Does testosterone impair men’s cognitive empathy? Evidence from two large-scale randomized controlled trials

Nadler, Amos; Camerer, Colin F.; Zava, David T.; Ortiz, Triana L.; Watson, Neil V.; Carré, Justin M.; Nave, Gideon

doi:10.1101/516344

Cited by 12 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…On top of that, the link between testosterone and spatial abilities has been demonstrated experimentally in various nonhuman mammals (summarized in Hampson et al, 1998), making it a reasonable default hypothesis for our own species. In addition to the spatial-skills findings, testosterone has been linked to higher systemizing, and to lower social skills, empathizing, and verbal ability Chapman et al, 2006;Lutchmaya et al, 2001Lutchmaya et al, , 2002; although see Nadler et al, 2019, on the testosterone/low-empathy link). It is unclear at this stage whether hormones affect abilities directly, or do so indirectly through their effects on people's activity preferences (see, e.g., Schmidt, 2011).…”

Section: The Nature and Nurture Of Sex Differences In Cognitive Aptitmentioning

confidence: 93%

Men, Women, and STEM: Why the Differences and What Should Be Done?

Stewart‐Williams¹,

Halsey²

2018

Preprint

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It is a well-known and widely lamented fact that men outnumber women in a number of fields in STEM, including physics, mathematics, and computer science. The most commonly discussed explanations for the gender gaps are discrimination and socialization, and the most common policy prescriptions are targeted at those ostensible causes. However, a great deal of evidence in the behavioral sciences suggests that discrimination and socialization are only part of the story. The purpose of this paper is to highlight other aspects of the story: aspects that are commonly overlooked or downplayed. More precisely, the paper has two main aims. The first is to examine the evidence that factors other than workplace discrimination make a significant contribution to the gender gaps in STEM. These factors include relatively large average sex differences in career and lifestyle preferences, and relatively small average differences in cognitive aptitudessome favoring males, others favoring femaleswhich are associated with progressively larger differences the further above the average one looks. The second aim is to evaluate the evidence suggesting that these sex differences are not purely a product of social factors but also have a substantial biological (or "innate") component. A more complete picture of the many causes of the unequal sex ratios in STEM may productively inform policy debates, and is likely to improve women's situation across the STEM fields. Men, Women, and ScienceWhy the Differences and What Should Be Done?Never has the issue of gender disparities been as widely discussed, or as bitterly contested, as it has been in recent years. From the Oscars to the political podium, from TV shows to the workplace, disparities are identified and debate inevitably ensues. In the occupational realm, one of the primary focuses of this debate has been the differential representation of men and women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). 1 This was epitomized by the infamous "Google memo," in which then-Google employee James Damore (2017) questioned the extent to which observed gender disparities in STEM are a product of workplace discrimination. The memo, and Damore's subsequent dismissal from Google, provoked a great deal of discussion and debate about the causes of STEM disparities and the origins of human sex differences. Unfortunately, much of this debate was decidedly inaccurate in its presentation of the research on the topic. A great deal was said about bias and discrimination, but relatively little about other factors contributing to STEM gender gaps (e.g., Chachra, 2017). Furthermore, to the extent that other factors were mentionedfactors such as average sex differences in academic interests these were typically attributed to socialization, rather than to biology or to a 1 Strictly speaking, the issue is not STEM per se, but rather STEM fields that focus on the non-living world, or that have a strong spatial or mathematical component. According to Ceci et al. (2014), the STEM fields should be divided into GE...

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Section: The Nature and Nurture Of Sex Differences In Cognitive Aptitmentioning

confidence: 93%

Men, Women, and STEM: Why the Differences and What Should Be Done?

Stewart‐Williams¹,

Halsey²

2018

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jm6qd39 [57] and the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/hztfe). Competing interests.…”

Section: Ethics the Institutional Review Boards Of Caltech And Clarementioning

confidence: 99%

Does testosterone impair men's cognitive empathy? Evidence from two large-scale randomized controlled trials

Nadler¹,

Camerer

Zava

et al. 2019

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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The capacity to infer others' mental states (known as ‘mind reading’ and ‘cognitive empathy’) is essential for social interactions across species, and its impairment characterizes psychopathological conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. Previous studies reported that testosterone administration impaired cognitive empathy in healthy humans, and that a putative biomarker of prenatal testosterone exposure (finger digit ratios) moderated the effect. However, empirical support for the relationship has relied on small sample studies with mixed evidence. We investigate the reliability and generalizability of the relationship in two large-scale double-blind placebo-controlled experiments in young men ( n = 243 and n = 400), using two different testosterone administration protocols. We find no evidence that cognitive empathy is impaired by testosterone administration or associated with digit ratios. With an unprecedented combined sample size, these results counter current theories and previous high-profile reports, and demonstrate that previous investigations of this topic have been statistically underpowered.

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“…Direct evidence for the link between social cognition and androgen comes from testosterone administration studies. This line of study has shown that a single administration of testosterone reduces empathy and mentalizing (Hermans et al, 2006; van Honk et al, 2011; but see Nadler et al, 2019). Correlational studies also linked a high level of testosterone to impaired social function, indicating the possibility that testosterone can impair social cognition ability even within the physiological range (Ronay and Carney, 2013; Zilioli et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low Salivary Testosterone Level Is Associated With Efficient Attention Holding by Self Face in Women

Doi

Shinohara

2019

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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Capacity to recognize one’s own face (hereinafter referred to as self face) is a fundamental component of various domains of social cognition such as empathy in humans. Previous research has demonstrated that a high level of androgen suppresses empathic behavior and social brain function. Taking these into consideration, we hypothesized that people with high androgen level show reduced response to self face. The present study examined this hypothesis by investigating the association between attentiveness towards self face, as assessed by a psychophysiological experiment, and salivary testosterone concentration. The attentional responses to self face was measured by a modified Go/NoGo task. In this task, self face or unfamiliar other’s face was presented simultaneously with Go or NoGo signal. In go trials, participants had to divert their attention from the face to a peripheral target. The reaction time (RT) for peripheral target detection in each condition was measured. In addition to behavioral data, saliva samples were collected to assay salivary testosterone concentration. The index of potency of self face to hold viewer’s attention that was computed based on RT data was regressed against salivary testosterone concentration in men and women separately. The analyses revealed that self face holds visuospatial attention more effectively in women with low than high salivary testosterone level, but no such trend was observed in men. This pattern of results indicates that low testosterone level is associated with a pronounced response to self face as we hypothesized and raises the possibility that multiple aspects of self-face processing are under the influence of endocrinological function.

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Does testosterone impair men’s cognitive empathy? Evidence from two large-scale randomized controlled trials

Cited by 12 publications

References 55 publications

Men, Women, and STEM: Why the Differences and What Should Be Done?

Men, Women, and STEM: Why the Differences and What Should Be Done?

Does testosterone impair men's cognitive empathy? Evidence from two large-scale randomized controlled trials

Low Salivary Testosterone Level Is Associated With Efficient Attention Holding by Self Face in Women

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