dc.description.abstract | I investigated factors of psychopathy (fearless dominance, self-centered impulsivity) and
hormones (testosterone, cortisol, estradiol) in predicting costly and non-costly reactive
aggression. I hypothesized that whereas self-centred impulsivity (SCI) would promote
costly aggression, fearless dominance (FD) would promote non-costly aggression. Costly
aggression was measured using the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm and noncostly aggression was measured using one-shot dictator games. In women (n = 97; M age = 19.86 years), greater SCI and lower baseline estradiol predicted greater costly
aggression; also, greater FD predicted greater non-costly aggression, particularly among
women with lower SCI. In men (n = 104; M age = 20.15 years), psychopathy and
endocrine function did not predict costly aggression; however, greater FD and greater
increases in testosterone were associated with greater non-costly aggression. Thus, there
are sex-specific links between psychopathic personality traits, hormones, and aggressive
behaviour, and psychopathic traits and endocrine function predict aggressive behaviour
independently of each other. | en_US |