A Multinomial Process Model of Moral Judgment (PSY)

The main goal of this project to investigate the psychological processes underlying moral judgments in social dilemmas. We will examine neuroendocrine determinants of moral judgment by investigating the effects of exogenous testosterone

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Testosterone; Placebos
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Testosterone; Drug: Placebo

Detailed Description

• Medical Screening Interview: Participants will be asked to answer several questions to identify potential medical and non-medical conditions that would preclude the self-administration of testosterone.
• First Saliva Sample: Participants will be asked provide a saliva sample after they completed the medical screening interview.
• Testosterone Self-Administration: Immediately following the first saliva collection, participants will self-administer spray puffs of either testosterone or placebo.
• Relaxation: Participants will be given the opportunity to relax for 30 minutes.
• Moral Dilemmas Judgments: Participants will be asked to read a set of 24 moral dilemmas that describe situations in which an actor has to make a decision on whether or not to engage in a particular action (e.g., sacrifice the well-being of one person to protect the well-being of several others). Participants will be asked to indicate whether they consider the described action acceptable or unacceptable.
• Demographics: Participants will be asked to indicate their gender, age, and ethnicity.
• Ear Temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure will be measured before drug administration, and again 20 minutes after drug administration. If temperature changes more than 2 degrees, heart rate changes more than 20bmp, or if blood pressure changes more than 20%, the experiment will be terminated and subjects will be escorted across the street to the University Emergency Room.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 220
• Phase: Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Austin, Texas, United States, 78712
      • University of Texas at Austin Department of Psychology

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• must be currently enrolled at The University of Texas at Austin

Exclusion Criteria:

• not comfortable with the self-administration of testosterone for the purpose of our study less than 18 years old BMI less than 18 or above 27 suffer from any of the physical health conditions listed on the pre-screen questionnaire (I will not ask about mental health because our study is not about mental health) take any of the medications listed on the pre-screen questionnaire currently pregnant (females) irregular cycle in the past 6 months (females) smoke more than 5 cigarettes/day use cocaine more than once/month (**or should I exclude all those who use any drugs recreationally more than once/month?**) drink more than 10 alcoholic beverages/week

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: TRIPLE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Testosterone; 14mg testosterone will be administered intranasally in a 1milliliter aqueous solution	Drug: Testosterone; Effect of testosterone on moral decision making
PLACEBO_COMPARATOR: Placebo; 1ml blank (containing no drug) aqueous solution will be administered intranasally	Drug: Placebo; Effect of testosterone on moral decision making

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Moral Dilemma Judgments	Subjects will decide on whether or not to engage in a particular action (e.g., sacrifice the well-being of one person to protect the well-being of several others). Participants will be asked to indicate whether they consider the described action acceptable or unacceptable.	90 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Texas at Austin
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Robert A Josephs, PhD, Professor

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): August 30, 2017
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): May 5, 2018
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): June 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 9, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 13, 2016
• First Posted (ESTIMATE): June 14, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): November 23, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 20, 2018
• Last Verified: November 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Physiological Effects of Drugs; Hormones; Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists; Androgens; Testosterone
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2014-12-0010

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: Yes
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No