Edinburgh School of Economics. 31 Buccleuch Place, EH8 9JT, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Physiol Behav. 2010 Mar 3;99(3):355-61. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2009.11.013. Epub 2009 Nov 30.
Recent research has analyzed how individual characteristics, like the exposure to different hormones and symmetry, affect decision-making and strategic behaviour. The present article investigates the effect of symmetry, of exposure to testosterone (T) in utero and during puberty and of current T on cooperation in a Prisoners' Dilemma Game (PDG). T is a hormone with well known effect on males' behaviour, and that promotes activities that seek to increase reproductive success. Fluctuating Asymmetry (FA) reflects the ability of the organism to maintain a stable development and it is usually employed as a variable reflecting genetic quality (low FA values are thought to signal higher genetic quality). Our results show that subjects with intermediate levels of second to fourth digit ratio (a proxy of exposure to T in utero) and with high FA cooperate more often in the PDG. We also observe that the latter effect is due to the fact that FA has an impact on subjects' expectations about the behaviour of their counterpart in the game. These results reinforce the described link between markers related to genetic quality and cooperative behaviour. This possible linkage of individual condition and pro-social behaviour in humans clearly merits further attention.
最近的研究分析了个体特征，如暴露于不同的激素和对称性，如何影响决策和策略行为。本文研究了对称性、胎儿期和青春期暴露于睾丸激素（T）以及当前 T 对囚徒困境博弈（PDG）中合作的影响。T 是一种对男性行为有明显影响的激素，它促进了旨在增加生殖成功的活动。波动不对称（FA）反映了生物体维持稳定发育的能力，通常被用作反映遗传质量的变量（低 FA 值被认为表示更高的遗传质量）。我们的结果表明，第二到第四指比率（胎儿期 T 暴露的替代指标）处于中间水平且 FA 较高的受试者在 PDG 中更经常合作。我们还观察到，后一种效应是由于 FA 对受试者对游戏中对手行为的预期产生了影响。这些结果强化了与遗传质量相关的标记物与合作行为之间的联系。人类个体状况和亲社会行为之间的这种可能联系显然值得进一步关注。
