Testosterone and political affiliation
Teh work doesn’t seem too vigorous to me, but the gist was that weakly aligned Democrat men, who already had higher testosterone than more committed Democrats, became more conservative when administered more testosterone.
If true, it would explain a lot.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
So increasing testosterone seemed to affect the levels of oxytocin in the brain. Some scientists feel that increased oxytocin creates feeling of schadenfreude, envy, gloating and bias.
Which, through vigorous peer reviewed research shows the main reason why Republicans are such dickheads.
Don’t blame me, I just go by the science.😇
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“If true, it would explain a lot.”
But probably not what you think it explains.
“Elevated testosterone has been linked to lower cognitive empathy, the ability to recognize what another person is thinking and feeling, in numerous studies.” -Psychology Today
Impaired cognition. Check
Suppressed empathy. Check
Selfish aggressive behavior. Check.
Quick to anger. Check
Acne. Check.
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I was thinking more of the antipathy toward self defense and defense of others.
That and the confusion over gender.
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Well almost anything can explain something that does not exist.
Democrats have no antipathy toward self-defense. Our attitudes towards guns are based on evidence, not emotion. Unlike you people, we do not resist rational measures to reduce the carnage. Supporting true universal background checks, for example, is not the result of “antipathy” but common sense. Personally, I think I can defend my home with my 30-30 and do not need to “get my man license renewed” by acquiring an arsenal of military weapons.
As for gender, it is “conservatives” that are confused. Take Mr. Smith’s comment in this thread as an example of the simple-minded way that conservatives understand a complex issue.
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BTW, unless I am personally involved with them, another person’s feelings are none of my business, my concern is with their behavior.
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“My concern is with their behavior”
So a lack of empathy is a good thing? Riiiight.
Of course, you have it backwards. Empathy – or the lack of it – is about YOUR behavior and attitudes not the behavior of others.
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If their behavior has NO effect on you and your loved ones, butt the hell out.
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RE: “If true, it would explain a lot.”
Yes, it would. To the extent one can link hormone levels to social behavior one can begin to explain social processes and outcomes in terms of biological evolution. E.O. Wilson nods.
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Also, pity the fool who thinks he already knows what this particular finding means.
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But you just agreed that it would explain a lot?
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What do you not understand?
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Why you pity yourself?
You probably don’t follow. Here let me help…
You next add “pity the fool who thinks he already knows what this particular finding means.”
It follows that the fool to be pitied would be you.
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RE: “To have that opinion you would need to think you know ‘what this particular finding means.'”
No, I wouldn’t. I would only need to understand the context in which the finding is relevant, which, as I stated, is the linkage between a hormone and a sociobiological effect.
The fool is the person who rushes in to disagree with Dr. Tabor’s observation without having the superior knowledge to do so effectively.
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Mr. Roberts, I knew you were referring to me with your “pity the fool” comment. It is what you do. But you crafted it so badly that it pointed at yourself.
And, as a matter of fact, there is a lot more science behind the effects of testosterone on cognition, empathy, anger, etc. listed in my response than the ones that Dr. Tabor offered. As pointed out, Democrats are not against self-defense. We are against stupidity in the control of deadly weapons. And, very obviously, gender complexity has you people totally flummoxed.
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So, you are only opposed to EFFECTIVE self defense. Got it.
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RE: “But you crafted it so badly that it pointed at yourself.”
I agreed with Dr. Tabor’s observation. I pity you, though, for wasting time with incompetent antagonism.
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“Got it.”
As much as you want to talk about testosterone and guns I think I will steer clear. If I started down some of the obvious paths this leads to, you would be offended.
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“I pity you, though, for wasting time with incompetent antagonism.”
Incompetent how? Tabor wanted to trash Democrats based on this nonsense and imaginary effects of testosterone. I responded with some of the documented real effects. I managed to do that without calling him or you a fool.
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Seeing as how Democrats love boys dressed as girls, yes it does explain alot.
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You just love little boys, doncha?
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Yet another personal attack. Yawn…
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I only fire when fired upon. Kinda like the self-defense theory Don is putting forth.
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I don’t think anyone would dispute that I am the most left-wing of the regular commenters on this board. I believe I am also the youngest–by decades. My (relative) youth means that I naturally have higher testosterone levels than the rest of you. If we’re having a macho-man contest, the alpha male among us is a communist.
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As the title said, not drawing any conclusions.
I would agree that too much testosterone can lead to some bad traits, and so can too little.
However, due to a pituitary tumor I had 40 years ago, my testosterone comes from a weekly injection, and I maintain it in the center of the normal range for a 30 year old.
If it’s a contest, I’ll just draw a bit more into the syringe tomorrow and trump you 🙂
Acton said that if you’re not a communist when you’re 25, it means you have no heart, but if you’re still a communist when you’re 40, it means you have no brain.
Don’t worry, you’ll grow out of it.
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“Don’t worry, you’ll grow out of it.”
I suppose that’s possible, but I’m closer to 40 than 25. I actually started out as a libertarian with many of the same views as yours. I grew out of that as my thinking matured. Maybe if you ease off the juice a bit, your thinking will mature too. 😉
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