hormone expo of aggression

Question 1

androgen effect

Answer 1

Men have more testosterone (which is an androgen – a male hormone) than women which is said to cause aggression.

Question 2

testosterone effect on brain structures

Answer 2

Antenatal exposure to testosterone in the womb shapes your biology/brain. It is responsible for cell growth in the hypothalamus and amygdala (Naftoli, et al 1990).
* Testosterone lowers the activation threshold of the Amygdala – it takes less to activate it, so make it more active.

Question 3

cortisol

Answer 3

Cortisol mediates the effects of testosterone (so your aggression is about the ratio between the two)
* Cortisol is produced when faced with stressors and low levels of cortisol have been associated with aggression.

Question 4

adrenaline

Answer 4

flight or fight’ reaction to a stimuli that triggers a need to be physically fast or strong
-correlating with increased testosterone

Question 5

testosterone effect on neurones/action potentials

Answer 5

individual neurones/action potentials - it shortens the refractory period meaning that
more signals can fire (more signals = more aggressive

Question 6

Beeman (1947)

Answer 6

castrated male mice and found that aggressiveness reduced. He later injected the
mice with testosterone which re-established their aggressiveness. This provides evidence that there is a correlation between testosterone and aggression.

Question 7

Edwards (1968)

Answer 7

Injecting female rats with testosterone made them much more aggressive compared
to a control group. This provides evidence that there is a correlation between testosterone and aggression.

Question 8

Mazur et al 1992

Answer 8

playing a non-aggressive game, such as tennis or chess, increases the testosterone levels of the winners and decreases the testosterone levels of the losers. Testosterone seems to be more about dominance/success than it does aggression (in many cases that is how you show dominance or gain success) so it might not be a direct cause of aggression