Searching for the origins of male aggression: Nature, nurture or both?

5-5-2019 lead
Boys fighting during a training session at the Enbo Fight Club in Chengdu. Image: Fred Dufour/AFP

Most men are not especially violent, but most people who are especially violent are men.

Now, there’s no real doubt that social forces help to shape violence and aggression. Decades of research have shown that people’s behavior—aggression included—is responsive to incentives and training. The question, then, is not whether social forces matter, but whether social forces are the whole story. And the answer, in a nutshell, is “almost certainly not.” Biology matters as well. Here’s how we know.

From the moment they can move around under their own their steam, boys engage in more rough-and-tumble play than girls. The same sex difference is found in other juvenile primates, and appears to be related to testosterone exposure in the womb.

[However,] after the violence and mayhem of early adulthood, male aggression steadily nosedives through the remainder of the lifespan. The socialization hypothesis offers no particular reason to expect this. But the decline in violence coincides almost perfectly with the decline in testosterone found in men throughout the adult years, and mirrors the decline found in males of other species. Once again, this is much easier to explain in evolutionary than in sociocultural terms.

Read full, original post: Nurture Alone Can’t Explain Male Aggression

Related Articles

Infographic: Global regulatory and health research agencies on whether glyphosate causes cancer

Infographic: Global regulatory and health research agencies on whether glyphosate causes cancer

Does glyphosate—the world's most heavily-used herbicide—pose serious harm to humans? Is it carcinogenic? Those issues are of both legal and ...

Most Popular

ChatGPT-Image-Aug-4-2026-10_15_14-AM
Viewpoint—A hard look at the Fauci diaries: Do they change what we know about COVID’s origins?
ChatGPT-Image-Mar-10-2026-01_39_01-PM
Viewpoint—“Miracle molecule” debunked: Why acemannan supplements don’t work
png-food-sweetener-nutri
Junk science alert: Does a recent ballyhooed study really prove that artificial sweeteners are worse for your brain than sugar? 
Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-7.37.27-PM-1
Facts & Fallacies podcast: 'Zombie apocalypse'? Cities move toward drug legalization, flirt with disaster
Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-8.51.10-AM
Viewpoint: ‘ICUs were empty in NYC and across the US’: RFK, Jr. accuses pro-vaccine liberals of exaggerating the number of COVID deaths
ChatGPT-Image-Aug-4-2026-11_19_30-AM
41-state Cyclospora outbreak exposes widespread state-to-state communication failures
ChatGPT-Image-Aug-4-2026-12_42_58-PM
Viewpoint: Fact-checking CNN interview with RFK, Jr. underscores the depth of his disinformation delusions
ChatGPT-Image-Aug-4-2026-07_52_00-PM
No liability for scientific due diligence: California Supreme Court rejects bizarre lawsuit faulting Gilead for fully evaluating HIV drug before release
ChatGPT-Image-Aug-5-2026-09_54_10-AM
Viewpoint: Data center rejections hit 275 in 2026. Opponents are not the Luddites portrayed by the media
ChatGPT-Image-Aug-4-2026-10_56_29-AM
Viewpoint: Viral social media misinformation drives cancer patients toward ‘wellness grifters’ and dangerous, unregulated supplements
Picture1
Hiroshima at 81: America’s new nuclear bomb, a buried Iranian target, and a question no one wants to ask
ChatGPT-Image-Jul-17-2026-09_50_27-AM
Viewpoint: How disease tracking and prevention has cratered under the Kennedy-Trump administration
ChatGPT Image Jul 29, 2026, 06_26_01 PM 2
Facts & Fallacies podcast: Organic food myths make a comeback on Instagram, with Dr. Kevin Folta
glp menu logo outlined

Get news on human & agricultural genetics and biotechnology delivered to your inbox.