{"id":5961,"date":"2017-08-02T05:11:36","date_gmt":"2017-08-02T05:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ibpsych.themantic-education.com\/?p=5961"},"modified":"2017-08-02T05:11:36","modified_gmt":"2017-08-02T05:11:36","slug":"key-study-testosterone-and-aggression-in-rats-albert-et-al-1986","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/02\/key-study-testosterone-and-aggression-in-rats-albert-et-al-1986\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Study: Testosterone and aggression in rats (Albert et al. 1986)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The material here was originally published in\u00a0IB Psychology: A Student’s Guide.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Males are more aggressive than females in almost every species. Why is this? One possible reason could be in the influence of the male sex hormone, testosterone<\/strong>. Testosterone is produced in the testes of males, which could be why males are more aggressive than females. While it is also produced in the ovaries of females, this is at a much lower rate. Perhaps it doesn’t come as a surprise that there have also been correlations found between violent crime and testosterone levels (e.g. Dabbs et al., 1997 as cited in Batrinos, 2012; you can read more here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Numerous animal studies have shown that castration (cutting out the testicles) will reduce the aggressive tendencies in males. The following study by Albert et al. (1986) is a good example of a well-controlled experiment that demonstrates a causational relationship between testosterone levels and aggression.<\/p>\n

Word to the wise: this study doesn’t show\u00a0how\u00a0<\/strong>testosterone influences aggression, only that it does. Other studies in the criminology chapter (e.g. Goetz et al. and Radke et al.) provide better evidence explanations for the relationship between testosterone and aggression.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Albert et al. (1986) wanted to investigate the effects of changing testosterone levels on the aggressiveness of male rats. They placed rats in cages and identified the alpha males. An alpha male is the leader of the colony. In animals, this is typically the biggest and strongest. The term can be applied to any animal group, including humans. So the researchers identified the alpha males and they measured their aggression levels when there was a non-aggressive rat placed in the same cage. They measured aggression by recording behaviours such as biting.<\/p>\n

After they measured the aggression levels they divided the alpha males into four
\nseparate groups to undergo four separate surgeries:
\nA. Castration
\nB. Castration followed by implanting of tubes with testosterone
\nC. Castration followed by implanting of empty tubes
\nD. A \u201csham\u201d castration followed by implanting of empty tubes (this means they would have cut open the rat and sewn it back up without actually removing the testicles).<\/p>\n

They then measured the change in aggression when non-aggressive rats were introduced to the cage. Those that had the operations that reduced testosterone levels (e.g. Group A and C) had a decrease in aggressiveness (e.g. attacking and biting) but those that had the operations that kept testosterone levels in tact (Group B and D) didn\u2019t have a significant change in aggression levels.<\/p>\n

This evidence by itself demonstrates a correlation between testosterone and aggression. It was followed by a second operation so that those that had the surgery that decreased testosterone had another operation that increased testosterone (e.g. Group C had their tubes filled with testosterone). Those alpha rats that had their testosterone replaced showed returned levels of aggressiveness similar to those in the \u201csham\u201d castration group.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the researchers observed that when a subordinate male (one that is not the alpha) is placed in the same cage as an alpha rat that has been castrated the lower rat (subordinate) becomes the dominant (alpha) rat in the cage. Also, when a rat that had the sham operation is put in a cage with a castrated rat, the sham operation rat shows higher levels of aggression. This suggests that testosterone may facilitate behaviour associated with social dominance in rats. By experimenting on rats, researchers are able to determine correlations between biological factors and behaviour. Albert et al. were able to manipulate levels of testosterone and conclude that levels of testosterone affect aggression.<\/p>\n

You can see the advantages of using a laboratory experiment to manipulate variables in Albert et al.\u2019s study. By measuring effects of aggression on manipulations of testosterone levels, a clear cause-effect relationship can be determined.<\/p>\n

\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Albert, D. J., M. L. Walsh, B. B. Gorzalka, et al. \u201cTestosterone Removal
\nin Rats Results in a Decrease in Social Aggression and a Loss of Social
\nDominance.\u201d Physiology & Behavior. U.S. National Library of Medicine.<\/p>\n

You can find the original study here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The material here was originally published in\u00a0IB Psychology: A Student’s Guide. Males are more aggressive than females in almost every species. Why is this? One possible reason could be in the influence of the male sex hormone, testosterone. Testosterone is produced in the testes of males, which could be why males are more aggressive than females. While it is also … <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biological-psychology","category-criminology"],"yoast_head":"\nKey Study: Testosterone and aggression in rats (Albert et al. 1986) | The IB Psychology Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the role of testosterone in male aggression through animal studies and controlled experiments. 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It's also called\u00a0external validity and it refers to the extent to which we could expect the same results in a different context (i.e. do the results apply beyond the study, external to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Studies and Theories"","block_context":{"text":"Studies and Theories","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/studies-and-theories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/pexels-photo-1844648.jpeg?fit=960%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/pexels-photo-1844648.jpeg?fit=960%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/pexels-photo-1844648.jpeg?fit=960%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/pexels-photo-1844648.jpeg?fit=960%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6705,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-understanding-conclusions-from-studies\/","url_meta":{"origin":5961,"position":1},"title":"Lesson Idea: Understanding conclusions from studies","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"08\/15\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"For years I underestimated just how complex psychology studies are at first glance for brand new IB Psychology students, so I've made a deliberate effort in my new course to have a real gradual introduction into studies. 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But there haven't been many studies that show exactly\u00a0how\u00a0testosterone may cause aggressive behaviours. The amygdala is a part of the brain associated with emotional response and it prepares our body for fight or flight.\u00a0Goetz et al hypothesized\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Biological Psychology"","block_context":{"text":"Biological Psychology","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/biological-psychology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/bigstock-angry-6244050.jpg?fit=857%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/bigstock-angry-6244050.jpg?fit=857%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/bigstock-angry-6244050.jpg?fit=857%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/bigstock-angry-6244050.jpg?fit=857%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8581,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/10\/03\/how-does-testosterone-influence-aggression\/","url_meta":{"origin":5961,"position":4},"title":"How does testosterone influence aggression?","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"10\/03\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Understanding how testosterone can influence aggression can be a little tricky, so this post is designed to provide extra help. This post is designed to support the materials in Topic 2.4 of our textbook, IB Psychology: A Student's Guide. 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It has contributed significantly to our understanding of the brain as it has enabled psychologists to study veterans who have damage to particular areas of the brain and compare\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Biological Psychology"","block_context":{"text":"Biological Psychology","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/biological-psychology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/us-army-troops-taking-break-while-on-patrol-in-vietnam-war.jpg?fit=834%2C579&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/us-army-troops-taking-break-while-on-patrol-in-vietnam-war.jpg?fit=834%2C579&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/us-army-troops-taking-break-while-on-patrol-in-vietnam-war.jpg?fit=834%2C579&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/us-army-troops-taking-break-while-on-patrol-in-vietnam-war.jpg?fit=834%2C579&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}