
Single-dose testosterone administration increases preference for status goods - prostoalex
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04923-0
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temp47653
Is this still scientific news?

We have sort of established that testosterone amplifies risk taking,
aggressiveness and desire for social dominance. So of course status goods?

(Not a snark comment. Asking a CS/Math graduate.)

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laser
From the abstract “... testosterone increases positive attitudes toward
positional goods when they are described as status-enhancing, but not when
they are described as power-enhancing or high in quality.”

I would think power-enhancing things would improve one’s ability to achieve
social dominance, but the effect they uncovered here seems to be even more
crude and instead only has effect on stimulating a desire for immediate
“improved” perception.

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fredliu
After this research, when do we expect to see male luxury brand stores in the
mall start selling testosterone boosting snacks?

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cellularmitosis
Hmm, I think they would target the snacks towards low-testosterone men, to
increase their desire for status. The men already in the store are likely
already high-testosterone. Serving the snacks in their stores would be
preaching to the choir.

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mc32
If this is true and the stereotype of middle aged men looking for status via
large purchases (boat, car, hobbies), what would dosing middle aged men do to
their purchasing habits?

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cellularmitosis
I suspect this stereotype may have a signal-to-noise problem. Consider that
many men who buy a corvette at mid-life may have wanted one since their
childhood, and mid-life happened to be the earliest point at which they could
afford one.

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spaceflunky
Exactly this. “Mid life crisis” is just a fabricated pejorative meme. The
reality is that for most middle class men, they can only afford to spend money
on long sought after expensive hobbies once they hit midlife.

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mc32
Ok, evenso, given that testosterone goes down for many, this effect could
exacerbate their desire for repressed purchases.

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cellularmitosis
Depression causes you to engage in behaviors which reinforce your depression,
and I would expect low-testosterone would work similarly. In other words, the
men seeking status goods are not the ones suffering from low-testosterone, but
rather the ones whom are already high-testosterone.

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cleanyourroom
It's funny/scary how much less sophisticated we humans are than how imagine
ourselves to be.

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vokep
When you think about it though, for all our sophistication we...

>Can only hold ~7 unique items in mind

>Have relatively low resolution memory, and instead of just seeing it like
that, unsure/unknown details are filled in almost arbitrarily

>Are absolutely entirely single threaded - best form of multitasking is quick
switching at a rate that obscures the switching - switching is still occurring
though and is observable

>Use language with lots of complexity maybe, but in simple
algorithmic/programmed ways (grammer isn't straightforward, but lots of
typical interactions are basically algorithms we naturally act out)

We are a collection of narrow intelligences which are quite powerful, and when
combined result in a working general intelligence (to different degrees of
success). That general intelligence sees the power of the narrow bits that
make it up and proclaims "wow, I am complex and powerful" when its really just
the cobbled together result.

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Florin_Andrei
On the flip side, we can also come up with Plato's dialogues, general
relativity, La Gioconda, and the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

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king_nothing
You should’ve seen the $600 silk shirts I was looking at after rolling through
Neimy’s. Must be the T. Lol. I’m serious about the former, but I dunno: my T
level is always average. Not sure status has anything to do with it because
they’re damn comfortable shirts and any shirt without a clothing tag gets my
vote.

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justboxing
TL/DR anyone?

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jxub
Don't let your wife do roids unless you have plenty of cash for Prada and
Channel purses and bottles of Moët '99.

Edit: Looks like this effects happen in men only.

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dang
Please don't do this here.

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jxub
Was aiming for some humour but the result wasn't good, sorry.

