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Pretty surprising finding. I guess untangling myth from fact for these sort of conventional wisdom can be difficult.
Correlation strikes again? Turns out it’s just how we’re raising boys?
We endorse risk-seeking behavior and self-destruction in those with male traits. It shows up a lot more prevalently before the prefrontal cortex is fully formed.
Yeah and it varies by culture too.
Something must be causing it since males take greater risks than females. This also applies to animals.
Ok, so you just assume it's 1 hormone?
If not, it's the main one.
Do you have a Ph.D in endocrinology?
No. Since the article which is the subject of this post is about testosterone, it's reasonable to conclude that researchers suspect testosterone is the cause.
No it isn't at all... That's not how science works
the article is saying that researchers are pretty sure now that testosterone is not the cause
Somebody in response to me in this post referenced an article suggesting that testosterone is the cause. See https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2741240/
That's a single study from 2009; I posted 52 studies compiled last week.
The "study" is pointless
They said "no one has studied this", searched old studies, and then said "no one has studied this".
Anyone that thinks that means there isn't a connection, don't know what "meta-analysis" means or the basic ways the scientific community speaks....
Which apparently is a lot of people on Lemmy because they just blindly upvoted it
Perhaps males are hardwired as a fetus by testosterone to take risk. Then as adults testosterone no longer has a role.
Prenatal testosterone has well studied effects but brain development isn't one of them.
It's equally possible that the default state is risk taking, and estrogen causes risk averse behavior.
Unlikely since all fetuses by default are female. In males, the hormone, androgen masculinizes the fetus.
Yeah, you're talking about prenatal testorone and that link has been proven:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2741240/
It's one of the things we know subconsciously, prenatal testorone also causes physical differences for the entire life, most notable a wider face width/height ratio.
And most people intrinsically distrust "narrow face" people because that low prenatal testorone also means they have less group cohesion. A wider faced person is more likely to blindly defend their in group no matter what. So when looking for group members, we want them in our group, because then they're blindly loyal to us.
Most people don't consciously understand it, but subconsciously learn the pattern thru personal experience. Currently the term is "rat faced" but it's prenatal testorone that's the cause.
Quick edit:
To be clear testorne levels still play a role, I'm just saying prenatal testorone has actually had studies done, while "active" levels for adults hasn't.
I think your reference shows that testosterone increase risk taking refuting the title of the post. I think active testosterone means that circulating testosterone increase risk taking which would include adults.
...
"Prenatal testorone" means what your exposed to before birth at the earliest stages of development.
It is not the same as "testorone" that is in your blood as an adult.
They're two completely different processes despite similar names.
I had an epiphany. I had a male cat which was neutered. Yet, he had low risk aversion. He would jump into the street gutter and go somewhere. One time he disappeared for 24 hours. I had a female cat which just stayed in the yard. This is evidence that males are already hardwired for low risk aversion before birth.
Male cats are also more inclined to wandering due to feline mating habits. The males typically get kicked out of their birth family upon reaching maturity to prevent incest, whereas the females lead and organize the clan. So the males need to wander till they find a family to join as adults.
The exact mechanisms of how this works aren't really relevant to a discussion about humans since we don't really operate the same way, at least not universally.
Yes, but wandering involves low risk aversion. This could be caused by males being hardwired by prenatal testosterone.
I'm not saying it couldn't, just pointing out the nurture side of the debate
Nurture cannot be involved since a mother cat takes care her male and female kittens equally.
This is "absence of evidence isn't the evidence of absence" all over again...
It's not a new study, it's a review of prior studies..
So all it proves, is that no one has empirically proven the connection yet, which was the reason they did this literature review in the first place.
Research like this can be done by a single person without leaving their desk, in an average work day. The link even shows you the three searches they ran... It wasn't the scientific equivalent of "googling it".
It doesn't prove anything, except how many people blindly up ote and don't understand science.
Or "world news" which this apparently is?
Man, I can't tell what you're trying to say here. It sounds like you're trying to bash others for lacking science literacy when you're hating on Meta-analysis, an important research tool, because it takes less effort.
Yes, this doesn't prove that testosterone doesn't play a role in risk-taking behavior. But it does prove that testosterone alone isn't a strong indicator of risk-taking behavior. Which is important to state, because as the paper states, lots of research has been starting with that as an assumption.
Science: "we found absolutely no link between this behavior and this chemical. We checked multiple times and then checked everything we checked again."
Some random jackass on the Internet: "BUT THERE COULD BE ONE STILL YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND SCIENCE!!11!"