Winners are commonly assumed to compete more aggressively than losers. Here, we find overwhelming evidence for the opposite. We first demonstrate that low-ranking teams commit more fouls than they receive in top-tier soccer, ice hockey, and basketball men's leagues. We replicate this effect in the laboratory, showing that male participants deliver louder sound blasts to a rival when placed in a low-status position. Using neuroimaging, we characterize brain activity patterns that encode competitive status as well as those that facilitate status-dependent aggression in healthy young men. These analyses reveal three key findings. First, anterior hippocampus and striatum contain multivariate representations of competitive status. Second, interindividual differences in status-dependent aggression are linked with a sharper status differentiation in the striatum and with greater reactivity to status-enhancing victories in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Third, activity in ventromedial, ventrolateral, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is associated with trial-wise increases in status-dependent aggressive behavior. Taken together, our results run counter to narratives glorifying aggression in competitive situations. Rather, we show that those in the lower ranks of skill-based hierarchies are more likely to behave aggressively and identify the potential neural basis of this phenomenon.

中文翻译：

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低竞争状态会激发健康的年轻男子的侵略性：行为和神经证据。

通常认为，胜利者比失败者更具竞争性。在这里，我们发现了相反的压倒性证据。我们首先证明，低级球队犯下的犯规数量要多于顶级足球，冰球和篮球男子联赛。我们在实验室中复制了这种效果，表明当男性参与者处于低姿态时，它会向对手发出更大的声音。使用神经成像技术，我们可以表征健康年轻人的大脑活动模式，这些模式可以编码竞争状态以及促进状态依赖型攻击的模式。这些分析揭示了三个主要发现。首先，海马前体和纹状体包含竞争状态的多变量表示。第二，个体状态依赖性攻击之间的差异与纹状体中更明显的状态差异以及对背扣带前皮质中状态增强胜利的更高反应性有关。第三，腹侧，腹侧和背外侧前额叶皮层的活动与状态依赖性攻击行为的试验性增加相关。两者合计，我们的结果与在竞争中夸奖侵略性的叙述背道而驰。相反，我们表明，那些在基于技能的层次结构中排名较低的人更有可能表现出攻击性，并识别出这种现象的潜在神经基础。背外侧前额叶皮层与状态依赖性攻击行为的试验性增加相关。两者合计，我们的结果与在竞争中夸奖侵略性的叙述背道而驰。相反，我们表明，那些在基于技能的层次结构中排名较低的人更有可能表现出攻击性，并识别出这种现象的潜在神经基础。背外侧前额叶皮层与状态依赖性攻击行为的试验性增加相关。两者合计，我们的结果与在竞争中夸奖侵略性的叙述背道而驰。相反，我们表明，那些在基于技能的层次结构中排名较低的人更有可能表现出攻击性，并识别出这种现象的潜在神经基础。