Abstract
Pigeons lowest in their dominance hierarchies were either injected with testosterone, conditioned to attack more dominant birds, or both within an operant chamber. Birds injected with testosterone alone failed to exhibit any increase in aggressive responses against opponents. Those reinforced for attacking opponents showed a marked increase in aggressive behavior. However, the greatest enhancement of attack behavior was found in those birds given a combination of testosterone and conditioning. In addition, there were substantial topographical differences in the fighting behaviors exhibited by the birds exposed to the various treatments. Birds administered a combination of testosterone and conditioning or conditioning alone elicited extreme escape-like behaviors in their opponents. These behaviors were not produced in the opponents of birds injected with testosterone alone or saline. These results are discussed in terms of an interaction between the androgen and learned responses.
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Support for the preparation of this manuscript was provided by the Faculty Research Committee, Skidmore College, and a grant from Merck Sharp and Dohme Pharmaceutical Company to the senior author.
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Lumia, A.R., Rieder, C.A. & Reynierse, J.H. The differential effects of reinforcement and testosterone on aggressive responding in pigeons: Species typical and aversive aspects of pigeon aggression. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 1, 165–166 (1973). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334327
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334327