On 14 Mar 2006 at 9:39, Don Allen wrote: > Hi Joan- > > I'm not sure which "excellent" research you are refering to. Perhaps > you could provide some citations. For a broad overview of the research > in this area the following site might be useful: > http://members.aol.com/slevay/page22.html
I'll second the recommendation to check out the webpage of Simon LeVay. He's the noted neurphysiologist who contributed the research showing a difference in brain anatomy between gays and straights referred to in Joan's post. He has a fair assessment of his own finding there (under brain anatomy, in the section on "Third interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus (INAH1)". I've now seen the _60 Minutes_ segment on "The science of sexual orientation". I thought it was excellent, although it's too bad they didn't make it longer. They got two of the biggies of the field, Michael Bailey and physiological psychologist Marc Breedlove, but I guess they didn't have time for Simon LeVay too. A transcript of the segment is available at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/09/60minutes/main1385230.shtml Their primary lapse, it seemed to me, concerned their discussion of the birth order effect in homosexuality (that the more older brothers one has the greater the probability of being gay, for males only). Not for featuring the research, which was entirely appropriate, but in failing to give credit for it to Ray Blanchard at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto (they did show his paper, and you could just make out his name on it). In fact, they should have let him speak for himself on his research, instead of having Bailey summarize it. Relating this to another thread of mine, in Judith Rich Harris's new book, _No Two Alike_, she takes on the issue of birth-order effects in one of her chapters (continuing what she started in _The Nurture Assumption_), and persuasively trashes the topic as it affects adult development outside the family. There are no birth order effects, she concludes. In doing this she takes on the "genius" Frank Sulloway and his grand theory of birth-order effects (in his unaccountably acclaimed book "Born to Rebel"). The result isn't pretty for Sulloway, but entertaining and instructive for us. Harris admits only one exception to her conclusion that outside the family, birth order effects don't exist. It may be easily overlooked, as it appears only in a footnote. It's Blanchard's work. Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Department of Psychology Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
