University of California San Diego, Rady School of Management, San Diego, 92093, United States.
Claremont Graduate University, Department of Politics and Economics, Claremont, 91711, United States.
Sci Rep. 2018 Aug 1;8(1):11556. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-29928-z.
The impact of testosterone on decision-making is a growing literature, with several reports of economically relevant outcomes. Similar to Wibral et al. (2012), we investigate the effects of exogenous testosterone administration on deception in a double-blind placebo controlled study. Participants (N = 242) were asked to roll a die in private and were paid according to their reported roll, which creates the opportunity to lie about the outcome to increase earnings. We find evidence for self-serving lying in both treatment and control groups and a statistically insignificant negative effect (d = -0.17, 95% CI[-0.42, 0.08]) indicating more honest behavior (i.e., lower reports) following testosterone administration. Although insignificant, the direction was the same as in the Wibral et al. study, and the meta-analytic effect of the two studies demonstrates lower reporting (i.e., more honesty) following testosterone (vs. placebo) administration, significant at the 0.05 level (d = -0.27, 95% CI[-0.49, -0.06]). We discuss how our results and methodology compare with Wibral et al. and identify potential causes for differences in findings. Finally, we consider several plausible connections between testosterone and lying that may be further investigated using alternative methodologies.
睾酮对决策的影响是一个不断发展的研究领域，有几项报告涉及到与经济相关的结果。与 Wibral 等人（2012 年）类似，我们在一项双盲安慰剂对照研究中调查了外源性睾酮给药对欺骗行为的影响。参与者（N=242）被要求私下掷骰子，并根据他们报告的掷骰结果获得报酬，这为通过撒谎来增加收入提供了机会。我们在治疗组和对照组都发现了自利性撒谎的证据，并且睾酮给药后出现了统计学上无显著意义的负面效应（d=-0.17，95%CI[-0.42, 0.08]），表明睾酮给药后行为更诚实（即报告的结果更低）。尽管无显著意义，但方向与 Wibral 等人的研究相同，并且两项研究的荟萃分析效应表明，与安慰剂相比，睾酮给药后报告的结果更低（即更诚实），在 0.05 水平上具有显著意义（d=-0.27，95%CI[-0.49, -0.06]）。我们讨论了我们的结果和方法与 Wibral 等人的比较，并确定了研究结果存在差异的潜在原因。最后，我们考虑了睾酮与撒谎之间的几种可能联系，这些联系可以使用替代方法进一步研究。
