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Handbook of Neuroethics pp 1737–1755Cite as

Neuroscience, Gender, and “Development To” and “From”: The Example of Toy Preferences

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Abstract

“Development to” perspectives implicitly or explicitly assume that experience influences the individual’s development “to” a genetically encoded phenotype. By contrast, “development from” perspectives assume no genetically pre-specified developmental pathway, but the co-construction of the phenotype from the complex and dynamic interaction between environmental stimuli, genotype, and the organization of the nervous system at each developmental phase. This chapter examines the “brain organization” account of sex differences in toy preferences in light of challenges to the “development to” perspective, of which the brain organization account is an example. It is argued that there are significant methodological and conceptual issues, and empirical uncertainties, regarding each of four categories of evidence commonly cited as support for the brain organization account. The scientific and ethical need for research from a “development from” perspective for future investigations of this politically important and socially sensitive scientific question is discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences & Melbourne Business School & Centre for Ethical Leadership, University of Melbourne, Carlton, VIC, 3053, Australia

    Cordelia Fine

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  1. Cordelia Fine
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  1. Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Jens Clausen

  2. The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

    Neil Levy

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Fine, C. (2015). Neuroscience, Gender, and “Development To” and “From”: The Example of Toy Preferences. In: Clausen, J., Levy, N. (eds) Handbook of Neuroethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4707-4_151

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