Background :

1. Peterson and Harmon-Jones 2011. Anger and Testosterone: Evidence That Situationally-Induced AngerRelatestoSituationally-InducedTestosterone Background: The relation between aggression and testosterone has alwaysbeen a questionablelink. In fact: testosterone is onlyresponsible for a small portion of aggressive behaviour. And some studies haveshown no connection at all (Archer, Graham-Kevan, & Davies 2005). Instead, researchers now believe that testosterone plays a role in a broader picture involving power and dominance (Archer, 2006; Eisenegger, Naef, Snozzi, Heinrichs, & Fehr, 2009) But angeris a kind of socialdominancephenomenon, so testosterone must berelatedtotheemotion of anger.

2. Peterson and Harmon-Jones 2011. Anger and Testosterone: Evidence That Situationally-Induced Anger RelatestoSituationally-InducedTestosterone Aim: Measuringchanges in saliverytestosterone and it’s relation to anger. Anger was evoked using Cyberball, a computer balltossgame that can be used to evoke social rejection. Thisparticularparadigm was chosen for inducing anger because of its known ability to evoke anger in an experimentally-controlled manner. Theypredictedthatanger evoked in this paradigm would relate to testosterone. Also measuring cortisol but it was not anticipated that this would make any difference since it is involved in stress and fear.

3. Peterson and Harmon-Jones 2011. Anger and Testosterone: Evidence That Situationally-Induced AngerRelatestoSituationally-InducedTestosterone Method: Forty-three (18 male) nonsmoking introductory psychology students 18–20 years old were run between 12:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. toreducediurnal(dygnsrytm) influence. Saliva sample was taken after playing the ball-toss game and they were told that they were playing against two other contestors. They were told that when they received the ball, they were to press the right button to throw to the player on their right, and the left button to throw to the player on their left. When the game was over (approximately 4 min later), participantscompletedquestionnairesassessingtheirself-reported anger. And a second salivasample.

4. Peterson and Harmon-Jones 2011. Anger and Testosterone: Evidence That Situationally-Induced AngerRelatestoSituationally-InducedTestosterone Results/Discussion: As predicted, an increase in testosterone was associated with greateranger. The present research provides the first evidence demonstrating that testosterone relates to the subjective experience of anger. These results concur with distinct theories that posit that anger and testosterone are associated with attempts to exert power, control, and dominance over others. In the case of ostracism, in which basic needs such as belonging and control are threatened anger may fuel behaviors directed at regaining a sense of control over the social situation. Consistently, angry responses to ostracism have been shown to relate to approach motivated patterns of relative left frontal cortical activity, which may also aid in attempts at regaining social control

5. Peterson and Harmon-Jones 2011. Anger and Testosterone: Evidence That Situationally-Induced AngerRelatestoSituationally-InducedTestosterone

6. Peterson and Harmon-Jones 2011. Anger and Testosterone: Evidence That Situationally-Induced AngerRelatestoSituationally-InducedTestosterone Questions: What about the research methods? Are they precise, has the study enough validity which means is it measuring what it claims to do? Is it really anger they are meausuring? What about the hormone. Read about hormones in CC. Gender differences and testosterone? And the PoS. What’s your opinion concerning testosterone and aggression: is it a bidirectional relation or is one of them the independent variable?

7. Kosfeld 2005Oxytocinincreases trust in humans. Background: Trust is important in all human societies – it is the basis of all cooperative endeavors such as trade as well as being the foundation of family life. But mammals, such as humans, also have a propensity to insist on personal space and personal interest, so that any infringement is associated with unpleasant emotions such as fear and anger. Oxytocin has recently been discovered to be connected to the formation of social attachments in romantic and friendship relationships. It is also important in child-birth, and may be important in the establishment of mother-child attachment after birth.

8. Kosfeld 2005Oxytocinincreases trust in humans. Aim: Kosfeld wanted to investigate the role that oxytocin plays in establishing trustful relationships between humans, and to make this influence distinct from overall increase in risk-taking behavior.

9. Kosfeld 2005Oxytocinincreases trust in humans. Results: Data analysis showed a statistically significant difference between the oxytocin group and the placebo group when it came to investing money with a human trustee, but not in a computer trustee.

10. Kosfeld 2005Oxytocinincreases trust in humans. Conclusion: Kosfeld concluded that Oxytocin causes increased trust, rather than increased general risk taking, in human subjects.

11. Kosfeld 2005Oxytocinincreases trust in humans. Questions: Kosfeld

12. Klinesmith 2006. Guns, testosterone, and aggression: An experimental test of a mediational hypothesis Background: Many studies have shown a connection between levels of testosterone and aggression in animals. Studies have also supported the link between testosterone and competitive behaviour in humans. There is also substantial evidence that the presence of a gun increases aggressive behaviour, but no research had previously linked guns, testosterone, and aggression.

13. Klinesmith 2006. Guns, testosterone, and aggression: An experimental test of a mediational hypothesis Aim: Klinesmith et al. hypothesized that testosterone acts as a mediator – a connecting and enabling link – between guns and aggression.

14. Klinesmith 2006. Guns, testosterone, and aggression: An experimental test of a mediational hypothesis Method: Subjects were told that they would participate in an experiment on taste perception. They were first led to a room (one by one) where the experimental group subjects were presented with a machine gun (a very realistic toy model) and told to disassemble and then reassemble it according to a the directions on a paper on the table. The control group subjects were instead presented with a complicated children’s game which they were also told to assemble and disassemble. Saliva samples were collected at Time 1, before the handling of the gun/children’s game, and at Time 2, afterwards.

15. Klinesmith 2006. Guns, testosterone, and aggression: An experimental test of a mediational hypothesis Method: After a fixed time, the researchers said that it was time for the taste perception test. Subjects were presented with a glass of water in which a drop of hot sauce had been added. They were told that this had been prepared by the previous participant, and asked to rate the taste intensity. They were then asked to prepare the glass for the next participant using a glass of water and however much they wanted of the hot sauce. They were told this would be completely anonymously and the researcher left while the subject added the hot sauce. The researchers then took the glass away and measured the change in weight – thereby ascertaining the amount of hot sauce the subject had added.

16. Klinesmith 2006. Guns, testosterone, and aggression: An experimental test of a mediational hypothesis Results: subjects who interacted with the handgun showed more of an increase in testosterone from Time 1 to Time 2 (Mean change = 62.05 pg/ml) than did those who interacted with the children’s game (Mean change = 0.68 pg/ml). Subjects who interacted with the gun added more hot sauce to the water (M = 13.61) than did those who interacted with the children’s toy (M = 4.23 grams). Finally, the amount of hot sauce placed in the cup was positively correlated with changes in testosterone level (r = .64).

17. Klinesmith 2006. Guns, testosterone, and aggression: An experimental test of a mediational hypothesis Conclusion: the researchers conclude that aggression is increased by handling a gun, and that this increase in aggression happens because testosterone is increased.

18. Klinesmith 2006. Guns, testosterone, and aggression: An experimental test of a mediational hypothesis Questions: Why is testosterone increased by handling a gun? Why is aggression increased by handling a gun? Can we be sure that adding hot sauce is an aggressive act?

19. Alvares, Gail et al. 2010. Acute Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Subjective and BehavioralResponsesto Social Rejection Background: Positive and supportive social relationships are essential for health and well-being, acting as a buffer against the impactof social stress Social support is consistently shown to confer beneficial physiological effects on cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems. However, instances of social isolation, exclusion, or social rejection from any social relationship can be devastating. Long-term social rejection increases the risk of psychosomatic and related psychosocial problems Furthermore, long-term social rejection has been linked to antisocial behaviors, depression, anxiety, feelings of alienation, suicidal ideation, and aggression

20. Alvares, Gail et al. 2010. Acute Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Subjective and BehavioralResponsesto Social Rejection Background: Bothobservationallyand experimentally, research has found that exclusion increases stress and associated salivary cortisol reactivity and shifts in negative emotional states. Growing recognition of the specialized sociomotivational systems within the mammalian brain has highlighted a role for the neuropeptide and hormone oxytocin (OT) as a key regulator for the processing of social information. It has been suggested that OT may moderate the outcomes associated with negative emotional states, stress, and anxiety. For example, intranasal OT increases prosocial behaviors in humans, such as increasing gaze to eye regions of faces, trust, emotion,recognition, cooperation and social memory.

21. Alvares, Gail et al. 2010. Acute Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Subjective and BehavioralResponsesto Social Rejection Aim: These findings, taken together, suggest that OT may reduce the negative consequences of social stress and anxiety. Although social stress tasks have been employed previously, no study has yet examined whether OT may moderate the negative consequences of an explicitly overt social stressor, with no positive social cues present.

22. Alvares, Gail et al. 2010. Acute Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Subjective and BehavioralResponsesto Social Rejection Hypothesis: Thisstudyinvestigated whether OT may buffer against subjective and behavioral responses to social ostracism during a ball-tossing game. We hypothesized that OT may act as a general buffer against social stress and therefore reduce the negative experiences of ostracism.

23. Alvares, Gail et al. 2010. Acute Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Subjective and BehavioralResponsesto Social Rejection Method/Participants: Seventy-four healthy men (n 37) and women (n 37) recruited from the University of Sydney (age 18–53 years, M 21.91, SD 5.93). Exclusion was determined by a self report medical interview with a trained experimenter, and a pregnancy test administered onsite for all females. Exclusion criteria included pregnancy/breastfeeding, current symptoms of depression, panic attacks, psychosis, epilepsy, or substancedependence. After providing consent, participants were randomly assigned in a double-blind manner to receive OT or placebo and then randomly assigned to an ostracism or inclusionin a ball tossing game.

24. Alvares, Gail et al. 2010. Acute Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Subjective and BehavioralResponsesto Social Rejection The ball tossing game: The Cyberball Task is a virtual ball-tossing game presented within an Internet web browser on a standard 24” computer screen. The game consists of two cartoon icons representing other virtual players “online” that toss the ball back and forth to each other and the participant. Participants were either included (thrown one third of ball throws) or ostracized (thrown twice initially and then ignored).

25. Alvares, Gail et al. 2010. Acute Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Subjective and BehavioralResponsesto Social Rejection Results:

26. Alvares, Gail et al. 2010. Acute Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Subjective and BehavioralResponsesto Social Rejection Discussion: The present study investigated the effects of OT on initial acute reactions to ostracism. Results replicated previous ostracism research by showing that cyber-ostracism had a damaging impact on fundamental needs: belonging, selfesteem, meaningful existence, control, and negative affect. They also found that socially included participants given OT reported an increased desire to play the game again with the virtualparticipants.

27. Alvares, Gail et al. 2010. Acute Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Subjective and BehavioralResponsesto Social Rejection Questions: Can we trust that oxytocin always brings us a positive social approach or is OT dependent related which means that the positive effect only comes when there is social reason to be postive? How about the ecological validity in this case?

28. Alvares, Gail et al. 2010. Acute Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Subjective and BehavioralResponsesto Social Rejection Questions: Can we trust that oxytocin always brings us a positive social approach or is OT dependent related which means that the positive effect only comes when there is social reason to be postive? How about the ecological validity in this case?