Responsible:Dipl.-Psych. Dipl.-Umweltwiss. Angelika Dierolf

Animal studies show a mutual interaction between the stress system and aggressive behavior or brain structures engaged in aggressive behavior, respectively. On the one hand, increased stress level (i.e., acute hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation lowers the threshold for aggressive behavior. On the other hand, aggressive behavior it-self leads to an activation of the HPA axis. This fast positive feedback loop might offer an explanation for violence and escalating aggression. Several studies of our group show that the activation of the HPA axis can lead to enhanced aggressive behavior in humans, as well, and that both cortisol and provocation alter cognitive information processing across a variety of tasks and paradigms. Continuing this work, Dipl. Psych., Dipl. Angelika Dierolf is examining the (mutual) impact of stress-induced increase in cortisol levels and provocation with an aggressive encounter on electrocortical processes.

Responsible:Dipl.-Psych. Dipl.-Umweltwiss. Angelika Dierolf

So far, we were not able to establish an aggression paradigm by which means aggressive behavior reliably activates the HPA axis. We suppose that the previously used Taylor Aggression Paradigm might be not powerful enough to cause enough aggression to cause an increase in cortisol. Within a project of the research focus “psychobiology of stress”, Dipl. Psych., Dipl. Angelika Dierolf together with dedicated and committed students, is developing an aggression-induction procedure through a combination of anger-induction and provocation which might be evidently capable of the HPA-axis activation within healthy humans.