Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Feminists

In reply to the discussion: George Carlin on Manly Men. [View all]
 

seabeyond

(110,159 posts)
9. Testosterone link to aggression may be all in the mind
Thu Feb 2, 2012, 09:13 PM
Feb 2012

and you reminded me of this study.....

The popular idea that testosterone always makes people more aggressive has been debunked by researchers. A team based in Switzerland has shown that the hormone can make people behave more fairly in an effort to defend their social status.

*

But the idea that testosterone causes aggression in humans, as it clearly does in rodents, is so firmly ingrained in the human psyche that women who believed they had been given testosterone — whether or not they had — bargained much less fairly. Women, not men, were tested because they have less variable 'baseline' blood testosterone levels.

*

Adam Goodie, a psychologist at the University of Georgia in Athens who works on decision-making, says: "The paper is a major blow to the popular wisdom that testosterone simply makes you more aggressive and less cooperative — the true picture is not nearly as negative."

"And it takes the field of neuroeconomics an important step further by showing that not only does biology affect economic behaviour — but so does belief," he adds.

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091208/full/news.2009.1131.html

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Latest Discussions»Alliance Forums»Feminists»George Carlin on Manly Me...»Reply #9