Steven Crane Compiled Section Handouts. Human Behavioral Biology 2012

Acute environmental triggers of aggression: Releasing Stimuli
What are some primate releasing stimuli for aggression?

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  Stress, pain, and frustration.
  
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  Taking out aggression on those under you works out great for baboons' stress levels. Might explain something
  

about your future boss…

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  Ex: rape seen in baboons in cases of displaced aggression after alpha male jerks are dumped off their thrones. Does crowding cause aggression?
  
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  Same story that comes up over and over: it exacerbates pre-existing tendencies. Makes unaggressive individuals less aggressive. Makes aggressive individuals more aggressive.
  

Hormones in adulthood influencing aggression

What does testosterone have to do with aggression?

• SAME story as with T and sexual behavior

• So elevated T within normal physiological ranges does not cause increased aggressive behavior.

Could you say T causes aggression?

• No! It's about modulating aggression. Add T to the amygdala (and do nothing else) and it doesn't fire more, but when it is stimulated from some other structure, far more likely to fire.

What is the challenge hypothesis for aggression?

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  T generates aggression when resources are being challenged.
  
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  But it also generates pro-social behavior if being pro-social is what it takes to defend resources.
  
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    More cooperation in the ultimatum game where you have to be prosocial to win money (a resource). Who is our big exception to typical sex patterns in T and aggression? What are the patterns in this exception?
    
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