Are you bad at making decisions? Don’t worry, it’s just your testosterone

A few weeks ago it was discovered that the male sex drive is the cause of pretty much every single war in the world. This week scientists have discovered that testosterone can damage decisions made in juries, politics, businesses and relationships.

The Irish Times reports that researchers at University College London have proven that excess amounts of the male hormone actually damages group dynamics. Apparently if extra testosterone is added to a situation, co-operation with be pretty much flung out the window.

The research, carried out by Dr Mark Wright and colleagues at UCL, will be published this morning in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

During their studies, the researchers used women to test the impact that the male hormone testosterone can have on the levels of co-operative decision making done within a group.

It is a scientific given that the female hormone oxytocin makes people more agreeable and co-operative. By giving women small doses of testosterone, researchers were able to see the impact of the male hormone more clearly than if it was used on men.

17 women took part in the experiment with some receiving a supplement that would temporarily elevate their testosterone levels.

“When we gave them testosterone the benefit delivered by co-operation was halved,” said Dr Wright.

The women who had been given the testosterone supplement started to favour their own view and began acting arrogantly and more 'man-like'.

Dr Wright believes that the findings of the study may help to explain how a dominant individual can take over any decisions being made in a group. He warned that this should be considered when making jury selections just in case an alpha male or female dominates the decision of the group.

“Co-operating with others has obvious advantages for sharing skills and experience, but we know it doesn’t always work, particularly if one alpha male or alpha female dominates the decision making,” said John Williams, the head of neuroscience and mental health at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL.

So the next time you make a bad decision don’t blame yourself – your levels of testosterone made you do it.