How testosterone causes men to fail on the feelings front
When men find it hard to work out what women want, blame their hormones.
For the ability to read other people’s emotions is greatly reduced by testosterone, a study suggests.
Boosting the amount of the male sex chemical in women slows their ability to empathise, researchers from Cambridge and Utrecht universities found.
Scientists have discovered that the ability to read the feelings of others is controlled by testosterone, meaning women are often better than men at judging someone's mood
Tests also showed that those women with longer ring fingers than index fingers –
caused by high testosterone exposure in the womb – are more likely to be affected.
Females were tested because they have naturally low levels, meaning any effect of raising the amount could be easily spotted.
Cambridge researcher and autism expert Simon Baron-Cohen told the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal: ‘Small hormonal differences can have far-reaching effects on empathy.’
Dutch researcher Professor Jack van Honk said: ‘We are excited by this finding.’
The results also add weight to a theory that an overload of testosterone in the womb can raise the odds of autism, he added.
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