If I ask you, "Do high levels of testosterone cause increased aggression?” You might say “yes,” and studies have also shown this correlation. At times it does, but there is also an underlying reason that's often forgotten and is dug deep in the ground.
Most of the studies being done on this subject target male prisoners—who are already aggressive. And this aggression is not just because of high levels of testosterone, but a lot of factors contribute, like genetics, environment, and childhood exposure—from the moment you are in your mother's womb, every single thing contributes to what you are now. So now you know, aggression is less about levels of testosterone and more about social learning.
In volunteers administered a dosage of testosterone WITHIN NORMAL RANGE, aggression typically does not increase. Though the things differ when levels of testosterone are made higher than what the body generally generates, like the anabolic steroids used by bodybuilders and athletes. But that's another story.
So what does testosterone actually do? It makes you…..FEARLESS RISK-TAKERS, OVERLY CONFIDENT, AND DELUSIONALLY OPTIMISTIC. Actually, testosterone’s effect is very much context dependent. If someone challenges you to a fight, you take the direction of aggression. But if you like a girl and you see her, then it will make you all so giggly and shy. It definitely won't let you start a fight with your boss when it clearly knows that you will lose but will surely make you exercise power over your subordinates. Moreover, rather than causing a behavior X, it amplifies X. That’s basically amplifying pre-existing tendencies. And now what exactly causes testosterone to prompt it—“the need to maintain THE STATUS”.
In our mainly male-dominated patriarchal society, status and strength are often mistaken for dominance, and since early ages, violence has been subtly framed as “masculine.” So testosterone makes men more aggressive, abusive, and violent. Unfortunately this does not stay in the playground but also extends to domestic spaces and relationships. The abuse is quietly being normalized and tolerated because society keeps handing out gold stars for dominance. But that's not the only case. Imagine a case where a person's sense of pride rides on honesty, where defending one’s status requires them to be nice and not act like a jerk. Then what happens…….Testosterone makes men cheat less and behave more fairly. Same hormone but different outcomes. Testosterone isn’t always shouting, “Be aggressive!” At times it's also whispering, “Do whatever keeps you on top.”
Testosterone does not prompt aggression, but instead it reflects back whatever our society labels as power, prompting behaviors to attain power, dominance, and higher self-esteem. But here’s the catch—we can engineer social circumstances in the right way and boost testosterone levels in a way that would actually make people compete like crazy only to do most acts of random kindness. In a world riddled with male violence, the culprit isn’t testosterone. It is the frequency with which we reward aggression that makes it so prevalent. “The problem isn't testosterone. It’s what we keep clapping for.”
