2. WUNC's The State of Things 10/28: Testing Testosterone.
Forget fist fights. Even vicarious participation in a contest can affect testosterone levels in men. Duke post-doctoral researcher Steven Stanton and his colleagues at Duke and the University of Michigan discovered that young men who voted for John McCain in the 2008 presidential election suffered an immediate drop in testosterone when the election results were announced. Stanton joins guest host Janet Babin to explain the study and why events like elections and basketball games can generate physiological changes in men.
Interestingly, McCain supporters experienced a much bigger drop in testosterone levels than Obama supporters experienced a gain. It seems loss aversion is biologically wired in us.
