  ACTH travels to the adrenal gland and tells it to release cortisol during stress
• Biological psycholoists argue that the levels of hormones in the body can affect our behaviour, e.g. high tesosterone and levels of aggression or oxytocin and the tend/befriend