睾酮与人类决策行为

Testosterone and human decision-making

睾酮是一种类固醇激素,主要的雄性激素之一。在神经科学与神经内分泌学领域中,早期研究发现睾酮会对人类的攻击性、社会交往、冲动性等方面产生一定的影响;后来心理学研究者开始关注睾酮与决策之间的关系,包括社会性决策的信任、合作、利他与竞争方面以及经济性决策的风险决策。多项研究显示,睾酮的水平与经济性决策中的风险寻求行为呈正相关关系;在社会性决策领域中,高睾酮水平的个体会表现出更高的攻击性、支配性和公平性行为,同时表现出更低的人际信任。然而这些研究结果也存在难以重复验证的现象,需要更多的研究探寻可能影响睾酮与决策的其他因素。未来对睾酮与决策的研究可以关注睾酮与消费决策领域、探寻青少年睾酮水平与社会行为的关系以及临床应用等。

Testosterone is one of the steroid hormones (i.e. androgen). Early research has shown that testosterone played a large role in the human aggressive and impulsive behavior. There is increasing interest in the effects of testosterone on human decision-making, including social (i.e. trust, cooperation, altruism, and competition) and economic decision-making (i.e. risk taking). In general, there is a positive association between testosterone level and risk-seeking behavior in economic decision-making. In the social domain, high testosterone levels are associated with more aggressive, dominant, and fairness behavior. Testosterone administration also reduced interpersonal trust. Note that some findings are hard to replicate, and more research is needed to investigate potential moderators. Future research could fruitfully explore the role of testosterone in consumer decision-making, adolescent’s social behavior and clinical application.