Testosterone / cortisol ratio → Status seeking
T/C is a derived index. Stamp it smoke unless the paper pre-registered the ratio and showed the interaction.
Observational · Low
The association does not survive the backdoor. Usually SES, outdoor time, or healthy-user bias.
Mechanism
Mehta and Josephs argued for an interaction, not a sacred ratio. Popular writing collapsed that into T/C optimization. Any association can be T, cortisol, or both. Prefer the two-hormone story on the dual-hormone edges.
Caveats
Some papers do pre-register the ratio. Those still need the same confounders as the interaction.
Effect
qualitative. A ratio can be moved by either hormone. It is a headline, not a mechanism.
Nodes
Named confounders
Cite this page
What Causes What. “Testosterone / cortisol ratio → Status seeking.” https://whatcauseswhat.org/edges/e-ratio-is-not-a-knob (atlas updated 2026-08-31).
Papers
- Testosterone and cortisol jointly regulate dominance: Evidence for a dual-hormone hypothesis
P. H. Mehta, R. A. Josephs · 2010 · Hormones and Behavior
- The dual-hormone hypothesis: a brief review and future research agenda
P. H. Mehta, S. Prasad · 2015 · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences