Role of Hormones

• what effect does testosterone have on behaviour?

  affects aggression, dominance and competiveness
• when do a mans testosterone levels increase?

  in sexual or competitive activities
• what effect does oxytocin have on behaviour?

  affects emotional and cognitive social behaviours
• what is oxytocin known as?

  the 'love' hormone
• what effect does serotonin have on behaviour?

  affects mood and emotional state
• what is serotonin known as?

  happy hormone
• what does oestrogen do to behaviour?

  effects mood stability
• what does cortisol do?

  important in a stress response
• what is testosterone ?

  an androgen
• what is an androgen?

  chemically develops or maintains the male characteristis
• at which point in pregnancy does testosterone exposure have an effect on brain development?

  antenatal (in the womb still)
• what is meant by the Basal Model of aggression?

  testosterone causing an aggressive dominant behaviour
• Mazur and Booth 1998

  men who had higher levels of testosterone more likely to get arrested and use weapons in fights
• What is meant by the reciprocal method?

  idea that competitiveness and aggresse behaviour cause the testosterone we have to rise
• what did hawk 1951 find?

  castration of convicted sex offenders led to removal of aggression and sex drive
• what is the conclusion about Hawke 1951?

  suggests that testosterone may be causing the aggression in males
• what animal was castrated for an experiment with aggression?

  rodents like rats
• what were the findings for the castrated rodents?

  when castrated they showed reduced levels of aggression and stop of testosterone being produced
• what was the evidence for the human study (hawke)

  lowered levels of aggression and sex drive in sex offenders
• what is negative about the evidence for Hawke?

  ethically questionable and lacks proper controls
• what is a negative about hawke evidence? (generalisability)

  it was research on sex offenders and general people not sex offenders
• what was negative about the animals study evidence?

  very difficult to generalise animals to humans
• what is an application for role of hormones?

  castration is possible for voluntary treatment of sex offenders
• what is considered bad about the application for this theory?

  ethical issues around social control - Alan Turing castrated for a sex crime of being gay
• what is the strength for this theory?

  it is possible to measure hormone levels and objectively study the effects in a lab -scientific study
• what is a shortcoming for this theory?

  deterministic theory - suggests that it is in our nature to have aggression and therefore takes away responsibility
• what is the alternate theory for this theory?

  learning theories suggest how aggressive we are is through our learning experiences - upbringing, parenting