Testosterone and oxytocin are central to personality.
Research shows that testosterone and oxytocin shape a person’s persistent behavior patterns. That’s why these hormones figure prominently in the Teska Type System™.
Other hormones spur transient fight-or-flight responses, affect short-term mood, and direct situational avoid pain/seek pleasure systems. It’s testosterone and oxytocin that affect human behavior in fundamental, lasting ways.
We vary in our baseline levels of these hormones.
Research shows that we humans vary in our baseline levels of these two hormones. This variation accounts for much of the difference in our behavioral inclinations, natural strengths, and innate preferences that we know as personality:
- Higher baseline levels of testosterone make men more aggressive and assertive. They also make women more outgoing and energetic.
- Higher baseline levels of oxytocin make women more empathetic and relational. They also make men more sociable and gregarious.
Each type has different levels of these hormones.
What happens, for example, when Mother Nature cranks up a man’s baseline testosterone level, and also gives him a moderate baseline level of oxytocin? We get a personality type called the Fighting Bear.
What’s the Fighting Bear like? He’s pretty assertive, as you might imagine. He likes a challenge, and taking the initiative. He also likes being “one of the guys,” a part of a cohesive team. Here’s his hormonal profile:
Fighting Bear |
||
| Testosterone | Oxytocin | |
| High | ||
| Elevated | ||
| Moderate | ||
| Minimal | ||
Different levels bring different natural strengths.
When it comes to hormone levels, higher does not mean better. Different levels confer different natural strengths.
For example, you don’t want a man with the highest baseline level of testosterone as your heart surgeon. Ideally, you have one—the Crafting Bear—with the “superpowers” that come with a lower level: patience and attention to detail.
Crafting Bear |
||
| Testosterone | Oxytocin | |
| High | ||
| Elevated | ||
| Moderate | ||
| Minimal | ||
Conversely, you don’t want a woman with a lower baseline level of oxytocin as your matchmaker. You want one—the Dancing Fox—with the “superpowers” that come with a high level: strong intuition and high relationality.
Dancing Fox |
||
| Testosterone | Oxytocin | |
| High | ||
| Elevated | ||
| Moderate | ||
| Minimal | ||
These types evolved in the Stone Age.
Why do the 16 personality types exist? According to the Climate Change Hypothesis, they evolved to help us humans survive cyclical climate changes over the past million years, and live in larger hunter-gatherer bands during the Late Stone Age.
This hypothesis explains more about how different hormonal levels form different personality types. It also provides a detailed explanation of type evolution >>