The following appeared as part of a letter to the editor of a scientific journal.
"A recent study of eighteen rhesus monkeys provides clues as to the effects of birth order on an individual's levels of stimulation. The study showed that in stimulating situations (such as an encounter with an unfamiliar monkey), firstborn infant monkeys produce up to twice as much of the hormone cortisol, which primes the body for increased activity levels, as do their younger siblings. Firstborn humans also produce relatively high levels of cortisol in stimulating situations (such as the return of a parent after an absence). The study also found that during pregnancy, first-time mother monkeys had higher levels of cortisol than did those who had had several offspring."
Write a response in which you discuss one or more alternative explanations that could rival the proposed explanation and explain how your explanation(s) can plausibly account for the facts presented in the argument.
RESPONSE:
In the argument presented, a deduction has been made that the birth order of an individual may affect their simulation level due to changes in hormone secretion. However, it can be argued that the observed results are not because of the birth order rather the higher stimulation is due to the first time exposure to such simulations. This can consequentially change the predictions made by these studies.
The argument is supported using two main evidences. The second evidence from the study using Rhesus monkey as subjects, it was seen that first-time mothers produced more cortisol. However, the increased levels of cortisol cannot be associated with birth orders since the study does not observe the hormonal differences between first-born mothers and the younger-born mothers. The evidence is related to first-time pregnancy hence the increase may only be due to first time exposure to this condition.
The first evidence does however involve the first-born humans and monkeys producing higher levels of cortisol when faced with certain alarming situations. Although this does indicate the correlation between the birth order and the stimulation levels, it does not indicate causation between the two. The increased secretion of hormones might actually be a transferred character from parents. Most probably, the character has been influenced in some way during the pregnancy as most mothers, especially in monkeys, were probably fist-time mothers. This can also be an inherited genetic character and thus only a larger data can provide appropriate evidence.
Conclusively, the birth order may be relevant to some extent in the stimulation level of individuals. However, there may be certain other factors that are more relevant than the birth order such as those discussed above. Further studies and a larger population data maybe more convincing for that matter.
(Kindly rate the argument on a scale of 1 to 6)
