Hormones

Question 1

What is the role of testosterone in aggression?

Answer 1

Testosterone is associated with increased dominance, risk‑taking, and competitive behavior. Higher testosterone levels can lower thresholds for aggression, making individuals more likely to respond to provocation with aggressive acts.

Question 2

What evidence supports testosterone’s role in aggression?

Answer 2

• Dabbs et al. (1995) found that male prison inmates with higher testosterone levels had committed more violent crimes.
• Animal studies show that castrated males display less aggression, and aggression increases again when testosterone is reintroduced.

Question 3

What is the role of cortisol in aggression?

Answer 3

• Cortisol is a stress hormone; low baseline cortisol is linked to fearlessness and reduced social anxiety, which can remove inhibitory controls on aggression, making impulsive violence more likely.

Question 4

What evidence supports cortisol’s role in aggression?

Answer 4

• Studies of violent offenders often find chronically low cortisol levels, consistent with a lack of stress‑induced inhibition.

Question 5

How do testosterone and cortisol interact to predict aggression?

Answer 5

According to the dual‑hormone hypothesis, high testosterone combined with low cortisol is especially predictive of aggressive and dominant behavior, because the drive for dominance isn’t checked by normal stress responses.

Question 6

Evidence

Answer 6

• Dabbs et al. (1995) found male inmates with higher testosterone levels committed more violent crimes
  Explain: These patterns suggest that high testosterone may drive dominance and risk‑taking, while low cortisol reduces fear/anxiety, together facilitating aggression.
  Counterpoint: However, correlation doesn’t prove causation—high testosterone might result from aggressive activity rather than cause it, and many individuals with ‘risky’ hormone profiles aren’t aggressive.

Question 7

Application

Answer 7

Hormonal insights can inform both prediction and intervention in aggressive behaviour.
Evidence: Screening for low cortisol in at‑risk youth can help target early support; anti‑androgen drugs (e.g., medroxyprogesterone) have been used to reduce recidivism in sexual offenders by lowering testosterone activity.
Explain: This shows how understanding hormone–behaviour links can guide preventive measures and treatments for aggression.

Question 8

Comparison

Answer 8

Point: Hormonal explanations are biologically credible but reductionist compared to multi‑factorial models.
Evidence: Unlike cognitive or social explanations (which account for thought processes and learned scripts), hormonal accounts focus narrowly on endocrine activity.
Explain: While hormone levels clearly influence arousal systems, they can’t explain why some high‑testosterone individuals never behave aggressively, nor the role of cultural norms.
Counterpoint: A dual‑hormone hypothesis (high testosterone + low cortisol) adds nuance, and combining hormonal data with neural and cognitive measures yields a more complete picture.

Question 9

How good is the research

Answer 9

Point: Much of the hormone–aggression research is correlational and lab‑based, limiting ecological validity and causal inference.
Evidence: Testosterone is often measured from a single saliva or blood sample, but levels fluctuate diurnally and with stress. Animal studies (e.g., castration/replacement in rats) show causality, but human experiments are ethically constrained.
Explain: This means human data may be unreliable (single‑timepoint measures) and low in generalisability, while animal work—though causal—may not map onto complex human social behavior.
Counterpoint: Advances in longitudinal designs and repeated hormone sampling, plus natural experiments (e.g., puberty timelines), are improving the robustness of findings.