Acute stress has been associated with increased aggressive behaviour in animal models and clinical populations; however, findings in healthy adults remain inconsistent. Experimental studies have reported both increases and decreases in aggression following acute stress exposure, with considerable variability across reactive and proactive aggression paradigms. This project aims to clarify the relationship between stress, aggression, and their underlying neurobiological correlates.

As part of this project, you will be actively involved in experimental data collection and gain hands-on experience with established stress- and aggression-related paradigms, including the Group Trier Social Stress Test (TSST-G) and the Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP). In addition, you will learn techniques for biological sampling and psychobiological assessment, including salivary testosterone and cortisol collection and analysis.

Requirements

· Complete thesis in English.

· Interest in social, biological, or clinical psychology.

· Basic knowledge of research methods and statistical analysis.

· Interest in data collection, experimental paradigms.

· Ability to work independently in a structured and reliable manner.

· Good organizational skills and attention to detail.

Tasks

· Recruitment of participants.

· Collection of behavioral, psychological and biological data.

· Computation of statistical analyses as part of the master’s thesis.

We offer

· Insight into experimental research on stress and aggression.

· Close supervision and support throughout the thesis.

· Opportunity to develop skills in data collection, experimental methods, and data analysis.

· Possibility of contributing to scientific publications.

If you are interested, please send a short email to Greta Baldanzini.