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Excess testosterone causes aggressive and antisocial behavior
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Testosterone forces us to overestimate our opinion and neglect the opinion of other members of the community.
Faced with a problem, we can solve it ourselves, but we can consult with someone or ask for help. Both ways have their pros and cons: the collective mind is more powerful than the efforts of a single person, but the collective mistake is extremely difficult to notice and resist; your own forces may simply not be enough, although at the same time you, undoubtedly, will retain the individuality. Decision-making in favor of individual or collective action is influenced by many factors, and hormones play a significant role in this.
It is known that to increase the level of oxytocin we may be tempted to take collective action. In the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, an article appeared, where the exact opposite is claimed about testosterone. A group of researchers from University College in London conducted an experiment in which 17 pairs of women underwent such a test. On the screen in front of them simultaneously appeared two pictures: in one was encrypted some image, which was to be found. The participants of the experiment were not acquainted with each other, each was sitting in front of their own screen. If the picture was guessed correctly, the subjects went on to the next pair of images.
If someone could not manage at once, it was suggested to seek help from a partner. Together they could discuss the task and come to the right decision. In this case, participants were given a dose of testosterone or a placebo. It turned out that the joint discussion increased the chance to perform the task correctly, but this is only if women were given a "dummy" -platsebo. Testosterone also worked on disconnection, and the joint discussion only to a very small extent helped in solving the problem. After mutual consultations the participants of the experiment still made the choice that was considered correct, and not the one that the partner offered.
Excess testosterone is expressed in aggressive, antisocial behavior, and the fact that in decision making he inclines us to egocentrism and reassessment of one's own opinion, fits into the overall "portrait" of this hormone.
It may seem that in this sense the hardest part is for men: they have a testosterone level raised from nature, they have to make efforts almost constantly to avoid falling out of the collective, and what happens to them when the hormone level rises? But with men, according to scientists, things are not so simple: just because of the high background level of testosterone, its additional doses act as inhibitors of synthesis, so that the initial increase in its concentration leads to a subsequent rapid decrease. Therefore, for the experiment, women were selected, not men: they had an additional dose of the hormone simply increased its overall level and allowed to observe the effect of "decollectivization".
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