Testosteron, Lügen und prosoziales Verhalten

Eine Studie hat untersucht, wie sich Testosteron auf die Bereitschaft zu Lügen auswirkt:

Lying is a pervasive phenomenon with important social and economic implications. However, despite substantial interest in the prevalence and determinants of lying, little is known about its biological foundations. Here we study a potential hormonal influence, focusing on the steroid hormone testosterone, which has been shown to play an important role in social behavior. In a double-blind placebo-controlled study, 91 healthy men (24.32±2.73 years) received a transdermal administration of 50 mg of testosterone (n = 46) or a placebo (n = 45). Subsequently, subjects participated in a simple task, in which their payoff depended on the self-reported outcome of a die-roll. Subjects could increase their payoff by lying without fear of being caught. Our results show that testosterone administration substantially decreases lying in men. Self-serving lying occurred in both groups, however, reported payoffs were significantly lower in the testosterone group (p<0.01). Our results contribute to the recent debate on the effect of testosterone on prosocial behavior and its underlying channels.

Quelle: Testosterone Administration Reduces Lying in Men

In der Studie werden dann auch weitere Studien zur Wirkung von Testosteron behandelt:

Our findings contribute to the recent debate on a potential effect of testosterone on prosocial behavior [6], [9], [22]. So far, two studies suggest an effect of testosterone administration on prosocial behavior [6], [9]. However, these data are open to several interpretations regarding the underlying channel. Three hypotheses emerge from the debate [22]: 1) Testosterone has a direct influence on prosocial preferences, i.e., testosterone administration makes people more prosocial. 2) Testosterone increases concerns for social status, which may then lead to more prosocial behavior. 3) Testosterone affects beliefs about the behavior or beliefs of other players. One study [6] finds that single-dose administration of testosterone increases proposer offers in the ultimatum game in a sample of 60 women (but see [19], [23]). The authors interpret higher offers as an expression of testosterone enhanced status concerns, i.e., proposers want to avoid status threatening rejections and therefore behave more prosocially. However, high offers cannot be interpreted as prosocial behavior per se, but may be strategically motivated. Offers in the ultimatum game depend on beliefs about the rejection behavior of the other player. Recent research suggests that testosterone could render an individual’s belief about other people more pessimistic. For example, testosterone administration reduces trustworthiness judgments of unfamiliar faces [10] and testosterone is positively related to vigilant responses to angry faces [24]. In fact, testosterone could therefore lead proposers to expect a higher rejection threshold, which would also explain higher offers in the ultimatum game. The second study opts for a different behavioral paradigm to investigate the relation between testosterone and prosocial behavior [6]. This study finds that testosterone administration increases contributions in a public good game for high 2D:4D ratio individuals in a sample of 24 women. It is possible that testosterone administration rendered subjects more prosocial. However, as in [6] it cannot be ruled out that an effect of testosterone on beliefs drives the results since the incentive structure of the public good game was such that even a perfectly selfish player with certain beliefs would contribute to the public good.

Ich hatte die Studie bezüglich des Testosterons und dem höheren Beitrag zum Gemeinwohl hier auch bereits besprochen. Es scheint als habe Testosteron eine durchaus soziale Ader. In dem oben verlinkten Beitrag habe ich spekuliert, dass dies besonders wichtig ist, weil Männer gerade auf die Bündnisse untereinander angewiesen sind, sei es im Bezug auf Jagd oder auch Kampf. Eine andere Studie zu höheren Investitionen in die Gruppe hatte ich hier besprochen.

Aus der weiteren Besprechung in der Studie:

potential interpretation for our findings is that testosterone administration affects a concern for self-image [25], or pride [16], i.e., enhances behavior which will make a subject feel proud and leads to the avoidance of behavior considered “cheap” or dishonorable. Subjects in our testosterone group may therefore lie less. This is intriguing because pride could be an affective mechanism underlying a link between testosterone and dominance behavior. An interpretation of our findings in terms of pride is in line with anecdotal and correlational evidence indicating that testosterone plays a positive part in heroic altruism [17]. It is also in line with reports that high testosterone individuals display more disobedient behavior in prison environments where proud individuals may be less willing to follow the strict rules and comply with orders [26], [27]. Finally, a relation between pride, testosterone, and the willingness to engage in “cheap” behavior also fits the observation that the five inmates with the lowest testosterone levels in a sample of 87 female prison inmates were characterized as “sneaky” and “treacherous” by prison staff members [27]. Further experiments manipulating whether lying is an honorable action (e.g., lying for charity) or not (lying for self) are needed to clarify the role of pride in the effect of testosterone on human social behavior. An alternative interpretation of our results, which we cannot rule out, is that testosterone has a direct effect on prosocial behavior, making people more honest per se.

Das Fett markierte finde ich eine interessante Möglichkeit: Wenn Testosteron den Stolz beziehungsweise das allgemeine Statusdenken und Dominanzdenken betrifft, dann würde das meiner Meinung nach viele andere Punkte auch erklären. Es würde dann insbesondere von den kulturellen und sozialen Einstellungen abhängen, wie jemand diesen Konflikt umsetzt. Das mag in einem Experiment wie dem oben genannten dazu führen, dass man zu stolz ist, um zu betrügen, einen anderen Mann mag es verleiten, nicht vor einem körperlichen Konflikt zurückzuschrecken und diesen durch Gewalt zu entscheiden. Es würde auch gut in ein System der intrasexuellen Konkurrenz einzupassen sein, bei der Stress und niedrige Hierarchiestufen den Testoteronspiegel senken und somit vielleicht Tricks und Betrügereien lohnender machen, während bei einem hohen Testosteronspiegel die Wahrheit als Costly Signal in Kauf genommen werden kann.