Abstract
It has been proposed in the literature that the testosterone (T) response to competition in humans may be modulated by cognitive variables. In a previous experiment with a female sample we have reported that opponent familiarity and threat appraisal moderated the T response to competition in women. With this experiment we aim to investigate if these variables have the same impact on males T response to competition, extending the previous findings in our lab. Forty male participants (20 dyads) were recruited to engage in a same sex, face to face competition using the Number Tracking Test as a competitive task. Levels of T, cortisol (C) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) were measured before and 20 min after the competition. Results show that losers report higher levels of threat than winners and increased their T levels after the competition, however this T change was not predicted by opponent familiarity or threat appraisal. No variation was detected for C and DHEA levels. These findings suggest that there could be sex differences for the moderators/mediators of the T response to competition in humans.
Highlights
Androgen responses to social challenges are present in several taxa and have been interpreted as a mechanism to adjust the internal state and the output of androgen dependent behaviors to changes in the social environment (Oliveira, 2009)
This variety of androgen responses to social competition has been interpreted as a consequence of the moderation of the androgen response by cognitive variables, with appraisal emerging as the strongest candidate for this effect (Salvador and Costa, 2009; Oliveira and Oliveira, 2014b)
The two treatments showed different responses to the competition, with a significant increase in T in losers [t(17) = 2.601, p = 0.018, g = 0.442] and no significant change detected in winners [t(17) = 0.853, p = 0.405, g = 0.060], T increased in losers
Summary
Androgen responses to social challenges are present in several taxa and have been interpreted as a mechanism to adjust the internal state and the output of androgen dependent behaviors to changes in the social environment (Oliveira, 2009). Explanations for this response stressed the reciprocal relationship between androgens and behavior (e.g., Leshner, 1975) and culminated in the formalization of two independent hypotheses for the social modulation of androgens: the biosocial model (Mazur, 1985) and the challenge hypothesis (Wingfield et al, 1990). This variety of androgen responses to social competition has been interpreted as a consequence of the moderation of the androgen response by cognitive variables, with appraisal emerging as the strongest candidate for this effect (Salvador and Costa, 2009; Oliveira and Oliveira, 2014b)
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