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Overconfidence in wargames: experimental evidence on expectations, aggression, gender and testosterone.
Johnson, Dominic D P; McDermott, Rose; Barrett, Emily S; Cowden, Jonathan; Wrangham, Richard; McIntyre, Matthew H; Peter Rosen, Stephen.
Afiliação
  • Johnson DD; Society of Fellows and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, 222 Bendheim Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. dominic@princeton.edu
Proc Biol Sci ; 273(1600): 2513-20, 2006 Oct 07.
Article em En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-16959643
Overconfidence has long been noted by historians and political scientists as a major cause of war. However, the origins of such overconfidence, and sources of variation, remain poorly understood. Mounting empirical studies now show that mentally healthy people tend to exhibit psychological biases that encourage optimism, collectively known as 'positive illusions'. Positive illusions are thought to have been adaptive in our evolutionary past because they served to cope with adversity, harden resolve, or bluff opponents. Today, however, positive illusions may contribute to costly conflicts and wars. Testosterone has been proposed as a proximate mediator of positive illusions, given its role in promoting dominance and challenge behaviour, particularly in men. To date, no studies have attempted to link overconfidence, decisions about war, gender, and testosterone. Here we report that, in experimental wargames: (i) people are overconfident about their expectations of success; (ii) those who are more overconfident are more likely to attack; (iii) overconfidence and attacks are more pronounced among males than females; and (iv) testosterone is related to expectations of success, but not within gender, so its influence on overconfidence cannot be distinguished from any other gender specific factor. Overall, these results constitute the first empirical support of recent theoretical work linking overconfidence and war.
Assuntos

Texto completo: 1 Base de dados: MEDLINE Assunto principal: Testosterona / Guerra / Caracteres Sexuais / Agressão Tipo de estudo: Prognostic_studies Limite: Adolescent / Adult / Aged / Female / Humans / Male / Middle aged Idioma: En Ano de publicação: 2006 Tipo de documento: Article

Texto completo: 1 Base de dados: MEDLINE Assunto principal: Testosterona / Guerra / Caracteres Sexuais / Agressão Tipo de estudo: Prognostic_studies Limite: Adolescent / Adult / Aged / Female / Humans / Male / Middle aged Idioma: En Ano de publicação: 2006 Tipo de documento: Article