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Trial Lawyers and Testosterone: Blue‐Collar Talent in a White‐Collar World1

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Abstract

Three studies considered whether trial lawyers, in their hormones and their language, might be regarded as blue-collar workers of the legal system. Study 1 found that lawyers as a group had testosterone levels similar to other white-collar workers and lower than blue-collar workers. Study 2 found that male and female trial lawyers had testosterone levels higher than nontrial lawyers of the same gender; the difference between lawyer types was approximately the same as the difference between blue- and white-collar workers. Study 3 found that trial lawyers used fewer cognitive mechanisms than did appellate lawyers in oral arguments before the Supreme Court. High levels of testosterone are associated with energy, dominance, persistence, combativeness, and focused attention, qualities that are useful both in trial lawyering and blue-collar work.

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... Several reviews document how testosterone exposure impacts human development and interpersonal behavior at societal level and in interpersonal relationships (Archer, 1991;Arnold & Breedlove, 1985;Mazur & Booth, 1998) though there is little direct evidence of how testosterone exposure impacts behavior in the workplace. However, research conducted by James Dabbs and colleagues offers some insight on the association between testosterone exposure and group outcomes (Dabbs, de La Rue, Williams, 1990;Dabbs & Morris, 1990;Dabbs, Alford, & Fielden, 1998). Findings from this series of studies show that higher current testosterone levels predict destructive behavior but can give employees an edge in certain occupations. ...
... Findings from this series of studies show that higher current testosterone levels predict destructive behavior but can give employees an edge in certain occupations. Dabbs et al. (1998) offers a fascinating example of this by showing that trial lawyers had higher testosterone levels than their non-trial counterparts and presented more persuasive arguments in the courtroom. Dabbs et al. (1998) maintains that higher testosterone levels gave trial lawyers an advantage in the courtroom by sparking their dominance and #16481 competitive drive. ...
... Dabbs et al. (1998) offers a fascinating example of this by showing that trial lawyers had higher testosterone levels than their non-trial counterparts and presented more persuasive arguments in the courtroom. Dabbs et al. (1998) maintains that higher testosterone levels gave trial lawyers an advantage in the courtroom by sparking their dominance and #16481 competitive drive. In this case, it seems that testosterone had a positive influence on performance. ...
... These responses to status include a number of issues that are of interest to social psychologists such as aggression, increased arousal, emotion, and cognitive performance. However, with few exceptions (e.g., Dabbs, Alford, & Fielden, 1998; Josephs, Newman, Brown, & Beer, 2003; Schultheiss, Dargel, & Rohde, 2003), this research has escaped the attention of social psychologists. Much of the evidence linking testosterone and status comes from research with nonhuman species. ...
... A number of studies with humans supports a positive relationship between testosterone and status. Indeed, measuring testosterone at a single point in time predicts status-related behaviors across a variety of situations and occupations (e.g., Cashdan, 1995; Dabbs, La Rue, & Williams, 1990; Dabbs et al., 1998; Mazur & Booth, 1998; Grant & France, 2001; Scaramella & Brown, 1978; van Honk et al., 1999). For example, Dabbs et al. (1998) report that people in high status occupations such as trial lawyers tend to have higher levels of testosterone compared with people in lower status occupations, such as patent lawyers. ...
... Indeed, measuring testosterone at a single point in time predicts status-related behaviors across a variety of situations and occupations (e.g., Cashdan, 1995; Dabbs, La Rue, & Williams, 1990; Dabbs et al., 1998; Mazur & Booth, 1998; Grant & France, 2001; Scaramella & Brown, 1978; van Honk et al., 1999). For example, Dabbs et al. (1998) report that people in high status occupations such as trial lawyers tend to have higher levels of testosterone compared with people in lower status occupations, such as patent lawyers. However, these results are largely correlational, and have come under attack by some critics who charge that the results from many of these studies are weak, especially relative to the animal literature (see, e.g., the commentaries following the target article by Mazur & Booth, 1998). ...
... Finer-grained studies of T and careers have also been done with interesting results. For example, male trial lawyers have been found to have higher average T levels than male non-trial lawyers; the same holds true for female lawyers (Dabbs, Alford, & Fielden, 1998). Male construction workers have higher average T levels than lawyers (Dabbs & Morris, 1990) and, on average, female lawyers have higher T levels than female nurses (Schindler, 1979). ...
... Barring major changes in lifestyle or health, any individualsÕ relative position within the same population would not be expected to change significantly with the passage of time. Approaches similar to the one employed by this study have been widely used by other T researchers (Dabbs et al., 1998;Fannin & Dabbs, 2003). Still the ideal study would be longitudinal; measuring T levels at an early point in the subjectsÕ work lives, perhaps as they graduate from university, and then observing subsequent entrepreneurial behaviors. ...
... Only males were included in the current study, for reasons already explained. Some prior research has found that T often has a similar (but not always identical) effect in a female population as it does in a population of males, even though the basal levels of T are much lower in females (Bateup et al., 2002;Dabbs et al., 1998;Harris et al., 1996). We suspect the same may be true for entrepreneurial behaviors but additional research is required to explore the T-E relationships within female populations. ...
Article
Biological evolutionary processes select for heritable behaviors providing a survival and reproductive advantage. Accordingly, how we behave is, at least in part, affected by the evolutionary history of our species. This research uses evolutionary psychology as the theoretical perspective for exploring the relationship between a heritable biological characteristic (testosterone level) and an important business behavior (new venture creation). Data were collected from 31 MBA students with significant prior involvement in new venture creation and from 79 other student subjects with no new venture start-up experience. Consistent with evolutionary psychological theory, the biological (testosterone level) effect upon behavior (new venture creation) is partially mediated by the psychological (risk propensity).
... These responses to status include a number of issues that are of interest to social psychologists such as aggression, increased arousal, emotion, and cognitive performance. However, with few exceptions (e.g., Dabbs, Alford, & Fielden, 1998; Josephs, Newman, Brown, & Beer, 2003; Schultheiss, Dargel, & Rohde, 2003), this research has escaped the attention of social psychologists. Much of the evidence linking testosterone and status comes from research with nonhuman species. ...
... A number of studies with humans supports a positive relationship between testosterone and status. Indeed, measuring testosterone at a single point in time predicts status-related behaviors across a variety of situations and occupations (e.g., Cashdan, 1995; Dabbs, La Rue, & Williams, 1990; Dabbs et al., 1998; Mazur & Booth, 1998; Grant & France, 2001; Scaramella & Brown, 1978; van Honk et al., 1999). For example, Dabbs et al. (1998) report that people in high status occupations such as trial lawyers tend to have higher levels of testosterone compared with people in lower status occupations, such as patent lawyers. ...
... Indeed, measuring testosterone at a single point in time predicts status-related behaviors across a variety of situations and occupations (e.g., Cashdan, 1995; Dabbs, La Rue, & Williams, 1990; Dabbs et al., 1998; Mazur & Booth, 1998; Grant & France, 2001; Scaramella & Brown, 1978; van Honk et al., 1999). For example, Dabbs et al. (1998) report that people in high status occupations such as trial lawyers tend to have higher levels of testosterone compared with people in lower status occupations, such as patent lawyers. However, these results are largely correlational, and have come under attack by some critics who charge that the results from many of these studies are weak, especially relative to the animal literature (see, e.g., the commentaries following the target article by Mazur & Booth, 1998). ...
Article
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Why do some people strive for high status, whereas others actively avoid it? In the present studies, the authors examined the psychological and physiological consequences of a mismatch between baseline testosterone and a person's current level of status. The authors tested this mismatch effect by placing high and low testosterone individuals into high or low status positions using a rigged competition. In Study 1, low testosterone participants reported greater emotional arousal, focused more on their status, and showed worse cognitive functioning in a high status position. High testosterone participants showed this pattern in a low status position. In Study 2, the emotional arousal findings were replicated with heart rate, and the cognitive findings were replicated using a math test. In Study 3, the authors demonstrate that testosterone is a better predictor of behavior than self-report measures of the need for dominance. Discussion focuses on the value of measuring hormones in personality and social psychology.
... As testosterone is considered one major proximate mechanism behind male motivation for making displays (Regan, 1999), it can be assumed that this applies to male proneness for verbal displays as well. Dabbs, Alford, and Fielden (1998) showed that trial lawyers who have to speak in court and do so in order to successfully manipulate others have higher levels of testosterone than other lawyers. One question might arise again, namely why women seem to be verbally more proficient than men on average, whereas sexual selection theory predicts the opposite (Wallentin, 2009). ...
... Testosterone can not only be considered responsible for the fact that men are higher motivated than women to make displays but also for the fact that men are prone to participate in duels with male rivals, also regarding language (Dabbs et al., 1998;Locke & Bogin, 2006). In sum, reviewing the role of language in same-sex interaction supports the basic hypothesis of this doctoral thesis, namely that language is sexually-selected, and provides an important foundation for the comparative study on the sexual selection of verbal displays by means of writing literature (see Chapter 5). ...
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Zusammenfassung: Neuere Forschung zur Evolution der Sprache und sprachlicher Darbietungen (z.B. Miller, 1999, 2000a, 2000b, 2002) legte nahe, dass Sprache nicht nur Ergebnis natürlicher Selektion ist, sondern auch als sexuell selektierter Fitnessindikator fungiert, d.h. als Anpassung, die die Angemessenheit eines Individuums als Reproduktionspartner signalisiert. Sprache wäre dem¬nach im Bereich von Konzepten wie dem Handicap-Prinzip (Zahavi, 1975) anzusiedeln. Für diese Position existieren verschiedene Gründe: Zahlreiche sprachliche Merkmale sind hoch erblich (z.B. Stromswold, 2001, 2005), während natürlich selektierte Merkmale eher gering erblich sind (Miller, 2000a). Männer neigen stärker zu sprachlichen Darbietungen als Frauen, die diese Darbietungen dafür beurteilen (Dunbar, 1996; Locke & Bogin, 2006; Lange, in Druck; Miller, 2000a; Rosenberg & Tunney, 2008). Sprachliche Gewandtheit erhöht kultur¬universal insbesondere männlichen Status (Brown, 1991). Zahlreiche linguistische Merkmale sind Handicaps (Miller, 2000a) im Zahavi’schen Sinn. Ein Großteil der Literatur wird von Männern im reproduktionsrelevanten Alter geschaffen (Miller, 1999). Es existierte jedoch weder eine experimentelle Studie, die die kausale Beziehung zwischen sprachlicher Gewandt¬heit und Attraktivität untersucht hätte noch eine Studie, die eine Korrelation zwischen Markern für literarischen Erfolg und solchen für Paarungserfolg belegt hätte. In Form der vorliegenden Studien wurde versucht, diese Lücken zu füllen. In der ersten Studie führte ich ein Laborexperiment durch. Videos, in denen sich ein Schauspieler und eine Schauspielerin jeweils sprachlich präsentierten, dienten als Stimuli für die gegengeschlechtlichen Versuchs¬personen. Der Inhalt war immer gleich, jedoch variierten die Videos in Form dreier Stufen sprachlicher Gewandtheit. Die Vorhersagen waren u.a., (1) dass sprachliche Gewandtheit den Partnerwert erhöht, aber dass dies (2) stärker auf männlichen als auf weiblichen Partnerwert zutrifft, und zwar wegen angenommener vergangener geschlechtsdifferenter Selektionsdrücke, aufgrund derer Frauen sehr wählerisch bei der Partnerwahl sind (Trivers, 1972). Eine zwei-faktorielle Varianzanalyse mit den Variablen „Geschlecht“ und „sprachlicher Gewandtheit“ als Faktoren wurde durchgeführt, wodurch die erste Hypothese mit großen Effektstärken belegt wurde. Hinsichtlich der zweiten Hypothese zeigte sich nur ein Trend in die vorhergesagte Richtung. Außerdem wurde deutlich, dass sprachliche Gewandt¬heit den Partnerwert als Langzeitpartner stärker beeinflusst als den als Kurzzeitpartner. In der zweiten Studie wurde sprachliche Gewandtheit als menstruationszyklusabhängiges Partner¬wahlkriterium untersucht. Dafür wurden die gleichen Materialien wie in der vorherigen Studie verwendet; lediglich der Fragebogen wurde leicht verändert. Die Hypothese lautete, dass fertile Frauen der sprachlichen Gewandtheit eines Mannes eine größere Bedeutung beimessen als nicht-fertile Frauen, da sprachliche Gewandtheit als Indikator für „gute Gene“ aufgefasst werden könnte. Allerdings gab es in der vorliegenden Studie kein signifikantes Ergebnis, das die Hypothese belegte. In der dritten Studie waren die Hypothesen: 1. Ein Großteil der Literatur wird von Männern im reproduktionsrelevanten Alter geschrieben. 2. Je mehr Werke von hoher literarischer Qualität ein männlicher Schriftsteller produziert, desto mehr Partner und Kinder hat er. 3. Lyriker haben einen größeren Paarungserfolg als Nicht-Lyriker, da lyrische Sprache ein größeres Handicap darstellt als andere Sprachformen. 4. Das Schreiben von Literatur erhöht den Status eines Manns derart, dass unter seinem Nachwuchs ein zu¬gunsten des männlichen Geschlechts signifikant höherer Geschlechterproporz zu finden ist als in der Normalbevölkerung, wie die Trivers-Willards-Hypothese (Trivers & Willard, 1973) bei Anwendung auf Literatur vorhersagt. Um diese Hypothesen untersuchen zu können, wurden letztlich zwei sehr bekannte Literaturkanons ausgewählt. Umfangreiche biografische Recherche wurde durchgeführt, um für jeden Autor möglichst alle Paarungserfolge in Erfahrung zu bringen. Die erste Hypothese wurde bestätigt, die zweite, mit Lebensalter als Kontrollvariable, hinsichtlich Partnerzahl, aber nicht durchgehend hinsichtlich Kinderzahl. Letzteres wurde u.a. mit Bezug auf die Verfügbarkeit effektiver Kontrazeptiva, insbesondere im 20. Jahrhundert, diskutiert. Die dritte Hypothese wurde nicht zufriedenstellend bestätigt. Die vierte Hypo¬these wurde teilweise bestätigt. Im deutschen Kanon des 20. Jh. war der sekundäre Ge¬schlechterproporz zugunsten des männlichen Geschlechts signifikant höher als der für die Normalbevölkerung angenommene.
... manner in which affective decisions and behaviors unfold. Research involving both human and nonhuman animals indicates that high basal testosterone is associated with weakened startle responses (Hermans, Putman, Baas, Koppeschaar, & van Honk, 2006) and lower stress reactivity (Dabbs, Alford, Fielden, 1998; Hermans, Putman, Baas, Gecks, Kenemans, & van Honk, 2007), impaired recognition of others' facial expressions of fear and anger (van Honk & Schutter, 2007), attenuations in empathic emotive mimicry (Hermans, Putman & Van Honk, 2006), and decreased aversion to risk (Booth, Johnson, & Granger, 1999). When making decisions in gambling tasks, women injected with testosterone switch from favoring safe bets to pursuing high-risk options with large-yielding but extremely improbable outcomes (van Honk, et al., 2004). ...
... Several behavioral endocrinology findings are consistent with the possibility that testosterone is associated with a diminished sensitivity to the affective signals which change the Moral Decisions 4 manner in which affective decisions and behaviors unfold. Research involving both human and nonhuman animals indicates that high basal testosterone is associated with weakened startle responses (Hermans, Putman, Baas, Koppeschaar, & van Honk, 2006) and lower stress reactivity (Dabbs, Alford, Fielden, 1998; Hermans, Putman, Baas, Gecks, Kenemans, & van Honk, 2007), impaired recognition of others' facial expressions of fear and anger (van Honk & Schutter, 2007), attenuations in empathic emotive mimicry (), and decreased aversion to risk (Booth, Johnson, & Granger, 1999). When making decisions in gambling tasks, women injected with testosterone switch from favoring safe bets to pursuing high-risk options with large-yielding but extremely improbable outcomes (van Honk, et al., 2004). ...
Article
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Behavioral endocrinology research suggests that testosterone may play a role in moral decision making. Studies involving human and nonhuman animals indicate that high basal testosterone is associated with decreased aversion to risk and an increased threshold for conflict, fear, stress, and threat. We tested the role of testosterone in moral decision making. We predicted and found that individuals high in testosterone are more likely to make utilitarian decisions—specifically when doing so involves acts of aggression and social cost.
... Higher levels of testosterone are associated with the pursuit of status seeking, dominance, competition, and violence (for a review see Mazur & Booth, 1998). For instance, lawyers with higher levels of testosterone are more likely to work within the adversarial field of trial law (Dabbs, Alford & Fielden, 1998) and prisoners with higher levels of testosterone are more likely to have a history of violent crime, to be rated as tougher by fellow inmates, and to violate prison rules in displays of overt confrontation (Dabbs, Carr, Frady, & Riad, 1995). Aside from competition, status seeking and dominance appear to be the two traits most reliably associated with testosterone (Booth, Granger, Mazur, & Kivlighana, 2006;Dabbs & Dabbs, 2000). ...
... For individuals high in testosterone, and thus high in power motivation, the denial of power appears to motivate them toward risk-seeking behaviors, presumably in an effort to gain or regain power. The current research suggests that inducing high-testosterone individuals to feel powerless may remove a subjective state with which they are generally accustomed, or to which they orient (Cashdan, 1995;Dabbs et al., 1998;Dabbs, de la Rue, & Williams, 1990;Josephs et al., 2006;Mazur & Booth, 1998), thereby causing them to adopt a risky frame of mind. In contrast, when high-testosterone individuals are in positions of power, they tend to be risk-averse, apparently in an effort to avoid disrupting the status quo. ...
Article
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Power has been found to increase risk-taking (Anderson & Galinsky, 2006) but this effect appears to be moderated by individual differences in power motivation (Maner, Gailliot, Butz, & Peruche, 2007). Among individuals high in power motivation, the experience of power leads to more conservative decisions. As testosterone is associated with the pursuit of power and status (Dabbs & Dabbs, 2000), we reasoned that high-testosterone individuals primed with power might be similarly risk-avoidant. Conversely, we hypothesized that high-testosterone individuals primed with low power, would see risk-taking as a vehicle for pursuing potential gains to their status and resources. We report findings from two experiments that are consistent with these predictions. In Experiment 1, higher testosterone males (as indicated by second–fourth digit ratio) showed greater risk-taking when primed with low power. Experiment 2 replicated this effect and also showed that when primed with high power, higher testosterone males took fewer risks. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... This sex steroid also appears to facilitate some forms of 'aggression' or conflict in many species of vertebrates (Brain, 1977; Archer, 1988). Some studies have even linked testosterone to a variety of social elements in humans including antisocial behavior (Banks and Dabbs, 1996), dominance (Mazur and Booth, 1998), occupational status (Dabbs et al., 1998) and prosocial behavior (Harris et al., 1996). Although not all authors agree that testosterone is associated with human aggression, Archer (1991, 1994) concludes that a variety of correlational studies favor this link. ...
... This may be due to androgens producing a higher rate of aggression leading to some rejection or through a more-or-less inverse relationship between the levels of testosterone and social skills. In adults, it has been suggested (Dabbs et al., 1998), that testosterone has an effect on achievement . Subjects with the lowest levels of testosterone held posts senior to counterparts with the highest titers. ...
Article
This study assessed potential relationships between a series of behavioral measures seen in the interactions of preschool children with their peers (particularly aggressive behavior) and testosterone levels. 28 boys and 20 girls of preschool age were videotaped in free play interactions. Their behavior was then evaluated with particular emphasis on aggression and affiliation in play and social interactions. Testosterone levels were measured using radioimmunoassay in saliva samples. Correlation analysis revealed a positive relationship in boys between testosterone and giving and receiving aggression in the context of 'social interactions' (serious aggression), but not in the context of play (playful aggresstion). Testosterone can be a useful biological marker for serious aggression (and behavioral patterns reflecting different levels of sociability) in preschool boys.
... Studies in primates often find higher T in dominant individuals [2] [3]. In humans, T is sometimes found to relate positively to status in both men and women [4] [5] [6]. The association between T and status probably is due to a bi-directional causal relationship [7]; as in other species, manipulations in status lead to changes in T in humans. ...
... The association between T and status probably is due to a bi-directional causal relationship [7]; as in other species, manipulations in status lead to changes in T in humans. For example, T rises after winning contests such as tennis matches or chess games; recent medical school graduates had higher T than other medical students [4] [8]. In turn, higher T may cause individuals to be less averse to dominance challenges from others: animals with higher T are less likely to submit and more likely to win in future challenges [1] [9] [10], and in humans, T influences the decision to re-enter competition [11]. ...
Article
Prior research [van Honk J, Tuiten A, Verbaten R, van den Hout M, Koppeschaar H, Thijssen J, de Haan E. Correlations among salivary testosterone, mood, and selective attention to threat in humans. Horm Behav 1999;36(1):17-24; van Honk J, Tuiten A, Hermans E, Putman P, Koppeschaar H, Thijssen J, Verbaten R, van Doornen L. A single administration of testosterone induces cardiac accelerative responses to angry faces in healthy young women. Behav Neurosci 2001;115(1):238-42.] showed relationships in humans between testosterone (T) and vigilance to facial expressions of anger, which are considered signals of an impending dominance challenge. In Study 1, we used a differential implicit learning task (DILT) (see [Schultheiss OC, Pang JS, Torges CM, Wirth MM, Treynor W. Perceived facial expressions of emotion as motivational incentives: evidence from a differential implicit learning paradigm. Emotion 2005;5(1):41-54.]) to investigate the degree to which subjects find anger faces reinforcing. In the DILT, separate sequences of actions were paired with presentations of anger faces, neutral faces or a blank screen. After training, performance on the three sequences was measured in the absence of face stimuli. Saliva was collected for T measurement. Higher T predicted better learning on sequences paired with sub-threshold (i.e., presented too fast for conscious awareness) anger faces, suggesting that T is related to reinforcing qualities of these faces. In Study 2, we examined whether morning or afternoon T better predicted attention and vigilance to anger faces. Participants were tested at 9:00 and 15:00. At each session, saliva was collected for T measurement, and participants completed a Stroop task and a dot-probe task [Mogg K, Bradley BP, Hallowell N. Attentional bias to threat: roles of trait anxiety, stressful events, and awareness. Q J Exp Psychol A 1994;47(4):841-64.] with facial expression stimuli. Morning (peak) T was a better predictor of responses to anger faces than afternoon T. Morning T predicted greater Stroop-like interference to sub-threshold anger faces, as well as attentional orienting away from sub-threshold anger faces. These effects were not present for joy faces or for supraliminal anger faces. T may generally decrease aversion to threatening stimuli, and/or may specifically facilitate approach towards signals of dominance challenge.
... Testosterone is correlated with, and may increase, the boldness with which individuals enter a room, and the tendency to work in public arenas, such as the theatrical stage or courtroom. Actors generally display high levels of testosterone (Dabbs et al. 1990;, and trial lawyers have 30% more testosterone than other types of lawyers (Dabbs et al. 1998). The more specific link to speech is that trial lawyers, as Philbrick (1949) wrote, " exercise their power in court by manipulating the thoughts and opinions of others " (p. ...
... v). They are, according to Dabbs and his colleagues, " good at presenting concrete details in a straight-talking and compelling way that dramatically captures the attention of a jury in trial court " (Dabbs et al. 1998, p. 91). There are obvious similarities between trial lawyers and the " Big men " of traditional societies. ...
Article
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It has long been claimed that Homo sapiens is the only species that has language, but only recently has it been recognized that humans also have an unusual pattern of growth and development. Social mammals have two stages of pre-adult development: infancy and juvenility. Humans have two additional prolonged and pronounced life history stages: childhood, an interval of four years extending between infancy and the juvenile period that follows, and adolescence, a stage of about eight years that stretches from juvenility to adulthood. We begin by reviewing the primary biological and linguistic changes occurring in each of the four pre-adult ontogenetic stages in human life history. Then we attempt to trace the evolution of childhood and juvenility in our hominin ancestors. We propose that several different forms of selection applied in infancy and childhood; and that, in adolescence, elaborated vocal behaviors played a role in courtship and intrasexual competition, enhancing fitness and ultimately integrating performative and pragmatic skills with linguistic knowledge in a broad faculty of language. A theoretical consequence of our proposal is that fossil evidence of the uniquely human stages may be used, with other findings, to date the emergence of language. If important aspects of language cannot appear until sexual maturity, as we propose, then a second consequence is that the development of language requires the whole of modern human ontogeny. Our life history model thus offers new ways of investigating, and thinking about, the evolution, development, and ultimately the nature of human language.
... So konnte kein proportionaler Zusammenhang zwischen Testosteronspiegel und Aggressivität oder Dominanz gefunden werden. Der Testosteronspiegel unterliegt darüber hinaus zirkadianen Schwankungen (Lord et al., 2014) und ist auch vom sozialen Status beeinflusst (Dabbs et al., 1990;Dabbs et al., 1998). In einer Meta-Analyse von Book et al. (2001), in die 45 Studien mit insgesamt 9.760 Probanden einbezogen wurden, konnte eine nur niedrige, wenn auch signifikante Korrelation zwischen Testosteron-Spiegel und Aggressivität (r = 0.14) gefunden werden. ...
... Females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), having been exposed to higher than normal prenatal androgen levels, and adult females affected with CAH, have been found to have a significantly higher inclination towards male-typed toys, leisure activities and occupations from childhood through adulthood, compared with females without CAH (Cohen-Bendahan et al., 2005;Frisén et al., 2009). Occupational differences in testosterone concentration have indeed been reported between different types of professionals (Dabbs et al., 1998). White et al. (2007) found that individuals with higher testosterone levels and family business backgrounds were more likely to create new business ventures. ...
Article
Males and females differ in their preference for occupations and sporting activities, and differ also in risk-taking attitudes. In addition to other explanations, prenatal hormone exposure has been implicated in these gender-associated differences. The ratio of the relative lengths of the second-to-fourth digits (2D:4D) is a proxy indicator of prenatal exposure to testosterone relative to oestrogen. The 2D:4D ratio has been found to be associated with choice of occupation, particularly among females. This study investigated whether 2D:4D differed between police officers and a control group of civilians in Wrocław, Poland. Participants were 147 male and 55 female police officers and 91 male and 75 female civilian controls. The police officers had to undergo rigorous physical ability tests during recruitment and their job bore relatively higher risk, whereas the controls had a normal civilian lifestyle. Height, weight, hand grip strength and lengths of the second and fourth digits were measured. Analyses of variance and covariance were employed to assess the significance of difference in digit ratio between groups (police officers and civilians) allowing for interaction with sex. The policewomen, compared with the female controls, were taller and had stronger hand grip strength, but had lower 2D:4D in the right hand and average 2D:4D of both hands. However, male and female police officers slightly differed only in the right hand digit ratio but not in the left hand ratio or the average for the two hands. However, the control group showed significant sex differences in all digit ratios with higher (feminine) mean values in females. The study provides further evidence that prenatal testosterone exposure, as reflected in the 2D:4D ratio, might have an association with choice of occupation, particularly among females.
... Testosterone is correlated with, and may increase, the boldness with which individuals enter a room, and the tendency to work in public arenas, such as the theatrical stage or courtroom. Actors generally display high levels of testosterone (Dabbs et al. 1990;, and trial lawyers have 30% more testosterone than other types of lawyers (Dabbs et al. 1998). ...
... Testosterone levels in men are correlated with non-economic behavior in an enormous variety of settings (Dabbs and Dabbs 2000). For example, professional football players have significantly higher testosterone levels than ministers (Dabbs, de la Rue et al. 1990) and trial lawyers have higher testosterone than non-litigators (Dabbs, Alford et al. 1998). Testosterone correlates with other competitive behaviors. ...
Article
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There is a schism within economics between the neoclassical and behavioral schools. A primary cause of the behavioral ascent is the experimental evidence of deviations between actual behavior and the neoclassical prediction of behavior. While behavioral scholars have documented these “anomalies,” they have made little progress explaining the origin of such behavior. This paper proposes a biological and evolutionary foundation for the anomalies of behavioral economics by separating proximate and ultimate causation. Such a foundation may allow for a re-uniting of economics; a neo-Darwinian synthesis of neoclassical and behavioral economics.
... Two subsequent studies, also with small sample sizes, confirmed that actors or entertainers had higher T than ministers. Several years later, Dabbs, Alford, and Fielden (1998) compared salivary T levels of lawyers, other professionals, and blue collar workers under the age of 50. Blue-collar workers (N = 2195) had significantly higher T than non-lawyer professionals (N = 928). ...
... However, the few studies that have investigated the relationship between testosterone and occupational status have found a negative relationship. Dabbs (1992) indicated that among United Services military servicemen, higher testosterone was predictive of lower occupational status, and Dabbs, Alford, and Fielden (1998) reported that among trial lawyers, those with lower testosterone actually held more senior posts. Kemper's (1990) review of the literature suggests that social status for males is positively correlated with sexuality. ...
Article
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The phenomenon of childhood bullyingisconceptualized from an evolutionary psychological perspective. In this manuscript, the research literature is examined regarding the role of the relationship between aggression, testosterone, and social status in the development and maintenance of dominance hierarchies, which involve a reciprocal relationship between physical, social, and psychological variables. The evolutionary advantage of the dominance hierarchy is explored, and it is contrasted with eminence, an alternative form of establishing social status. Childhood bullying is suggested to be one of the central mechanisms in the establishment of dominance hierarchies in school systems. Implications for prevention of and intervention in bullying for school personnel are discussed.
... For example, elevated testosterone levels in women lead to increased attention and heightened physiological responses to angry faces (van Honk et al., 1999(van Honk et al., , 2001. Furthermore, women with high testosterone levels occupy higher occupational positions compared to women with low testosterone levels (Dabbs, Alford, & Fielden, 1998;Purifoy & Koopmans, 1979). In addition, high testosterone levels have also been associated with high rank in the prison hierarchy and a history of unprovoked aggression among female prisoners (Dabbs & Hargrove, 1997;Dabbs, Ruback, Frady, Hopper, & Sgoutas, 1988). ...
Article
In this chapter we provide an overview of recent research on the biopsychological correlates of implicit motives. We review evidence for a role of gonadal steroids (testosterone and estradiol) as well as stress axis activation in power motivation arousal and satisfaction/frustration, summarize recent research on the role of progesterone and affiliation motivation, and discuss a possible role for arginine-vasopressin in achievement motivation. We also present findings from brain imaging work that indicate that the needs for power, affiliation, and achievement modulate activity in a core motivational circuit consisting of striatum, amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, and insula when nonverbal social incentives are processed.
... Initial evidence in support of the testosterone-PG link comes from studies associating testosterone with other impulsivity-related pathologies. Generally, individual differences in basal testosterone levels have been positively associated with various phenomena such as athletic ability (Edwards, Wetzel, & Wyner, 2006), social dominance (Mazur & Booth, 1998), occupational status (Dabbs, Alford, & Fielden, 1998), and new venture creation (White, Thornhill, & Hampson, 2007). As for impulsive dispositions, Dabbs and colleagues have found that testosterone levels are positively correlated with violent and aggressive behavior in both women (Dabbs & Haregrove, 1997) and men (Dabbs & Morris, 1990;Dabbs, Carr, Frday, & Riad, 1995;see Mazur & Booth, 1998 for a review). ...
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The current review article considers the relationship between testosterone and pathological gambling (PG). Recent evidence suggests that high-testosterone individuals have a greater appetite for financial risk-taking and are more likely to succumb to certain impulsivity-related pathologies. Further, two markers of androgenization have recently been shown to be predictive of financial risk-taking propensity, namely second-to-fourth digit length ratio and facial masculinity. Given that financial risk-taking propensity and PG susceptibility share neurobiological and phenomenological similarities, it is argued in this review that circulating testosterone levels, second-to-fourth digit length ratio, and facial masculinity may be predictors of PG susceptibility. Potential caveats and future research avenues are discussed.
... However, distinct social contexts within a profession can also give rise to differences in testosterone levels. Although lawyers as a group are white-collar workers, trial lawyers have significantly higher salivary testosterone than nontrial lawyers, which has been attributed to the polemical nature of face-to-face litigation (Dabbs et al. 1998). If this pattern of elevated testosterone from agonistic interactions persists across occupations, it seems reasonable to expect that men in professions with a higher intensity of competitive interaction would exhibit a greater incidence of prostate cancer. ...
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An accumulation of evidence suggests that increased exposure to androgens is associated with prostate cancer risk. The unrestricted energy budget that is typical of Western diets represents a novel departure from the conditions in which men's steroid physiology evolved and is capable of supporting distinctly elevated testosterone levels. Although nutritional constraints likely underlie divergent patterns of testosterone secretion between Westernized and non-Western men, considerable variability exists in men's testosterone levels and prostate cancer rates within Westernized populations. Here, I use evolutionary life history theory as a framework to examine prostate cancer risk. Life history theory posits trade-offs between investment in early reproduction and long-term survival. One corollary of life history theory is the 'challenge hypothesis', which predicts that males augment testosterone levels in response to intrasexual competition occurring within reproductive contexts. Understanding men's evolved steroid physiology may contribute toward understanding susceptibility to prostate cancer. Among well-nourished populations of Westerners, men's testosterone levels already represent an outlier of cross-cultural variation. I hypothesize that Westernized men in aggressive social environments, characterized by intense male-male competition, will further augment testosterone production aggravating prostate cancer risk.
... Testosterone is correlated with, and may increase, the boldness with which individuals enter a room, and the tendency to work in public arenas, such as the theatrical stage or courtroom. Actors generally display high levels of testosterone (Dabbs et al. 1990;, and trial lawyers have 30% more testosterone than other types of lawyers (Dabbs et al. 1998). ...
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Language, like other human traits, could only have evolved during one or more stages of development. We enlist the theoretical framework of human life history to account for certain aspects of linguistic evolution, with special reference to initial phases in the process. It is hypothesized that selection operated at several developmental stages, the earlier ones producing new behaviors that were reinforced by additional, and possibly more powerful, forms of selection during later stages, especially adolescence and early adulthood. Peer commentaries have provided opportunities to explain human life history more comprehensively, and to add details to our account of spoken language. We made no attempt to explain syntax in the target article, but we propose here that selection for “vocal plumage” may have increased our species’ capacity for utterance complexity, a development that would have benefited all levels of language.
... Testosterone is correlated with, and may increase, the boldness with which individuals enter a room, and the tendency to work in public arenas, such as the theatrical stage or courtroom. Actors generally display high levels of testosterone (Dabbs et al. 1990;, and trial lawyers have 30% more testosterone than other types of lawyers (Dabbs et al. 1998). ...
Article
The uniqueness of human cognition and language has long been linked to systematic changes in developmental timing. Selection for postnatal skeletal ossification resulted in progressive prolongation of universal patterns of primate growth, lengthening infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Language emerged as communication increased in complexity within and between communities rather than from selection for some unique features of childhood or adolescence, or both.
... Precisely why these differences occur remains to be established, but those who invoke cultural explanations should take note: there are sex differences in aggression in the other primates (Wrangham The trait of human language and Peterson 1996), and there are congruent findings from human endocrinology. Abnormally high levels of prenatal androgen are associated with increased masculine play behavior in girls (Berenbaum and Hines 1992), and there are indirect links, in men, between testosterone and verbal competition (Dabbs et al. 1998). ...
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To fully understand human language, an evolved trait that develops in the young without formal instruction, it must be possible to observe language that has not been influenced by instruction. But in modern societies, much of the language that is used, and most of the language that is measured, is confounded by literacy and academic training. This diverts empirical attention from natural habits of speech, causing theorists to miss critical features of linguistic practice. To dramatize this point, I examine data from a special population––the canal boat children of early twentieth century England––whose language developed without academic influence, but was evaluated using instruments designed primarily for academic use. These data, taken together with related research, suggest that formal instruction can convert language from a purely biological trait that was selected, to a talent that was instructed, while altering the users of language themselves. I then review research indicating that formal instruction can also mask or distort inter-sexual differences in the social applications of language, a significant handicap to evolutionary theorizing. I conclude that if biological theories of language are to succeed, they must explain the spontaneous speaking practices of naturally behaving individuals.
... Several behavioral endocrinology findings are consistent with the possibility that testosterone is associated with a diminished sensitivity to the affective signals which change the manner in which affective decisions and behaviors unfold. Research involving both human and nonhuman animals indicates that high basal testosterone is associated with weakened startle responses (Hermans, Putman, Baas, Koppeschaar, & van Honk, 2006) and lower stress reactivity (Dabbs, Alford, & Fielden, 1998; Hermans et al., 2007), impaired recognition of others' facial expressions of fear and anger (van Honk & Schutter, 2007), attenuations in empathic emotive mimicry (), and decreased aversion to risk (Booth, Johnson, & Granger, 1999). When making decisions in gambling tasks, women injected with testosterone switch from favoring safe bets to pursuing high-risk options with large-yielding but extremely improbable outcomes (van Honk et al., 2004 ). ...
Article
Behavioral endocrinology research suggests that testosterone may play a role in moral decision making. Studies involving human and nonhuman animals indicate that high basal testosterone is associated with decreased aversion to risk and an increased threshold for conflict, fear, stress, and threat. We tested the role of testosterone in moral decision making. We predicted and found that individuals high in testosterone are more likely to make utilitarian decisions—specifically when doing so involves acts of aggression and social cost.
... Studies on the causal effects of testosterone on aggressive and dominance-related behavior are consistent with findings from correlational studies on testosterone and behavior. For instance, trial lawyers who argue in front of judge and jury are more likely to have high testosterone levels than lawyers not representing their clients in court (Dabbs, Alford, & Fielden, 1998). Prisoners with high testosterone are more likely to have a history of violent crime and to have other prisoners rate their behavior as more aggressive (Dabbs et al., 1991;Kreuz & Rose, 1972). ...
Article
Attempts to link testosterone to dominance dispositions using self-report measures of dominance have yielded inconsistent findings. Similarly, attempts to link testosterone changes to a situational outcome like winning or losing a dominance contest have yielded inconsistent findings. However, research has consistently shown that an indirect measure of an individual's dominance disposition, implicit power motivation, is positively related to baseline testosterone levels and, in interaction with situational outcomes, predicts testosterone changes. We propose a hormonal model of implicit power motivation that describes how testosterone levels change as an interactive function of individuals' implicit power motivation and dominance situations. We also propose that estradiol, and not testosterone, plays a key role in dominance motivation in women.
... These studies of the causal effects of T on aggressive and dominance-related behavior are consistent with findings from correlational studies on T and behavior. For instance, trial lawyers who visibly argue in front of judge and jury are more likely to have high T levels than lawyers not representing their clients in court (Dabbs et al., 1998). Prisoners with high T are more likely to have a history of violent crime and to have other prisoners rate their behavior as more aggressive Kreuz & Rose, 1972). ...
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The present research explored relationships between individual differences in motivational states (basal testosterone levels (study 1), implicit power motivation (study 2), implicit sexual motivation (study 3)) and both biology and behavior (brain responses to dominance signals (study 1), steroid hormone levels (study 2), and operant conditioning (study 3). Testosterone is positively linked to dominance behavior in men. However, little is known about the moderating effects of testosterone in the human brain in the context of dominance. Study 1 used fMRI to measure amygdala BOLD response to interpersonal dominance signals of threat (anger faces) as a function of endogenous testosterone levels in 24 participants (10 men). Men???s, but not women???s, amygdala BOLD response to anger faces was negatively correlated with their endogenous testosterone levels. Study 2 investigated basal and dynamic relationships between implicit power motivation (n Power) and both salivary estradiol and testosterone in women. During a laboratory dominance contest, participants competed in pairs on a cognitive task and contest outcome (win vs. loss) was experimentally varied. Estradiol and testosterone levels were determined in saliva samples collected at baseline and several times post-contest, including one day post-contest. n Power was positively associated with basal estradiol concentrations. Women???s estradiol responses to a dominance contest were influenced by the interaction of n Power and contest outcome: Estradiol increased in power-motivated winners but decreased in power-motivated losers. Lastly, n Power and estradiol did not correlate with self-reported dominance and correlated negatively with self-reported aggression. Self-reported dominance and aggression did not predict estradiol changes as a function of contest outcome. Overall, n Power did not predict basal testosterone levels or testosterone changes as a function of dominance contest outcome. In study 3, using a newly-created method, implicit sexual motivation themes were coded in participants??? creative stories. To assess the predictive validity of coding implicit sexual motivation in creative stories, an operant conditioning paradigm was employed, which assessed the rewarding properties of visual sexual stimuli. Implicit sexual motivation was positively associated with implicit learning to achieve visual sexual reward, and this effect was particularly strong in men.
... Elevated testosterone in women enhances physiological and attentional responses to angry faces (van Honk et al., 1999van Honk et al., , 2001). High-testosterone women occupy higher positions than low-testosterone women in social hierarchies (e.g., Dabbs, Alford, & Fielden, 1998; Purifoy & Koopmans, 1979). Furthermore, female prisoners who rank high in the prison hierarchy or have a history of unprovoked aggression have high levels of testosterone (Dabbs & Hargrove, 1997; Dabbs, Ruback, Frady, Hopper, & Sgoutas, 1988). ...
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The authors review a range of evidence concerning the motivational underpinnings of anger as an affect, with particular reference to the relationship between anger and anxiety or fear. The evidence supports the view that anger relates to an appetitive or approach motivational system, whereas anxiety relates to an aversive or avoidance motivational system. This evidence appears to have 2 implications. One implication concerns the nature of anterior cortical asymmetry effects. The evidence suggests that such asymmetry reflects direction of motivational engagement (approach vs. withdrawal) rather than affective valence. The other implication concerns the idea that affects form a purely positive dimension and a purely negative dimension, which reflect the operation of appetitive and aversive motivational systems, respectively. The evidence reviewed does not support that view. The evidence is, however, consistent with a discrete-emotions view (which does not rely on dimensionality) and with an alternative dimensional approach.
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In this theoretical article, the authors turn to the analysis of studies explaining the origin and revealing the functions and meaning of human oral speech within the framework of an evolutionary approach. First of all, the authors are interested in the influence of sexual selection on the development of verbal skills in different age and gender groups. In this regard, the data of the history of the human life cycle are of particular interest, which indicate that the mastery of language as a tool for influencing and manipulating the opinions of others approaches an advanced level of proficiency only at the time of puberty, and speech, thus, begins to play an important role in intersex competition. Rapidly developing with the onset of puberty, the ability to performative vivid performances, to defend their position, as well as to conduct debates in public, apparently, can be guided by the forces of sexual selection, and therefore, they should manifest themselves more clearly in men than in women. It is assumed that verbal mastery can serve as a means of actively attracting attention for the purpose of self-promotion and improving the social status of the speaker. The methodological basis of our work was largely the analysis of ethnographic sources. In the article, the authors cite extensive ethnographic material confirming the connection of high social status with oratorical abilities. The authors also turn to the latest research that analyzes the differences in performative speech between men and women. Experimental work shows that in a conversation with an attractive woman, men tend to be more creative in choosing words and expressions. Some researches consider the connection of various aspects of speech with the attractiveness of the speaker, his masculinity and adaptability. Of great interest are studies studying the relationship between musical abilities and attractiveness, as well as works analyzing the articulatory features of oral speech and their connection with belonging to a certain social environment or social class. All the features of speech given in the review could most likely have been formed by the pressure of the forces of sexual selection. In this regard, the study of sexual dimorphism seems to be one of the most important directions in the research of performative speech.
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Lawyer personalities are often characterized in a negative manner in popular culture and some scholarly sources, and how and when lawyer personality traits develop remains to be fully explored. This study serves to eliminate this ambiguity by analyzing two fundamental questions: what lawyer attributes are and when they develop with respect to endeavors within the legal field. Using grounded theory and abductive methods, a qualitative strategy centralized around providing more individualistic perspectives through a linguistic focus, I surveyed 10 individuals practicing and pursuing legal careers and analyzed 20 interviews across various forms of media to clarify lawyer personality traits on the following dimensions: relating to self vs. relating to others, cognitive- vs. emotion- focused, and characterizing the development of these traits as happening via either attraction to – or selection by – the field of law itself. I uncovered thirteen major lawyer qualities: analytical, empathetic, money-driven, argumentative, self-aware, deceptive, ambitious/challenge-oriented, organized/time management, competitive, confrontational, prestige-driven, arrogant, and persistent. I also found that these attributes develop both inherently and as a product of education and experience. The implications for both theory and practice include combating negative stereotypes for lawyers and gaining comprehension of human behavior in the legal profession, which may further aid aspiring lawyers in their selecting and in job matching.
Chapter
This chapter describes the relationship between human neuroanatomy and selected motivations that underlie learning and performance. Although specific biopsychological correlates of motivation are debated, strong multi-disciplinary evidence reveals that incremental changes within the human nervous and endocrine systems are correlated with organized behavior. First, a myriad of interpretive issues regarding physiological data are presented, along with practical applications for the use of biopsychological findings. Next, key findings relating to variables commonly believed to subsume performance motivation are discussed, including biological correlates of power, affiliation, achievement, pleasure, and pain. Finally, the heritable and evolutionary nature of motivated behavior is reviewed.
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Legal practitioners operate in an environment of seemingly endless ethical challenges, and against a backdrop of diminishing public opinion about their morality. Based on extensive research, Assessing Lawyers' Ethics argues that lawyers' individual ethics can be assessed and measured in realistic frameworks. When this assessment takes place, legal practitioners are more likely to demonstrate better ethical behaviour as a result of their increased awareness of their own choices. This book advocates a variety of peer-administered testing mechanisms that have the potential to reverse damaging behaviours within the legal profession. It provides prototype techniques, questions and assessments that can be modified to suit different legal cultures. These will help the profession regain the initiative in ethical business practice, halt the decline in firms' reputations and reduce the risk of state-sponsored regulatory intervention.
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Why did President John F. Kennedy choose a strategy of confrontation during the Cuban missile crisis even though his secretary of defense stated that the presence of missiles in Cuba made no difference? Why did large numbers of Iraqi troops surrender during the Gulf War even though they had been ordered to fight and were capable of doing so? Why did Hitler declare war on the United States knowing full well the power of that country? War and Human Natureargues that new findings about the way humans are shaped by their inherited biology may help provide answers to such questions. This seminal work by former Defense Department official Stephen Peter Rosen contends that human evolutionary history has affected the way we process the information we use to make decisions. The result is that human choices and calculations may be very different from those predicted by standard models of rational behavior.
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Designed for educators, researchers, practitioners, or anyone interested in maximizing human potential, Motivation for Learning and Performance outlines 50 key motivation principles based on the latest scientific evidence from the disciplines of psychology, education, business, athletics, and neurology. Using a highly applied and conversational style, the book is designed to inform the reader about how to diagnosis, analyze, and mediate learning and performance challenges influenced by motivation. The book features chapters on the biopsychology of motivation, how motivation changes across the lifespan, and the important influence of culture on motivated behavior. Three chapters are devoted to practical strategies and the implementation of motivational change. Special sections are included on enhancing motivation at work, in the classroom, in competitive environments, and during online education. Hoffman employs the innovative approach of using his interviews with "real" people including many notable personalities across diverse cultures and disciplines to illustrate motivated behavior. For example, readers will learn what motivated the colossal investment fraud masterminded by Bernie Madoff, the intimate thoughts of former NFL superstar Nick Lowery when he missed a field goal, and the joys and tribulations of Emmy-nominated "Curb your Enthusiasm" actress Cheryl Hines. The book provides a practical, applied, and multi-disciplinary resource for anyone interested in motivation and performance, but especially for university students at the graduate or undergraduate level studying education, psychology, business, leadership, hospitality, sports management, or military science. Additionally, the writing style and eclectic nature of the text will appeal to readers of non-fiction who can use the book to gain self-awareness to enhance performance of themselves or others. • Considers motivation for both learning and performance • Identifies 50 foundational principles relating to motivation • Provides research evidence supporting the foundational principles • Includes interviews from famous individuals, identifying what motivated them and why • Includes research from psychology, education, neuroscience, business, and sports • see: www.booksite.elsevier.com/9780128007792 for supplementary materials.
Article
There has been increasing evidence that androgen exposure affects interest in various occupations in sex-specific ways. But the most recent large scale study in this area (Hell & Päβler, 2011) was based on online surveys of occupational interest rather than actual choices. Our paper is based on a large scale survey of working age Russians from the Moscow region who also consented to have measurements of their fingers taken. Using the Holland classification of job types, we observed that women in enterprising occupations exhibited lower measured 2D:4D ratios (higher prenatal testosterone exposure) than average while those in conventional and social work had higher 2D:4D ratios. There were also a number of significant differences in average 2D:4D ratios between people in different occupational groups. In general it is consistent with views that low 2D:4D is associated with more male-specific interests and high 2D:4D with more stereotypical female interests. But interpretation of the results depends on the relative accuracy of the Holland typology and may be influenced by the fact that similar groupings may mask different types of jobs for men and women within the same Holland occupational class.
Article
This study hypothesized that the facial WHR of celebrity endorsers is associated with their endorsement income. Our sample consisted of the top 100 male and female celebrity endorsers (male = 50 and female = 50) in Seoul. The average annual total endorsement income of celebrity endorsers in 2012 was 1,691,924formaleendorsersand1,691,924 for male endorsers and 1,684,474 for female endorsers. A statistical analysis demonstrated a significant negative correlation between celebrity endorsers’ facial WHR and their endorsement income in 2012 among male (r = −.390, p = .007, n = 47) but not among female (r = .166, p = . 248, n = 50) endorsers. Our findings imply that males with narrower faces are more popular among the media as well as among advertisers. Our study is the first to explore the relationship between physical features, such as facial WHR and monetary income in the entertainment industry.
Article
Digit ratio (2D:4D) is a negative correlate of prenatal testosterone. The current study tested the hypothesis that 2D:4D would be associated with the type of military service chosen by young Korean males. Our sample consisted of 128 young males aged 22–26 years (M = 24.32, SD = 0.89). We measured the 2D:4D on the participants’ right hands and explored its relationship to their selection of one of four branches of military service. Statistical analysis found no significant differences among the four branches of military service but supported our hypothesis of significant group differences in 2D:4D between Marines and all non-Marines. As expected, members of the Marine Corps demonstrated the lowest digit ratios, whereas those in the Army showed the highest. The average 2D:4D was 0.94 (SD = 0.05) for the Marine Corps, 0.95 (SD = 0.07) for the Air Force, 0.96 (SD = 0.06) for the Navy, and 0.97 (SD = 0.06) for the Army. Our research found evidence of small but significant group differences in 2D:4D among members of different branches of military service. We conclude that low 2D:4D is related to the risk and severity associated with the type of military training selected by recruits.
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Testosterone affects the behavior of adults, but little is known about how it might affect the behavior of children. The few available studies of children have focused on aggression, hyperactivity and other behavior disorders. The present study involved 37 normal children, 15 boys and 22 girls. Of these, 25 were prepubertal, age 3–8, and 12 were at the early stages of puberty, age 9–12. The children provided saliva samples for testosterone assay and their parents rated them on moodiness, attachment, sociability, hyperactivity/distractiblity and adaptability. Overall, testosterone was associated with high moodiness and low attachment. Testosterone was also associated with low sociability, but only in the prepubertal group. It appears that testosterone is related to independent and unsociable behavior in very young children and that this relation is moderated by the approach and onset of adolescence. Additional research is needed on causal relations between testosterone and behavior in children and on how early childhood testosterone levels might contribute to later adult behavior.
Article
The stormy development of vocal production during the first postnatal weeks is generally underestimated. Our longitudinal studies revealed an amazingly fast unfolding and combinatorial complexification of pre-speech melodies. We argue that relying on “melody” could provide for the immature brain a kind of filter to extract life-relevant information from the complex speech stream.
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Why do people get involved in the creation of new ventures? Prior research suggests entrepreneurial behavior has multiple causes. Nurture explanations; often couched in terms of sociological theories like social learning have been popular. Aspects of nascent entrepreneurs' social contexts, notably their family business background, have been associated with new venture creation. But nature also appears to play a role. Other research has linked heritable biological factors, including testosterone, with the career choice to launch a new venture. This study presents theory and evidence linking the combination of both sociological and biological factors with new venture creation: a biosocial model of entrepreneurship. Empirical results indicate new venture creation is more likely among those individuals having a higher testosterone level in combination with a family business background. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Article
The present study related personality and testosterone to the work of fighting fires and providing emergency medical service (EMS). One hundred ninety-five urban male firefighters completed questionnaires and provided saliva samples for testosterone assay and experts rated their firefighting and EMS performance. Preference for firefighting over EMS work was predicted by the characteristics of fearlessness, low communion, low openness, and low agreeableness. Firefighting performance was predicted by agency, fearlessness, extraversion, and low openness, and EMS performance was predicted by extraversion. Firefighting was also related to interactions of testosterone with extraversion and agency, and EMS performance was related to an interaction of testosterone with conscientiousness. Testosterone appears to facilitate the behavior of individuals along directions they are already inclined to take.
Article
Testosterone and other anabolic-androgenic steroids enhance athletic performance in men and women. As a result, exogenous androgen is banned from most competitive sports. However, due to variability in endogenous secretion, and similarities with exogenous testosterone, it has been challenging to establish allowable limits for testosterone in competition. Endogenous androgen production is dynamically regulated by both exercise and winning in competition. Furthermore, testosterone may promote athletic performance, not only through its long-term anabolic actions, but also through rapid effects on behavior. In women, excess production of endogenous testosterone due to inborn disorders of sexual development (DSD) may convey a competitive advantage. For many years, female competitors have been subject to tests of sexual genotype and phenotype known as gender verification. Although gender verification has not identified any normal man competing as a woman, this process has identified women athletes with DSD. As understanding of DSD has expanded in recent years, women with DSD are increasingly able to continue athletic competition.
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Testosterone is positively associated with risk-taking behavior in social domains (e.g., crime, physical aggression). However, the scant research linking testosterone to economic risk preferences presents inconsistent findings. We examined the relationship between endogenous testosterone and individuals' economic preferences (i.e., risk preference, ambiguity preference, and loss aversion) in a large sample (N = 298) of men and women. We found that endogenous testosterone levels have a significant U-shaped association with individuals' risk and ambiguity preferences, but not loss aversion. Specifically, individuals with low or high levels of testosterone (more than 1.5 SD from the mean for their gender) were risk and ambiguity neutral, whereas individuals with intermediate levels of testosterone were risk and ambiguity averse. This relationship was highly similar in men and women. In contrast to received wisdom regarding testosterone and risk, the present data provide the first robust evidence for a nonlinear association between economic preferences and levels of endogenous testosterone.
Article
The study of the biological underpinnings of behavior is in its nascent stages in the field of management. We study how the hormone testosterone (T) is related to status and collective efficacy in a group. We assessed salivary testosterone of 579 individuals in 92 teams. We find that T does not predict status within the group. We also tested the effects of a mismatch between T and status in the group on the collective efficacy of the group. Using a novel slope-as-predictor multilevel structural equation model, we find that the greater the mismatch between T and status in the group (i.e., the more negative the within-group correlation among T and status), the lower is the collective efficacy of the group. We discuss the implications of our findings for the study of the biological underpinnings of group behavior in organizations.
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This research explores whether male risk taking emerges as a sexual display strategy in the presence of attractive women. Experiments 1 to 3 explored whether young males reported and engaged in more risk taking after viewing pictures of highly attractive females. Possible self-control mechanisms were investigated via working memory, reversal learning, and Stroop tasks. In addition, second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) was measured as a proxy for individual differences in testosterone. Viewing pictures of highly attractive females led to greater self-reported risk-taking. 2D:4D was found to moderate the effect on risk-taking behaviours, with increases for high, but decreases for low testosterone males. Digit ratio also moderated the effects observed on the Stroop and reversal learning tasks. Experiments 4 and 5 extended these findings to examine how power interacts with testosterone to influence risk taking and inhibitory control. As testosterone is as-sociated with the pursuit of power and status (Dabbs & Dabbs, 2000), high testoster-one individuals primed with power were expected to have little reason to disrupt the status quo and thus should be risk-avoidant. Conversely, high-testosterone individuals primed with low power were expected to use risk taking as a vehicle for pursuing po-tential gains to their status and resources. The findings from two experiments are con-sistent with these predictions. In Experiment 1, higher testosterone males (as indicated by second–fourth digit ratio) showed greater risk-taking when primed with low power. Experiment 2 replicated this effect and also showed that when primed with high power, higher testosterone males took fewer risks. The influence of power on Stroop performance was also moderated by individual differences in testosterone. Par-ticipants primed with high power showed better Stroop performance if they were lower in testosterone, whereas participants primed with low power showed better Stroop performance if they were higher in testosterone. These results suggest that greater executive control accompanies but does not underlie enhanced risk taking, caused by testosterone and power. Finally, results from a field experiment (Experiment 6) with skateboarders demon-strate that physical risk taking by young male skateboarders increases in the presence of an attractive female. This increased risk taking led to more successes but also more crash landings in front of the female observer. Mediational analyses suggest that this increase in risk taking is caused in part by elevated testosterone levels of men who performed in front of the attractive female. In addition, skateboarders’ risk taking was predicted by their performance on a reversal-learning task, reversal-learning perform-ance was disrupted by the presence of the attractive female, and the female’s presence moderated the observed relationship between risk taking and reversal learning. These results suggest that men use physical risk taking as a sexual display strategy, and they provide suggestive evidence regarding possible hormonal and neural mechanisms.
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Testosterone levels have been shown to decrease in the face of social defeat in several mammalian species. Among humans, the loss of social status has been studied primarily in the context of athletic competition, with winners having higher testosterone levels than losers. This study examined testosterone levels in relation to peer victimization (bullying) in a sample of 151 boys and girls aged 12-13. Statistically controlling for age and pubertal status, results indicated that on average verbally bullied girls produced less testosterone and verbally bullied boys produced more testosterone than their nonbullied counterparts. Similar trends were evident comparing social and physical bullying with testosterone. Sex differences are discussed in terms of empirically validated differences in coping styles, as girls tend to internalize, whereas boys tend to externalize, their abuse.
Article
The purpose of this study was to identify physiological markers of chronic stress in middle-aged women that can be assessed simply and are thus feasible for introduction into large-scale, epidemiologic studies of aging. Subjects were 40 nonsmoking, premenopausal women between the ages of 42 and 52 years, 20 of whom were chronically stressed because of undergoing a divorce or separation and 20 of whom were nonstressed because of being in stable marriages. Stressed and nonstressed women were matched for age, ethnicity, and education. Hypotheses focused on morning and evening salivary cortisol, overnight urinary catecholamines, cortisol, and testosterone, and platelet catecholamines. Relative to the nonstressed control subjects, the stressed women had elevated evening (9 PM) salivary cortisols, a finding that was observed on both days (mixed effects model: effect = 0.44; se = 0.14, p =.003). Support for the importance of the HPA axis was provided by the observation that the stressed women had less suppression of salivary cortisol in response to low-dose dexamethasone. Contrary to our hypothesis that stressed women would have lower overnight urinary testosterone, they had higher testosterone on day 2 (stressed = 0.76 ng/mg, nonstressed = 0.55 ng/mg; p =.04). Post hoc repeated measures analysis revealed a significant group effect over all time periods of observation (F = 5.48, p =.03, df = 1,18). Stressed women had a nonsignificant trend toward elevated platelet catecholamines. No association was found for overnight urinary catecholamines or cortisol. Promising markers of marital upheaval in middle-aged women are evening salivary cortisol and urinary testosterone from a first morning void. Replication of these findings with the same and different chronic stressors and with women of older ages is needed. The low cost and minimal burden of these potential markers makes it feasible to introduce them into large-scale epidemiologic studies of health in aging women.
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This study explores the potential relationship between social behavior (aggression, dominance, and affiliation) and testosterone, androstenedione, and DHEA measurements in 5-year-old children while also analyzing the moderating effect of IQ on the hormone-behavior relationship. 129 healthy normal Iberian children (60 boys and 69 girls) were videotaped in free play interactions in the school playground. Their behavior was then evaluated with particular emphasis on aggression, government, and affiliation. Testosterone, androstenedione, and DHEA levels were measured using an enzyme immunoassay technique in saliva samples. A test (K-BIT) which provides an IQ measurement for children was also administered to subjects. The correlation analysis revealed a positive relationship between the behavioral factor of Provocation and androstenedione in boys, and a regression analysis indicated that this relationship was moderated in a positive direction by the subject's intelligence. In girls, we observed a positive relationship between testosterone and Affectivity, with this relationship being moderated in a negative direction by intelligence.
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This paper describes a biosocial model of status in face-to-face groups. It argues that status ranks are allocated among members of a group through face-to-face interaction and that the allocation process is similar across each primate species, including humans. Every member of a group signifies its rank through physical or vocal demeanor. For example, behavioral signs of dominant status include erect posture, glares, eye contact, strutting, and (in humans) assertive speech. Individuals whose behaviors exhibit dominance show high or rising levels of testosterone compared to those who exhibit deference. Testosterone and dominance are reciprocally related. The model relies more on research on males than on females. It is proposed as a theory about both sexes, but with a caution that little is known about sex differences in the relation of hormones to dominance behavior.
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Occupational differences in testosterone concentrations, focusing on actors and ministers, were explored in 3 studies. The 1st examined salivary testosterone in 7 occupational groups and an unemployed comparison group and found actors and football players higher than ministers but no other significant differences. The 2nd examined salivary testosterone in 2 kinds of actors (stage actors and comedians) and 2 kinds of ministers (pastoral ministers and missionaries) and found actors high and ministers low but no differences between subgroups within each occupation. The 3rd examined serum testosterone in entertainers and ministers in an archival sample of military veterans and found entertainers high and ministers low. The results are interpreted in terms of dominance and antisocial tendencies, with the conclusion that these variables are complex and can affect occupational preference in subtle ways.
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Comments on the original article by L. A. Marascuilo (see record) which discusses large-sample multiple comparisons. An alternative to Marascuilo's χ2 analogue of Scheffé's theorem for performing tests on multiple linear contrasts among proportions coming from K independent populations is described. Based on the arcsin transformation of p, the proposed alternative is suitable for small samples and is computationally simpler. Tests of complex contrasts are also exemplified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
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An excellent correlation was found between salivary testosterone (T) and serum T concentrations, as measured by RIA. Using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, we have demonstrated that sex steroid-binding globulin could not be identified in the saliva of men with serum sex steroid-binding globulin. After exogenous T administration, saliva and serum T rose abruptly and in parallel. Salivary T concentrations in male patients with thyrotoxicosis were similar to those in normal males, whereas the serum T and sex steroid-binding globulin values were significantly higher in the hyperthyroid patients. This study demonstrates that salivary T levels may be used as an index of free serum T.
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The reliability of salivary testosterone assays was evaluated by nine laboratories in four countries. Each laboratory used its own RIA procedures to assay samples from a set of 100 male and 100 female subjects. Agreement among the laboratories on mean scores was within the range reported by Read (Ann N Y Acad Sci 1993; 694: 161-76). Overall agreement on individual scores, as indicated by the intraclass correlation coefficient computed within subjects across laboratories, was r = 0.87 for men and r = 0.78 for women. Mean agreement between each laboratory and the combined set of all other laboratories (via Fisher's Z-transformation) was r = 0.61 for men and r = 0.58 for women. We take these latter values to be the best estimates of the average reliability of laboratories in their ordering of individual samples.
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The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.
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Two hypotheses have been offered to explain the relation between testosterone and antisocial behavior in delinquent and criminal populations. One is that testosterone leads directly to antisocial behavior. The other is that a constellation of dominance, competitiveness, and sensation seeking associated with testosterone leads to either antisocial or prosocial behavior, depending upon an individual's resources and background. Analysis of archival data from 4,462 U.S. military veterans supported the first hypothesis: Testosterone was correlated with a variety of antisocial behaviors among all individuals. However, socioeconomic status (SES) proved to be a moderating variable, with weaker testosterone-behavior relationships among high SES subjects.
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We examine the relationship of testosterone to tendencies to marry and divorce, and to the quality of marriage, of a large representative sample of men. The analysis shows that men producing more testosterone are less likely to marry and more likely to divorce. Once married they are more likely to leave home because of troubled marital relations, extramarital sex, hitting or throwing things at their spouses, and experiencing a lower quality of marital interaction. Sociological models that might be informed by this finding are examined, and its implications for subsequent research are discussed.
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Previous studies have found that writing about upsetting experiences can improve physical health. In an attempt to explain this phenomenon, 72 first-year college students were randomly assigned to write about either their thoughts and feelings about coming to college or about superficial topics for three consecutive days. Measures of language use within the writing samples and cognitive measures of accessibility and schematic organisation were collected in the weeks before and after writing. As in previous studies, writing about college was found to reduce health centre visits for illness and to improve subjects' grade point average. Text analyses indicated that the use of positive emotion words and changes in words suggestive of causal and insightful thinking were linked to health change. Improved grades, although not linked to these language dimensions, were found to correlate with measures of schematic organisation of college-relevant themes. Implications for using written language to understand cognitive and health processes are discussed.
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A series of experiments demonstrated the influence of multiple environmental and social variables upon circulating testosterone levels in the rhesus monkey. Independent and interaction effects were revealed and a complex model was required to relate the action of these variables to particular measured levels of hormone. The generality of this model is being tested by comparisons with available human data and by extension of the studies to several additional Old World monkeys.Initial experiments included regularly scheduled sampling from 41 adult and eight juvenile rhesus monkey males. The subjects were maintained in stable or manipulated social groups and studied longitudinally with samples obtained before, during and after each experimental manipulation. The following factors were shown to influence levels of circulating testosterone: (1) ontogenetic status, (2) circadian rhythms, (3) relative access to females, (4) season (seasonal mating typical of rhesus), (5) alterations in social rank and (6) “successful” and “unsuccessful” agonistic encounters.Attempts to clarify the relationship between behavior and hormones must account for these (and perhaps other) stimulus variables. Although such a model may be highly complex, it does permit some predictive success and appears compatible with available human data. Further comparative studies will indicate the extent to which this model may be extrapolated to humans.
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The hormone testosterone (T) has a central role in recent theories about allocation of status ranks during face-to-face competition. It has been methodologically convenient to test the hypothesized T mechanism in physically taxing athletic contests, where results have been supportive, although their generalizability to normal social competition is questionable. Competition among chess players is a step closer to normal social competition because it does not require physical struggle, and it is the arena for tests of the T mechanism which are reported here. We find that winners of chess tournaments show higher T levels than do losers. Also, in certain circumstances, competitors show rises in T before their games, as if in preparation for the contests. These results generally support recent theories about the role of T in the allocation of status ranks.
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Men with higher levels of serum testosterone have lower-status occupations, as indicated by archival data from 4,462 military veterans in six U.S. census occupational groups. This finding supports a structural equation model in which higher testosterone, mediated through lower intellectual ability, higher antisocial behavior, and lower education, leads away from white-collar occupations. The model is plausible because testosterone levels are heritable and available early enough to affect a number of paths leading to occupational achievement. Prior research has related testosterone to aggression in animals and men, and high levels of testosterone presumably evolved in association with dominance in individual and small-group settings. It appears an irony of androgens that testosterone, which evolved in support of a primitive kind of status, now conflicts with the achievement of occupational status.
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In a study of possible links between testosterone and dominance, 119 men and 114 women provided saliva samples for testosterone assay and posed smiling and not smiling for portrait photographs. Expert judges viewing the photographs found smaller smiles among high than low testosterone men, with less zygomatic major (raising the corners of the mouth) and orbicularis oculi (raising the cheeks and crinkling around the corners of the eyes) muscle activity. Naive judges viewing individual photographs gave higher potency ratings to smiling high testosterone men than smiling low testosterone men. Naive judges viewing photographs grouped into high and low testosterone sets gave higher potency and lower goodness ratings to high than to low testosterone men, regardless of whether they were smiling. Among women, judges found only slight relationships between testosterone and facial appearance. The pattern among men of less smiling with higher testosterone levels fits with research linking testosterone to face-to-face dominance.
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Testosterone, crime, and prison behavior were examined among 692 adult male prison inmates. Testosterone was measured from saliva samples, and behavior was coded from prison system records. Inmates who had committed personal crimes of sex and violence had higher testosterone levels than inmates who had committed property crimes of burglary, theft, and drugs. Inmates with higher testosterone levels also violated more rules in prison, especially rules involving overt confrontation. The findings indicate differences between low and high testosterone individuals in the amount and pattern of their misbehavior.
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In view of previous studies showing that testosterone increases persistence of food searching in chicks, a single factorially-designed experiment was carried out to investigate whether a similar phenomenon occurs in male mice. Using a runway test, it was found that testosterone, injected into castrated mice, did increase persistence. It was also shown that intact males resembled more the testosterone-injected than control-injected castrates, and that females resembled neither intact males nor either group of castrates. A larger number of training trials was found to affect feeding latencies in a similar way to testosterone. Comparison of two strains differing in emotional reactivity (BALB/c and Porton) showed differences consistent with their reactivity levels.
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Animal studies show clear evidence for a causal link between testosterone and aggression. This review assesses studies involving androgens, principally testosterone, and human aggression. Evidence for a possible effect of prenatal androgens is inconclusive. In adults, higher testosterone levels are found in groups selected for high levels of aggressiveness. Correlations between testosterone and aggression were low when hostility inventories were used, but higher (r = .38) when aggressiveness was rated by others. Regression analysis data and studies of boys at puberty were inconclusive. Other studies show that the outcome of aggressive and competitive encounters can alter testosterone levels, thus confounding interpretation of the correlational evidence. The design of future studies to reveal evidence of a causal link is considered. Suggestions concerning two important methodological problems, the experimental manipulation of hormone levels and the nature of the dependent variable, are made.
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Salivary testosterone measurements would appear to be useful in behavioral research, where subjects are often reluctant to provide serum samples. The usefulness of salivary measurements depends upon their reliability, however, which was the focus of the present investigation. In four studies, 270 male and 175 female subjects collected saliva samples at times ranging from 30 min to 8 weeks apart. Subjects collected samples on at least two days, at time of awakening, midmorning, late afternoon, and late evening. Mean testosterone concentration dropped about 50% from morning to evening for both sexes, with largest drops early in the day. Mean reliability was r = .64 across two days and r = .52 across seven-eight weeks. Menstrual cycle effects were negligible. Reliability can be increased by using more than one measurement, and it is probably desirable to combine measurements taken several weeks apart. Salivary assays offer a practical way of measuring testosterone in free-ranging subjects outside the laboratory.
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Testosterone and cortisol were measured in six university tennis players across six matches during their varsity season. Testosterone rose just before most matches, and players with the highest prematch testosterone had the most positive improvement in mood before their matches. After matches, mean testosterone rose for winners relative to losers, especially for winners with very positive moods after their victories and who evaluated their own performance highly. Winners with rising testosterone had higher testosterone before their next match, in contrast to losers with falling testosterone, who had lower testosterone before their next match. Cortisol was not related to winning or losing, but it was related to seed (top players having low cortisol), and cortisol generally declined as the season progressed. These results are consistent with a biosocial theory of status.
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Blood and saliva samples were obtained from 117 healthy young men, following which radioimmunoassays were used to determine the serum concentrations of testosterone (Tser), 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and the level of free testosterone (Tsal) in the saliva. The cognitive functioning was determined by five spatial and six verbal ipsative test scores, reflecting intra-individual variance in the performance of these tasks, independent of the person's general level of achievement. Within the normal physiological range of androgen levels--especially Tser and to a lesser extent DHT and Tsal--showed a significantly positive correlation with measures of spatial ability and field dependence-independence and a significantly negative correlation with measures of verbal production.
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WE have found that testosterone markedly increases the persistence with which male chicks respond to a particular type of stimulus. The data reported here are from search tests, but the effect has now been confirmed in discrimination and open-field tests. Apparently similar effects of androgens on cognitive processes in men have recently been described1,2, so that it is possible that we are dealing with an effect which is present in both birds and mammals.
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Androgens are often associated with assertive behavior; under what circumstances is this reflected in higher dominance rank? In this study of coresidential college women, androgens (total testosterone, free testosterone, and androstenedione) and estradiol were positively correlated with high self-regard in women (as measured by the degree to which subjects over-ranked themselves in a peer-ranking task) and with infrequent smiling, a behavior that has been associated with dominance in previous studies. Androgens and estradiol were also positively correlated with number of sexual partners. The behaviors engendered by these hormones are often positively correlated with high dominance rank, at least in males. In this population, however, high rank (as judged by peer assessments) was negatively correlated with androgens, particularly androstenedione, and showed a negative trend with estradiol as well. One possible interpretation of these findings is suggested by an evolutionary perspective that sees different routes to status among women who compete for resources directly and women who obtain resources through investing males.
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Although human aggression is frequently inferred to parallel aggression based on testosterone in nonprimate mammals, there is little concrete support for this position. High- and low-aggression individuals do not consistently differ in serum testosterone. Aggression does not change at puberty when testosterone levels increase. Aggression does not increase in hypogonadal males (or females) when exogenous testosterone is administered to support sexual activity. Similarly, there are no reports that aggression increases in hirsute females even though testosterone levels may rise to 200% above normal. Conversely, castration or antiandrogen administration to human males is not associated with a consistent decrease in aggression. Finally, changes in human aggression associated with neuropathology are not consistent with current knowledge of the neural basis of testosterone-dependent aggression. In contrast, human aggression does have a substantial number of features in common with defensive aggression seen in nonprimate mammals. It is present at all age levels, is displayed by both males and females, is directed at both males and females, and is not dependent on seasonal changes in hormone levels or experiential events such as sexual activity. As would be expected from current knowledge of the neural system controlling defensive aggression, aggression in humans increases with tumors in the medial hypothalamus and septal region, and with seizure activity in the amygdala. It decreases with lesions in the amygdala. The inference that human aggression has its roots in the defensive aggression of nonprimate mammals is in general agreement with evidence on the consistency of human aggressiveness over age, with similarities in male and female aggressiveness in laboratory studies, and with observations that some neurological disturbances contribute to criminal violence. This evidence suggests that human aggression has its biological roots in the defensive aggression of nonprimate mammals and not in hormone-dependent aggression based on testosterone.
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Salivary testosterone and cortisol levels were measured in 36 U.S. college students and 29 delinquent participants of a similar age. Both groups of participants were made up of White men and women. The delinquent group, which was characterized by flamboyant dress, drug use, and violence, had significantly higher testosterone levels than the college students did, but the two groups did not differ regarding cortisol levels. Testosterone and cortisol were positively correlated in the women.
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The Automatization cognitive style is defined as greater ability (Strong Automatization) or lesser ability (Weak Automatization) to perform simple repetitive tasks than expected from the individual's general level of ability. Previous work suggested that Strong and Weak Automatizers differ from each other physically as well as cognitively. The present paper examines the physical attributes of Strong and Weak Automatizers in a sample of 48 male college students and in a second sample of 46 male high school students. Significant differences obtained in each sample suggested that the Strong Automatizers are relatively thick, heavy-set, hirsute individuals compared to Weak Automatizers. Results are discussed in the context of the literature on adolescent growth and endocrine functions.
Living with defeat. Litigation
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Hormones, sex, and status in women Hormones and Be-havior Serum 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin levels in U.S. Army Vietnam-era veterans
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Gonadal hormones and human cognitive development Hormones, brain and behavior in vertebrates. 1. Sexual differentiation, neuroanatomical aspects, neurotransmitters and neuro-pepides. Comparativephysiology (pp. 5 1-63) Martindale-Hubbell law directory
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Testosterone, search behavior and persis-Archer Testosterone and persistence in mice The influence of testosterone on human aggression
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The effect of testosterone (T) on cognition in hypogonadal men . Paper presented at the International Endocrine Society meeting
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