Hormones

Question 1

Describe the different types of hormones

what if the correlation between the 2 types of hormones

Answer 1

Testosterone: it’s a sex hormone (androgen) that regulate libido, but it also has a key role in are aggression and dominance, spark competitiveness and boost self-esteem
Peak at early adulthood 17-30
men have more testosterone compared to women

Cortisol: known to be related to negative effects on behaviour as high levels leads to problems with a attention, emotional reactivity, anxiety, depression, and overall internalizing behaviour problems and is normally increased when stress comes to play
Requires physical arousal like breathing, heart rate, blood pumping to be all increased to release cortisol

positive correlation = higher testosterone + high cortisol -> increase aggression (vice versa)

Question 2

what are the difference between Hormones and CNS

Answer 2

Hormones take messages over a larger distance and over a longer period of time
Hormones can travel anywhere in the circulatory system, whereas neurotransmitters are restricted to their appropriate neurons.

Neurotransmitter signals travel very quickly, in milliseconds, whereas hormones travel more slowly and can be measured in seconds, minutes or even hours
Neurotransmitter signalling is all or nothing, hormone messages can vary in intensity depending on the amount of hormone.

Question 3

How does Testosterone explain aggression

Answer 3

influence physical aggression, affects the organs directly and linked to the fight or flight response

some researchers like wagner castrated animals such as mice to reduce their levels of testosterone which is the main source for most male mammals to exhibit aggression. anyways it was found out that afterwards the aggressive levels went down drastically however when artificially injecting testosterone it resulted in the mice to become more aggressive

Question 4

How does Cortisol explain aggression

Answer 4

its release to regulate aggression and respond to stress to protect the body furthermore justin carre and pranjal mehta (2011) found that high testosterone only worked to lad aggressive behaviourc when cortisol levels was low but if high will simple block aggression (this is the dual hormone hypotheiss) can be measured through blood and saliva test so its ethical, objective and scientific as possible low cortisol is associaated with the lack of fear over the consequences of aggressive behaviour

Question 5

Evaluation / Assess strength and weakness

Answer 5

1. Increased testosterone equals increased aggression.
2. (strength) Dabbs et al (1987) supports this as that 89 male inmates consisted of violent and non-violent, 10 out of 11 prisoners that committed violent crimes had high levels of testosterone therefore demonstrates the hormones play a key role in aggression
3. (weakness)However the sample is androcentric so cant be generalised to society as its unable explain hormones roles in males and females hormones as they work differently from each other as males tend to have more testosterone

Testosterone can lead to increased reactivity to amygdala’s rage/ perceived threat of stimuli.

2. (strength) Wagner et al 1979 – castrated mice and found biting attacks reduces, but when injected with testosterone, aggression behaviour increased again. Therefore increase scientific credibility of explanation in animal study able to investigate cause and effect
3. (weakness)However cant assume that these kinds of results would be present in humans. Even though biology may be similar, we live in complex society so use higher cognition in our behaviour, lowering credibility of the explanation

Males with more testosterone, show more physical aggression and can be seen that testosterone is highest in adolescents so they tend to more risk taking, more likely to engage in physical aggression. can be proven with the fact that Over 70% of violent offenders in prison are male

3. (strength) Mazur (1983) can support this claim as its generally linked that testosterone and aggression are linked and mazur further explored this and found that testosterone levels increase during the early teens and having strong positive correlation with aggressive behaviour such as inter-male fighting
4. (weakness)However most common studies that claim positive correlation relatively involve small samples and for kids reach puberty/adolescents which are demonstrating more physical aggression is really common hence this claim lacks population validity

Cortisol inhibits aggression hormones like testosterone. Low cortisol plus high testosterone equal high aggression.

4. (strength)Klinesmith et all supported this as through his study on participant assembling a gun their testosterone levels increased and become more aggressive to other participants therefore it shows that a stimuli is needed for hormones to trigger aggression especially stimuli that is socially accepted as to be aggressive like guns, knives etc and that it results in the low cortisol levels
5. (weakness)Vukkenen (1985) contrast this as it was reported that low levels of cortisol is found in habitual violent offenders and in violent school children, this supports the theory that high levels of cortisol reduces aggression

Cortisol increases anxiety and social withdrawal in stressful situations, this in turns limits the aggression we display

5. (strength)It demonstrates that hormones are a key role to inhibit our actions as what raine et al stated is that a dysfunction of parts of the brain can cause people to become more aggressive therefore cortisol play a role in inhibiting our social actions
6. (weakness)Human behaviour is very complex and hormones arent the be all and end all of explaining aggression as bandura has stated that aggression can be caused by learning, hence can be inferred that behaviours such as being shy and anti-social can be learned as well