Testosterone decreases trust in socially naive humans
Testosterone decreases trust in socially naive humans
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.0911700107
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发表时间：
2010-06-01
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
van Honk, Jack
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bos, Peter A.;Terburg, David;van Honk, Jack
信任在人类社会关系的形成和维持中起着重要的作用。但是，鉴于人类社会中骗子和骗子的普遍存在，信任他人是有代价的。最近的研究表明，肽激素催产素增加了对人类的信任。然而，催产素也使个体容易受到背叛，因为在催产素的影响下，受试者坚持信任他们知道不值得信任的人。Texine是一种与竞争和优势相关的类固醇激素，通常被视为社会性的抑制剂，并可能与催产素具有拮抗作用。以下实验在安慰剂对照的受试者内设计中测试这种可能性，该设计涉及向24名女性受试者施用睾酮。我们发现，与安慰剂相比，睾酮显著降低了人际信任，而且，正如进一步的分析所建立的那样，这种效果是由那些容易给予信任的人决定的。我们认为，睾丸激素适应性地提高了这些信任个体的社会警惕性，使他们更好地为争夺地位和宝贵资源做好准备。总之，我们的数据提供了独特的见解人类社会性的激素调节表明，睾酮下调人际信任的适应性方式。
Trust plays an important role in the formation and maintenance of human social relationships. But trusting others is associated with a cost, given the prevalence of cheaters and deceivers in human society. Recent research has shown that the peptide hormone oxytocin increases trust in humans. However, oxytocin also makes individuals susceptible to betrayal, because under influence of oxytocin, subjects perseverate in giving trust to others they know are untrustworthy. Testosterone, a steroid hormone associated with competition and dominance, is often viewed as an inhibitor of sociality, and may have antagonistic properties with oxytocin. The following experiment tests this possibility in a placebo-controlled, within-subjects design involving the administration of testosterone to 24 female subjects. We show that compared with the placebo, testosterone significantly decreases interpersonal trust, and, as further analyses established, this effect is determined by those who give trust easily. We suggest that testosterone adaptively increases social vigilance in these trusting individuals to better prepare them for competition over status and valued resources. In conclusion, our data provide unique insights into the hormonal regulation of human sociality by showing that testosterone downregulates interpersonal trust in an adaptive manner.