I’m not suggesting all people with high testosterone are potential criminals. But when it’s combined with low intelligence or poor impulse control you can have problems. Also, it seems to be more related to violent crime rather than premeditated or financial crime.
"The consensus is that there is a weak and inconsistent association between testosterone levels and aggression in adults and that the administration of testosterone to volunteers typically does not increase their aggression".
The article on the same-sex relationship and crime study seems to be overlooking a fairly obvious explanation. Lesbians are more prone to masculine behaviours than straight women are. Conversely, gay men are generally less aggressive than straight men. This might have something to do with testosterone. It’s reasonable to expect straight men to be most likely to commit crimes, straight women to be least likely, and gays and lesbians to be somewhere in between
Personally, I don't think it does justice to men when we label the more cluster B-type/narcissistic behaviors seen in lesbians or activists as "masculine".
...
As far as I know, testosterone does not necessarily induce aggression and higher testosterone levels do not equate to more aggressive behavior.
See also: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_differences_in_crime#:~:text=Statistics%20have%20been%20consistent%20in,are%20associated%20with%20criminal%20activity.
I’m not suggesting all people with high testosterone are potential criminals. But when it’s combined with low intelligence or poor impulse control you can have problems. Also, it seems to be more related to violent crime rather than premeditated or financial crime.
It plays a role.
Thanks for sharing these. I guess the disagreement stems from "correlation vs. causation".
Testosterone makes "preexisting aggressive patterns" more likely to happen—but rarely does it generate new patterns of aggression.
If interested in the topic, I would recommend checking Robert Sapolsky's work. He has plenty of lectures and episodes on this on YouTube: https://youtu.be/J4W3WSJ8F78?si=6W17GIvryP1_dohL&t=74
The classic study demonstrating that testosterone does not generate aggression de novo but instead amplifies preexisting social learning about aggression: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0031938477902724
There's also a review paper that dives deeper into this: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763405000102?casa_token=soV99TbRyRAAAAAA:WZYqW6uQWhpSQR0rJSMpnnoNA2X8XFXx07UKpWVF3Ah29xObgI0R9HIqzsvemyKT0fTHlMvt1j4e
"The consensus is that there is a weak and inconsistent association between testosterone levels and aggression in adults and that the administration of testosterone to volunteers typically does not increase their aggression".
Thanks again. Appreciate your time.
The article on the same-sex relationship and crime study seems to be overlooking a fairly obvious explanation. Lesbians are more prone to masculine behaviours than straight women are. Conversely, gay men are generally less aggressive than straight men. This might have something to do with testosterone. It’s reasonable to expect straight men to be most likely to commit crimes, straight women to be least likely, and gays and lesbians to be somewhere in between
Personally, I don't think it does justice to men when we label the more cluster B-type/narcissistic behaviors seen in lesbians or activists as "masculine".
...
As far as I know, testosterone does not necessarily induce aggression and higher testosterone levels do not equate to more aggressive behavior.
https://ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/saliva-testosterone-and-criminal-violence-young-adult-prison
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X22001544#:~:text=Testosterone%20has%20positive%20association%20with,are%20not%20moderated%20by%20sex.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1997/09/970927110900.htm