ArticleScientific reports2018
Testing the influence of testosterone administration on men's honesty in a large laboratory experiment.
Article in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Testosterone eliminates strategic prosocial behavior through impacting choice consistency in healthy males.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- The role of oxytocin on self-serving lying.Brain and behavior · 2020Trial
- Does testosterone impair men's cognitive empathy? Evidence from two large-scale randomized controlled trials.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Trial
- Revisiting the Relation Between Steroid Hormones and Unethicality in an Exploratory, Longitudinal Study With Female Participants.Personality & social psychology bulletin · 2025Article
- Testosterone reduces the threat premium in competitive resource division.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The impact of testosterone on decision-making is a growing literature, with several reports of economically relevant outcomes. Similar to Wibral et al. (2012), we investigate the effects of exogenous testosterone administration on deception in a double-blind placebo controlled study. Participants (N = 242) were asked to roll a die in private and were paid according to their reported roll, which creates the opportunity to lie about the outcome to increase earnings. We find evidence for self-serving lying in both treatment and control groups and a statistically insignificant negative effect (d = -0.17, 95% CI[-0.42, 0.08]) indicating more honest behavior (i.e., lower reports) following testosterone administration. Although insignificant, the direction was the same as in the Wibral et al. study, and the meta-analytic effect of the two studies demonstrates lower reporting (i.e., more honesty) following testosterone (vs. placebo) administration, significant at the 0.05 level (d = -0.27, 95% CI[-0.49, -0.06]). We discuss how our results and methodology compare with Wibral et al. and identify potential causes for differences in findings. Finally, we consider several plausible connections between testosterone and lying that may be further investigated using alternative methodologies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.