The Challenge Hypothesis is an influential framework for understanding how androgens are involved in the promotion of competitive behavior during mating-related challenges and has been tested extensively in studies across scientific disciplines. Mixed support in psychological research led scholars to develop the Dual Hormone Hypothesis as a potential path forward, which argues that glucocorticoids moderate the relationship between androgens and status-striving. In the current study, we examine the Challenge Hypothesis and the Dual Hormone Hypothesis in wild male mountain gorillas, representing the first time the latter hypothesis has been tested in a non-human primate. In a sample of 30 adult males comprising over 600 days of observation, we find some limited support for the Challenge Hypothesis. Greater daily rates of targeted aggression toward other adult males corresponded to higher fecal androgen metabolites 1–2 days following observations, though this pattern did not fully generalize to dominance rank or other competitive behaviors examined. However, we find no support for the Dual Hormone Hypothesis: neither dominance rank nor any category of competitive behavior was predicted by the interaction between androgens and glucocorticoids. We close by discussing how this initial investigation might be leveraged toward the development of an expanded Dual Hormone Hypothesis that draws on the large evidence base in primate behavioral ecology.
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DEFINING KEY DEVELOPMENTAL UNDERSTANDINGS IN CONGRUENCE PROOFS FROM A TRANSFORMATION APPROACH
Previous work by the authors (St. Goar et al., 2019) identified two potential key developmental understandings (KDUs) (Simon, 2006) in the construction of congruence proofs from a transformation perspective for pre-service secondary teachers in an undergraduate geometry course. We hypothesized the independence of the potential KDUs in previous work, meaning that students may have one potential KDU but not the other, and vice versa. We tested this hypothesis with analysis of an expanded data set and found that this hypothesis did not hold in general. We report on the expanded analysis and discuss implications for the scope and limitation of the potential KDUs.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1726744
- PAR ID:
- 10294571
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Psychology of Mathematics Education-North American Chapter
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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