Testosterone does not induce aggression, study shows

[Veilex]

This has been around for a little while... but I've been seeing more and more comments in certain groups regarding "Testosterone poisoning" and such... so, just in case anyone here has any misconceptions about Testosterone, take a look!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091208132241.htm

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. Interesting paragraph from the article

Moreover the study shows that the popular wisdom that the hormone causes aggression is apparently deeply entrenched: those test subjects who believed they had received the testosterone compound and not the placebo stood out with their conspicuously unfair offers. It is possible that these persons exploited the popular wisdom to legitimate their unfair actions. Economist Michael Naef states: "It appears that it is not testosterone itself that induces aggressiveness, but rather the myth surrounding the hormone. In a society where qualities and manners of behavior are increasingly traced to biological causes and thereby partly legitimated, this should make us sit up and take notice." The study clearly demonstrates the influence of both social as well as biological factors on human behavior.

Thanks for posting.

[Veilex]

2. Great call out!

I thought that was a rather interesting bit as well.

Here are a few more studies:
http://sf.oxfordjournals.org/content/85/1/167.short
http://www.tonymaddocks.co.uk/hormones_in_context.html

This last one is important, specifically because it deals with Testosterone in women. It shows a lack of increased violence in women in spite of being treated with Testosterone... thereby further debunking the myth that Testosterone is the cause of aggression.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378512213000121

[Bonobo]

3. So Alan Alda's famous "testosterone poisoning" was exactly what I thought...

A case of self-hatred (of disgust or inadequacy) turned outward and projected onto an entire gender. Add a flourish of pseaufo-science and there you are. It enabled decades of misandry.

[Veilex]

4. Effectively.

Though certain groups on this website would likely never acknowledge the existence of such misandry.

[nomorenomore08]

5. I've heard/read before that violent criminals - and garden-variety assholes as well - frequently

have lower testosterone levels than other men. Why that would be, I really don't know, but I can tell you that I have as strong of a libido as any other guy yet manage to act perfectly civilized, for the most part.