The Testosterone Paradox. How Sex Hormones Shape the Academic Mind

      Аннотация: The polarizing divide that gapes ever wider between the two main political parties in the United States is purportedly based on rational discourse about various important issues: healthcare, taxation, and national security, to name a few. However, if we delve deeper into the evolved psychological forces that shape our mindsets and culture through history, we will find that these matters are actually symptomatic of one underlying primary human motivation: Sex. I argue that sexual differences in the brain seem to shape the ideological gulf between the respective social groups each side represents. And most significantly, it is the male sex hormone testosterone that is the primary hormone affecting our sexual evolution. Not only does testosterone fuel the passion for reproduction and play a critical role in the length of human lives, it is an integral component to the mechanism of human civilization—its triumphs and its tragedies.

Ключевые слова: evolutionary psychology, sex hormones, Cultural evolution