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Testosterone: Difference between revisions
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In humans (and other animals), testosterone plays a role in driving increased aggression, violent behavior, and status drive.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20160109111144/http://www.homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/faculty/josephs/pdf_documents/Arch_Chall_NBR.pdf</ref> | In humans (and other animals), testosterone plays a role in driving increased aggression, violent behavior, and status drive.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20160109111144/http://www.homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/faculty/josephs/pdf_documents/Arch_Chall_NBR.pdf</ref> | ||
In many animals, testosterone has a positive relationship to [[dominance hierarchy|male dominance status]].<ref>https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.20387</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X0800161X</ref> | In many animals, testosterone has a positive relationship to [[dominance hierarchy|male dominance status]].<ref>https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.20387</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X0800161X</ref> | ||
In humans the link between testosterone and male dominance status is more tenuous, with several studies finding no link between T levels and achieved social rank, <ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453016301780</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886910001406</ref> though it does seem to be linked with dominant behavior and heightened attentiveness to social cues pertaining to dominance rank to some degree.<ref>https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40750-014-0020-2#Sec3</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364661311000787</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X20301975</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X16305050</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306453016304292</ref> | In humans the link between testosterone and male dominance status is more tenuous, with several studies finding no link between T levels and achieved social rank,<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453016301780</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886910001406</ref> though it does seem to be linked with dominant behavior and heightened attentiveness to social cues pertaining to dominance rank to some degree.<ref>https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40750-014-0020-2#Sec3</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364661311000787</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X20301975</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X16305050</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306453016304292</ref> | ||
These null results are likely due to many contextual factors such as respective culture/ethnicity,<ref>https://www.amazon.com/Behave-Biology-Humans-Best-Worst/dp/1594205078</ref> age of the male,<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1054139X14002250</ref> and the male's own level of social status | These null results are likely due to many contextual factors such as respective culture/ethnicity,<ref>https://www.amazon.com/Behave-Biology-Humans-Best-Worst/dp/1594205078</ref> age of the male,<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1054139X14002250</ref> and the male's own level of social status<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306453019312934</ref> moderating the influence of testosterone in driving such behavior. | ||
T levels may be more strongly related to the attainment of dominance in social milieus based around violent domination as opposed to ones based around social consensus, competence, and likability.<ref>https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19485565.2006.9989114</ref> | T levels may be more strongly related to the attainment of dominance in social milieus based around violent domination as opposed to ones based around social consensus, competence, and likability.<ref>https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19485565.2006.9989114</ref> | ||
These null findings pertaining to testosterone and actual status attainment (despite testosterone driving competitiveness and social dominance related behaviors) may also imply that the excess possession of certain testosterone-related traits may be ''harmful'' to attain social status in specific social contexts. Together with the general [[feminization]] of post-industrial Western society, this may result in [[evolutionary mismatch|evolutionary mismatches]] wherein high levels of masculinity and testosterone-related traits may be generally associated with lower social status. Still, these traits would have been generally rewarded in the more violent and unstable contexts where they were evolutionarily selected. | These null findings pertaining to testosterone and actual status attainment (despite testosterone driving competitiveness and social dominance related behaviors) may also imply that the excess possession of certain testosterone-related traits may be ''harmful'' to attain social status in specific social contexts. Together with the general [[feminization]] of post-industrial Western society, this may result in [[evolutionary mismatch|evolutionary mismatches]] wherein high levels of masculinity and testosterone-related traits may be generally associated with lower social status. Still, these traits would have been generally rewarded in the more violent and unstable contexts where they were evolutionarily selected. | ||
Testosterone also very likely does not mediate any of these status-seeking behaviors on its own to a substantial, as interactions with other hormones such as cortisol,<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030645301500400X</ref> estrogen, prolactin, and various neurotransmitters such as serotonin<ref>https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11031-011-9264-3</ref> appear crucial in driving many of the behaviors linked to "high-T" in the popular imagination. | Testosterone also very likely does not mediate any of these status-seeking behaviors on its own to a substantial degree, as interactions with other hormones such as cortisol,<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030645301500400X</ref> estrogen, prolactin, and various neurotransmitters such as serotonin<ref>https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11031-011-9264-3</ref> appear crucial in driving many of the behaviors linked to "high-T" in the popular imagination. | ||
Many studies that examine the effects of testosterone (and other hormones) on psychology are deeply flawed as they do not take these inter-hormone interactions into account, do not use particularly reliable measures of testosterone, have low sample sizes, do not take into account interindividual differences in sensitivity to androgens and do not take into account the effects prenatal and pubertal 'priming' may have on shaping the | Many studies that examine the effects of testosterone (and other hormones) on psychology are deeply flawed as they do not take these inter-hormone interactions into account, do not use particularly reliable measures of testosterone, have low sample sizes, do not take into account interindividual differences in sensitivity to androgens, and do not take into account the effects prenatal and pubertal 'priming' may have on shaping the body's response to testosterone in adulthood. Adult T-levels are also substantially affected by lifestyle factors <ref>https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/92/2/549/2566787?login=true</ref><ref>https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1019.6064&rep=rep1&type=pdf</ref> such as age, smoking, body fat percentage and general health. | ||
There has been a secular decline in testosterone in Western countries that is independent of factors such as population aging and increased obesity,<ref>https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/92/1/196/2598434?login=true</ref> leading to sensationalist headlines regarding rampant [[soyboy|feminization]] of men being driven by this factor alone. However, other longitudinal studies have found concurrent evidence that sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), a protein that binds to testosterone and makes it inert in the body, has also been decreasing on a population and cohort level.<ref>https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/92/12/4696/2597312?login=true</ref> | There has been a secular decline in testosterone in Western countries that is independent of factors such as population aging and increased obesity,<ref>https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/92/1/196/2598434?login=true</ref> leading to sensationalist headlines regarding rampant [[soyboy|feminization]] of men being driven by this factor alone. However, other longitudinal studies have found concurrent evidence that sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), a protein that binds to testosterone and makes it inert in the body, has also been decreasing on a population and cohort level.<ref>https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/92/12/4696/2597312?login=true</ref> | ||
If this finding proves robust, this reduction in SHBG would result in less negative feedback being exerted on men's hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (HPG axis), which would lead to the body downregulating T production as it essentially needs less to produce the desired effects. Meaning the secular decrease in T wouldn't be relevant in driving any practical differences in population level masculinization. | If this finding proves robust, this reduction in SHBG would result in less negative feedback being exerted on men's hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (HPG axis), which would lead to the body downregulating T production as it essentially needs less to produce the desired effects. Meaning the secular decrease in T wouldn't be particularly relevant in driving any practical differences in population level masculinization. | ||
==Dual hormone hypothesis== | ==Dual hormone hypothesis== | ||