Alpha men stubborn and hard to work with

Alpha men may not agree, but a new study has claimed that they could be a misfit in office, after researchers found that those with high testosterone levels are stubborn, over-confident, and hard to work with.

“Testosterone also affects our decisions, by making us more egotistical. Most of the time, this allows us to seek the best solution to a problem, but sometimes too much testosterone can help blind us to other people’s views.

“This can be very significant when we are talking about a dominant individual trying to assert his or her opinion in, say, a jury,” the ‘Daily Mail’ quoted as saying Nick Wright at University College London, who led the study.

Surprisingly, researchers have based their findings on an analysis of tests on 17 pairs of female volunteers, and not on alpha males. This is because the women subjects have low base levels of testosterone which are easier to alter.

In the study, over the course of two days spaced a week apart, both participants in each pair were given a testosterone supplement and then a “dummy” placebo.

The women performed computer-based tasks designed to assess their levels of co-operation. When they agreed on what images were being shown, they moved on to the next trial. If they disagreed, they were asked to discuss the problem and reach a joint decision.

The findings revealed that extra testosterone was associated with volunteers being egotistical and favouring their own selections over their partner’s, according to the ‘Proceedings of the Royal Society B’ journal.

“When we are making decisions in groups, we tread a fine line between co-operation and self-interest. Too much co-operation and we may never get our way, but if we are too self-orientated, we are likely to ignore people who have real insight,” Wright said.

Previous research has already shown that another hormone, oxytocin, makes people more likely to bond and co-operate.

“Our behaviour seems to be moderated by our hormones — we already know that oxytocin can make us more co-operative, but if this were the only hormone acting on our decision- making in groups, this would make our decisions very skewed,” he added.