bio approach: hormones Flashcards
hormones definition:
chemicals that affect human behaviour.
brief into hormones
they are secreted by glands in the endocrine system and are released into the bloodstream, meaning they take longer to produce changes in human behavior than neurotransmitters.
hormones can only produce reactions in certain target cells, that have appropriate receptor sites for these specific hormones.
eg. of a hormone that influences human behaviour?
testosterone - the male hormone and plays a main role in the development of a male during the years of puberty.
elevated levels of testosterone are seen in alpha male baboons and are also linked to competitive behavior.
hormones are studied by?
Ronay and Von Hippel (2010) - wanted to see if a young man’s testosterone level played a role in higher risk-taking behavior (by measuring risks taken while skateboarding.)
R&H (2010) aim -
to determine if men would take greater risks in the presence of an attractive female, than in the presence of a male.
R&H (2010) hypothesis -
men would take greater risks as a result of intrasexual selection - that is, he who makes the greatest impression, gets the girl.
R&H (2010) sample -
96 young adult Australian male skateboarders whose mean age was 21.58. they were recruited from skateboard parks.
R&H (2010) procedure -
53 P - female researcher condition
43 P - male researcher condition
tasks conducted b/w 2 and 6pm.
skateboarders were asked to do one “easy trick” and then one “difficult trick” which they could successfully complete approximately 50% of the time.
they were asked to do each trick 10 times. after a break, they were asked to make 10 more attempts of each trick but this time in front of the same male researcher or an attractive 18-year-old female researcher who was blind to the hypothesis.
R&H (2010) procedure pt.2 -
attractiveness of the female researcher was established by having 20 male raters view photos of potential female experimenters.
the skateboarders’ attempts were coded for one of three outcomes: success, crash landing, or aborted attempt. high levels of aborted attempts would be seen as an indicator of low-risk taking.
saliva samples were collected after the experiment to measure testosterone. heart rate was measured by having participants wear a Nordic sports watch. these measurements were taken before the task and then measured throughout the task.
R&H (2010) results -
participants in the female group took greater risks on the difficult tricks (often resulting in accidents) and they aborted the trick fewer times. their testosterone levels were higher than participants who performed in front of the male researcher.
there was no significant difference in the measure of heart rate between the two groups.
the researchers argued that testosterone affects the functioning of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex which is responsible for decision-making. higher level of testosterone may impair the functioning of the vmPFC leading to higher risk-taking behavior which may have an evolutionary origin to attract a beautiful mate.
conclusion -
the study showed that young men take great physical risks when in the presence of an attractive woman and that testosterone may account for this behavior.
according to evolutionary theory, this makes sense - The increased risk-taking is a sign to potential mates that the male is healthy, strong, and dominant - that is, would be able to intimidate any potential rival.
