Social cognition in women considering oral contraceptives, cycle phases, and hormones

Contact: Julia Strojny

In addition to their physiological regulatory functions, hormones also influence human behavior. In research on hormonal modulation of social behavior however, women are often excluded as participants due to cycle-related fluctuations and hormonal contraception. The present study investigates whether decision-making behavior, empathic capacity, and theory of mind differ across various phases of the menstrual cycle in healthy women and whether these are related to the hormones progesterone and estradiol. The hormones are measured from saliva samples. Additionally, women who take oral contraceptives will be compared to women who do not use hormonal contraception. To study social behavior, methods from behavioral economics are used (from Dawans et al., 2019). Empathy and theory of mind are assessed using the EmpaToM (Kanske et al., 2015).

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Related Publications

• Strojny, J., Domes, G., Fischbacher, U., & von Dawans, B. (2021). The modulation of social behavior and empathy via oral contraceptives and female sex hormones. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 105250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105250