Are low testosterone and sex differences in immune responses causing mass hysteria during the coronavirus pandemic?

Roy Barzilai

Abstract


By integrating the entire body of research in human sexual dynamics, immune responses, and sociocultural behavior, we can conclude that the mass hysteria our society is currently experiencing originates in our evolved psychological adaptations to pandemic conditions[i]. A lack of hormonal balance[ii], due to a collapse in testosterone levels, may cause a disproportionate immune response that leads to the destruction of our cherished sociopolitical institutions—the very institutions that are design to protect human liberty and prosperity. What is playing out at a societal level is similar to an excessive immune response that causes the body to attack itself: decreased testosterone causing the kind of auto-immune response that is more prevalent in females.


[i] Barzilai, R. (2020). Low Solar Activity, Winter Flu Conditions, Pandemics and Sex Wars: A Holistic View of Human Evolution. Science & Philosophy, 8(1). Doi: 10.23756/sp.v8i1.514

 

[ii] Barzilai, R. (2019). Solar cycles, light, sex hormones and the life cycles of civilization: Toward integrated chronobiology. Science & Philosophy, 7(2). doi: 10.23756/sp.v7i2.483


Keywords


Evolutionary psychology; behavioral immune system; sex hormones

Full Text:

PDF

References


Barzilai, R. (2020). Low Solar Activity, Winter Flu Conditions, Pandemics and Sex Wars: A Holistic View of Human Evolution. Science & Philosophy, 8(1). Doi: 10.23756/sp.v8i1.514

Barzilai, R. (2019). Solar cycles, light, sex hormones and the life cycles of civilization: Toward integrated chronobiology. Science & Philosophy, 7(2). doi: 10.23756/sp.v7i2.483

Joshua Clinton, Jon Cohen, John S. Lapinski, and Marc Trussler, “Partisan Pandemic: How Partisanship and Public Health Concerns Affect Individuals’ Social Distancing During COVID-19,” SSRN (July 9, 2020): http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3633934.

Benjamin C. Trumble et al., “Associations Between Male Testosterone and Immune Function inaA Pathogenically Stressed Forager-Horticultural Population,” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 161, no. 3 (2016): 494–505. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23054.

Maunil K. Desai1 and Roberta Diaz Brinton, “Autoimmune Disease in Women: Endocrine Transition and Risk across the Lifespan,” Frontiers in Endocrinology 10 (2019): 265, https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2019.00265.

Laura Geggel, “Why are More Men Dying from COVID-19?” Live Science, April 28, 2020, https://www.livescience.com/why-covid-19-more-severe-men.html.

Roberto Pastor-Barriuso et al., “SARS-CoV-2 Infection Fatality Risk in a Nationwide Seroepidemiological Study,” medRXiv (August 7, 2020), https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.06.20169722.

Kathryn M. Lenz, Lindsay A. Pickett, Christopher L. Wright, Katherine T. Davis, Aarohi Joshi, and Margaret M. McCarthy, “Mast Cells in the Developing Brain Determine Adult Sexual Behavior,” The Journal of Neuroscience 38, no. 37 (2018): 8044, https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1176-18.2018.

Mark Schaller, “The Behavioural Immune System and the Psychology of Human Sociality,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences 366, no. 1583 (2011): 3418–3426, https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2011.0029.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23756/sp.v8i2.529

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2020 Roy Barzilai

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Science & Philosophy - Journal of Epistemology, Science and Philosophy. ISSN 2282-7757; eISSN  2282-7765.