Digit ratio (2D:4D) and psychopathic traits moderate the effect of exogenous testosterone on socio-cognitive processes in men

Carré, Justin M.; Ortiz, Triana L.; Labine, Brandy; Moreau, Benjamin J. P.; Viding, Essi; Neumann, Craig S.; Goldfarb, Bernard

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.08.023

Cited by 71 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 60 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Neuroimaging work indicates similar effects of exogenous T on threatrelated brain function in men and women (18)(19). Also, other research indicates that a single application of T Moreover, exogenous T impairs empathic processes in both men and women exposed to high prenatal androgen (as indexed by 2D:4D hand ratio; (62)(63)). Nevertheless, our previous correlational work suggests that acute changes in endogenous T concentrations map onto subsequent aggressive behavior in men, but not women (13)(14).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Exogenous Testosterone Rapidly Increases Aggressive Behavior in Dominant and Impulsive Men

Carré

Geniole

Ortiz

et al. 2017

Biological Psychiatry

Self Cite

176

109

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Exogenous Testosterone Rapidly Increases Aggressive Behavior in Dominant and Impulsive Men

Carré

Geniole

Ortiz

et al. 2017

Biological Psychiatry

Self Cite

176

109

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Some exceptions of recent work involving T administration in healthy men include Zak et al (2009), who report suggestive evidence that it decreased generosity, 1 Wibral et al (2012) who found that it reduced lying, Carré et al (2015) who showed that it impaired socio-cognitive ability only in subjects with low 2D4D or low psychopathic traits, Cueva et al (2015) who found that it increased risk-taking in an investment task, and Carré et al (2016) who found that it led to greater aggression only in subjects scoring high in trait dominance or low in trait self-control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testosterone administration does not affect men's rejections of low ultimatum game offers or aggressive mood

Cueva

Roberts

Spencer

et al. 2017

Hormones and Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Correlative evidence suggests that testosterone promotes dominance and aggression. However, causal evidence is scarce and offers mixed results. To investigate this relationship, we administered testosterone for 48h to 41 healthy young adult men in a within-subjects, double-blind placebo-controlled balanced crossover design. Subjects played the role of responders in an ultimatum game, where rejecting a low offer is costly, but serves to destroy the proposer's profit. Such action can hence be interpreted as non-physical aggression in response to social provocation. In addition, subjects completed a self-assessed mood questionnaire. As expected, self-reported aggressiveness was a key predictor of ultimatum game rejections. However, while testosterone affected subjective ratings of feeling energetic and interested, our evidence strongly suggests that testosterone had no effect on ultimatum game rejections or on aggressive mood. Our findings illustrate the importance of using causal interventions to assess correlative evidence.

show abstract

“…Since behavior like that of the powerful and those with many autistic traits has also been shown to result from T, it is interesting to note that the effect of T administration is especially strong in people exposed to high prenatal levels of T (van Honk et al, 2011; Carré et al, 2015). …”

Section: Testosterone As a Common Causementioning

confidence: 99%

Power and Autistic Traits

Overskeid

2016

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Autistic traits can help people gain and sustain power, and has probably done so throughout history, says the present paper. A number of testable claims follow from this assumption. First, the powerful should have more autistic traits than others – which they do appear to have. Among other things, powerful people, and those with many autistic traits, tend to prefer solitary activities and are often aloof. Moreover, they are often rigid and socially insensitive, low on empathy and with low scores on the trait of agreeableness – and as a rule they do not have many friends. Both groups are also more self-centered than others, more honest, less submissive, more sensitive to slights, and with a stronger tendency to engage in abstract thinking. They tend to behave in bossy or dominant ways, and their moral judgment is more based on rules than on feelings. In addition to experimental evidence, I cite biographies showing that a surprising number of presidents, prime ministers and other powerful people seem to have had traits like those in question – and interestingly, in animals, leaders are often rigid and insensitive to group members’ needs and feelings, mostly acting the way they are themselves inclined to, not responding much to others. Problem solving is important in leadership, and people with many autistic traits appear often to be better thinkers than typical subjects with similar IQs. However, these and other congruities could be coincidences. Hence the question of whether traits the two groups have in common also have a common cause constitutes a strong test of the paper’s thesis – and a common cause does appear to exist, in the form of testosterone’s effects on the central nervous system. Finally, there is evidence that, other things equal, powerful men have more reproductive success than others. If men wielding power do indeed have more autistic traits than those less powerful, this will lead to, other things equal, such traits becoming more common – which can help explain the prevalence of autistic traits.

show abstract

Digit ratio (2D:4D) and psychopathic traits moderate the effect of exogenous testosterone on socio-cognitive processes in men

Cited by 71 publications

References 60 publications

Exogenous Testosterone Rapidly Increases Aggressive Behavior in Dominant and Impulsive Men

Exogenous Testosterone Rapidly Increases Aggressive Behavior in Dominant and Impulsive Men

Testosterone administration does not affect men's rejections of low ultimatum game offers or aggressive mood

Power and Autistic Traits

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About