Single-dose testosterone administration increases preference for status goods

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04923-0

by prostoalex • 8 years ago

56 23 8 years ago

It's funny/scary how much less sophisticated we humans are than how imagine ourselves to be.

chris_mc• 8 years ago

Following our nature is easy, we just do it naturally. Opposing our baser instincts is hard, so a lot of people don't. The greatest leap as a species we can take is if we can make it a social imperative to act against those urges, but in today's corporate-controlled world, our "corporate overlords" want us to react on instinct to purchase expensive, wasteful, and useless items and services. Until we figure out how to hold a corporation to the same ethics and morals we hold individuals, that won't happen.

ivoras• 8 years ago

The greatest leap as a species we can take is if we can make it a social imperative to act against those urges

As likely most geeks and office warriors can vouch for, fighting your endocrine system leads to depression, anxiety and "finding yourself" problems.

Rather than fighting nature, which is a losing battle from the concept itself, I think the ideal is to find a balance with it, this means (however Jungian it sounds) accepting both our darker and lighter sides, both intellectual and physical.

vokep• 8 years ago

When you think about it though, for all our sophistication we...

Can only hold ~7 unique items in mind
Have relatively low resolution memory, and instead of just seeing it like that, unsure/unknown details are filled in almost arbitrarily
Are absolutely entirely single threaded - best form of multitasking is quick switching at a rate that obscures the switching - switching is still occurring though and is observable
Use language with lots of complexity maybe, but in simple algorithmic/programmed ways (grammer isn't straightforward, but lots of typical interactions are basically algorithms we naturally act out)

We are a collection of narrow intelligences which are quite powerful, and when combined result in a working general intelligence (to different degrees of success). That general intelligence sees the power of the narrow bits that make it up and proclaims "wow, I am complex and powerful" when its really just the cobbled together result.

Florin_Andrei• 8 years ago

On the flip side, we can also come up with Plato's dialogues, general relativity, La Gioconda, and the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

eeZah7Ux2• 8 years ago

No. People are way more complex than that.

It can be very tempting to jump to superficial conclusions by reading these publications e.g. imagine a direct correlation between testosterone and need for status.

Instead there can be a million confounding variable that depend on psychology and society.

justboxing• 8 years ago

TL/DR anyone?

jxub2• 8 years ago

Don't let your wife do roids unless you have plenty of cash for Prada and Channel purses and bottles of Moët '99.

Edit: Looks like this effects happen in men only.

stochastic_monk• 8 years ago

Testosterone affects sex drive in women as well. The study only concerned male participants, but it’s possible that women are also affected in the same way.

dang• 8 years ago

Please don't do this here.

temp47653• 8 years ago

Is this still scientific news?

We have sort of established that testosterone amplifies risk taking, aggressiveness and desire for social dominance. So of course status goods?

(Not a snark comment. Asking a CS/Math graduate.)

laser• 8 years ago

From the abstract “... testosterone increases positive attitudes toward positional goods when they are described as status-enhancing, but not when they are described as power-enhancing or high in quality.”

I would think power-enhancing things would improve one’s ability to achieve social dominance, but the effect they uncovered here seems to be even more crude and instead only has effect on stimulating a desire for immediate “improved” perception.

greenhatman• 8 years ago

testosterone increases positive attitudes toward positional goods when they are described as status-enhancing, but not when they are described as power-enhancing.

I'm not sure what this means. I thought status was a power-enhancing attribute. And that that was the reason people want it.

fredliu• 8 years ago

After this research, when do we expect to see male luxury brand stores in the mall start selling testosterone boosting snacks?

cellularmitosis3• 8 years ago

Hmm, I think they would target the snacks towards low-testosterone men, to increase their desire for status. The men already in the store are likely already high-testosterone. Serving the snacks in their stores would be preaching to the choir.

mc322• 8 years ago

If this is true and the stereotype of middle aged men looking for status via large purchases (boat, car, hobbies), what would dosing middle aged men do to their purchasing habits?

cellularmitosis3• 8 years ago

I suspect this stereotype may have a signal-to-noise problem. Consider that many men who buy a corvette at mid-life may have wanted one since their childhood, and mid-life happened to be the earliest point at which they could afford one.

spaceflunky• 8 years ago

Exactly this. “Mid life crisis” is just a fabricated pejorative meme. The reality is that for most middle class men, they can only afford to spend money on long sought after expensive hobbies once they hit midlife.

king_nothing• 8 years ago

You should’ve seen the $600 silk shirts I was looking at after rolling through Neimy’s. Must be the T. Lol. I’m serious about the former, but I dunno: my T level is always average. Not sure status has anything to do with it because they’re damn comfortable shirts and any shirt without a clothing tag gets my vote.

Single-dose testosterone administration increases preference for status goods

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