Investigating the effects of single-dose intranasal testosterone on economic preferences in a large randomized trial of men.

ABSTRACT: There is conflicting evidence on whether testosterone affects economic preferences such as risk taking, fairness, and altruism, with most evidence coming from correlational studies or small testosterone administration studies. To credibly test this hypothesis, we conducted a large-scale, preregistered, double-blind randomized controlled trial with 1,000 male participants-10 to 20 times larger than typical prior studies. Participants were randomly allocated to receive a single dose of either placebo or intranasal testosterone, and carried out a series of economic tasks capturing social preferences, competitiveness, and risk preferences. We find no evidence of a treatment effect for any of our nine primary outcome measures, and no strong evidence of an association between basal salivary test

SUBMITTER: Dreber A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12501127 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature