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"Testosterone can foster friendly, prosocial behavior in males, a new animal study finds. The Proceedings of the Royal Society B published the research on Mongolian gerbils conducted by neuroscientists at Emory University.Â
âFor what we believe is the first time, weâve demonstrated that testosterone can directly promote nonsexual, prosocial behavior, in addition to aggression, in the same individual,â says Aubrey Kelly, Emory assistant professor of psychology and first author of the study. âItâs surprising because normally we think of testosterone as increasing sexual behaviors and aggression. But weâve shown that it can have more nuanced effects, depending on the social context.âÂ
The work also revealed how testosterone influences the neural activity of oxytocin cells â the so-called âlove hormoneâ associated with social bonding.Â
The majority of human studies show that testosterone enhances aggressive behavior. Kelly and Thompson wondered if maybe testosterone might, in lockstep with being able to increase aggression toward intruders, also generally dampen prosocial behaviors. However, they also hypothesized that it might do something more radical â actually enhance positive social responses in contexts in which acting prosocially is appropriate.Â
To test this question, the Kelly lab conducted experiments on Mongolian gerbils, rodents that form lasting pair bonds and raise their pups together. While males can become aggressive during mating and in defense of their territory, they also exhibit cuddling behavior after a female becomes pregnant, and they demonstrate protective behavior toward their pups.Â
In one experiment, a male gerbil was introduced to a female gerbil. After they formed a pair bond and the female became pregnant, the males displayed the usual cuddling behaviors toward their partners. The researchers then gave the male subjects an injection of testosterone. They expected that the resulting acute rise in a maleâs testosterone level would lessen his cuddling behaviors if testosterone generally acts as an antisocial molecule.Â
âInstead, we were surprised that a male gerbil became even more cuddly and prosocial with his partner,â Kelly says. âHe became like âsuper partner.ââ ...
âA complicated dashboardâÂ
The current study also looked at how testosterone and oxytocin interact biologically. The results showed that the male subjects receiving injections of testosterone exhibited more oxytocin activity in their brains during interactions with a partner compared to males that did not receive the injections.Â
âWe know that systems of oxytocin and testosterone overlap in the brain but we donât really understand why,â Kelly says. âTaken together, our results suggest that one of the reasons for this overlap may be so they can work together to promote prosocial behavior.âÂ
Rather than just flipping an âonâ or âoffâ button to modulate behaviors, hormones seem to play a more nuanced role, Kelly says. âItâs like a complicated dashboard where one dial may need to move up a bit while another one moves down.â"
-via Emory News Center, Emory University, August 15, 2022
Your regularly scheduled reminder that testosterone is not evil, plus some really cool science
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