Testosterone Administration Induces a Red Shift in Democrats
ABSTRACT Objective An experiment was run to test if a testosterone administration would influence the political preferences of 136 healthy males. Method Synthetic testosterone or placebo was administered to participants who identified the strength of their political affiliation. Results Before the t...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Brain and Behavior |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.70651 |
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| Summary: | ABSTRACT Objective An experiment was run to test if a testosterone administration would influence the political preferences of 136 healthy males. Method Synthetic testosterone or placebo was administered to participants who identified the strength of their political affiliation. Results Before the testosterone treatment, we found that weakly affiliated Democrats had 19% higher basal testosterone than those who identified strongly with the party (p = 0.015). When weakly affiliated Democrats received additional testosterone, the strength of their party affiliation fell by 12% (p = 0.01), and they reported 45% warmer feelings towards Republican candidates for president (p < 0.001). Testosterone administration did not affect political preferences for strongly affiliated Democrats or strong or weak Republicans. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that testosterone induces a “red shift” among weakly affiliated Democrats, providing evidence that testosterone affects political preferences. |
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| ISSN: | 2162-3279 |