| http://fpb.case.edu/smartcenter/docs/SpitCamp/Booth%20et%20a... > Testosterone-related differences in aggression in the non-delinquent sample
were studied as well. None were statistically significant. The only difference
manifested was that adolescents with higher testosterone were more likely to
respond more vigorously in response to challenges from teachers and peers.
The vigorous response finding is consistent with our assertion that testosterone
is linked with aggression only when it is part of dominance behavior. > Using measures that incorporated self, peer and teacher ratings, Tremblay and his
colleagues discovered that testosterone levels at the start of puberty were linked
to social dominance a year later but not to physical aggression. Dominance was
not related to current aggression or aggression over the previous three years.
On the other hand, body mass was a predictor of physical > Although research provides considerable evidence that testosterone is
associated with dominant behavior, correlation does not prove causation. If
the administration of testosterone was followed by an increase in dominant
behavior, we would have a stronger case for asserting a causal relationship.
Two experiments support the idea that the link is causal. In one study with a
double-blind, randomized, crossover design, young men were given doses of
testosterone or a placebo. Subjects were paired with a fictitious subject and told
that each member of the pair could, by pushing a button, reduce the cash flowing
to the other member. The subject was told that the other individual was reducing
the cash that was flowing to the subject. Subjects receiving testosterone rather
than the placebo pushed the button significantly more times (Kouri, Lukas, Pope
and Oliva 1995). A second study with the same design was conducted with
men aged 20 to 50 years (Pope, Kouri and Hudson 2000). This time testosterone
was administered over a six-week period. Subjects participated in the same
experiment. Results indicated that those who had had the treatment pushed the
button many more times. These studies put us in a much stronger position to
claim that testosterone stimulates dominant behavior. That's just one study, but there are a lot more. And, using common sense, how many cultures do you know, where women play team sports, and men don't? Where girl play war and boys play home? I'm all for allowing to ignore social roles, I'm not good example of stereotypical men myself, but let's not ignore evidence that's all around us. It would be enormously unlikely, that biological differences between sexes, and behavior differences were just accident. Of course social influences have big part, but they don't explain everything. And there's a reason that men made games, and women didn't, when both were present at first in programming. I doubt it's just because of social reasons. |