Opposing Roles of Testosterone and Cortisol in Prosocial Risk-Taking

Prosocial risk-taking is defined as engagement in altruistic behaviors that may have personal costs. Emerging research indicates that testosterone—a gonadal steroid hormone—is linked to behaviors aimed at promoting one’s social status. In line with these findings, we hypothesized that testosterone levels would be associated positively with prosocial risk-taking. Additionally, according to the dual-hormone hypothesis, this relationship may be moderated by cortisol. To examine these hypotheses, we administered an adapted version of the probabilistic gambling task, which included a prosocial condition. In the original task, participants were the beneficiaries of their choices; under the prosocial condition, the benefits were directed to charitable organizations. Our results revealed that, consistent with previous findings, the endogenous testosterone level was associated positively with risk-taking for personal gain. Notably, we also observed an association between the endogenous testosterone level and prosocial risk-taking. These relationships were not moderated by cortisol, meaning that the dual-hormone hypothesis was not supported. Instead, elevated cortisol independently suppressed prosocial risk-taking. Collectively, these results demonstrate that basal testosterone and cortisol levels play different roles in the modulation of prosocial risk-taking behavior.