{"title":"Generosity as a status signal: Higher-testosterone men exhibit greater altruism in the dictator game","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.106615","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Altruistic behavior can be modulated by many factors including hormonal levels, but their reported effects remain mixed. Understanding the proximate mechanisms of altruism such as these can help test predictions of ultimate, evolutionary explanations. We investigated the relationship of the endogenous salivary levels of testosterone and cortisol with Dictator Game (DG) offers as a proxy of altruism on a sample of general-population participants (<em>N</em> = 158, 84 F, 74 M). Bayesian data analysis and model comparison showed both testosterone and cortisol were negatively correlated with DG offers in women, while higher testosterone levels were associated with greater generosity in men. These results suggest that high testosterone may promote altruistic behavior in the service of status-seeking among men.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Evolution and Human Behavior","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513824000916","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Altruistic behavior can be modulated by many factors including hormonal levels, but their reported effects remain mixed. Understanding the proximate mechanisms of altruism such as these can help test predictions of ultimate, evolutionary explanations. We investigated the relationship of the endogenous salivary levels of testosterone and cortisol with Dictator Game (DG) offers as a proxy of altruism on a sample of general-population participants (N = 158, 84 F, 74 M). Bayesian data analysis and model comparison showed both testosterone and cortisol were negatively correlated with DG offers in women, while higher testosterone levels were associated with greater generosity in men. These results suggest that high testosterone may promote altruistic behavior in the service of status-seeking among men.
期刊介绍：
Evolution and Human Behavior is an interdisciplinary journal, presenting research reports and theory in which evolutionary perspectives are brought to bear on the study of human behavior. It is primarily a scientific journal, but submissions from scholars in the humanities are also encouraged. Papers reporting on theoretical and empirical work on other species will be welcome if their relevance to the human animal is apparent.
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