Future Directions in Human Behavioral Endocrinology

Abstract

Research within behavioral endocrinology has produced substantial advances over the past few decades. Knowledge of the biological mechanisms involved in human behavior informs evolutionary perspectives on selection pressures in our ancestral past, which encourages the development of more complete theories and more refined research questions. Yet, despite these advances, many unanswered questions remain. This chapter outlines broad suggestions for future hormone research within the topics of development and survival, reproductive behavior, and social and affective behavior. It concludes with several general suggestions for the field, including more research using hormonal assays, longitudinal and experimental designs, exogenous hormone administration, and cross-cultural work. It also suggests that researchers continue to consider the function of other endocrine traits (e.g., carrier proteins) and measure or manipulate hormones in combination with assessing hormone receptor genes. Behavioral endocrinology is a field replete with important future research directions that will contribute important insights into the evolution of our own and other species.

Pandemic Leadership: Sex Differences and Their Evolutionary–Developmental Origins

“…Psychobehavioral sex differences ultimately arise from sexual selection, sexual differentiation of the mammalian brain, sexual division of labor, and their interactions ( Figure 1 ). Sexual selection and sex differences in parental investment have shaped status-striving and power-seeking among men more than in women, resulting in (sometimes violent) competition, risky economic pursuits, and men taking on more leadership positions than women, particularly at higher organizational and societal levels ( Gottschall, 2008 ; Vongas and Al Hajj, 2015 ; Sweet-Cushman, 2016 ; von Rueden et al, 2018 ; Garfield et al, 2019b ; Luoto, 2019 , 2020 ; Welling and Shackelford, 2019 ; Van Vugt and von Rueden, 2020 ). The mammalian pattern of inter-male competition arises partially because fertile females are a limiting resource for male reproduction (i.e., the Darwin–Bateman paradigm: see Fromhage and Jennions, 2016 ; Janicke et al, 2016 ; Hoquet, 2020 ; and Morimoto, 2020 for recent discussions), which generally leads to higher risk-taking and status-seeking in males relative to females ( Archer, 2019 ; Ronay et al, 2020 ).…”

Evolutionary psychiatry: foundations, progress and challenges

“…A 1988 meeting established the Human Behavior and Evolution Society 222 , and encouraged development of evolutionary psychology as a broad field that inspired many papers, books 223‐230 , courses and controversies, many of which had a political flavor 231‐234 . Several major publications from evolutionary psychology focus on mental disorders 208,227,235‐239 .…”