Thanks. I spent a few minutes reflecting on this and googling papers.
Turns out that "will" is a vague concept and doesn't have great neurological or animal models.
However, we can use some reasonable proxies!
I would argue that "libido" is the most obvious one. I recently heard a multimillionaire admit (with some embarrassment) that "we really do all this to get girls."
( I assume "libido is a function of testosterone" requires no citation ;)
Testosterone directly affects dopamine levels, dopamine sensitivity, and willingness to engage in competitive behavior:
Another factor is "goal-directed behavior", which is mediated indirectly by "increased sense of agency"
> these results further imply that through an embodied SoA, testosterone can ultimately modulate higher-order experiences of social power and goal-directed behaviour.
At the societal level there is a fascinating (and deeply disturbing) book by J. D. Unwin, who studied thousands of civilizations:
>The book concluded with the theory that as societies develop, they become more sexually liberal, accelerating the social entropy of the society, thereby diminishing its "creative" and "expansive" energy.
Notably, conscientiousness and executive function are not enhanced by testosterone. However, deficiency is associated with fatigue, depression, brain fog etc. So it supports "will" by supporting overall health, and a population-wide ~50% decline does not sound healthy to me.
Turns out that "will" is a vague concept and doesn't have great neurological or animal models.
However, we can use some reasonable proxies!
I would argue that "libido" is the most obvious one. I recently heard a multimillionaire admit (with some embarrassment) that "we really do all this to get girls."
( I assume "libido is a function of testosterone" requires no citation ;)
Testosterone directly affects dopamine levels, dopamine sensitivity, and willingness to engage in competitive behavior:
https://www.edenclinic.co.uk/post/testosterone-and-the-brain
Another factor is "goal-directed behavior", which is mediated indirectly by "increased sense of agency"
> these results further imply that through an embodied SoA, testosterone can ultimately modulate higher-order experiences of social power and goal-directed behaviour.
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-Effect-of-Testoste...
At the societal level there is a fascinating (and deeply disturbing) book by J. D. Unwin, who studied thousands of civilizations:
>The book concluded with the theory that as societies develop, they become more sexually liberal, accelerating the social entropy of the society, thereby diminishing its "creative" and "expansive" energy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_Culture
Notably, conscientiousness and executive function are not enhanced by testosterone. However, deficiency is associated with fatigue, depression, brain fog etc. So it supports "will" by supporting overall health, and a population-wide ~50% decline does not sound healthy to me.