In fact, stress-hit men are more likely to trust others, behave in a trustworthy manner and to share resources, the researchers found.
"Apparently men also show social approach behaviour as a direct consequence of stress," study researcher Bernadette von Dawans of the University of Freiburg in Germany was quoted as saying by LiveScience.
For their study, published in the journal Psychological Science, the researchers recruited 67 male students from the University of Zurich to test their responses to stress.
About half of them were put under stress by speaking in publich and by having to complete a tough mental-math test. The other half mimicked those activities in a laid-back way, completing a stress-free and an easy task.
After being sufficiently stressed or unstressed, the participants played a series of trust and sharing games with real money at stake with another group of volunteers.
These games involved making choices about how much to trust a partner, whether to earn the partner's trust or betray them, and whether to share or hoard money.
The men also completed a simple roll-of-the-dice gambling game to gauge how aggressively risky they were willing to be in a non-social context.
During the whole experiment, researchers monitored the men's heart rate and the concentration of cortisol, a stress hormone, in their saliva.
Despite the stereotype of stressed-out men as aggressors, stress actually increased men's kind and gentle behaviour, the researchers found.
The higher the men's heart rates and cortisol levels, the more trusting, trustworthy and generous behaviour they showed in the games. In other words, stress made men friendlier, the researchers said. (More)
