Dr. James Dabbs

News Obituary Article

ATLANTA: James Dabbs, hormone expert

By J.E. GESHWILER

Dr. James Dabbs could lay claim to being the authority on testosterone and its effects on human behavior.

As a social psychologist on the faculty at Georgia State University, he devoted nearly 20 years of research to the notorious hormone long blamed for people's rougher nature. He wrote more than 200 articles in scientific journals on the subject and presented a similar number of papers at meetings of professional societies.

Plus, he and his wife, Mary Dabbs, co-wrote a book titled "Heroes, Rogues & Lovers: Testosterone and Behavior," which was well-received by reviewers for academic journals and The New York Times.

The memorial service for Dr. Dabbs, 66, of Atlanta will be 2 p.m. Sunday at 620 Clifton Road N.E. in Atlanta. He died of brain cancer Friday at Odyssey Hospice. The body was cremated. Cremation Society of Georgia is in charge of arrangements.

A South Carolina native, Dr. Dabbs was educated at Davidson College and Yale University and joined the GSU faculty in 1977.

From his various research studies, Dr. Dabbs concluded that testosterone, which occurs in both men and to a lesser extent women, isn't necessarily at the root of most over-aggressiveness and, in fact, it can produce beneficial effects such as feelings of confidence and well-being. "It's unfair to call testosterone unbrokenly bad," he told The New York Times in 1999.

He did concede the public's fixation on the hormone was puzzling. "The typical high-testosterone male is likely to be bald, lean, unhappily married or divorced, in jail, smokes, has tattoos and can't keep a job --- and everybody wants testosterone," he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2000.

One of his studies showed people with higher testosterone levels were more likely to make a good impression in a job interview than those with lower levels. Another study showed that fans of a winning soccer team had higher levels of testosterone than fans of the losing team after the match, which indicates the outcome affected the physiology of both sets of fans. Another study showed trial lawyers have higher levels of testosterone than other kinds of professionals.

"In 2002, Dr. Dabbs devised a study where we applied a lotion containing testosterone to test subjects, men and women, and then a placebo to determine effects on behavior," said Dr. Kelly Cates of Buford, a former research assistant. "What we found was neither males nor females became more aggressive, but both men and women paid more attention to their appearance and grooming so as to be more attractive to their mates."

Survivors other than his wife include two sons, James Dabbs III of Stockbridge and Alan Dabbs of Lima, Peru; two sisters, Dorothy Dabbs of Atlanta and Carolyn Moore of Jonesboro, Tenn.; a brother, Richard Dabbs of Mayesville, S.C.; and three grandchildren.

© 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution