Carole Hooven, Ph.D.

But that is one strategy where if you're a high status man, you can be very successful.

You can have way more than eight kids.

But that's a high risk strategy.

A lot of men are going to fail and they won't have the sure thing of the one female where they can invest in her.

That seems to be not a lower testosterone man strategy.

But we know that when the kid is young, if the guy is physically involved with a small dependent offspring, that there will be suppression in testosterone.

And that is a good thing.

It doesn't mean that your muscles will be smaller necessarily, as far as I know.

I'm not sure how big the drop is, but it does facilitate potentially more contentment with that life.

If you have higher testosterone, what has been shown in non-human models is that the attention to the mate and the offspring is reduced.

There's more attention to status seeking, aggression, getting sex from other partners, etc.,

I think it's worth trying to understand what the exogenous testosterone, which shuts down that system, does in men who think there are potentially some very important behavioral and social effects that people don't think about because they're so psyched to get jacked and have more social status and have the dopamine hit, you know, it feels good.

I think it's worth looking into.

Oh, no, of course not.

Or even just serial monogamy, where you're in a relationship and then you sort of move on or you divorce your wife and get a younger partner and then divorce your wife again and get a younger partner.

So I don't think status is distinct from reproduction.

Do you mean psychologically?

Yes.

What is the driver?

It's not reproduction.