Hormonal responses differ when playing violent video games against an ingroup and outgroup

Abstract For 14 teams of three young men, salivary testosterone and cortisol were assessed twice before and twice after competing in within-group and between-group video games that simulated violent male–male competition. Men who contributed the most to their teams' between-group victory showed...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolution and human behavior 2010-05, Vol.31 (3), p.201-209
Main Authors: Oxford, Jonathan, Ponzi, Davidé, Geary, David C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Comparative analysis
Competition
Competitiveness
Cortisol
Games
Group behaviour
Hormones
Human behaviour
Human evolution
In-group
Ingroup
Intergroup Relations
Males
Male–male competition
Psychiatry
Testosterone
Video game
Videos
Videotape Recordings
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract For 14 teams of three young men, salivary testosterone and cortisol were assessed twice before and twice after competing in within-group and between-group video games that simulated violent male–male competition. Men who contributed the most to their teams' between-group victory showed testosterone increases immediately after the competition, but only if this competition was played before the within-group tournament. High-scoring men on losing teams did not show this immediate effect, but they did show a delayed increase in testosterone. In contrast, high-ranking men tended to have lower testosterone and higher cortisol during within-group tournaments. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that men's competitive testosterone response varies across ingroup and outgroup competitions and is muted during the former. The testosterone response during the between-group competition also suggests that violent multiplayer video games may be appealing to young men because they simulate male–male coalitional competition.
ISSN:1090-5138
1879-0607
DOI:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.07.002