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In Men, 'Trigger-Happy' May Be a Hormonal Impulse
NY Times ^ | May 9, 2006 | BENEDICT CAREY

Posted on 05/09/2006 3:17:18 AM PDT by Pharmboy

Handling a gun stirs a hormonal reaction in men that primes them for aggression, new research suggests.

Psychologists at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., enrolled 30 male students in what they described as a taste study. The researchers took saliva samples from the students and measured testosterone levels.

They then seated the young men, one at a time, at a table in a bare room; on the table were pieces of paper and either the board game Mouse Trap or a large handgun.

Their instructions: take apart the game or the gun and write directions for assembly and disassembly.

Fifteen minutes later, the psychologists measured saliva testosterone again and found that the levels had spiked in men who had handled the gun but had stayed steady in those working with the board game.

The "taste sensitivity" phase of the experiment was in fact intended to measure aggressive impulses. After the writing assignment, the young men were asked to rate the taste of a drink, a cup of water with a drop of hot sauce in it. They were then told to prepare a drink for the next person in the experiment, adding as much hot sauce as they liked.

"Those who had handled the gun put in about three times as much as the others — 13 grams on average, which is a lot," said Tim Kasser, one of the authors. He worked with Francis McAndrew, also of Knox, and Jennifer Klinesmith, a former student who had the idea for the study, due to appear in Psychological Science.

Critics of research linking guns to aggressiveness have argued that people who handle guns in experiments tend to act out or think violent thoughts simply because they sense the expectations of the experimenters. The same could be true of this study:

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: 2a; 2ndamendment; bang; banglist; bradycampaign; firearms; guncontrol; gungrabbers; guns; handguncontrolinc; hci; hoplophobia; junkscience; men; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; nyslimes; nytimes; rkba; secondamendment; testosterone
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Well, that does it for me--guns increase testosterone? Let's get the guns OFF the streets--NOW!/sarcasm

Guns and testosterone: BOTH GREAT.

1 posted on 05/09/2006 3:17:20 AM PDT by Pharmboy
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To: All

OPINION: NY Times...an example of the LSM, MSM, TOM (thanks backhoe for the TOM).

---

OPINION 2: Women appreciate guys who know how to use their guns responsibly.


2 posted on 05/09/2006 3:26:03 AM PDT by Cindy
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To: Pharmboy
They then seated the young men, one at a time, at a table in a bare room

Hmm. Maybe it was the bare room that stirred their hormonal reaction.

3 posted on 05/09/2006 3:27:14 AM PDT by beyond the sea ("If you see strange men lurking about in groups of three - especially in North Carolina, RUN!)
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To: Pharmboy

The study makes perfect sense to me. If a woman is looking for a mate, is she going to pick the guy with the big gun, or the one with the mouse trap?


4 posted on 05/09/2006 3:27:29 AM PDT by Trteamer ( (Eat Meat, Wear Fur, Own Guns, FReep Leftists, Drive an SUV, Drill A.N.W.R., Drill the Gulf, Vote)
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To: backhoe; Myrddin; ExSoldier; HipShot; copguy; Miami Vice

ping.


5 posted on 05/09/2006 3:27:38 AM PDT by Cindy
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To: Jeff Head; Travis McGee

ping


6 posted on 05/09/2006 3:28:27 AM PDT by Cindy
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To: Pharmboy

GET SOME!


7 posted on 05/09/2006 3:30:29 AM PDT by roaddog727 (eludium PU36 explosive space modulator)
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To: Pharmboy

Was this a dummy gun or a real one. If it were real, the test would have required selecting guys who knew about guns in the first place. If they were so screened, especially if the gun knowledgeable were only assigned to the gun room and not the Mouse Trap room, that means a bogus test.


8 posted on 05/09/2006 3:31:00 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
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To: Pharmboy

Yeah... I don't really see the problem here.....


9 posted on 05/09/2006 3:33:56 AM PDT by tcostell
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To: roaddog727

LOL!


10 posted on 05/09/2006 3:35:21 AM PDT by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they must)
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To: Pharmboy

People handling a gun that have no experience with one should trigger serious emotions. Guns are made to kill. People tend to fear them for that reason.

I'd guess most men have an increase in testosterone when they feel fear, whether they show it or not.

Duh...


11 posted on 05/09/2006 3:37:04 AM PDT by DB (©)
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To: Pharmboy

Probably safe to assume that the writer Benedict, like the rest of the crew at the NYT, don't suffer from any abundance of testosterone.


12 posted on 05/09/2006 3:38:48 AM PDT by digger48
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To: DB

Again, we talking real gun or, say, a cap pistol or a puzzle assembled model gun. Many adult men are old enough to have been a boy when playing with toy guns was common. Maybe they remember fun times of playing war, cops-n-robbers or cowboys-n-injuns.


13 posted on 05/09/2006 3:40:12 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
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To: Pharmboy

They should re-do the test and tell the participants that all liberals have been cleared from within a 100 mile radius.

Might reduce the natural responses we all have to danger.


14 posted on 05/09/2006 3:41:01 AM PDT by Grateful One
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To: Pharmboy

The conclusion is clear--gun increase your taste sensitivity to spicy foods. Szechuan lovers beware that visit to the range before dinner.


15 posted on 05/09/2006 3:41:57 AM PDT by ahayes (Yes, I have a devious plot. No, you may not know what it is.)
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To: Pharmboy
This is my rifle this is my gun, this is for fighting and this is for fun!


Testosterone are us. Get over it, and be happy.




16 posted on 05/09/2006 3:41:57 AM PDT by G.Mason (And what is intelligence if not the craft of outthinking our adversaries?)
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To: ahayes

Or does it cut the taste sensitivity? Maybe the gun guys believed the sauce itself to be less potent than the Mouse Trap guys.


17 posted on 05/09/2006 3:44:55 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
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To: bang_list

does this work?


18 posted on 05/09/2006 3:45:34 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
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To: DB

Very astute observation. I swear, liberalism is a mental disorder.


19 posted on 05/09/2006 3:46:44 AM PDT by rlmorel ("Innocence seldom utters outraged shrieks. Guilt does." Whittaker Chambers)
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To: Pharmboy

Guys should start working out in a room with walls covered in guns, by benchpressing a rocket launcher!


20 posted on 05/09/2006 3:47:39 AM PDT by okiecon
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