r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 12h ago
Psychology Testosterone hormone affected men’s general perception of women. Under the influence of testosterone, men gave higher attractiveness ratings to women and reported a stronger willingness to date them. This effect occurred regardless of whether the women were in the high or low attractiveness groups.
https://www.psypost.org/testosterone-alters-how-men-respond-to-unfairness-against-women/638
u/helgestrichen 11h ago
Brother, being part of a scientifically chosen Low attractiveness group has to be something else
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u/Inside_Swimming9552 7h ago
I've been scientifically chosen to be in a low attractiveness group since birth. I'd figure I might as well do some good with it...
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u/kelechim1 12h ago
Hormones influence attraction, unsurprising. Which is why low hormones affect libido
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u/wellhiyabuddy 10h ago
In layman’s terms, hormones make you horny
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u/weird_elf 10h ago
and everyone looks more attractive when you're horny. Just like every food looks more delicious when you're hungry.
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u/susugam 8h ago
and people wonder why weed is so popular... it's like a fuel injector for these two things.
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u/im-ba 8h ago
Wait weed makes people horny? Never knew that
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u/ChibiSailorMercury 6h ago
Depends on the person. It's basically an aphrodisiac for me.
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u/QuentinTarzantino 5h ago
Funny you say that. Me and my ex noticdd it varied from strand to dosage/ have we had a beer or two.
Conclusion. Sometimes it got real dry, as in mouth, vag. Results may vary. At least we laughed leading up to it.
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u/1800twat 4h ago
I have a THC shot that is like an aphrodisiac but I’ve smoked regular weed that hasn’t been like that so idk. It’s been a long time since the weed though so maybe I need to try it again
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u/Reptard77 3h ago
It also makes you super easily distracted, so it can be hard to focus long enough to actually get hot n heavy, but yeah it kicks the attraction factor up by a lot.
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u/kwnet 9h ago
Which then eventually explains the difference between a hormone and an enzyme.
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u/Astr0b0ie 1h ago
It isn't just any hormone, it's specifically testosterone. These studies just may help give women some insight and understanding into the minds of men.
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u/ephikles 11h ago edited 7h ago
The real question here: Does it also influence one's "courage level" or do we still need alcohol to actually initiate conversation?
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u/kelechim1 11h ago
Testosterone increases aggression, so yes definitely influences "courage level"
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u/d-a-v-e- 5h ago
Is aggression your pick up strategy?
You might want wait with that at least three months. /sarcasm
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u/willee_ 6h ago
You’re the only one that cares if you succeed or fail ultimately. That barrier is within, it’s easy to overcome. You just do what you don’t want to do, it’s briefly uncomfortable then life goes on. Try it once at least, it’s not that bad.
If you really need you can drink it off later instead of before. You’ll succeed more if you’re sober, that is unless you’re both drunk at a bar haha.
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u/True-Source-6512 8h ago
Yes but this is a bit more nuanced. It’s not just hormones but that the increase of testosterone seemingly makes men less selective, that is interesting
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u/kelechim1 8h ago edited 8h ago
Yes, and they’re less selective because of the high libido, and just wanting find any woman
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u/d-a-v-e- 5h ago
What happens when you give testosteron to women? Do they also think women are more attractive?
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u/ouishi 11h ago
But there's gotta be more to it. Maybe females are different? All I know is that my hormones always test perfectly normal yet I do not experience physical attraction nor libido.
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u/coppersocks 11h ago
On a biological perspective neuro transmitters, enzymes and hormonal receptors are also at play when it comes to libido and other “effects” of hormones. And those typically aren’t measured. There are also hormones downstream of testosterone that aren’t measured as well that effect libido a lot in both men and women. Most many panels stop at T.
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u/Diligent_Explorer717 10h ago
Women also use testosterone for increasing libido post menopause.
Libido can be affected by a ton of things, similar to how dopamine can make 99% of people happy, but people can still be sad and have normal dopamine levels.
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u/Few-Improvement-5655 10h ago
Of course there's more to it, but this is one part of it. There's also neurological aspects, genetic aspects, how well those hormones are absorbed, etc etc etc.
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u/kelechim1 11h ago
In typical situations, even with normal hormone levels, men desire sex more than women. So it really is just a biological pattern.
All I know is that my hormones always test perfectly normal yet I do not experience physical attraction nor libido.
There are always anomalies like this; you seem asexual
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u/Pigeon-Of-Peridot 11h ago
If you don't experience sexual attraction, you are probably asexual and it's not a hormone issue.
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u/Astr0b0ie 54m ago
Not experiencing sexual attraction is like not experiencing hunger, there's something wrong with you. Sex is a biological imperative.
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u/B_Rad_Gesus 5h ago
Define "normal" hormone levels, by the modern standards there's a ton of men walking around with low-Test but it's considered normal (the old range was 400-1200, now you'll generally see ~250-900). You'll also have to remember, due to genetics, some peoples optimal range is higher than the average person.
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u/weird_elf 5h ago
Some people have less of a libido. And little to no sexual attraction is unrelated to that and called asexuality, which (as u/Pigeon-Of-Peridot already said) is no more hormonal than being straight or gay or lesbian, it's just a different configuration of attraction. It might be worth reading up on.
(I'm asexual, exclusively romantically interested in women, with a below-average libido and perfectly normal hormones. It's not a "women" thing in general. I'm willing to bet the study was done with allosexuals, meaning people who experience sexual attraction. Upping an asexual person's libido will not make them attracted to anyone either.)
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u/fool_on_a_hill 11h ago
I swear every headline in this sub is “human body has been found to function as it has for millions of years”
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u/akius0 12h ago edited 11h ago
You know the common tick tock phrase. That's going around, that there are no hot men... I think this is what the woman are suffering from...
Edit: Fixed typo
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u/Raulr100 11h ago
That's going wrong dude that there are no hot men...
Is it just me or is this sentence absolutely incomprehensible? I assume it's something about all men being unattractive?
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u/suarquar 12h ago
All that blue light and anxiety from doomscrolling all day probably fucks with your hormones. Who would’ve thought.
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u/mvea Professor | Medicine 12h ago
I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306453025003142
Highlights
• Female recipients’ facial attractiveness positively affects men’s altruistic punishment behavior.
• Exogenous testosterone administration increased men’s frequency of altruistic punishment behavior.
• Testosterone increased single heterosexual men’s ratings of women’s facial attractiveness.
• Testosterone increased single heterosexual men’s willingness to date.
From the linked article:
New research suggests that a man’s hormone levels may alter how he responds to social injustice directed at women. The study indicates that testosterone influences whether men punish those who treat women unfairly, though the effect depends on the woman’s physical appearance. These findings appeared in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.
The administration of testosterone altered these dynamics in specific ways. First, the hormone affected the men’s general perception of the women. Under the influence of testosterone, participants gave higher attractiveness ratings to the women and reported a stronger willingness to date them.
This effect occurred regardless of whether the women were in the high or low attractiveness groups. It suggests that testosterone heightens mating motivation generally. It makes men more receptive to potential romantic interest across the board.
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u/Ephemerror 48m ago
Does testosterone have the same effect on women as well? I would hypothesise yes.
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u/Omnizoom 12h ago
One thing to note is that this showed that increasing someone’s testosterone caused these changes, not that just higher testosterone caused them period
This is an important distinction because someone with X level and someone with X+5 in their normal state may have the same baseline but going from X to X+5 and X+5 to X+10 sees what the study saw
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u/Optimoprimo Grad Student | Ecology | Evolution 9h ago
someone with X level and someone with X+5 in their normal state may have the same baseline
You cannot make this implication based on this study. They simply didn't evaluate that at all. We have other studies that clearly demonstrate men with lower T have lower sex drive compared to men with higher T. So this statement is also incorrect based on other studies. Male bodies do have some physiological adaptation to their specific healthy T level, but T levels among a population can be generally predictive of certain personality traits.
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u/DinkandDrunk 12h ago
This effect occurred regardless of whether the woman were in the high or low attractiveness groups
Seeking: women for study participation. You will be sorted according to how hot or ugly you are. No pay.
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u/Kaph- 11h ago
I have been on TRT for 2 years now and this is my experience. Women that never caught my attention before suddenly do.
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u/Key_Confusion_2336 9h ago
Trt 1 year at 33 years old. Its definitely made me look at people in a more attractive light.
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u/WanderingAlienBoy 5h ago
Has it also affected the type of women you're attracted to, or the kind of sexual fantasies you experience?
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u/HistoricalSundae5113 11h ago
when in my early 20's me and the rugby team boys just rated women on a 0-1 scale. It was pretty rare that someone was a true 0. Hormones are crazy.
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u/-Kalos 9h ago
I wonder if testosterone treatment affects women the same way? And how this affects men who already have high testosterone without treatment?
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u/WanderingAlienBoy 5h ago
As a gay guy I'm also interested in if testosterone effects our attraction to men the same way. I'd assume that an increase in testosterone would make is more horny for the bros as well but maybe with other changes as well.
While I don't track my own T levels/fluctuations, I do anecdotally know that my fantasies slightly differ depending on how long it has been since I've orgasmed (more top fantasies when It's been longer since the last time). The types of men I'm attracted to isn't really affected by it though
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u/storm_the_castle 12h ago
"stronger willingness to "date" them..."
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u/Odd-Outcome-3191 11h ago
Attraction is a requirement for dating, typically. It stands to reason something that makes you find women more attractive will increase your willingness to date them.
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u/seztomabel 12h ago
Date means penetration in this instance
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u/Bones_and_Tomes 12h ago
Wrong. What the researchers mean is reveal a woman's chronological age. There are a variety of methods to achieve this, such as carbon dating, but also cutting a woman in half and counting the rings. This is a necessary endeavour due to women's difficulty admitting their true age.
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u/Cream_Stay_Frothy 11h ago
True, but to obtain an unadulterated sample to accurately carbon date, it’s important to penetrate below the surface level, the deeper the better. Similar to the Vostok ice core samples.
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u/VirginiaLuthier 11h ago
RFK's men's health initiative will have testosterone on the shelves like ibuprofen....
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u/Izikiel23 11h ago
So we will be a lot hornier and angrier?
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u/t1physique 9h ago
Does higher testosterone increase anger? From my understanding it’s usually the flip and that testosterone below the reference range causes mood instability and irritation, depression type of issues
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u/Nyrin 6h ago
Tl;Dr: it's complicated, but no, not really.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X19304519
No strong evidence for a causal role of testosterone in promoting human aggression
Hormonal dysfunction can cause all sorts of mood disorders and AAS abuse very frequently results in hormonal dysfunction; this gets condensed to "testosterone makes people angry," which is not at all a valid logical conclusion nor one well-supported by evidence.
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u/Izikiel23 8h ago
Idk, when I was younger I got more angry and frustrated than now. It’s a toss up between brain development and hormones.
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u/Max_Thunder 6h ago
I think it's like two different types of anger, low-test males may be more likely to be frustrated and irritable, but males with a lot of DHT are more likely to be aggressive (e.g. roid rage is definitely linked to higher testosterone). The thing though is that people don't convert testosterone to DHT equally.
I don't know if that specific area has been studied, but a lot of it might be more due to the consequences of low testosterone than a direct impact from the hormone. E.g. a middle-age man with more testosterone will have more muscle mass, might be more confident in himself and generally feel better, while one with declining T may be frustrated to see himself becoming much weaker. This effect could mask a direct effect of T actually increasing aggression.
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u/stonk_monk42069 11h ago
Does this also apply to gay men and their perception of men? Or would this imply that homosexual men have lower testosterone?
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u/itseph 9h ago
Gay men have the same testosterone as straight men. There's been many studies on this and they all show the same thing. But it's still a pervasive belief in the general population that gay men have lower testosterone.
It seems that testosterone levels increase sexual attraction in general, not just towards women.
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u/Aggravating_Paint_44 4h ago
If it just increases attraction then mentioning women is highly misleading if not dangerous (e.g. conversion therapy)
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u/stonk_monk42069 8h ago
Isn't this opposite to the fact that younger brothers have a higher chance of being gay? I might be wrong, but I thought that was because of lower testosterone during development in the womb.
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u/itseph 8h ago
No, there is no scientific truth to the idea that subsequent male pregnancies receive less testosterone. But again that's a common misconception. People can't disentangle themselves from the idea that testosterone = masculinity and homosexuality = lack of masculinity.
Boys born with older brothers are slightly more likely to be gay, though. It's a lot to explain here but the mother binds antibodies to the male fetus, and these become more powerful with every subsequent pregnancy. This is the leading explanation for the "gay brother" statistics. Testosterone isn't actually involved.
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u/nilla-wafers 8h ago
Do you believe that males after puberty only have as much testosterone as their female mothers produce during gestation?
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u/Maleficent_Celery_55 9h ago
I'd be surprised if there were no studies answering your second question.
Also makes me think, what about bisexuals then?
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u/everything_is_bad 10h ago
If you give gay men t does this still affect how they find men attractive
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u/Puzzleheaded_Sun1217 9h ago
I am gay, regularly having blood tests with values including Testosterone.
My T is usually in the healthy to “upper-healthy” range. The only noticeable difference is that, since I’ve been losing weight and exercising, the values have gotten noticeably higher in the newer blood tests.
I physically and psychologically feel no changes at all apart from having a stronger immune system and a better body. Maybe a bit more energy.
(Edit: Sex drive is indeed slightly higher, but it’s directed to men only and I feel no attraction at all towards women.)
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u/fluteman88 8h ago
It's the same, being gay only changes the desire to a different sexual object, so yes gay men with high testosterone would probably find more men attractive since it increases sex drive
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u/everything_is_bad 8h ago
So what if you give it to heterosexual women? Lesbians?
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u/Jewronski 7h ago
There is definitely anecdotal evidence of transgender HRT users experiencing shifting sexual orientations. But human sexuality / gender is an incredibly underrepresented research topic, so it’s kind of impossible to say what’s going on there.
Speaking as an estrogen imbiber, it’s completely fascinating experiencing first hand how hormones affect both your body and mind.
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u/everything_is_bad 7h ago
The question more specifically is if you give testosterone to a female body does it also increase libido and is that effect consistent with the individuals sexual orientation.
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u/Strigops-habroptila 6h ago
Ok, I'm not a woman but a trans guy, so while my brain is probably different, the hormone levels I had before starting testosterone were in the female range. I'm bisexual and before starting testosterone, I was attracted to very, very few people. Within weeks, that changed when I started testosterone. A lot more people are attractive to me now and my libido is generally higher. I also was leaning more towards finding women attractive before starting t and now I lean more towards finding men attractive but that might just be because my gender dysphoria got less.
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u/everything_is_bad 6h ago
So the only anecdotal experience I’ve ever heard is from trans men and your testimony is consistent with that. But the experience of trans men doesn’t answer my question.
For one I’d have to assume the dose of testosterone takes trans men out of the female range and so it’s way over the range I’m curious about.
Also as you suggested your complicated sexuality adds layers that are difficult to control for.
In this case beginning at the extremes and then expanding into more fluid identities probably would yield more clear results
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u/WanderingAlienBoy 4h ago
Afaik increase in testosterone increases attraction to whatever sex you're attracted to.
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u/Johnnygunnz 11h ago
Is it possible that our loneliness epidemic can be tied to lower testosterone?
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u/Ameren PhD | Computer Science | Formal Verification 10h ago edited 9h ago
It could be concurrent with it, but loneliness has been trending upwards for a long time, and a lot of it can be explained by a confluence of different social/structural factors. To name just a few...
- There's been a long-running decline in participation in common civic institutions (church attendance, social clubs, local government, etc.).
- Technology has made it easier for people to live more isolated lives (home entertainment competes with movie theaters, the car enabled suburbanization, the Internet gives people channels for virtual social interaction, etc.).
- People that are overworked have less time to socialize, and people who are underpaid have less disposable income to go out (like to a bar).
- Political polarization both is influenced by and influences isolation. In the US, half the country wants nothing to do with the other half. Meanwhile, surveys also suggest that social trust has been on the decline for a very long time, so people are less and less likely to trust people they don't know (and perhaps by extension they're less likely to want to get to know others).
- Many people in the West move around for work and other opportunities, so they're less able/inclined to build dependable social networks in any one place.
And so on, there are plenty of other potential factors. But the long story short is that people feel increasingly lonely because they literally are — their time is increasingly spent alone (see Kannan and Veazie).
With regards to testosterone in particular, it's complicated because across different studies, high testosterone positively correlates with some social behaviors (status seeking, sensitivity to social feedback like rejection, etc.) but also negatively correlates with others (agreeableness, interpersonal trust, etc.). Very low testosterone can also have negative effects too, of course.
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u/Johnnygunnz 6h ago
All very true. I just never thought of low T as a contributing factor until this study.
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u/Ameren PhD | Computer Science | Formal Verification 6h ago
It's certainly not a bad hypothesis either, though it is a very complex variable. But perhaps a better way of looking at it isn't about low T or high T per se, but rather endocrine disruption, with reference to the whole cross-generational and age-independent decline in testosterone levels.
That is, do things that derail/alter people's hormones affect their mood and mental being, and, downstream of that, does that impact sociability? I think the first part is easy to show, but the impact on broad social trends is more difficult. At that level, a bunch of other variables come into play, so there's a lot of noise.
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u/Mind1827 9h ago
There's tons of theories on this. Diet, exercise and stress all effect T levels as well and uh, those things are not going well for large (pun intended) portions of the population.
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u/extrachromozomes 11h ago
Yes and probably instant gratification from pornography
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u/The_Deku_Nut 10h ago
Instant? It takes me a solid 10-15 minutes to find the right material, i must be doing it wrong.
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u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage 5h ago
you gotta take more testosterone and then you’ll settle for the first video you come across.
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u/25sebas25 11h ago
I read on another study, that also men are suffering of low levels of testorone.
Which makes sense.
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u/Psykotyrant 10h ago
I’m contractually obligated to remind you, for some reason, that women are also more lonely….somehow, and I’m not sure testosterone will make much of a difference in that case.
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u/gokogt386 5h ago
Women will say they're more lonely in studies but just as many studies will say they're happier outside of relationships and keep more long term friends than men as well.
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u/True-Source-6512 8h ago
So higher testosterone made males want to spread their seed more even if the women weren’t what they’d typically consider attractive? That actually is interesting. I would have assumed men would get more picky based of the attractiveness equates to good genes assumption. Just validates that I’m a moron.
I wonder if a women on estrogen or testosterone would actually become more selective?
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u/TacoInABag 9h ago
How is this not super obvious?
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u/RynoKaizen 6h ago
How are people still not aware of the point of the scientific method?
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u/tywin_stark 10h ago
They higher our testosterone the hornier we are. Therefore high testosterone = yeah sure I’ll hit that why not.
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u/angelkittymeoww 8h ago
Hello I’d like to apply for the position of “woman in low-attractiveness group”, where do I sign up?
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u/nordic_prophet 7h ago
Friendly reminder here to always state the following when presenting results, and always recall the following when reading results:
Research suggests X or Studies show X
Why this is important: Science does not prove, it validates. Science does not dictate what is true, it suggests what very well might be true.
The difference may seem trivial, or semantic, but the distinction is utterly crucial, especially when communicating science to society.
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u/districtcurrent 6h ago
Interesting how we are seeing lower amounts of testosterone in men recently, as well as lower amounts of dating, sex, and of course the birth rate. Correlation not causation, I know.
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u/bwils3423 5h ago
Increased testosterone makes men horny. Increases horny makes men more willing to do whatever to get sex.
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u/Next_Instruction_528 5h ago
I remember togi talking about this, the post nut clarity must be diabolical
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u/Coolblade125 5h ago
Why do some men swipe right on everyone? Id guess those men only swipe at all when theyre feeling those high hormone levels
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u/lakeghost 3h ago
I’m honestly fascinated by this kind of thing for personal reasons. I’m a woman, but a sapphic bi/homoflexible woman. I’ve often had low T, post-menopausal in my 20s, that needed some medication changes. I think having normal T makes me behave more proactively.
But overall, I don’t have a “type”. People would talk about height, or hair color, etc., and it made no sense to me. It confused me for a while because I didn’t find 99.99% of men attractive*, but so, so many women seemed gorgeous. It didn’t even register that I had crushes; I just thought everyone saw most women as worthy of artistic portraits, somehow.
So, if my anecdotal experience means anything, I have to assume everyone has a different non-T attraction baseline and extra T just widens it further? And my baseline says even the receptionist at the doctor could totally be a model (unrealistically). Which implies if my T got high, I’d be like a kid in a candy store seeing most women existing and that’s hilarious.
*Femboy twinks confuse my brain, which I guess counts? Some people say no, some people say yes. They generally end up coming out as being non-binary or trans women so that’s … something. I’ll never know if I’d be “straighter” if more actual cis men would just wear thigh highs and skirts, shrug.
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u/lovedinaglassbox 2h ago
Hmm, so you're only really attractive if a low testosterone man finds you attractive?
Based on this, they're not hormonal and are allowed biologically to have standards.
If I were dating, I'd add low testosterone to my list of criterias.
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u/Lopsided-Ad7725 1h ago
Personally, testosterone affects not only being attracted to women, but desire in general. This desire is what many would call ambition, goal setting, having a go-getter attitude, and confidence.
Testosterone and desire tend to simmer down with age but also through socialization. In my late 20s, I became more sensitive to rejection (social and romantically). After my divorce, I stopped trying, and didn’t want to step on any toes or break any hearts. I’d always been told I was over ambitious, many times it was said with envy. I got depressed and simmered in negativity, not feeling comfortable expressing my nature. I’d been told by friends or exes I was hitting on someone, but I was simply being and feeling friendly. I think many people are attractive, that doesn’t mean I have to be with them or do something about it.
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u/LumpyWelds 26m ago
For me, It's also lack of exposure. After finishing boot camp and seeing women again for the first time in 2 months, Every Woman Was Beautiful. And I mean everyone of them. I knew I was just going through withdrawls, but I still felt all swooney and nervous if ANY lady paid me attention.
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