Do guns make men more aggressive?
Looks like the answer is “Yes, unless they handle guns a lot.”: We tested whether interacting with a gun increased testosterone levels and later aggressive behavior. Thirty male college students provided a saliva sample (for testosterone assay), interacted with either a gun or a children’s toy for 15 min, and then provided another saliva sample. Next, subjects added as much hot sauce as they wanted to a cup of water they believed another subject would have to drink. Males who interacted with the gun showed significantly greater increases in testosterone and added more hot sauce to the water than did those who interacted with the children’s toy. Moreover, increases in testosterone partially mediated the effects of interacting with the gun on this aggressive behavior. Source: “Guns, Testosterone, and Aggression: An Experimental Test of a Mediational Hypothesis” from Psychological Science, Volume 17 Issue 7, Pages 568 – 571 And: According to public opinion, members of shooting organizatio
