Men are found to have high testosterone levels and are less prone to selfish behavior
- Psychologists measured the brain activity of men while choosing from two options
- One option was purely selfish, while the other had an advantage for the other
- They found that men who were given testosterone before the test were more selfish
- Testosterone activity has been found to attenuate the temporoparietal junction
- It is a region of the brain involved in the well-being of other people
A study concluded that high levels of the hormone testosterone will make men less generous and more selfish.
Psychologists from China and Switzerland measured the brain activity of men while completing a task to decide between spacious and selfish options.
The team found that men who received additional testosterone three hours before completing the task tended to choose the more selfish options.
Furthermore, testosterone activity has been found to dampen activity in an area of the brain that is known to be involved in considering the well-being of others.
A study concluded that high levels of the hormone testosterone make men less generous and more prone to selfish behavior. In the photo: a greedy man stores popcorn
The study was undertaken by psychologist Jianxin Oua of China’s Shenzhen University and colleagues.
“Testosterone is associated with aggressive behavior in both animals and humans,” the researchers wrote in their paper.
“Here is a link between increased testosterone and selfishness in economic decision making, and the neural mechanisms by which testosterone is reduced are identified.”
The researchers recruited 58 men and divided them into two groups, one of which administered 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 undertaking a so-called ‘social discounting’ task.
It involves the consideration of people of varying degrees of social distance – that is, in the sense of family / friend through knowledge of stranger, rather than the idea of social distance to which we became accustomed during COVID-19.
For each, the participants had a choice – should they prefer to take a given amount of money for themselves (the ‘selfish option’), or a smaller amount of money that the person also gives the money (the ‘generous” option).
Values for the reward in the selfish option ranged from 130-290 CNY (£ 14-32), while the generous option was set at 130 CNY (£ 14) for both participants and persons.
“We find that testosterone causes more selfish choices, especially when it comes to others,” the researchers concluded.
Furthermore, the MRI scan revealed that the testosterone gel appears to be lowering the activity in the so-called temporoparietal junction of the brain, which in previous studies has been linked to the consideration of the well-being of others.
The full findings of the study were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.