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Testosterone: Difference between revisions
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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. | ||
They also generally do not take into account the effects of short bursts may play in mediating to outcome of dominance contests, though a growing literature on the "challenge hypothesis" of testosterone does. The challenge hypothesis states that testosterone will rise in men in contexts where male intersexual competition is particularly salient, such as male dominance contexts or in the presence of fertile females.<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X08002183</ref> | They also generally do not take into account the effects that the release of short bursts of T may play in mediating to outcome of dominance contests, though a growing literature on the "challenge hypothesis" of testosterone does. The challenge hypothesis states that testosterone will rise in men in contexts where male intersexual competition is particularly salient, such as male dominance contexts or in the presence of fertile females.<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X08002183</ref> | ||
Testosterone does seem to drive reproductive effort in males, and it is a highly replicable finding that men in committed relationships tend to have lower testosterone levels, possibly to promote greater pair-bonding in males.<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X19300030</ref> Part of this link between lower T and being in a committed relationship may not be casual. Instead, it may stem from the apparent fact that lower testosterone men may be more pro-social, more generous to their female partners and that men with higher testosterone seem to have larger levels of conflict in their relationships, particularly in egalitarian societies that seek to reduce status competition among males.<ref>https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-70958-3</ref> Thus men in committed relationships may be partly selected for low-T. | Testosterone does seem to drive reproductive effort in males, and it is a highly replicable finding that men in committed relationships tend to have lower testosterone levels, possibly to promote greater pair-bonding in males.<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X19300030</ref> Part of this link between lower T and being in a committed relationship may not be casual. Instead, it may stem from the apparent fact that lower testosterone men may be more pro-social, more generous to their female partners and that men with higher testosterone seem to have larger levels of conflict in their relationships, particularly in egalitarian societies that seek to reduce status competition among males.<ref>https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-70958-3</ref> Thus men in committed relationships may be partly selected for low-T. | ||
Higher testosterone does seem to be very weakly positively related to mating success (but not [[reproductive success]]) in men (at least in modern {{W|WEIRD|WEIRD}} samples), which may simply be explicable by the fact that testosterone levels are linked to libido (and thus likely greater mating effort). | Higher testosterone does seem to be very weakly positively related to mating success (but not [[reproductive success]]) in men (at least in modern {{W|WEIRD|WEIRD}} samples), which may simply be explicable by the fact that testosterone levels are linked to libido (and thus likely greater mating effort). | ||