Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

New evidence on testosterone and cooperation

Nature volume 485, pages E4–E5 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

arising from C. Eisenegger, M. Naef, R. Snozzi, M. Heinrichs & E. Fehr Nature 463, 356–359 (2010)10.1038/nature08711; Eisenegger et al. reply

In February 2010, Eisenegger et al. reported increased fair bargaining behaviour after administration of testosterone in an ultimatum game1. However, unfair offers in the ultimatum game typically are rejected; thus, not only the motives for social cooperation but also the threat of financial punishment may have accounted for these effects. Here, using the public goods game (PGG), we unambiguously show increased social cooperation after testosterone administration, but only among subjects with low levels of prenatal testosterone (measured by the right hand’s second-to-fourth-digit ratio (2D:4D)). This finding establishes positive effects of testosterone on social cooperation, with prenatal hormonal priming providing for important individual variability.

Your institute does not have access to this article

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Prenatal sex hormone priming (2D:4D) moderates effects of testosterone on social cooperation.

References

  1. Eisenegger, C., Naef, M., Snozzi, R., Heinrichs, M. & Fehr, E. Prejudice and truth about the effect of testosterone on human bargaining behaviour. Nature 463, 356–359 (2010)

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bos, P. A., Panksepp, J., Bluthé, R. M. & van Honk, J. Acute effects of steroid hormones and neuropeptides on human social-emotional behavior: a review of single administration studies. Front. Neuroendocrinol. 33, 17–35 (2012)

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Eisenegger, C., Haushofer, J. & Fehr, E. The role of testosterone in social interaction. Trends Cogn. Sci. 15, 263–271 (2011)

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Van Vugt, M., De Cremer, D. & Janssen, D. P. Gender differences in cooperation and competition: the male-warrior hypothesis. Psychol. Sci. 18, 19–23 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Tuiten, A. et al. Time course of effects of testosterone administration on sexual arousal in women. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 57, 149–153 (2000)

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Breedlove, S. M. Organizational hypothesis: instances of the fingerpost. Endocrinology 151, 4116–4122 (2010)

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Hönekopp, J., Bartholdt, L., Beier, L. & Liebert, A. Second to fourth digit length ratio (2D:4D) and adult sex hormone levels: new data and a meta-analytic review. Psychoneuroendocrinology 32, 313–321 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. van Honk, J. et al. Testosterone administration impairs cognitive empathy in women depending on second-to-fourth digit ratio. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 3448–3452 (2011)

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Dabbs, J. M. & Dabbs, M. G. Heroes, Rogues and Lovers: On Testosterone and Behavior (McGraw-Hill, 2000)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  10. van Honk, J. et al. Testosterone shifts the balance between sensitivity for punishment and reward in healthy young women. Psychoneuroendocrinology 29, 937–943 (2004)

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Lutchmaya, S., Baron-Cohen, S., Raggatt, P., Knickmeyer, R. & Manning, J. T. 2nd to 4th digit ratios, fetal testosterone and estradiol. Early Hum. Dev. 77, 23–28 (2004)

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Manning, J. T., Scutt, D., Wilson, J. & Lewis-Jones, D. I. The ratio of 2nd to 4th digit length: a predictor of sperm numbers and concentrations of testosterone, luteinizing hormone and oestrogen. Hum. Reprod. 13, 3000–3004 (1998)

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Zheng, Z. & Cohn, M. J. Developmental basis of sexually dimorphic digit ratios. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 16289–16294 (2011)

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Sarachana, T., Xu, M., Wu, R. C. & Hu, V. W. Sex hormones in autism: androgens and estrogens differentially and reciprocally regulate RORA, a novel candidate gene for autism. PLoS ONE 6, e17116 (2011)

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Millet, K. & Dewitte, S. Second to fourth digit ratio and cooperative behavior. Biol. Psychol. 71, 111–115 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. * Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, 3584CS Utrecht, Netherlands,

    Jack van Honk, Estrella R. Montoya, Peter A. Bos & David Terburg

  2. ‡ Department of Psychiatry, University of Cape Town, 7925 Cape Town, South Africa,

    Jack van Honk, Peter A. Bos & David Terburg

  3. § Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, VU University, 1081 BT Amsterdam, Netherlands,

    Mark van Vugt

Authors
  1. Jack van Honk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Estrella R. Montoya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Peter A. Bos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mark van Vugt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. David Terburg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors were involved in the design of the research; D.T and E.R.M. analysed data; and all authors were involved in the writing of the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jack van Honk.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

Declared none.

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

van Honk, J., Montoya, E., Bos, P. et al. New evidence on testosterone and cooperation. Nature 485, E4–E5 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11136

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11136

Further reading

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing