▶ Your Answer :
Studying animals
has benefited human being in diverse ways such as developing new drugs, exploring
behavioral patterns, and anatomical understandings. Especially, researchers can
more effectively prove scientific findings through examining more human-like creatures
in terms of gene and body structures, e.g., mice or monkeys. With this
viewpoint, the author tried to prove the relationship between birth order and
individual’s levels of stimulation, deriving from research with monkeys,
however, the argument is rife with holes and insufficient corroborations with
regards to gender issues and age matters.
Reporting that “firstborn
infant monkeys produce up to twice as much of the hormone cortisol,” the author
has argued that birth order can influence individual levels of stimulation. In
this argument, nonetheless, another important factor should have been taken
into account: a gender issue. Statistics say that male infants, no matter
humans or other animals, tend to more actively move than female infants because
of the different hormone settings. For most cases, male creatures have high
proportions of hormones that can lead them to act more vigorously. Back in the argument,
was the infant monkey female or male? We just do not know. Therefore, this
gender issue must be clarified to argue the findings.
In addition to
this gender concern, there is an age matter about the author’s claim regarding first-time
mother monkeys, who, based on the claim, had higher levels of cortisol. When it
comes to pregnancy, one of the most significant issues is the mother’s age. For
example, when a mother’s age is beyond 35, the possibilities of having a Down syndrome
baby soar compared to mothers younger than that age. Given this knowledge, in
the author’s research, the first mothers’ age group should have been scrutinized
to support the claims. Especially, because the sample was a group of monkey,
not human samples, it must be better to examine the focal age factor (e.g., 35
for humans) of monkey species. Since this age aspect is not considered enough
in the research setting this claim is also not cogent.
Following these two
alternate, yet clearer evidence oriented suggestions, the argument is more likely
to cogently prove its claims. Since biological studies have challenges with
regards to acquiring enough samples and controlling variable factors, more
preparatory studies about diverse aspects that might affect the research should
be taken into account when designing a research method, such as gender and age
aspects in this case. |