Hormonal Contraceptives Do Not Impact Economic Preferences: Evidence from a Randomized Trial

Ranehill, Eva; Zethraeus, Niklas; Blomberg, Liselott; Schoultz, Bo von; Hirschberg, Angelica Lindén; Johannesson, Magnus; Dreber, Anna

doi:10.1287/mnsc.2017.2844

Cited by 27 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The study by Ranehill et al. (2017) that was run in conjunction, but looking at the effect of the oral contraceptive pill, also did not find any impact of the pill on economic preferences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…The data on 2D:4D were collected in conjunction with a study on the influence of the oral contraceptive pill (Ranehill et al. 2017). The pre-analysis plan specifying the analysis prior to completion of data collection for this study was posted on the Open Science Framework website on the 21st of August 2015 (available at http://osf.io/he8nb/).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For details on how participants were recruited, the criteria for inclusion and exclusion, and further sample characteristics see Ranehill et al. (2017). Approximately 60% of participants reported an education level of university studies (ongoing) or a university degree.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The economic experiments on decision making were also reported and analysed in Ranehill et al. (2017). The tests measured dictator game giving, financial risk taking, and willingness to compete.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The digit ratio (2D:4D) and economic preferences: no robust associations in a sample of 330 women

et al. 2019

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Many studies report on the association between 2D:4D, a putative marker for prenatal testosterone exposure, and economic preferences. However, most of these studies have limited sample sizes and test multiple hypotheses (without preregistration). In this study we mainly replicate the common specifications found in the literature for the association between the 2D:4D ratio and risk taking, the willingness to compete, and dictator game giving separately. In a sample of 330 women we find no robust associations between any of these economic preferences and 2D:4D. We find no evidence of a statistically significant relation for 16 of the 18 total regressions we run. The two regression specifications which are statistically significant have not previously been reported and the associations are not in the expected direction, and therefore they are unlikely to represent a real effect.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s40881-019-00076-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The digit ratio (2D:4D) and economic preferences: no robust associations in a sample of 330 women

et al. 2019

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“…Economists have also looked into the effect of hormones on economic behavior. and Wozniak et al (2014) both find that for women, the inclination to compete varies over the menstrual cycle and with the intake of hormonal contraceptives, but Ranehill et al (2017), in a placebo-controlled study, find no impact of contraceptives. Apicella et al (2011) find no effect of testosterone on tournament entry in men.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Competitiveness, Gender and Handedness: A Large-Sample Intercultural Study

et al. 2020

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We conduct a large-scale intercultural experiment to elicit competitiveness and ask whether individual and gender differences in competitiveness are partially determined by nature. We use being a "lefty" (i.e., having either a dominant left hand or a dominant left foot) as a proxy for nature, as it is associated with neurological differences which are determined prenatally and reflects a masculinized neurology. That way we use handedness and footedness as a proxy for innate differences. In large-scale data with incentivized choices from 3683 participants from India, Norway and Tanzania, we find a significant gender gap in competitiveness in all cultures. However, we find inconsistent results when comparing the competitiveness of lefties and righties. In northeast India we find that lefties of both genders are significantly more competitive than righties. In Norway we find that lefty men are more competitive than any other group, but women's competitiveness is not related to handedness or footedness. In Tanzania, we find no effect of handedness or footedness on the competitiveness of either gender. The merged data show weak evidence of a positive correlation between being a lefty and competitiveness for men, but no such evidence for women. Thus, our data do not provide robust evidence that gender differences in competitiveness are partially determined by nature, where nature is represented by the complex, physiologically-rooted phenomenon of handedness. We thank Anne-Lise Breivik for great research assistance. We also thank Monica Backer-Grøndahl Blaalid for research assistance in Tanzania and

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Fertility predicts self-development-oriented competitiveness in naturally cycling women but not hormonal contraceptive users

Arthur

2022

Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology

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Objective A growing body of research has begun investigating the relationship between hormones and female competitiveness. Many researchers have focused on the effect of the menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptives. Despite many attempts at understanding hormone-behavior associations, contradictory findings have made it difficult to determine the existence of true effects. The aim of the current research was to use a robust methodological design to investigate the effect of fertility probability on four competitive orientations in naturally cycling women and hormonal contraceptive users. Methods Using a longitudinal diary study with over 3,900 observations from 21 countries, we explore the effect of fertility probability on four self-report competitive orientations after controlling for menstruation: self-developmental competition, hyper competitiveness, competition avoidance, and lack of interest toward competition. Results Using Bayesian estimation for ordinal mixed models, we found that fertility probability was associated with an increase in self-development competitiveness amongst naturally cycling women but not hormonal contraceptive users. We also found weak evidence that hormonal contraceptive users show reduced interest in competing compared to naturally cycling women. There were no other robust effects of fertility or hormonal contraceptive use. Conclusions These results suggest that fertility probability is associated with increased fluctuations in self-development competitive motivation and that hormonal contraceptives interfere with this effect. This research contributes to the growing body of literature suggesting that hormonal contraceptives may influence psychology and behavior by disrupting evolved hormonal mechanisms.

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Hormonal Contraceptives Do Not Impact Economic Preferences: Evidence from a Randomized Trial

Cited by 27 publications

References 56 publications

The digit ratio (2D:4D) and economic preferences: no robust associations in a sample of 330 women

The digit ratio (2D:4D) and economic preferences: no robust associations in a sample of 330 women

Competitiveness, Gender and Handedness: A Large-Sample Intercultural Study

Fertility predicts self-development-oriented competitiveness in naturally cycling women but not hormonal contraceptive users

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