2 ms·

I could be wrong here, but isn't there a pretty well established relationship between testosterone and violent/aggressive behaviours? I understand the difficul

I could be wrong here, but isn't there a pretty well established relationship between testosterone and violent/aggressive behaviours? I understand the difficulty of testing this kind of relationships but the casual link might be totally inverse, kids who have too much testosterone also are predisposed to that type of content rather than it being the content that informs the tendencies. Regardless of the real reason thats a ton of material to read, so thanks!

belorn 6y ago
Ah, the complex interaction of testosterone. Not only is it inverse, but the cause and effect is also inverse. Aggressive behavior is not predictable by testosterone levels, but the inverse, testosterone levels are predictable by aggressive behavior. For example, male sport teams that win a match has increased testosterone levels afterwards and reduced levels if they loose. Similar, sport spectators mirror this pattern. If for example two people have fisticuffs at a bar and we measured testosterone before and after, the winner would see an increase in testosterone secretion while the looser would have an reduction. And then we come to violent content, and indeed there exist some research on this. The result is a bit more complicated. Only people who are already disposed towards aggressive behavior see an increase in testosterone secretion after watching a violent movie. So what does that mean? There is a theory called the challenge hypothesis. In this theory testosterone acts as a modulator to how much behavior an individual will spend in order to retain status once challenged. If an individual gain status, such when two males compete and one wins and the other losses, testosterone secretion increase in order to encourage more energy use towards defending that possible short term gain in social status until a new social hierarchy has stabilized. The more sudden the gain the more testosterone is secreted, and the more the relationship between testosterone and violent/aggressive behaviours can be observed. (for some interesting reading I can recommend The Trouble With Testosterone by robert sapolsky or one of his lecture on the topic)

belorn 6y ago

Ah, the complex interaction of testosterone. Not only is it inverse, but the cause and effect is also inverse. Aggressive behavior is not predictable by testosterone levels, but the inverse, testosterone levels are predictable by aggressive behavior. For example, male sport teams that win a match has increased testosterone levels afterwards and reduced levels if they loose. Similar, sport spectators mirror this pattern. If for example two people have fisticuffs at a bar and we measured testosterone before and after, the winner would see an increase in testosterone secretion while the looser would have an reduction. And then we come to violent content, and indeed there exist some research on this. The result is a bit more complicated. Only people who are already disposed towards aggressive behavior see an increase in testosterone secretion after watching a violent movie. So what does that mean? There is a theory called the challenge hypothesis. In this theory testosterone acts as a modulator to how much behavior an individual will spend in order to retain status once challenged. If an individual gain status, such when two males compete and one wins and the other losses, testosterone secretion increase in order to encourage more energy use towards defending that possible short term gain in social status until a new social hierarchy has stabilized. The more sudden the gain the more testosterone is secreted, and the more the relationship between testosterone and violent/aggressive behaviours can be observed. (for some interesting reading I can recommend The Trouble With Testosterone by robert sapolsky or one of his lecture on the topic)