Testosterone Essay

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Testosterone is a hormone secreted from the sex organs stimulating and controlling the development and maintenance of male and female characteristics (Nieschlag & Behre, 1990). Research has been conducted into the influence of testosterone and its effect on the expression of social behaviour (Booth et al, 2006). Testosterone contributes to the display of aggression, dominance, antisocial behaviour, risk taking, initiative driven behaviour, courtship behaviour and sexual drive. However within those behaviours there remains questions which as yet we cannot answer.
Testosterone production in men occurs in the testes; removal of the testes consequently eradicates some social behaviours often characterised as male (Haigh, Cates, Glover & Rawlings, 1984). Awareness for the function of the testes, influenced Chinese scholars to prescribe ingestion of dog testes to increase male fertility and enhance courtship behaviours (Breedlove, Rosenzweig & Watson, 2007). The behavioural qualities of the testes was confirmed by Arnold Berthold (1849), by castrating juvenile roosters it was observed that there was a failure to develop 'normal' reproductive behaviour. Testosterone can be labelled as having an activational effect promoting several specific behaviours (Berthold, 1849).
Berthold's study (1849) used animals (roosters) to investigate the effect of testosterone on social behaviours. Ethical restrictions prevent the scientific testing on the effects of castration on behaviour in humans. Castration studies in male humans are primarily due to trauma from an accident or a medical requirement. In the case of the Reimer twins, one of the twins was recommended a full castration due to damage from a circumcision (Money & Ehrdardt, 1972). ...

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... of dominance.
In both males and females an increase in testosterone induces more aggressive behaviours. However testosterone is negatively related to externalising behaviours in females and positively related to such a behaviour in males (Booth et al, 2003). There is little research at the moment to actively account for gender differences shown in behaviours caused by testosterone.
In conclusion there have been significant findings on the effects of testosterone on the social behaviours humans show. Aggressiveness can be attributed to testosterone, supporting the knowledge of why people act in the way they do towards others in the social world. However these are also many questions left unanswered about the effects of testosterone in social behaviour as expressed above, including the lack of information produced on gender differences in testosterone production.

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