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The male sex hormone can make us more generous, but only if there is no threat of competition and if it will make us look good. This is according to a recent study that found testosterone is a key factor in creating and maintaining social relationships.
It builds on recent studies which suggest testosterone plays an important role in ‘dominance behaviour’ that can traditionally be seen as anti-social.
Manly men are more generous to those around them, but only if there is no threat of competition. This is according to a recent study that found testosterone is a key factor in maintaining social relationships
Researchers now claim testosterone’s affects are more nuanced, and can lead to more caring actions if the end reward means a higher social status.
‘[Testosterone] can induce pro-social behaviour…when high status and good reputation are best served by positive behaviour,’ said lead researcher Maarten Boksem of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University in the Netherlands.
Researchers had 54 female volunteers ingest a liquid solution several hours before participating in an investing game. Some volunteers received a placebo solution, while others received a solution with added testosterone.
In the game, participants were given €20 - about £17 - and told they could keep the amount they wanted and invest whatever remained with another volunteer.
The research builds on recent studies which suggest testosterone plays an important role in dominance behaviour that can traditionally be seen as anti-social
The investment would be tripled and split by the trustee, who would keep whatever portion she wanted and return the rest to the investor.
Each participant took turns playing both investor and trustee. When they were the trustee, they were always given €60, indicating that the investor had entrusted them with the task of splitting up the whole sum.
In the study, participants given testosterone chose to give more money back to the investor
As investors, participants who received testosterone were, on average, stingier — they placed less trust in the trustee and kept more of their initial money.
Participants who received the placebo, on the other hand, were more trusting investors, choosing to invest about €3.20 more than those who received testosterone.
Just as the researchers predicted, testosterone seemed to promote anti-social behaviour in response to a potential threat.
But the opposite effect emerged when participants played the role of trustee. In this case, participants given testosterone chose to give more money back to the investor than participants who had been given a placebo.
Researchers said this suggest that the trustees felt a responsibility to repay the money that the investor placed in them.
‘While we expected the decrease in trust found in the first scenario, the increase in reciprocity was surprisingly strong and robust,’ Professor Boksem said.
‘Testosterone had a more pronounced effect on pro-social behaviour than on anti-social behaviour.’
The latest study contradicts research undertaken by Claremont Graduate University several years ago which claimed men with high testosterone levels are less generous than men with lower levels of the hormone.
At the time, researchers concluded this was due to the dynamics between testosterone and another hormone called oxytocin- sometimes called the cuddle chemical- which influences generosity.
They believed testosterone blocks the action of oxytocin in the brain.
Researchers at Rotterdam School of Management are now hoping to run a similar study in men and are currently investigating additional types of social behaviour under various conditions of social threat.
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