Is the male aggressor romantic-style outdated?

[nanashi]

That study is problematic and they overreached with that conclusion. It was a zero stakes analytical activity (negotiating for free money). They should have stopped at "testosterone doesn't make you an unreasonable negotiator." It's reaching too far to say it has no link with aggressive behavior.

There was no provocation (no threat)
There were no women (no sex)
The situation of free money was "win/win" unless you're a total jackass (no competition)
The stakes were none, unless they were recruiting desperately poor people (no risk)
There was no audience of women or peers watching (no social status)

You would have to be some kind of sociopath to fuck up a situation where researchers present you with free money and all you have to do is negotiate for it. That's an analytical activity, not an aggression trigger.

That's not the biggest problem, which is they didn't take personality into account. Testosterone doesn't turn mousy men aggro, it primes men who are already aggro for more aggression.


The design of this study is more relevant to what that other study attempts to claim.

Exogenous Testosterone Rapidly Increases Aggressive Behavior in Dominant and Impulsive Men
https://www.researchgate.net/publica..._Impulsive_Men

Direct link:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile...f9d8f4c9ab.pdf

Note I said design. Don't mistake me for taking testosterone as the end-all-be-all of aggression, I have issues with this study too. It's just that other study's methodology was socially retarded. While the data is factually correct, they fundamentally misinterpret the nature of aggression when they strip away risk, provocation, sex, competition, social status and personality. Only an economist would have the tunnel vision to think money is a comprehensive testing ground for aggression or that man is motivated by money to the exclusion of all else.

The problem with the idea you're trying to support is that testosterone can help people get interested in who's socially acting out what role. THAT alone could be the reason SOME already aggressive people exhibited aggression. It doesn't mean that testosterone CAUSES aggression. being aggressive and getting a greater interest in who's doing what social role can be like getting sunglasses when you're Riddick...now you can see better, etc. Testosterone seems to be related to tring to figure out how to behave. It's not even about dominance. It can help with figuring out how the dynamic is right now with someone else coming up with ideas and organizing and inspiring and directing and all that. (although flat hierarchies do exist, too)