Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2023 Nov;157:106355. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106355. Epub 2023 Aug 3.
Exclusion from social relationships is a painful experience that may threaten an individual's status and dominance. The steroid hormone testosterone, which fluctuates rapidly in response to such threats, may be implicated in subsequent behavioral action (e.g., aggressive or prosocial responses) that aims to protect or enhance one's status after exclusion. Past research, however, indicates that the link between acute changes in testosterone and behavior depend on context-relevant individual dispositions. In the context of social exclusion, an individual's level of shame proneness-characterized by a tendency to experience shame and to react submissively-is theoretically relevant to the testosterone-induced aggression relationship but has yet to be examined empirically. Here, men (n = 167) were randomly assigned to be socially included or excluded in the virtual ball-tossing game, Cyberball, after which aggressive behavior was examined using the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm (PSAP). Testosterone reactivity was measured via salivary hormone samples collected pre- and post-game. Moderated multiple regression analyses were run to examine the extent to which testosterone reactivity and shame proneness moderated the effect of Cyberball condition on aggression. Results revealed a significant two-way interaction between Cyberball condition and testosterone reactivity, as well as a three-way interaction including shame proneness. For individuals low in shame proneness, exclusion was associated with higher post-cyberball aggression among those who experienced a rise in testosterone but was associated with lower post-cyberball aggression among those who experienced a decrease in testosterone. For individuals high in shame proneness, however, exclusion did not meaningfully affect aggressive responses, regardless of whether they experienced an increase or decrease in testosterone. These findings extend our understanding of the moderating roles of context and disposition on the neuroendocrinology of aggression in social interaction.
被社会关系排斥是一种痛苦的经历，可能会威胁到个人的地位和支配地位。类固醇激素睾丸激素会对这种威胁做出快速反应，它可能与随后的行为动作（例如，攻击性或亲社会反应）有关，这些行为动作旨在保护或增强被排斥后的个人地位。然而，过去的研究表明，睾丸激素的急性变化与行为之间的联系取决于与上下文相关的个体倾向。在社会排斥的背景下，个体的羞耻易感性水平——表现为易体验羞耻和顺从反应的倾向——与睾丸激素引起的攻击性关系在理论上是相关的，但尚未得到实证检验。在这里，男性（n=167）在虚拟投球游戏 Cyberball 中被随机分配被包括或排斥，之后使用点减法攻击范式（PSAP）来检查攻击行为。通过在游戏前后采集唾液激素样本来测量睾丸激素反应性。进行了调节多元回归分析，以检验睾丸激素反应性和羞耻易感性在多大程度上调节了 Cyberball 条件对攻击性的影响。结果显示，Cyberball 条件和睾丸激素反应性之间存在显著的双向交互作用，以及包括羞耻易感性的三向交互作用。对于羞耻易感性低的个体，排斥与那些睾丸激素升高的个体在 Cyberball 后表现出更高的攻击性有关，但与那些睾丸激素降低的个体在 Cyberball 后表现出更低的攻击性有关。然而，对于羞耻易感性高的个体，排斥无论是否导致睾丸激素增加或减少，都不会对攻击性反应产生有意义的影响。这些发现扩展了我们对社会互动中攻击性的神经内分泌学的背景和倾向调节作用的理解。
