Citation

van Honk J, Schutter DJLG. Psychol. Sci. 2007; 18(8): 663-667.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. j.vanhonk@fss.uu.nl

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Association for Psychological Science, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01955.x

PMID

17680933

Abstract

Elevated levels of testosterone have repeatedly been associated with antisocial behavior, but the psychobiological mechanisms underlying this effect are unknown. However, testosterone is evidently capable of altering the processing of facial threat, and facial signals of fear and anger serve sociality through their higher-level empathy-provoking and socially corrective properties. We investigated the hypothesis that testosterone predisposes people to antisocial behavior by reducing conscious recognition of facial threat. In a within-subjects design, testosterone (0.5 mg) or placebo was administered to 16 female volunteers. Afterward, a task with morphed stimuli indexed their sensitivity for consciously recognizing the facial expressions of threat (disgust, fear, and anger) and nonthreat (surprise, sadness, and happiness). Testosterone induced a significant reduction in the conscious recognition of facial threat overall. Separate analyses for the three categories of threat faces indicated that this effect was reliable for angry facial expressions exclusively. This testosterone-induced impairment in the conscious detection of the socially corrective facial signal of anger may predispose individuals to antisocial behavior.

Language: en