1Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.
Psychol Sci. 2013 Nov 1;24(11):2306-14. doi: 10.1177/0956797613495063. Epub 2013 Sep 26.
The steroid hormone testosterone has been associated with behavior intended to obtain or maintain high social status. Although such behavior is typically characterized as aggressive and competitive, it is clear that high social status is achieved and maintained not only through antisocial behavior but also through prosocial behavior. In the present experiment, we investigated the impact of testosterone administration on trust and reciprocity using a double-blind randomized control design. We found that a single dose of 0.5 mg of testosterone decreased trust but increased generosity when repaying trust. These findings suggest that testosterone may mediate different types of status-seeking behavior. It may increase competitive, potentially aggressive, and antisocial behavior when social challenges and threats (i.e., abuse of trust and betrayal) need to be considered; however, it may promote prosocial behavior in the absence of these threats, when high status and good reputation may be best served by prosocial behavior.
甾体激素睾酮与旨在获得或维持高社会地位的行为有关。尽管这种行为通常表现为攻击性和竞争性，但显然，高社会地位不仅通过反社会行为获得和维持，而且通过亲社会行为获得和维持。在本实验中，我们采用双盲随机对照设计研究了睾酮给药对信任和互惠的影响。我们发现，单次 0.5 毫克的睾酮剂量会降低信任度，但在回报信任时会增加慷慨度。这些发现表明，睾酮可能介导不同类型的寻求地位的行为。当需要考虑社会挑战和威胁（即，滥用信任和背叛）时，它可能会增加竞争、潜在的攻击性和反社会行为；然而，当没有这些威胁时，它可能会促进亲社会行为，因为在这种情况下，高地位和好名声可能最好通过亲社会行为来实现。
