Men with high testosterone levels are less GENEROUS and more likely to engage in selfish behavior, study finds
- Psychologists measured men’s brain activity by choosing from two options
- One option was purely selfish, while the other provided an advantage to the other
- They found that men who were given testosterone before the test tended to be more selfish
- Testosterone was found to dampen temporoparietal junction activity
- This is a region of the brain involved in the well-being of other people
Having high levels of the hormone testosterone can make men less generous and more likely to engage in selfish behavior, one study has concluded.
Psychologists from China and Switzerland measured men’s brain activity as they completed a task where they had to decide between generous and selfish options.
The team found that men who were given extra testosterone three hours before completing the task tended to select the more selfish options.
Additionally, the testosterone was found to dampen activity in an area of the brain that is known to be involved in the trade-offs of the well-being of others.
Having high levels of the hormone testosterone can make men less generous and more likely to engage in selfish behavior, one study has concluded. Pictured: A greedy man is piling up popcorn
The study was conducted by psychologist Jianxin Oua from Shenzhen University of China and colleagues.
“Testosterone is associated with aggressive behavior in both animals and humans,” the researchers wrote in their paper.
“Here we link increased testosterone to selfishness in economic decision-making and identify the neural mechanisms by which testosterone decreases generosity.”
The researchers recruited 58 men and divided them into two groups, one given a testosterone gel and the other a colorless placebo gel of water and alcohol.
After a three-hour rest period, the participants were placed in an MRI scanner and their functional brain activity was measured while performing a so-called ‘social discounting’ task.
This involved taking into account people of varying degrees of social distance – that is, in the sense of family / friend through acquaintance to complete stranger, rather than the idea of social detachment that we have become accustomed to during COVID- 19.
For each, the participants were given a choice – would they rather take a certain amount for themselves (the ‘selfish option’), or a smaller amount that also saw the person in question receive money (the ‘generous option’). ‘option).
Reward values in the selfish option ranged from 130-290 CNY (£ 14-32), while the generous option was set at 130 CNY (£ 14) for both participant and individual.
‘We notice that testosterone leads to more selfish choices, especially when it comes to distant others’, the researchers conclude.
In addition, the MRI scan found that the testosterone gel seemed to decrease activity in the brain’s so-called temporoparietal junction, which in previous studies has been linked to a consideration for the well-being of others.
The full findings of the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.