Ellie Shuo Jin

Hormones and Ethics: Understanding the Biological Basis of Unethical Conduct

Globally, fraud has been rising sharply over the last decade, with current estimates placing financial losses at greater than

Sex differences in cortisol's regulation of affiliative behavior

3.7 trillion annually. Unfortunately, fraud prevention has been stymied by lack of a clear and comprehensive understanding of its underlying causes and mechanisms. In this paper, we focus on an important but neglected topic--the biological antecedents and consequences of unethical conduct--using salivary collection of hormones (testosterone and cortisol). We hypothesized that preperformance cortisol levels would interact with preperformance levels of testosterone to regulate cheating behavior in 2 studies. Further, based on the previously untested cheating-as-stress-reduction hypothesis, we predicted a dose-response relationship between cheating and reductions in cortisol and negative affect. Taken together, this research marks the first foray into the possibility that endocrine-system activity plays an important role in the regulation of unethical behavior.

Greater testosterone reactivity associated with lower subjective anxiety in response to social stressor

Abstract A contribution to a special issue on Hormones and Human Competition. A stress perspective is used to illuminate how competitive defeat and victory shape biology and behavior. We report a field study examining how change in cortisol following perceived defeat (vs. victory) in a competition—in this case, a dog agility competition—relates to affiliative behavior. Following competition, we measured cortisol change and the extent to which dog handlers directed affiliative behaviors toward their dogs. We found striking sex differences in affiliation. First, men were more affiliative toward their dogs after victory, whereas women were more affiliative after defeat. Second, the greater a female competitors increase in cortisol, the more time she spent affiliating with her dog, whereas for men, the pattern was the exact opposite: the greater a male competitors increase in cortisol, the less time he spent affiliating with his dog. This pattern suggests that, in the wake of competition, men and womens affiliative behavior may serve different functions—shared celebration for men; shared consolation for women. These sex differences show not only that men and women react very differently to victory and defeat, but also that equivalent changes in cortisol across the sexes are associated with strikingly different behavioral consequences for men and women. HighlightsMen were more affiliative after victory; women were more affiliative after defeat.For female competitors, cortisol change correlated positively with affiliation.For male competitors, cortisol change correlated negatively with affiliation.

O12. Intranasal Testosterone Reduces Stress-Evoked Anxiety in Women

• Higher levels of endogenous testosterone has been associated with lower levels of anxiety1,2 • Testosterone reactivity is associated with benefits during social challenges, such as increased self-efficacy, persistence, enhanced learning, and better performance3 • Although consistent with the idea that greater testosterone reactivity may be helpful when facing social challenges, no study has directly tested whether testosterone reactivity is associated with lower subjective anxiety in response to a social stressor