Commentary: Exogenous Testosterone Rapidly Increases Aggressive Behavior in Dominant and Impulsive Men

摘要

I read with interest a research report, “Exogenous testosterone rapidly increases aggressive behavior in dominant and impulsive men” by Carré et al. that was recently published in Biological Psychiatry (1). Healthy adult men were administered either testosterone or placebo, and then engaged in a decision-making game that assesses aggressive behavior in response to social provocation. The researchers also examined the extent to which testosterone influence on aggressive behavior depends on variability in trait dominance and/or trait self-control. The authors observed that exogenous testosterone on its own did not modulate aggressive behavior. However, they found that testosterone can quickly (within 60 min) potentiate aggressive behavior among men with dominant or impulsive personality styles. More specifically, testosterone increased aggressive behavior, but only among men scoring high in trait dominance or men scoring low in trait self-control. There was no effect of testosterone on aggressive behavior in men scoring low in trait dominance or high in trait self-control.