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You got a problem with testosterone, Jocko?

IT IS A MIXED BAG . . .

TO WIT:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3693622/

Atavistic residues of aggressive behavior prevailing in animal life, determined by testosterone, remain attenuated in man and suppressed through familial and social inhibitions.

However, it still manifests itself in various intensities and forms from; thoughts, anger, verbal aggressiveness, competition, dominance behavior, to physical violence. Testosterone plays a significant role in the arousal of these behavioral manifestations in the brain centers involved in aggression and on the development of the muscular system that enables their realization.

There is evidence that testosterone levels are higher in individuals with aggressive behavior, such as prisoners who have committed violent crimes.

Several field studies have also shown that testosterone levels increase during the aggressive phases of sports games. In more sensitive laboratory paradigms, it has been observed that participant’s testosterone rises in the winners of; competitions, dominance trials or in confrontations with factitious opponents.

Aggressive behavior arises in the brain through interplay between subcortical structures in the amygdala and the hypothalamus in which emotions are born and the prefrontal cognitive centers where emotions are perceived and controlled.

The action of testosterone on the brain begins in the embryonic stage. Earlier in development at the DNA level, the number of CAG repeats in the androgen receptor gene seems to play a role in the expression of aggressive behavior.

Neuroimaging techniques in adult males have shown that testosterone activates the amygdala enhancing its emotional activity and its resistance to prefrontal restraining control.

This effect is opposed by the action of cortisol which facilitates prefrontal area cognitive control on impulsive tendencies aroused in the subcortical structures.

The degree of impulsivity is regulated by serotonin inhibiting receptors, and with the intervention of this neurotransmitter the major agents of the neuroendocrine influence on the brain process of aggression forms a triad. Testosterone activates the subcortical areas of the brain to produce aggression, while cortisol and serotonin act antagonistically with testosterone to reduce its effects.

Keywords: Testosterone, Cortisol, Serotonin, Aggressiveness

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https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-testosterone-alone-doesnt-cause-violence/

"Strange but True: Testosterone Alone Does Not Cause Violence"

"Hormones don't necessarily make men violent, but they do cause them to seek social dominance"

It's commonly assumed that testosterone, that stereotypically male hormone, is intimately tied to violence. The evidence is all around us: weight lifters who overdose on anabolic steroids experience "roid rage," and castration—the removal of the source of testosterone—has been a staple of animal husbandry for centuries.

But what is the nature of that relationship? If you give a normal man a shot of testosterone, will he turn into the Incredible Hulk? And do violent men have higher levels of testosterone than their more docile peers?

"[Historically,] researchers expected an increase in testosterone levels to inevitably lead to more aggression, and this didn't reliably occur," says Frank McAndrew, a professor of psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. Indeed, the latest research about testosterone and aggression indicates that there's only a weak connection between the two. And when aggression is more narrowly defined as simple physical violence, the connection all but disappears.

"What psychologists and psychiatrists say is that testosterone has a facilitative effect on aggression," comments Melvin Konner, an anthropologist at Emory University and author of The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit. "You don't have a push-pull, click-click relationship where you inject testosterone and get aggressiveness."

Castration experiments demonstrate that testosterone is necessary for violence, but other research has shown that testosterone is not, on its own, sufficient. In this way, testosterone is less a perpetrator and more an accomplice—one that's sometimes not too far from the scene of the crime.

For example: regardless of their gender, the most violent prisoners have higher levels of testosterone than their less violent peers. Yet scientists hypothesize that this violence is just one manifestation of the much more biologically and reproductively salient goal of dominance.

"It has been suggested that the antisocial behaviors related to high testosterone are a function of the manner by which dominance is maintained in these groups," says Robert Josephs of the University of Texas at Austin. In other words, if researchers were to study other groups of folks, say the rich and famous, they might discover that testosterone is connected not to violence, but to who drives the biggest SUV or has the nicest lawn. As Josephs put it: "Perhaps slipping a shiv into your neighbor's back might play in the penitentiary, but it probably won't earn you any status points in Grosse Pointe."

One psychologist, James Dabbs of Georgia State University in Atlanta, made a career out of conducting studies connecting testosterone to every kind of lifestyle imaginable. In his book Heroes, Rogues and Lovers, he noted that athletes, actors, blue-collar workers and con men tend to have higher levels of testosterone than clerks, intellectuals and administrators.

What Dabbs didn't address was whether this correlation was the cause or an effect of the environment these men found themselves in. Which is to say, are high-testosterone males more likely to become violent criminals, or does being a violent criminal raise a man's level of testosterone?

No one really knows the answer, but a growing body of evidence suggests that testosterone is as much the result of violence as its cause. Indeed, both winning a sporting match and beating an opponent at chess can boost testosterone levels. (On the other hand, losing a sporting match, growing old and becoming obese all reduce levels of testosterone.)

"The causal arrow goes both ways," says Peter Gray of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, whose own work shows that marriage and fatherhood lower testosterone levels. "There's evidence in humans that, just as in animals, testosterone is responsive to male-male competition."

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https://www.academia.edu/22213818/The_relationship_between_testosterone_and_aggression_a_meta-analysis

"The relationship between testosterone and aggression: a meta-analysis"

The relationship between testosterone and aggression:a meta-analysis

Angela S. Book*, Katherine B. Starzyk, Vernon L. Quinsey Psychology Department, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6

Received 15 November 1999; accepted 30 March 2000

Revealed a moderate--weak correlation 0.14

http://socialethology.com/testosterone-the-hormone-of-aggression

SOCIAL ETHOLOGY

"TESTOSTERONE--THE HORMONE OF AGGRESSION?"

Testosterone deserves a special approach. Studies on the impact of this hormone on the aggressive behavior are being carried out for centuries. It is well known that, in animal world, for example in birds, the individuals who have a higher level of testosterone behave more aggressively and they can even attack their brothers; they are more combative, more sexually active and bolder in claiming or searching for food [Müller et al., 2014].

When it comes to human species, the important role of testosterone in forming the aggressive and dominating character, especially in men, has been proved [Mazur, Lamb, 1980; Mazur, Booth, 1998; Archer, 2006]. In one of the studies, it has been found that the level of testosterone in delinquents that have been convicted for crimes that implied unprovoked violence is higher than in those who have been convicted for nonviolent crimes, and this trait is characteristic both for men and women [Kreuz, Rose, 1972; Dabbs et al., 1988].

As regarding the impact of testosterone on the induction of a deviant behavior, the Evolutionary Neuroandrogenic Theory has been proposed, which states that the masculine sexual hormones (androgenes), testosterone in the first place, have a specific influence on neural processes, are responsible for a competitive behavior and create a predisposition towards criminality. These types of behavior have evolved especially in men, in order to boost their ability to obtain resources, social status and sexual partners [Ellis, 2003, 2004]. It is why the usage of medical or sportive drugs that contain testosterone (Anabolic Androgenic Steroids) could develop a higher aggressiveness among men, which leads to the fact that they get engaged more often in violent acts [Pope et al., 2000; Beaver et al., 2008].

It is important to stress that the high level of testosterone will not always cause a violent, egoistic and antisocial behavior, towards the members of one’s own group. When their native group is engaged in a competition with a foreign group, the effects of testosterone are completely different and men will display the so-called „parochial altruism”: the favoritism and in-group cohesion, as well as out-group hostility will increase.

Men with a high level of testosterone in their blood will suddenly become more generous towards their group members and, at the same time, more aggressive towards the foreign rivals; they will be more willing to risk for the sake of their group, to engage in competition and fights for the common good and to punish those who cheat or refuse to fight for the group’s cause. This altruist behavior of self-sacrifice usually applies only to competition and intergroup conflicts. Therefore, testosterone does not necessarily induce antisocial attitudes and actions, but is rather involved in a much more complex behavioral mechanism, which has an adaptive role [Diekhof et al., 2014].

We also have to understand that the effects of testosterone on behavior are not unidirectional; the testosterone does not necessarily raise the overall level of violence, but rather the motivation of individuals to assert themselves and to compete for a higher social rank. And it already depends on the personality of the individual and his lifestyle whether this rank can be obtained by means of violence or other, more intelligent, methods.

Psychologists have examined the criminal incidences of 4.462 men whose level of testosterone was measured way back when they served in the army. They have found out that the level of testosterone is strongly associated with an antisocial behavior, but only in individuals who were living in unfavorable social conditions. More exactly, from the same sample of people with high level of testosterone, the educated individuals from the upper classes were able to ensure a high social status by means of financial, academic, political and bureaucratic competition, while those who were socially disadvantaged, without higher education and career, have showed they inclination towards competition in the area of criminal activities, by directly using their inner predisposition towards aggression [Dabbs, Morris, 1990].

Other studies have shown that the presence of a high level of testosterone in blood can make individuals act aggressively only when injustice is done. Particularly, experiments carried out on women have shown that testosterone could be associated with the desire for justice and righteousness in social relationships [Burns, 2011]. What we do understand is that the environment and social context partially affect the parameters of the manifestation of some predispositions that are caused by androgen hormones, by stimulating those predispositions, decreasing or redirecting them.

As a general conclusion, it appears that people who have a specific genetic or hormonal status are more prone towards agonistic behavior than their peers and that in certain social conditions it is harder for them to control their impulses. Therefore, it is no wonder that predictions regarding the behavior of individuals can be made based on the analysis of their hormonal content.

Thus, in a research that has been carried on male minors, the salivary concentration of three hormones has been carried out: testosterone, cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone, and the results have shown a clear correlation between the concentration of these hormones and aggressiveness; the minors who had a higher salivary concentration of these hormones demonstrate a higher degree of aggression [Barzman et al., 2013].

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