Effects of cocaine on human aggression.
Thirty male undergraduates received either a placebo, low dose (1 mg/kg), or high dose (2 mg/kg) of orally administered cocaine. Subjects were then given the opportunity to administer electric shocks to an increasingly aggressive fictitious opponent during a competitive reaction-time task. Aggression was defined as the intensity of shock the subject was willing to set for his adversary. The results of this study indicate that subjects in the high-dose cocaine condition reacted more aggressively than placebo subjects irrespective of level of provocation.
Licata
A
A
University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22903.
Taylor
S
S
Berman
M
M
Cranston
J
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000187:drug effects*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D003042:Cocaine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004597:Electroshock; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects
D003042:Cocaine