The Effect of Prenatal Sex Hormones on the Development of Verbal Aggression

摘要

This article considers the neuroendocrine factors leading to systematic differences in trait verbal aggression (VA). Verbally aggressive people produce messages that attack the self-concept of another (D. A. Infante & C. J. Wigley, 1986). A neuroendocrine factor, prenatal androgen exposure (PNAE), was proposed as a possible predictor of VA. To explore this possibility, the relationship between the ratio between the length of the second digit and fourth digit (2D:4D), an indicator of PNAE, and VA was examined across 2 studies. Specifically, it was predicted that variance in PNAE would be correlated with variance in trait VA. Results from the 2 studies indicated that 2D:4D is correlated with VA as predicted, even with the influence of sex removed.