Isn't testosterone simply a byproduct of other hormonal processes? More of a measurement of effect than cause?
No evidence that testosterone reduces cognitive empathy
11–20 of 257 posts
Re: No evidence that testosterone reduces cognitive empathy
#12What is "cognitive empathy"? Is it a subtype of empathy where the brain is making a conscious work, or just a fancy way to say it ?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy#Classification
Cognitive is the capacity to understand others emotional state, not necessarily react accordingly (affective empathy).
I’m not surprised by this result, perspective taking and theory of mind is like the basic building block of consciousness. It would be odd if it differed.
Re: No evidence that testosterone reduces cognitive empathy
#13>Prior to this work, the strongest evidence for a link between testosterone exposure and reduced cognitive empathy came in 2011 in a study that found administering testosterone to healthy women reduced their performance on a test of reading emotions. The results suggested the testosterone impaired their performance. That's interesting. Adult males typically have 7-8 times the levels that females do, and females are m…
That's actually very interesting, do you know if/how they described the differences in perception?
They have a public blog/vlog, here's the "Testosterone" tag: https://mylifewithtits.wordpress.com/category/testosterone-2...
Re: No evidence that testosterone reduces cognitive empathy
#14>Prior to this work, the strongest evidence for a link between testosterone exposure and reduced cognitive empathy came in 2011 in a study that found administering testosterone to healthy women reduced their performance on a test of reading emotions. The results suggested the testosterone impaired their performance. That's interesting. Adult males typically have 7-8 times the levels that females do, and females are m…
There was an episode of This American Life about testosterone [0] that included an interview of an f2m transgender man on HRT. It was quite interesting to hear, the episode in general was exceptionally good and worth giving a listen.
Re: No evidence that testosterone reduces cognitive empathy
#15Curious they built up so much steam about refuting past notions... but chose a poor method (viewing actor's eyes). Paul Ekman has noted that assessing the emotional state from a single picture is difficult. Not to mention unless using genuine emotional faces, you're having actors "play" an emotion rather than feel it (Method vs. Mamet style acting ignored)
Good point. See also, the Kuleshov effect:
Re: No evidence that testosterone reduces cognitive empathy
#16[deleted]
Re: No evidence that testosterone reduces cognitive empathy
#17Isn't testosterone simply a byproduct of other hormonal processes? More of a measurement of effect than cause?
Ah, no. Adding extra testosterone to any human will cause them to become more male by any measure of maleness.
Re: No evidence that testosterone reduces cognitive empathy
#18EDIT: Disregard
Comment was:
This is testosterone administered to a fully formed brain. While it's still an interesting result, I would hesitate to make extrapolations to brain-developmental environments or developmental disorders.
Re: No evidence that testosterone reduces cognitive empathy
#19>Prior to this work, the strongest evidence for a link between testosterone exposure and reduced cognitive empathy came in 2011 in a study that found administering testosterone to healthy women reduced their performance on a test of reading emotions. The results suggested the testosterone impaired their performance. That's interesting. Adult males typically have 7-8 times the levels that females do, and females are m…
Trans woman here.
Cisgender men and women have different brain structures, and transgender people's brain structures tend to resemble that of the gender that they identify as[1]. So, for example, a trans woman like myself who was born male will have a brain structure that resembles that of a cis woman, not a man.
> I know a trans man who, after a few months of testosterone, claimed it was "night and day" in how they felt about and processed the world
This has been my experience as well (except, the opposite direction, obviously). The way I look at it, before I realized I am transgender, when testosterone was the dominant sex hormone in my body, it was like putting the wrong fuel in a car. It caused a whole slew of serious mental health problems. Estrogen has allowed me to think more clearly, and process thoughts, feelings, and emotions like I never could before. I'll never go back.
1. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/research-on-the-transgend...
Re: No evidence that testosterone reduces cognitive empathy
#20>Prior to this work, the strongest evidence for a link between testosterone exposure and reduced cognitive empathy came in 2011 in a study that found administering testosterone to healthy women reduced their performance on a test of reading emotions. The results suggested the testosterone impaired their performance. That's interesting. Adult males typically have 7-8 times the levels that females do, and females are m…
That's actually very interesting, do you know if/how they described the differences in perception?
I can describe my own (FWIW I went the other direction).
Best way I can say it is that my own understanding of emotion was rather black-and-white when on testosterone. I intellectually knew that other people had emotions beyond anger or sadness, but had no frame of reference for what that meant. I tended to see major challenges as obstacles to be overcome through force of will.
On estrogen it's like seeing the world in color -- I'm more volatile, but I actually have what I consider emotions! I understand the subtleties in my own emotions far better, which has made me a lot more empathetic to them in others. I also tend to see challenges as a sign I need to change my approach rather than just try harder.
I have had to stop hormones a few times for various reasons, and when things revert to being testosterone-dominant, I feel as if things revert to black-and-white over the course of a month or so.
I also think that just giving women a little testosterone and measuring the effect isn't likely to show much -- what seems to matter in my experience is whether the body is androgen-dominant or estrogen-dominant (the in-between areas are very not-fun, with lots of headaches, hot flashes, etc.)