MECHANISM
Observational · Contested
Testosterone→Status seeking
Basal T is not a leadership switch. The dual-hormone claim is an interaction, and the interaction is small and contested.
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Issue 01 · Human causal atlas
A public causal atlas of human biology, behavior, status, and lifestyle. Every link is labeled: robust causal, genetic, feedback, or spurious.
Figure 1
Biology, psychology, status, lifestyle. Hover a neighborhood. A curve is an edge; a dot is a variable. The URL stays the citation.
The URL is the citation
25(OH)D → Employment
Does vitamin D get you hired?
/inquire?from=vitamin-d&to=employment-status
Power pose → T
Does a pose raise testosterone?
/inquire?from=power-pose&to=testosterone
OT → Trust
Does oxytocin make strangers trust you?
/inquire?from=oxytocin&to=interpersonal-trust
Sleep → T
Does sleep move testosterone?
/inquire?from=sleep-hygiene&to=testosterone
Hormones, micronutrients, metabolic axes. Continuous assays, not vibes.
Psychology & behaviorRisk, rank, mating, bargaining. Instruments with names, not adjectives.
Socioeconomic statusIncome, wealth, education, formal power, networks. The master confounder.
Lifestyle & environmentSleep, training, pills, sun, alcohol. The purchasable inputs.
The four stamps
Supported by an experiment or a tightly identified design. Still read the caveats.
Mendelian randomization. Good against confounding; not magic against pleiotropy.
Each side moves the other. A single arrow is the wrong picture.
The association does not survive the backdoor. Usually SES, outdoor time, or healthy-user bias.
Cases
Hypergamy is real as a historical average and incomplete as a law. Close the income gap and the market switches toward homogamy.
Socioeconomic status · Psychology & behavior
High testosterone is not a leadership stack. It is a term in an interaction, and the other term is cortisol.
Biology & endocrinology · Psychology & behavior
People who buy omega-3 and vitamin D look employable. The bottles are not why.
Lifestyle & environment · Socioeconomic status · Biology & endocrinology
Two meta-analyses in the same year. The honest atlas keeps both and refuses the calendar hack.
Biology & endocrinology · Psychology & behavior
Two TED-ready hormones. Two failed replications. The atlas keeps the original RCTs and the papers that took them down.
Biology & endocrinology · Psychology & behavior · Lifestyle & environment
Restriction trials move T, cortisol, glucose, and attention. A mattress is not a promotion — and a spray is not a substitute.
Lifestyle & environment · Biology & endocrinology · Psychology & behavior
Featured edges
Observational · Contested
Basal T is not a leadership switch. The dual-hormone claim is an interaction, and the interaction is small and contested.
Mendelian randomization · High confidence
Genetic instruments for 25(OH)D do not buy you a job. The observational D–success link was a marker.
Longitudinal / panel · Moderate
Winning a meaningful contest raises T relative to losing. That T change then colors the next contest. A loop, not an arrow.
Observational · Moderate
Richer men can act on a preference that poorer men also often hold. Money changes the feasible set, not necessarily the utility function.