Contingent Testosterone Effects
Testosterone did not create new social patterns of Aggression; it exaggerated preexisting ones.
testosterone’s actions are contingent and amplifying, exacerbating preexisting tendencies toward aggression rather than creating aggression out of thin air.
When testosterone rises after a challenge, it doesn’t prompt aggression. Instead it prompts whatever behaviors are needed to maintain status.
Testosterone makes us more willing to do what it takes to attain and maintain status. And the key point is what it takes. Engineer social circumstances right, and boosting testosterone levels during a challenge would make people compete like crazy to do the most acts of random kindness. In our world riddled with male violence, the problem isn’t that testosterone can increase levels of aggression. The problem is the frequency with which we reward aggression.
Playing the Ultimatum Game people given testosterone before-hand, they made more generous offers.
In other games under circumstances where someone’s sense of pride rides on honesty, testosterone decreased men’s cheating in a game.
the more an organism has been aggressive, the less testosterone is needed for future aggression.
(p.127)
see also
SES socioeconomic status
Subtleties of Testosterone Effects
Testosterone
Tags: neurobiology science
Superlink: 051 ☣Neurobiology 050 🧠Neuroscience
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Erstellt: 11-05-22 13:34