Can a man “fake it ’til he makes it”?  ¡ScIeNcE! says it is possible!

Targeted Readership: Men
Theme: Chemistry
Length: 500 words
Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Manosphere has, for a long time, kicked around the idea that lower SSH men can, or even should, “Fake it ’til you make it”, which carries the connotation that a man can act like an Alpha until he actually becomes an Alpha. It is assumed that a man can adopt a new mindset and practice new habits until it becomes, more or less, a natural part of him — an act of faith, or a self-fulfilling prophecy, if you will.  A multitude of heated arguments and debates have surrounded the question of what this is truly all about; whether this is merely a red herring, or a cathartic pep talk, or glorified fakery, or a politely veiled “Man Up!” sermon, or a faithful and well-intentioned stab at “putting on Christ”, or whether it is, in fact, true.

Well, ¡ScIeNcE! says it is true!

A team of “gender studies” psychologists at the University of Michigan studied the effects of behavior on testosterone (T) levels.

“Gender-related sociocultural experiences related to femininity (sociocultural habits and norms tied to women and girls, usually promoting communality and nurturance) (10) and masculinity (sociocultural habits and norms tied to men and boys, usually promoting agency and competition) (10) may affect physiological parameters such as testosterone. This could occur in ways similar to how social experiences related to poverty or harsh parenting exert profound neurobiological effects (11, 12). If social experiences related to gender can modulate androgens, this may lead to surprising biological consequences: a gender → testosterone pathway.”

van Anders et al., 2015

The researchers tested two hypotheses regarding how stereotypical gender behavior affects T levels. One hypothesis, called “stereotyped behavior” (H1), assumes that wielding power increases T regardless of performance. The other hypothesis, called “stereotyped performance” (H2), assumes that wielding power in masculine-stereotyped but not feminine-stereotyped ways increases testosterone.

The results showed that wielding power significantly increases testosterone regardless of how it was done. This was true for both men and women, but the effects were much more significant for men.*

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Also, van Anders et al. mention a number of habits that can increase T, roughly listed in order of their impact.

  • Winning a competition
  • Playing a social role that is oriented toward competition, masculinity, and/or power.
  • Not winning, but merely engaging in certain types of competition, especially those that are formalized or involve clear win/loss outcomes.
  • Engaging in high risk ventures, e.g. gambling, stock trading.
  • Not winning nor engaging in, but merely watching a competition.
  • Power poses

Moreover, practicing these habits, like winning a competition, boosts T which in turn promotes dominant behavior.  OTOH, repeated defeat decreases T levels, subsequently decreasing one’s drive for dominance.

In conclusion, there is a behavioral ↔ endocrinological feedback loop.  Small changes in T results in significant behavioral modification.  Conversely, repeated practice of socially interactive behaviors expressing dominance and power may lead to epigenetic changes increasing T over time.

* My readers may bemuse themselves with a chuckle upon knowing that this “gender studies” research was intended to “deconstruct masculinity” by showing that women can be nurtured into becoming dominant and masculine, but the results actually undermine their egalitarian assumptions and add to the construction of masculinity.

H/T: Red Pill Apostle

References

  1. van Anders, S.M.; Steiger, J.; Goldey, K.L. Effects of gendered behavior on testosterone in women and men, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, (2015), 112(45):13805-13810. PubMed: 26504229; http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1509591112 [PDF]

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