Low- and High-testosterone Individuals Exhibit Decreased Aversion to Economic Risk

Overview

Journal Psychol Sci

Specialty Psychology

Date 2011 Mar 12

PMID 21393575

Citations 27

Authors

Steven J Stanton

ODhaniel A Mullette-Gillman

R Edward McLaurin

Cynthia M Kuhn

Kevin S LaBar

Michael L Platt

Scott A Huettel

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Testosterone is positively associated with risk-taking behavior in social domains (e.g., crime, physical aggression). However, the scant research linking testosterone to economic risk preferences presents inconsistent findings. We examined the relationship between endogenous testosterone and individuals' economic preferences (i.e., risk preference, ambiguity preference, and loss aversion) in a large sample (N = 298) of men and women. We found that endogenous testosterone levels have a significant U-shaped association with individuals' risk and ambiguity preferences, but not loss aversion. Specifically, individuals with low or high levels of testosterone (more than 1.5 SD from the mean for their gender) were risk and ambiguity neutral, whereas individuals with intermediate levels of testosterone were risk and ambiguity averse. This relationship was highly similar in men and women. In contrast to received wisdom regarding testosterone and risk, the present data provide the first robust evidence for a nonlinear association between economic preferences and levels of endogenous testosterone.

Citing Articles

Distinct developmental trajectories for risky and impulsive decision-making in chimpanzees.

Rosati A, Emery Thompson M, Atencia R, Buckholtz J J Exp Psychol Gen. 2023; 152(6):1551-1564.

PMID: 36689365 PMC: 10271938. DOI: 10.1037/xge0001347.

Beyond money: Risk preferences across both economic and non-economic contexts predict financial decisions.

Reeck C, Mullette-Gillman O, McLaurin R, Huettel S PLoS One. 2022; 17(12):e0279125.

PMID: 36525444 PMC: 9757577. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279125.

A Bayesian Modeling Approach to Examine the Role of Testosterone Administration on the Endowment Effect and Risk-Taking.

Votinov M, Knyazeva I, Habel U, Konrad K, Puiu A Front Neurosci. 2022; 16:858168.

PMID: 35937873 PMC: 9347223. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.858168.

Oxytocin moderates the association between testosterone-cortisol ratio and trustworthiness: A randomized placebo-controlled study.

Berends Y, Tulen J, Wierdsma A, de Rijke Y, Kushner S, van Marle H Compr Psychoneuroendocrinol. 2022; 8:100080.

PMID: 35757666 PMC: 9216378. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100080.

Navigating Motivation: A Semantic and Subjective Atlas of 7 Motives.

Chierchia G, Przyrembel M, Lesemann F, Bosworth S, Snower D, Singer T Front Psychol. 2021; 11:568064.

PMID: 33584405 PMC: 7874174. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.568064.

References

Newman M, Sellers J, Josephs R . Testosterone, cognition, and social status. Horm Behav. 2005; 47(2):205-11. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2004.09.008. View

Mazur A, Booth A . Testosterone and dominance in men. Behav Brain Sci. 1999; 21(3):353-63; discussion 363-97. View

DABBS Jr J, Frady R, Carr T, BESCH N . Saliva testosterone and criminal violence in young adult prison inmates. Psychosom Med. 1987; 49(2):174-82. DOI: 10.1097/00006842-198703000-00007. View

Tom S, Fox C, Trepel C, Poldrack R . The neural basis of loss aversion in decision-making under risk. Science. 2007; 315(5811):515-8. DOI: 10.1126/science.1134239. View

Laughlin G, Goodell V, Barrett-Connor E . Extremes of endogenous testosterone are associated with increased risk of incident coronary events in older women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2009; 95(2):740-7. PMC: 2840853. DOI: 10.1210/jc.2009-1693. View

Schultheiss O, Wirth M, Stanton S . Effects of affiliation and power motivation arousal on salivary progesterone and testosterone. Horm Behav. 2004; 46(5):592-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2004.07.005. View

Mehta P, Jones A, Josephs R . The social endocrinology of dominance: basal testosterone predicts cortisol changes and behavior following victory and defeat. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008; 94(6):1078-93. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.94.6.1078. View

McIntyre K, Henderson L . Anabolic steroids induce region- and subunit-specific rapid modulation of GABA(A) receptor-mediated currents in the rat forebrain. J Neurophysiol. 2000; 83(6):3299-309. DOI: 10.1152/jn.2000.83.6.3299. View

Stanton S, Schultheiss O . The hormonal correlates of implicit power motivation. J Res Pers. 2010; 43(5):942. PMC: 2818294. DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2009.04.001. View

10.

Mazur A . Biosocial models of deviant behavior among male army veterans. Biol Psychol. 1995; 41(3):271-93. DOI: 10.1016/0301-0511(95)05138-4. View

11.

Booth A, Shelley G, Mazur A, Tharp G, Kittok R . Testosterone, and winning and losing in human competition. Horm Behav. 1989; 23(4):556-71. DOI: 10.1016/0018-506x(89)90042-1. View

12.

Stanton S, Beehner J, Saini E, Kuhn C, LaBar K . Dominance, politics, and physiology: voters' testosterone changes on the night of the 2008 United States presidential election. PLoS One. 2009; 4(10):e7543. PMC: 2760760. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007543. View

13.

Doumit M, Cook D, Merkel R . Testosterone up-regulates androgen receptors and decreases differentiation of porcine myogenic satellite cells in vitro. Endocrinology. 1996; 137(4):1385-94. DOI: 10.1210/endo.137.4.8625915. View

14.

Masonis A, McCarthy M . Effects of the androgenic/anabolic steroid stanozolol on GABAA receptor function: GABA-stimulated 36Cl- influx and [35S] TBPS binding. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1996; 279(1):186-93. View

15.

Zethraeus N, Kocoska-Maras L, Ellingsen T, von Schoultz B, Linden Hirschberg A, Johannesson M . A randomized trial of the effect of estrogen and testosterone on economic behavior. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009; 106(16):6535-8. PMC: 2666090. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0812757106. View

16.

Archer J . Testosterone and human aggression: an evaluation of the challenge hypothesis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2006; 30(3):319-45. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2004.12.007. View

17.

Tuiten A, van Honk J, Koppeschaar H, Bernaards C, Thijssen J, Verbaten R . Time course of effects of testosterone administration on sexual arousal in women. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2000; 57(2):149-53; discussion 155-6. DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.57.2.149. View

18.

Levy I, Snell J, Nelson A, Rustichini A, Glimcher P . Neural representation of subjective value under risk and ambiguity. J Neurophysiol. 2009; 103(2):1036-47. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00853.2009. View

19.

Lane S, Gowin J . GABAergic modulation of human social interaction in a prisoner's dilemma model by acute administration of alprazolam. Behav Pharmacol. 2009; 20(7):657-61. PMC: 2952709. DOI: 10.1097/FBP.0b013e32832ec62b. View

20.

Sapienza P, Zingales L, Maestripieri D . Gender differences in financial risk aversion and career choices are affected by testosterone. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009; 106(36):15268-73. PMC: 2741240. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0907352106. View