G14 MANZANO, Anne Jillyne Worksheet 5

G20 SANTOS, Mikaela September 06, 2019

12 Einstein EAPP 2nd Quarter/ 1st Semester S.Y. 2019 2020

Why do mothers protect their young and even risk their lives?

"There is no greater warrior than a mother protecting her child," are words by author N. K. Jemisen
that illustrates the significance of a mother's protection. This protective instinct is an innate behavior that is
usually associated with motherly love and a cause for them to risk their lives doing so (Arylo, 2017). In
addition, University of Richmond student, Rebecca Fischer, discovered that the protective behavior of
mothers are biologically driven (Fischer, 2018). They have a natural urge to protect their own offspring
(Allison, 2019). Mothers, both humans and animals, possess the protective instinct that cause them to risk
their lives and science has an explanation to this: oxytocin.

According to a team led by neuroscientists in Lisbon, Portugal (2017), they had discovered that the
reason why mothers protect their child depends on the oxytocin or love hormone. Oxytocin is a hormone
appears to drive the parental protective response through its action on brain neurones found in a specific
structure called the amygdala which for its role in the processing of emotional reactions. It also has a lot of
function making the experiment difficult to interpret the results. Because of this, a group lead by Moita (2017)
conducted experiments in which they manipulated the circuit where they know precisely how oxytocin leads
to inhibition of freezing. The experiments consisted in conditioning the mother rats to associate a peppermint
scent with the imminence of an innocuous electric shock. This was done when their pups were not around.
Thereafter, whenever these mother rats perceived the odor as a threat, they froze accordingly. On the
contrary, when their babies are around, they now tried to protect their offspring from the peppermint odor by
attacking the tube where the odor was coming from, or piling up bits of material from the nest to block the
tube. And to know if the oxytocin was really the reason for the shift in behavior, the scientists blocked oxytocin
activity in the mothers' amygdalas, the mothers started to freeze as soon as they perceived the threat,
independently of the age of the pups - forgetting their maternal duties. The results show that love hormone
or oxytocin triggers the defensive mechanism in mothers to shield their young.

REFERENCES:

Allison, S. (2019 May 8). Psychology behind why your mom may be the mother of all heroes. Retrieved
September 5, 2019 from https://www.google.com/amp/s/theconversation.com/amp/psychology-
behind-why-your-mom-may-be-the-mother-of-all-heroes-115341

Arylo, C. (2017 June 2). Mother Love: The Feminine Love We Need But That Can’t Come from Just One
Person. Retrieved Spetember 5, 2019 from
https://www.google.com/amp/s/medium.com/amp/p/ea46dd7dfc87
Fischer, R. (2018). Unconditional Love and Evil Stepmothers: How Parents are Heroes and Villains. [PDF
Document]. Retrieved September 5, 2019 from https://works.bepress.com/scott_allison/76/

Moita. (2017). What makes a mother risk her life to protect her children. Retrieved from
https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-06/ccft-wma061217.php

Sabane. (2017). Love hormones: Why moms risk their lives to protect their childre. Retrieved from
https://www.amazingscience.news/2017/06/love-hormone-why-moms-risk-their-lives-to-protect-
their-children/