hormones in aggression

• testosterone

  Maccoby and Jacklin (74) did many lab/field experiments amongst different social classes/culture. seen boys are consistently more aggressive/charged more frequently with violent offences.

  explains how men are on average more aggressive than females.

  • gender differences in exaggerating difference, research may support stereotypes of women being inferior. it is known woman are capable of violence and agg is complex- not just violence
• human evidence explaining role of testosterone?

  • Dabbs (87) measured saliva of 89 male prisoners involved in violent crime, had higher levels of testosterone (95 found in women too)
  • Olweus (80) boys who had higher levels of testosterone were more impatient and irritable
• animals from lab explaining testosterone?

  • Wagner (79) castrated rats and levels dropped but injected with testosterone and agg levels gradually rose back to pre-castration
• cortisol?

  produced in adrenal glands, responsible for managing stress levels, normal levels seem to inhibit agg behaviour, low = increased agg, cortisol inhibits testosterone.

  • Barzman (2013) looked at hormones in saliva of 7-9 year boys in psychiatric hospital, 17 boys sampled, low cortisol= high aggressive incidents (neg correlation)