van Honk Jack, Schutter Dennis J L G
Department of Psychology, Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Psychol Sci. 2007 Aug;18(8):663-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01955.x.
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.
睾酮水平升高一直与反社会行为相关，但这种效应背后的心理生物学机制尚不清楚。然而，睾酮显然能够改变对面部威胁的处理，而恐惧和愤怒的面部信号通过其更高层次的引发同理心和社会矫正特性来服务于社交。我们研究了这样一个假设，即睾酮通过减少对面部威胁的有意识识别，使人们易患反社会行为。在一项被试内设计中，对16名女性志愿者施用睾酮（0.5毫克）或安慰剂。之后，一项使用变形刺激的任务评估了她们有意识识别威胁（厌恶、恐惧和愤怒）和非威胁（惊讶、悲伤和快乐）面部表情的敏感性。睾酮总体上显著降低了对面部威胁的有意识识别。对三类威胁面孔的单独分析表明，这种效应仅对愤怒的面部表情可靠。这种由睾酮引起的对具有社会矫正作用的愤怒面部信号的有意识检测受损，可能使个体易患反社会行为。
