Name: Combining Behavioral Endocrinology and Experimental Economics: Testosterone and Social Decision Making (Video) | JoVE Journal
Uploaded: 2011-03-02T19:00:00.000+00:00
Duration: 11 min 51 s
Description: Learn how testosterone administration and expectations influence fairness in the ultimatum game using a double-blind, placebo-controlled design with female participants. This method reveals neuroendocrine effects on social decision-making.

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5 minutes

This work was supported by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (CE: PBEZP3-131154)

1. Subject Recruitment
<ol>
<li>Subjects are recruited via an on-line database5 containing a list of about 3000 student volunteers. From this list we only contact women who have not previously participated in similar studies and ask them whether they are interested in participating in this study. We invite exclusively women as the time course of neurophysiological effects after acute testosterone administration is well established among women6,7. For men, this time course is not yet very well understood.</li>
<li>The interested subjects are then screened in a telephone interview to exclude medication intake, somatic diseases, hormonal contraception or any neurological or psychiatric disorders.</li>
<li>Because endogenous levels of sex hormones tend to be low and stable within the first part of the female menstrual cycle we conduct a second telephone interview to gain information about stability and duration of the cycle. Subjects are then invited to come to the experiment within 10 days from the beginning of their menstrual cycle. They are further instructed to abstain from alcohol or caffeine intake and smoking for 24 hours before the experiment.</li>
<li>Subjects are invited in groups of an average size of 12 to the experimental laboratory of the Institute for Empirical Research in Economics, in Zurich, Switzerland.</li>
</ol>
2. Experimental Procedure
<ol>
<li>All sessions start at 1.00 pm to control for the circadian variation in steroid hormone levels.</li>
<li>We conduct a pregnancy test before the beginning of the experiment to preclude pregnancy.</li>
<li>In preparation of the experiment, the testosterone and visually indistinguishable placebo pills are randomly distributed to twelve workstations marked one to twelve within the laboratory room by a person who is not involved in the experiment otherwise.</li>
<li>At the entrance to the laboratory, each of the twelve subject draws a card with a concealed number on it. The numbers range from one to twelve.</li>
<li>Subjects are then taken to the laboratory room which is endowed with a total of 36 computer workplaces. Subjects are instructed to seek out and sit down by the workplace marked with the same number as indicated on the card they drew at the entrance.</li>
<li>All subjects read and sign the informed consent form.</li>
<li>We measure baseline salivary testosterone and cortisol concentrations using the IBL SaliCaps Kit (IBL-Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany) for saliva specimen collection. Subjects are requested to transfer 1 mL of saliva into the test tubes, which are then immediately frozen at -80&deg;C.</li>
<li>Subjects are requested to take the sublingual pill into their mouth, to chew it and keep the disintegrated substance in their mouth for one minute. To achieve maximal contact of the HP-&beta;-CD testosterone inclusion complex with the oral mucosa, subjects are instructed to make circling movements with their tongue. After one minute, the remainder of the substance is swallowed using 100 mL water.</li>
<li>Immediately following the substance administration, subjects are required to complete different questionnaires. We measure mood and arousal by means of the Multidimensional Mood Questionnaire (MDBF)8 and anxiety and anger traits and states, by means of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory9 and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory10. These questionnaires have the purpose of controlling for any possible effects of subjects' incidental mood, anger and anxiety states as well as for personality characteristics. Furthermore, subjects complete the validated German versions of the 90-item Symptom Checklist (revised version)11 to measure their psychological health. Those who have very high scores (two standard deviations above the mean, indicating poor psychological health) are excluded from the data analysis. 
Due to the established time lag of four hours for the appearance of behavioral effects after sublingual application of 0.5 mg testosterone in young, healthy women6,7, a long waiting period is an integral part of our study. During this period, our subjects are required to stay in the laboratory room and keep themselves quietly occupied. This is to ensure that no social interaction outside the laboratory takes place which could give rise to confounded measures.</li>
</ol>
3. Ultimatum Game
<ol>
<li>Subjects then receive the instructions for their role in the game and the payoff rules on paper and are asked to read them. We check their comprehension of the payoff structure by having them complete several control questions at the end of the instructions.</li>
<li>We then summarize the experimental procedure orally. The reason for this is to ensure that subjects know that everyone else has the same information about the structure of the game and how the payoffs are determined, which is also referred to as "common knowledge". The summary is as follows:</li>
<li>"The Ultimatum Game is played with two types of players, a proposer and a responder, who have to agree on the division of 10 monetary units (MUs). The proposer can decide on the distribution of the 10 MUs. In this experiment, the proposers can propose offers of 5, 3, 2, or 0 MUs to the responder. The responder then has to either accept or reject this proposal. If the responder accepts the proposer's offer, the proposed allocation will be implemented and paid. However, the responder can also reject the proposal; in this case neither party earns anything." </li>
<li>We ensure a clear separation between an offer that is regarded as fair (5 MUs) and offers that are perceived as unfair (3, 2 or 0 MUs) by restricting the offers to 5, 3, 2 or 0 MUs. Subjects are randomly and anonymously assigned to the role of either the proposer or the responder and then remain in this role for the whole experiment. Every proposer makes three propositions on the distribution of MUs while paired with three different randomly selected interaction partners. No pair of subjects interacts more than once. They never learn the identity of the persons with whom they are matched in the experiment. The proposer does not receive feedback about the responders' choices until the end of the experiment. All decisions in the ultimatum game are implemented in zTree software and presented on computer screens12.</li>
<li>Because testosterone is one of the most widely discussed hormones in the popular press it is possible that subjects have a preformed belief (true or false) about its effects13. Furthermore, because ethical concerns require researchers to inform subjects that they will either receive a placebo or testosterone the prior knowledge about testosterone may pollute a possible impact of testosterone on behavior. Therefore we assess the perceived group assignment by asking the subjects whether they think they have received testosterone or the placebo pill.</li>
<li>The perceived group assignment is recorded in the final questionnaire together with a few socioeconomic characteristics. During the last questionnaire we prepare subjects' payment.</li>
</ol>
4. Subject Payment
<ol>
<li>Subjects receive a base fee of one hundred Swiss francs for participation in the experiment. The use of real monetary incentives greatly reduces a potential social desirability bias and biased self-perceptions. Therefore, each subjects receives one Swiss franc (approximately 1 US$) for each MU earned in the ultimatum game. Each subject receives his or her earnings consisting of the base fee plus the earned MUs in private at the end of the experiment.</li>
</ol>

<ol><li>Edwards, D. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=((Early+Androgen+Stimulation+and+Aggressive+Behavior+in+Male+and+Female+Mice%5BTitle%5D)+AND+%22Physiology+%26+Behav%22%5BJournal%5D)">Early Androgen Stimulation and Aggressive Behavior in Male and Female Mice.</a> Physiology & Behav. 4, 333-338 (1969).</li>
<li>Archer, J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=((Testosterone+and+human+aggression%3A+an+evaluation+of+the+challenge+hypothesis%5BTitle%5D)+AND+%22Neurosci+Biobehav+R%22%5BJournal%5D)">Testosterone and human aggression: an evaluation of the challenge hypothesis.</a> Neurosci Biobehav R. 30, 319-345 (2006).</li>
<li>Mazur, A., Booth, A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=((Testosterone+and+dominance+in+men%5BTitle%5D)+AND+%22Behav+Brain+Sci%22%5BJournal%5D)">Testosterone and dominance in men.</a> Behav Brain Sci. 21, 353-363 (1998).</li>
<li>Josephs, R. A., Newman, M. L., Brown, R. P., Beer, J. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=((Status%2C+testosterone%2C+and+human+intellectual+performance%3A+stereotype+threat+as+status+concern%5BTitle%5D)+AND+%22Psychol+Sci%22%5BJournal%5D)">Status, testosterone, and human intellectual performance: stereotype threat as status concern.</a> Psychol Sci. 14, 158-163 (2003).</li>
<li>Greiner, B. <a target="_blank" href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&safe=off&q=author%3aGreiner%2C+B+%22Forschung+und+wissenschaftliches+Rechnen%3A+GWDG+Bericht+63%22">Forschung und wissenschaftliches Rechnen: GWDG Bericht 63</a>. Kremer, K., Macho, V. , Ges. für Wiss. Datenverarbeitung. 79-93 (2004).</li>
<li>van Honk, J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=((A+single+administration+of+testosterone+induces+cardiac+accelerative+responses+to+angry+faces+in+healthy+young+women%5BTitle%5D)+AND+%22Behav+Neurosci%22%5BJournal%5D)">A single administration of testosterone induces cardiac accelerative responses to angry faces in healthy young women.</a> Behav Neurosci. 115, 238-242 (2001).</li>
<li>van Honk, J., Peper, J. S., Schutter, D. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=((Testosterone+reduces+unconscious+fear+but+not+consciously+experienced+anxiety%3A+implications+for+the+disorders+of+fear+and+anxiety%5BTitle%5D)+AND+%22Biol+Psychiatry%22%5BJournal%5D)">Testosterone reduces unconscious fear but not consciously experienced anxiety: implications for the disorders of fear and anxiety.</a> Biol Psychiatry. 58, 218-225 (2005).</li>
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<li>Laux, L., Glanzmann, P., Schaffner, P., Spielberger, C. D. <a target="_blank" href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&safe=off&q=author%3aLaux%2C+L+%22Das+State-Trait-Angstinventar+%28Manual+for+the+State-Trait+Anxiety+Inventory%22">Das State-Trait-Angstinventar (Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory</a>. , Beltz. (1981).</li>
<li>Schwenkmezger, P., Hodapp, V., Spielberger, C. D. <a target="_blank" href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&safe=off&q=author%3aSchwenkmezger%2C+P+%22Das+State-Trait-Aergerausdruck-Inventar+STAXI+%5BThe+State-Trait+Anger+Expression+Inventory+%28STAXI%29%5D%22">Das State-Trait-Aergerausdruck-Inventar STAXI [The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI)]</a>. , Verlag Hans Huber. (1992).</li>
<li>Derogatis, L. R. <a target="_blank" href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&safe=off&q=author%3aDerogatis%2C+LR+%22SCL-90-R%2C+administration%2C+scoring+%26amp%3B+procedures+manual-I+for+the+R%28evised%29+version%22">SCL-90-R, administration, scoring &amp; procedures manual-I for the R(evised) version</a>. , Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Eigendruck. (1977).</li>
<li>Fischbacher, U. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=((z-Tree%3A+Zurich+toolbox+for+ready-made+economic+experiments%5BTitle%5D)+AND+%22Experimental+Economics%22%5BJournal%5D)">z-Tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments.</a> Experimental Economics. 10, 171-178 (2007).</li>
<li>Bjorkqvist, K., Nygren, T., Bjorklund, A. C., Bjorkqvist, S. E. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=((Testosterone+Intake+and+Aggressiveness+-+Real+Effect+or+Anticipation%5BTitle%5D)+AND+%22Aggressive+Behav%22%5BJournal%5D)">Testosterone Intake and Aggressiveness - Real Effect or Anticipation.</a> Aggressive Behav. 20, 17-26 (1994).</li>
<li>Camerer, C. F. <a target="_blank" href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&safe=off&q=author%3aCamerer%2C+CF+%22Behavioral+game+theory%3A+experiments+in+strategic+interaction%22">Behavioral game theory: experiments in strategic interaction</a>. , Princeton University Press. (2003).</li>
<li>Henrich, J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=((%22Economic+man%22+in+cross-cultural+perspective%3A+Behavioral+experiments+in+15+small-scale+societies%5BTitle%5D)+AND+%22Behavioral+and+Brain+Sciences%22%5BJournal%5D)">"Economic man" in cross-cultural perspective: Behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies.</a> Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 28, 795-855 (2005).</li>
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<li>Eisenegger, C., Naef, M., Snozzi, R., Heinrichs, M., Fehr, E. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=((Prejudice+and+truth+about+the+effect+of+testosterone+on+human+bargaining+behaviour%5BTitle%5D)+AND+%22Nature%22%5BJournal%5D)">Prejudice and truth about the effect of testosterone on human bargaining behaviour.</a> Nature. 463, 356-359 (2010).</li>
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No conflicts of interest declared.

An indication that your results are valid is if the average offers observed is similar to what other studies found. Typically, average offers are between 30 - 40% of the total amount and approximately half of the subjects offer the equal share14. On the other hand, a likely indicator that subjects did not understand the rules of the game is if offers of more than 50% are observed. It is worth noting, however, that there is considerable heterogeneity in the distribution and average offers observed in studies ar...

combining behavioral endocrinology and experimental economics: testosterone and social decision making

Combining Behavioral Endocrinology and Experimental Economics: Testosterone and Social Decision Making

Behavioral endocrinological research in humans as well as in animals suggests that testosterone plays a key role in social interactions. Studies in rodents have shown a direct link between testosterone and aggressive behavior1 and folk wisdom adapts these findings to humans, suggesting that testosterone induces antisocial, egoistic or even aggressive behavior2. However, many researchers doubt a direct testosterone-aggression link in humans, arguing instead that testosterone is primarily involved in status-related behavior3,4. As a high status can also be achieved by aggressive and antisocial means it can be difficult to distinguish between anti-social and status seeking behavior.
We therefore set up an experimental environment, in which status can only be achieved by prosocial means. In a double-blind and placebo-controlled experiment, we administered a single sublingual dose of 0.5 mg of testosterone (with a hydroxypropyl-&beta;-cyclodextrin carrier) to 121 women and investigated their social interaction behavior in an economic bargaining paradigm. Real monetary incentives are at stake in this paradigm; every player A receives a certain amount of money and has to make an offer to another player B on how to share the money. If B accepts, she gets what was offered and player A keeps the rest. If B refuses the offer, nobody gets anything. A status seeking player A is expected to avoid being rejected by behaving in a prosocial way, i.e. by making higher offers.
The results show that if expectations about the hormone are controlled for, testosterone administration leads to a significant increase in fair bargaining offers compared to placebo. The role of expectations is reflected in the fact that subjects who report that they believe to have received testosterone make lower offers than those who say they believe that they were treated with a placebo. These findings suggest that the experimental economics approach is sensitive for detecting neurobiological effects as subtle as those achieved by administration of hormones. Moreover, the findings point towards the importance of both psychosocial as well as neuroendocrine factors in determining the influence of testosterone on human social behavior.

The procedure described in this protocol shows that testosterone administration and folk beliefs about testosterone may be associated with directly opposed social behaviors.

Behavioral endocrinological research in humans as well as in animals suggests that testosterone plays a key role in social interactions. Studies in ...

This video demonstrates an experimental economic paradigm that can be used to show the impact of exogenously administered testosterone and the role of expectations about the hormone in human bargaining behavior. First, female students are recruited from an online database. Testosterone or placebo is randomly administered to the subjects in a double-blind manner, artificially raising testosterone levels in the group, receiving the verum, and leaving testosterone levels at baseline in the placebo group.Subjects then play three rounds of an economic bargaining game in order to assess fairness of decisions during actual social interaction. Finally, statistical tools are used to analyze effects of testosterone administration together with the effects of expectations about the hormone. The following experiment requires a considerable amount of control over the study environment.Up to 12 subjects may be present in the laboratory at the same time, and communication between subjects is strictly forbidden. Experiment or demand effects should be avoided by minimizing direct personal contact with the participants. Finally, anonymity should always be explicitly assured to reduce effects of social desirability, human subjects for experiments.Combining behavioral endocrinology and experimental economics are recruited through an online database containing a list of a large number of volunteers from this list. Only women who have not previously participated in similar studies are contacted. It is important to recruit women only because the time course of neurophysiological effects after acute testosterone administration is only well established among women.For men this time course is not well understood. Interested subjects are then screened in a telephone interview to exclude those using hormonal contraception, suffering from somatic diseases or any neurological or psychiatric disorders. Because endogenous levels of sex hormones tend to be low and stable within the first part of the female menstrual cycle.A second telephone interview is conducted to gather information about regularity and duration of the subject cycle. Subjects are then invited to come to the lab for the experiment in groups of 12. Within 10 days of the beginning of their menstrual cycle, they're further instructed to abstain from alcohol or caffeine intake and smoking 24 hours.Preceding the experiment. For this experiment, a classical behavioral decision making laboratory is needed, which has sufficient individual computer workstations to run experimental sessions of a group of subjects. In parallel, workstation should be connected through a network and run the appropriate presentation software.Importantly, the laboratory needs to be arranged so that visual and oral communication between subjects is impossible or very limited, and so that the experimenter can control and observe all subjects. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of this experiment, the behavioral laboratory must have basic biomedical equipment nearby, such as a standardized specimen freezer. In addition to the standard laboratory infrastructure, each workplace is equipped with an appropriate kit for saliva specimen collection.Additionally, a glass of water is placed at each workstation. In preparation for the experiment, a person who will not have personal contact with subjects randomly distributes the testosterone and the visually indistinguishable placebo pills to the numbered workstations to control for the well-known circadian variation in steroid hormone levels begin all sessions at the same time of day. Here sessions begin at 1:00 PM when the subjects first enter the laboratory, have each of them draw a card with a concealed number on it, which corresponds to the numbered workstations.Then take the subjects to the laboratory room and instruct them to seek out and sit down by the workplace with the same number as indicated on the card they drew at the entrance. This allows for a random allocation to the drug and placebo treatment. Once subjects are seated, let them read and sign the consent form and the form by which they confirm that they are not pregnant.Collect all the signed forms and instruct the subjects to use the saliva collection kits and then immediately freeze the samples at minus 80 degrees Celsius. This will be used to measure their baseline salivary testosterone and cortisol concentrations. Next, have the subjects place the sublingual pill into their mouth, chew it and keep the disintegrated substance in their mouth for one minute.To achieve maximal contact of the hydroxy propyl Beta Cyclodextrin Testosterone inclusion complex with the oral mucosa, subjects should make circling movements with their tongue after one minute, instruct the subjects to swallow the remainder of the substance. With the 100 milliliters of water provided, immediately following administration of the substance have the subjects complete questionnaires on screen to control for any effects of subjects, mood and personality. In this experiment, mood and arousal are measured with the multidimensional mood questionnaire and anxiety and anger.States are measured with the state trait anxiety inventory and the state trait anger expression inventory due to the established lag time of four hours for the appearance of behavioral effects. After sublingual application of testosterone and female patients, a long waiting period is an integral part of the study. During this period, subjects are required to stay in the laboratory room and keep themselves quietly occupied.This ensures that no social interaction outside the laboratory takes place, which could give rise to confounding measures. When the waiting period has passed, instruct the subjects again to use the saliva collection kits and then immediately freeze the samples at minus 80 degrees Celsius. Have the subjects complete questionnaires on screen.Again, following this, the ultimatum game can begin four hours following pill administration randomly and anonymously. Assign each subject to the role of the proposer or the responder. Provide paper instructions corresponding to their role in the game and the payoff rules.Check their comprehension of the payoff structure by having them complete several questions after reading the instructions. Next orally, summarize the experimental procedure to all participants at once. This ensures that subjects know that everyone has the same information about the structure of the game and how the payoffs are determined.All proposals and decisions in the ultimatum game are implemented in Z Tree software and presented on computer screens. The ultimatum game starts with the proposer's decision. She has to decide on how many of the 10 monetary units or MUS to offer to the responder.She can choose to offer either 5, 3, 2, or zero MUS to the responder. In this example, she chooses to offer the equal distribution IE to offer five mus by ticking the corresponding box on the screen. This decision is then transmitted to a randomly selected responder.The responder now sees the proposition and is asked to decide whether to accept or reject this proposal. In this example, the responder accepts the proposal. Thus, in this example, both the proposer and the responder would earn five mus.This game is played three times each time the group composition has changed. However, the decision on the responder is only communicated to the proposer after the proposers have made all three propositions. This ensures that all the proposers are in a similar situation for all three choices.Since feedback on the responder's reaction might influence proposers subsequent choices otherwise, now a summary screen with their earnings in the experiment is displayed. In this example, the proposer twice offered five and once two mus to the three different responders. The former offers were accepted and the latter rejected resulting in a total payoff of 10 mu.For the proposer. Because testosterone is widely discussed in the popular press, subjects may have a preformed belief about its effects. Furthermore, because ethical concerns require researchers to inform subjects that they will either receive a placebo or testosterone, it is important to determine if the subjects think they have received testosterone or the placebo pill by explicitly asking them on screen.This perceived group assignment is recorded in the final questionnaire together with a few socioeconomic characteristics. When all the final questionnaires are completed, the subjects are asked to prepare for leaving and wait until called upon for payment. The payment takes place individually and in a separate room to ensure privacy and anonymity.The payment consists of a flat fee of 100 Swiss francs plus a varying amount depending on the outcome. In the ultimatum game. As an all economic experiments, it is important to set financial incentives.Otherwise, people might behave fairly simply because it looks good to others and does not cost them anything rather than because they really care about the others'benefits. By making the payoff contingent on the decisions in the ultimatum game, we can make fair behavior costly for the proposer, and thus ensure that the behavior reflects what she really cares for. After payment subjects are free to go.Results show that the experimental procedure was successful as subjects who receive placebo and those who believed they had received the placebo made decisions that are in line with standard ultimatum game behavior. The green bars on the left show the distribution of offers that are typically observed in the ultimatum game. The horizontal axis represents the proposer's offers in the ultimatum game, and the vertical axis depicts the frequency with which each of these offers is observed.The blue bars show the distribution of the results qualitatively. Both distributions look similar, providing evidence that our procedure is successful. Furthermore, the approach described here has proven to be sensitive to pharmacological challenges as subtle as those achieved by testosterone and administration.On the left graph, you can see the effect of testosterone on proposer's average offer. Subjects who receive testosterone make higher offers than subjects who received a placebo, an effect which is significant when controlled for expectations about the hormone. This additional important observation is shown in the right graph.The offers from subjects who believe to be in the placebo group are higher on average than the offers from the subjects who believe to be in the testosterone group. Thus, it seems that the beliefs about the administered substance itself can have a powerful influence during social decision making situations. The main advantage of this procedure of our existing methods is that we artificially raise subjects as the shown levels and are therefore able to make causal inferences about the hormones effect on behavior.A further advantage is that we directly observe decision making behavior rather than any form of self-reported behavior. It is important to acknowledge the truly interdisciplinary nature of this project for successful implementation of this experimental procedure, this essential to ensure a tight cooperation between experts in the corresponding fields.

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Learn how testosterone administration and expectations influence fairness in the ultimatum game using a double-blind, placebo-controlled design with female participants. This method reveals neuroendocrine effects on social decision-making.

Combining Behavioral Endocrinology and Experimental Economics: Testosterone and Social Decision Making

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