The Effect of Prenatal Sex Hormones on the Development of Verbal Aggression

This article considers the neuroendocrine factors leading to systematic differences in trait verbal aggression (VA). Verbally aggressive people produce messages that attack the self‐concept of another (D. A. Infante & C. J. Wigley, 1986). A neuroendocrine factor, prenatal androgen exposure (PNAE...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of communication 2012-10, Vol.62 (5), p.778-793
Main Authors: Shaw, Allison Z., Kotowski, Michael R., Boster, Franklin J., Levine, Timothy R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggression
Aggressiveness
Correlation
Effects
Hormones
Human genetics
Personality traits
Variance
Verbal communication
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Summary:This article considers the neuroendocrine factors leading to systematic differences in trait verbal aggression (VA). Verbally aggressive people produce messages that attack the self‐concept of another (D. A. Infante & C. J. Wigley, 1986). A neuroendocrine factor, prenatal androgen exposure (PNAE), was proposed as a possible predictor of VA. To explore this possibility, the relationship between the ratio between the length of the second digit and fourth digit (2D:4D), an indicator of PNAE, and VA was examined across 2 studies. Specifically, it was predicted that variance in PNAE would be correlated with variance in trait VA. Results from the 2 studies indicated that 2D:4D is correlated with VA as predicted, even with the influence of sex removed.
ISSN:0021-9916
1460-2466
DOI:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01665.x