Testosterone study : placebo versus actual testosterone

 https://www.science.org/content/article/does-testosterone-have-bad-rap#

"Testosterone has a reputation for causing violent and antisocial behavior. But that's a bad rap, according to a new study. Women given the hormone acted more fairly in an economic game than did those given a placebo. Interestingly, however, women in the placebo group were more antisocial if they thought they had received testosterone, indicating that our negative attitudes toward the hormone have a powerful sway on behavior."

"... the results changed depending on what the women believed they had received. Based on questionnaires, the researchers divided the volunteers into women who thought they had received testosterone and those who thought they had received placebo. Those who got the hormone but thought they got a placebo were the most fair; in more than 60% of their offers, they proposed a 50-50 split of the francs. Women who got the placebo but thought they got testosterone were the most unfair; in only 10% of the offers did they propose an even split of the money. That indicates, says Fehr, that the subjects' negative assumptions about testosterone--not the hormone itself--led to antisocial behavior."


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Women who thought they had been given testosterone behave badly. Women who actually received testosterone behaved more fairly. How much does this say about expectations and how they think about men?

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