AGGRESSION AND TESTOSTERONE - TESTING A BIO-SOCIAL MODEL

Based upon reports of a positive correlation between circulating testo sterone levels and aggression, we draw upon evolutionary psychology to place the action of testosterone in a broader perspective. We propose that testosterone affects competitive status-seeking and that under c ertain circumstances (including youth) this is expressed as aggression . Involvement in aggression in turn is associated with adherence to an instrumental social representation of aggression which justifies aggr ession as a means of imposing control over others and increasing self- esteem. Measures of salivary testosterone, masculinity, preferred soci al representation of aggression, and multiple aggression scales were c ollected from an undergraduate sample of 119 men. An Aggression factor was derived from principle components analysis of the aggression meas ures. The strongest correlates of Aggression were holding an instrumen tal social representation of aggression and youth. Testosterone showed no significant relationship to the single or aggregate measures of ag gression or to any of the other psychometric measures. We suggest ways in which previous work may have over-estimated the strength of the as sociation between circulating testosterone and aggression and discuss the possible relationships between age, social representation, and agg ression. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.