#494 Carole Hooven - T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us
RECORDED ON JUNE 17th 2021.
Dr. Carole Hooven is Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies and Lecturer in Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. Her research Interests include behavioral endocrinology and evolution of sex differences in humans (physiology, behavior and cognition). She is the author of T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us.
In this episode, we focus on T. We start with some basics, and talk about the physiological processes testosterone participates in, and the activational-organizational paradigm. We then discuss the behavioral effects of testosterone, and what we know about them in infants and other closely-related species. We get into Wingfield’s Challenge Hypothesis. We ask if testosterone really does cause aggression, and how it correlates with status-competition. We talk about conditions like Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS) and Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH). We ask how sex is defined. We get into some political questions, like transgender athletes, and testosterone in sports. We discuss the concept of “toxic masculinity”. Finally, we talk about the difficulties with communicating this kind of science.
Time Links:
Intro
The activational and organizational effects of testosterone
Behavioral effects in infants and other species
The Challenge Hypothesis
Does testosterone cause aggression?
Testosterone in people with sexual development conditions, like CAIS and CAH
How do we define sex?
Transgender athletes
Toxic masculinity
The challenges of communicating human behavioral science
Follow Dr. Hooven’s work!
Follow Dr. Hooven’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/3iHHWux
ResearchGate profile: https://bit.ly/3vrFriD
Website: http://www.carolehooven.com/
T: https://amzn.to/3gBSFE6
Twitter handle: @hoovlet