28 Jan , 12:20
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Scientists have discovered: people with psychopathic traits have lower morning cortisol levels. American researchers found an unusual hormonal feature after studying the biochemical indicators of university students.
As reported by TUT.AZ with reference to the journal Social Neuroscience, the scientific work investigated the relationship between psychopathic personality traits and levels of cortisol and testosterone. Psychopathic traits include emotional coldness, lack of empathy and guilt, as well as a tendency to manipulate others. Psychologists classify such traits into primary psychopathy (low anxiety, weak response to threats) and secondary psychopathy (impulsivity, emotional instability, increased sensitivity to stress).
A research group led by Todd Armstrong studied data from 552 undergraduate students with an average age of about 20 years. The experiment participants first underwent psychological testing, after which saliva samples were taken from them for hormonal analysis.
To get a complete picture of daily hormone fluctuations, samples were collected throughout the day - from morning to evening hours. Additionally, participants underwent a stress test: they were asked to talk about their strengths and weaknesses for two minutes, after which saliva samples were taken again.
Data analysis revealed that the morning baseline cortisol level is significantly lower in people with pronounced primary psychopathic traits. Interestingly, this pattern was observed only in the first half of the day - after noon, the differences disappeared. The effect was the same for both men and women. However, no connection between cortisol and secondary psychopathy was found.
Researchers believe that the results highlight the important role of cortisol in the biological mechanisms of primary psychopathic trait formation. "Although in recent years attention has been paid to the interaction between testosterone and cortisol, our results show that it is the direct connection between cortisol and psychopathic traits that may be of key importance," the authors of the scientific work emphasized.
