Do women’s natural hormonal fluctuations modulate prosociality? A within-subject analysis

• Published in: Psychoneuroendocrinology Vol. 138; p. 105663
• Main Authors: Wang, Hongyi, Li, Jianhua, Chen, Lan, He, Lisheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2022
• Subjects: Estradiol; Estradiol - analysis; Female; Humans; Menstrual Cycle; Open science; Progesterone; Progesterone - analysis; Prosociality; Saliva - chemistry; Sexual Behavior; Testosterone; Testosterone - analysis; Testosterone; Progesterone; Menstrual cycle; Open science; Estradiol; Prosociality
• ISSN: 0306-4530; 1873-3360; 1873-3360
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105663

Prosocial behavior is central to functional societies. While studies have shown that the administration of exogenous hormones modulates prosocial propensities, it remains unclear whether natural hormonal fluctuations track women’s prosocial behavior. In this study, we investigated the relationships between women’s natural salivary steroid hormone levels (estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone) and their prosociality in a variety of contexts, as measured by three behavioral tasks (Charitable Donation, Social Value Orientation, and Social Discounting tasks) and one self-reported questionnaire (the Prosocial Tendencies Measure). Participants completed five weekly laboratory tests to obtain within-subject hormonal fluctuation data and prosociality measurements. In a pre-registered analysis, we found little evidence supporting the hypotheses that women’s prosociality tracked natural changes in salivary estradiol, progesterone, estradiol-to-progesterone ratio, or testosterone. Our results demonstrate the importance of performing within-subject analyses when examining the relationships between hormonal levels and social behavior. •Measures of prosociality are moderately correlated.•Within-subject natural hormonal fluctuations are not associated with variations in prosociality.•Natural fluctuations and exogenous hormone administration may function differently.