Not giving up: Testosterone promotes persistence against a stronger opponent

The causal effect of testosterone on men’s competitive behavior is moderated by basal cortisol and cues to an opponent’s status: Evidence for a context-dependent dual-hormone hypothesis.

“…For example, exogenous testosterone’s effects on competitive motivation were exaggerated among women who were high in trait dominance (Mehta, van Son, et al, 2015) and among men high in trait dominance who were assigned to a low-status position (Losecaat Vermeer et al, 2020). However, this latter effect was not observed in a later portion of the same contest and, in another experiment focused on men’s physical persistence in a competition, trait dominance did not moderate the effects of exogenous testosterone (Kutlikova et al, 2021). Among other status-relevant behaviors and contexts, trait dominance enhanced endogenous testosterone’s association with men’s mating behavior (Slatcher et al, 2011) and with men’s aggressive behavior (albeit only after a victory experience; Carré et al, 2009); trait dominance also enhanced exogenous testosterone’s causal effect on men’s aggressive behavior (Carré et al, 2017).…”

Testosterone eliminates strategic prosocial behavior through impacting choice consistency in healthy males

“…We propose that testosterone’s elimination of the audience effect stems from the hormone’s ability to reduce fear in social situations. Indeed, earlier research shows that exogenous testosterone diminishes the physiological stress response to the presence of an observer 12 and has anxiolytic-like properties in humans and across species 10,35,36 . Importantly, anxiety and stress were reported to inversely correlate with exploratory behavior 37,38 .…”

“…Research in the past decade has demonstrated that testosterone is implicated in a wide spectrum of socially dominant behaviors 8,9 . Exogenous testosterone alleviates subordination to the dominance of others 10-12 and reduces the physiological stress response to being evaluated by others 13 . Given that enhanced submission to audience expectations has been associated with increased social anxiety and an intense apprehension about social evaluation 14 , testosterone administration might decrease audience effects.…”

Supplemental Material for The Causal Effect of Testosterone on Men’s Competitive Behavior Is Moderated by Basal Cortisol and Cues to an Opponent’s Status: Evidence for a Context-Dependent Dual-Hormone Hypothesis

“…"I am willing to use aggressive tactics to get my way."). Prior research indicates that trait dominance measured with this scale moderated the effect of exogenous testosterone on aggressive behavior (Carré et al, 2017;Geniole et al, 2019) and emotional states related to aggression such as hostility (Knight et al, 2017), but not other types of status-relevant behaviors such as competitive persistence (Kutlikova et al, 2021). Other researchers have employed trait dominance scales that focus on assertiveness and a desire for positions of authority and status, rather than force, fear tactics, and intimidation (e.g., the PRF dominance scale, "I would like to be an executive with power over others"; Jackson, 1984).…”

“…However, as discussed in the main document (Methods section), other findings within this domain are nuanced. For instance, trait dominance interactions with exogenous testosterone may be specific to certain contextual aspects of a competitive setting (Losecaat Vermeer et al, 2020), may operate as part of a broader set of risk factors (Geniole et al, 2019), or may not be evident (Kutlikova et al, 2021;. In at least two instances, an overall interaction term between testosterone and trait dominance (and cortisol) was not-significant but follow-up analyses suggested that an effect of testosterone (and cortisol) was more evident among men who are higher in trait dominance (Losecaat Vermeer et al, 2020;Pfattheicher, 2017).…”