Winner Effects Research Articles

Democratic backsliding against a rising wave of support for democracy? Explaining trends in attitudes toward democracy in Poland (1995–2021)

The analysis presented in this article tries to address a puzzle – the widely recognized process of democratic backsliding in Poland was accompanied by a steady increase in popular support for democracy. It poses a question if the two phenomena are substantively related. To establish possible connections between them, I test three hypotheses involving populist winner effect, deepening of socio-political cleavage, and generational change. The first one assumes that democracy is more supported by populists when they form a government; the second one – to the contrary – states that populist polarization creates a wider gap in support for democracy, while the third one proposes that the relation is spurious, as trends in attitudes represent a gradual, long-term social change, at least in part related to generational replacement. Results show that the direct link between populist democratic backsliding and pro-democracy surge is relatively weak, while both processes can be related to a deeper sociological process of ‘splintering’ within Polish society.

The multi-stage plasticity in the aggression circuit underlying the winner effect.

Winning increases the readiness to attack and the probability of winning, a widespread phenomenon known as the "winner effect." Here, we reveal a transition from target-specific to generalized aggression enhancement over 10days of winning in male mice. This behavioral change is supported by three causally linked plasticity events in the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl), a critical node for aggression. Over 10days of winning, VMHvl cells experience monotonic potentiation of long-range excitatory inputs, transient local connectivity strengthening, and a delayed excitability increase. Optogenetically coactivating the posterior amygdala (PA) terminals and VMHvl cells potentiates the PA-VMHvl pathway and triggers the same cascade of plasticity events observed during repeated winning. Optogenetically blocking PA-VMHvl synaptic potentiation eliminates all winning-induced plasticity. These results reveal the complex Hebbian synaptic and excitability plasticity in the aggression circuit during winning, ultimately leading to increased "aggressiveness" in repeated winners.

The multi-stage plasticity in the aggression circuit underlying the winner effect.

Winning increases the readiness to attack and the probability of winning, a widespread phenomenon known as the "winner effect". Here, we reveal a transition from target-specific to generalized aggression enhancement over 10 days of winning in male mice, which is supported by three stages of plasticity in the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl), a critical node for aggression. Over 10-day winning, VMHvl cells experience monotonic potentiation of long-range excitatory inputs, a transient local connectivity strengthening, and a delayed excitability increase. These plasticity events are causally linked. Optogenetically coactivating the posterior amygdala (PA) terminals and VMHvl cells potentiates the PA-VMHvl pathway and triggers the cascade of plasticity events as those during repeated winning. Optogenetically blocking PA-VMHvl synaptic potentiation eliminates all winning-induced plasticity. These results reveal the complex Hebbian synaptic and excitability plasticity in the aggression circuit during winning that ultimately leads to an increase in "aggressiveness" in repeated winners.

Age-dependent winner-loser effects in a mangrove rivulus fish, Kryptolebias marmoratus.

The outcomes of recent fights can provide individuals information about their relative fighting ability and affect their contest decisions (winner-loser effects). Most studies investigate the presence/absence of the effects in populations/species, but here we examine how they vary between individuals of a species in response to age-dependent growth rate. Many animals' fighting ability is highly dependent on body size, so rapid growth makes information from previous fights unreliable. Furthermore, fast-growing individuals are often at earlier developmental stages and are relatively smaller and weaker than most other individuals but are growing larger and stronger quickly. We therefore predicted winner-loser effects to be less detectable in individuals with high than low growth rates and to decay more quickly. Fast-growing individuals should also display stronger winner than loser effects, because a victory when small indicates a strength which will grow, whereas a loss might soon become irrelevant. We tested these predictions using naïve individuals of a mangrove killifish, Kryptolebias marmoratus, in different growth stages. Measures of contest intensity revealed winner/loser effects only for slow-growth individuals. Both fast- and slow-growth fish with a winning experience won more of the subsequent non-escalated contests than those with a losing experience; in fast-growth individuals this effect disappeared in 3days, but in slow-growth fish it did not. Fast-growth individuals also displayed winner effects but not loser effects. The fish therefore responded to their contest experiences in a way which reflected value of the information from these experiences to them, consistent with our predictions.

IKEA vs Trophy effect – an experimental comparison

Purpose What if companies try to combine the IKEA and Trophy winner effects? The purpose of this study is to understand the similarities and differences between both effects. This is not only theoretically but also practically important for the way that companies interact with their customers. Design/methodology/approach Successful work – invested either to create or to obtain a product – increases the customers’ valuation of the product. This phenomenon known as the IKEA or Trophy winner effect. This study directly compares both effects using experiments with two different products (paper planes and 3D puzzles). Moreover, this study tests whether they reinforce each other. Findings The Trophy winner effect looms larger than the IKEA effect for inexpensive items. For slightly more expensive products, this study finds a Trophy loser effect. Positive emotions of trophy winners drive the results for inexpensive products, whereas negative emotions of trophy losers drive the results for slightly more expensive products. Research limitations/implications The relevance of the IKEA and Trophy effects is influenced by the type of product. Customers’ labor invested in the product itself is of greater importance the more expensive the product is. As soon as customers interpret the interaction with other customers as competition, the effect on valuation can be substantial even for inexpensive products. Future studies could try to replicate our results with different product categories. Originality/value Although the IKEA and Trophy effects are no new phenomena in consumer psychology and behavioral economics, they have not been compared to each other or combined yet. The results are useful for researchers and practitioners alike. They yield implications for product customization and customer empowerment.

Are elite cues necessary to drive the “Winner Effect” on trust in elections?

A rigorous literature analyzing elections in the United States, in established European democracies, and in the newer democracies of Eastern Europe and Latin America have shown that voters on the losing side of a campaign exhibit less trust in elections and faith in democratic legitimacy. Those who experience the “winner effect,” by contrast, report greater system support and belief in the integrity of the election. What drives this effect? Is it the election result itself that leads to a direct change in mass opinion or is it the elite messages – including charges of voter fraud – that often follow a contest? To disentangle the impact of mass mood from leadership cues as the mechanisms behind the winner effect, we use a regression discontinuity in time (RDiT) design in a recent American election in which the leading candidate on the losing side did not claim to have lost because of vote fraud. We gathered parallel survey samples in the two days leading up to the polls closing and then the following two days once the definitive results became clear. Even in the absence of elite claims of vote fraud, we see strong and immediate shifts in mass views. Once the results became clear, those who supported the losing side became significantly less likely to trust that votes were counted correctly or to be satisfied with the election process, while trust and support for the process rose from pre-to post-election for voters on the winning side. We contribute to this literature by demonstrating that elite cues are not a necessary condition to drive the winner effect; it can be generated by mass attitudinal shifts that follow from the revelation of an election result alone.

Network Hawkes Process Models for Exploring Latent Hierarchy in Social Animal Interactions

AbstractGroup-based social dominance hierarchies are of essential interest in understanding social structure (DeDeo & Hobson in, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118(21), 2021). Recent animal behaviour research studies can record aggressive interactions observed over time. Models that can explore the underlying hierarchy from the observed temporal dynamics in behaviours are therefore crucial. Traditional ranking methods aggregate interactions across time into win/loss counts, equalizing dynamic interactions with the underlying hierarchy. Although these models have gleaned important behavioural insights from such data, they are limited in addressing many important questions that remain unresolved. In this paper, we take advantage of the observed interactions' timestamps, proposing a series of network point process models with latent ranks. We carefully design these models to incorporate important theories on animal behaviour that account for dynamic patterns observed in the interaction data, including the winner effect, bursting and pair-flip phenomena. Through iteratively constructing and evaluating these models we arrive at the final cohort Markov-modulated Hawkes process (C-MMHP), which best characterizes all aforementioned patterns observed in interaction data. As such, inference on our model components can be readily interpreted in terms of theories on animal behaviours. The probabilistic nature of our model allows us to estimate the uncertainty in our ranking. In particular, our model is able to provide insights into the distribution of power within the hierarchy which forms and the strength of the established hierarchy. We compare all models using simulated and real data. Using statistically developed diagnostic perspectives, we demonstrate that the C-MMHP model outperforms other methods, capturing relevant latent ranking structures that lead to meaningful predictions for real data.

Bystander fallow deer engage in third-party behaviour based on similarities in contestant resource-holding potential

Competitive dyadic interactions frequently attract the attention of bystanders that follow and disrupt the ongoing contest. The motivation for bystanders to engage in such third-party behaviour is considered by several different theoretical approaches; one such model argues that bystanders intervene to prevent subordinates from gaining a winner effect, thereby becoming a threat to the individual's dominant status within the group. This study investigates the role of contestant morphology as a motivating factor in initiating third-party behaviour. We investigated whether two correlates of resource-holding potential, prerut body weight and antler weight, were associated with third-party behaviour in rutting male fallow deer, Dama dama . In addition, we examined whether a third factor, reproductive effort (weight loss during the rut) was associated with third-party behaviour. There was a positive relationship between antler weight and the number of times individual males experienced third-party behaviour during contests. This relationship was not evident for either prerut weight or weight loss. An analysis of third-party behaviour showed that as the difference in both prerut and antler weight between the competing males declined, there was an increase in the probability that the dyad would experience third-party behaviour. However, there was no such association between the difference in weight loss between contestants and third-party behaviour. Thus, dyads of males closely matched in terms of individual quality were likely to experience third-party behaviour. We show for the first time that morphological traits associated with resource-holding potential are important cues used by rivals as a basis for engaging in third-party behaviour. • Dyadic fights are often disrupted by third-party group members. • Larger weapons were associated with experiencing more third-party behaviour. • Dyads similar in body and antler weight experienced more third-party behaviour. • Bystander males gather information about fighting rivals' size and quality. • This information is used to inform decisions to engage in third-party behaviour.

Sparring dynamics and individual laterality in male South African giraffes

AbstractSparring by male giraffes has been commonly reported since its first description in 1958 and is believed to play a role in establishing male dominance hierarchies. However, despite being often documented, quantitative investigations of sparring behaviour are currently lacking. Here, we investigate the factors affecting the frequency, duration and intensity of sparring bouts in a population of giraffes Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa living on a private fenced reserve in Limpopo, South Africa. We show that sparring bouts were most frequently observed in young adults, and between males that were more evenly matched in size. Sparring bouts between males of similar body size were also characterised by being of high intensity and of short duration. Taken together, these results support the suggestion that sparring functions principally to provide maturing males a means of testing their competitive ability without escalating to full‐scale fights. Additionally, mature bulls intervened on young adults possibly to disable any winner effect achieved by the latter, with the most dominant bull being responsible for the majority of interventions. For the first time, we also show that individuals displayed strong laterality when engaged in sparring: individuals consistently preferred delivering blows from either their left or right side, and these preferences dictated the orientation of sparring bouts (whether head‐to‐head or head‐to‐tail). Lastly, we show that sparring displayed a seasonal peak which coincided with the onset of the wet season and possibly reflected the increased aggregation of males at this time. A more nuanced understanding of how social and environmental factors shape interactions among individuals, such as sparring, will improve our understanding and management of this charismatic animal.

Third-party assessment of contestants during fallow deer fights increases with resource abundance and dominance rank

The decision to engage in escalated fighting involves an interplay between the individual's estimate of the value of the resource under dispute and the ability of the combatants to invest sufficient time and energy in the contest. Although fallow deer, Dama dama , contests usually take place between pairs of individuals, they are sometimes terminated by the intervention of dominant third-party individuals. Theory argues that these interventions prevent subordinates from gaining a competitive boost via a winner effect; thus, interveners benefit by removing this threat to their status. Prior to intervention, third-party individuals often approach and closely follow the competing dyad before either abandoning their interest in the contest, or physically targeting one of the contestants. This study investigated the possibility that third-party following is an assessment process whereby individuals monitor the quality of fighting rivals during the annual rut. We tested three hypotheses: (1) that third-party followers are socially dominant individuals, that (2) follow contests to assess the current quality of high-ranking rivals (3) when resource abundance (i.e. the number of oestrous females) is high. Our results show that socially dominant individuals are most likely to follow contests; however, contrary to expectation, third-party males tended to follow dyads consisting of low-ranking rivals. We also show that as resource abundance increased in the population there was an increased tendency for males to follow contests, and a reduction in the probability of engaging in a third-party intervention of the contest. As expected by theory, dominance and resource abundance were important correlates of third-party following. Our results support the idea that socially dominant males monitor subordinate males that possess sufficient resources to expend in fighting, and that thus may be a threat to their status. • Dyadic contests are frequently followed by third-party males. • Following increases as the number of oestrous females increases. • Third-party individuals tend to follow dyads with low-ranking rivals. • Following contests facilitates assessment of rivals when resources are available.

The Evolution of Social Dominance through Reinforcement Learning.

AbstractGroups of social animals are often organized into dominance hierarchies that are formed through pairwise interactions. There is much experimental data on hierarchies, examining such things as winner, loser, and bystander effects, as well as the linearity and replicability of hierarchies, but there is a lack evolutionary analyses of these basic observations. Here I present a game theory model of hierarchy formation in which individuals adjust their aggressive behavior toward other group members through reinforcement learning. Individual traits such as the tendency to generalize learning between interactions with different individuals, the rate of learning, and the initial tendency to be aggressive are genetically determined and can be tuned by evolution. I find that evolution favors individuals with high social competence, making use of individual recognition, bystander observational learning, and, to a limited extent, generalizing learned behavior between opponents when adjusting their behavior toward other group members. The results are in qualitative agreement with experimental data, for instance, in finding weaker winner effects compared to loser effects.

Anxiety induces long-term memory forgetting in the crayfish

When two male crayfish encounter, agonistic bouts are initiated and a winner-loser relationship is established. Larger animals are more likely to win with their physical advantage, but they are frequently beaten by small dominant animals with previous winning experience. This winner effect remains for several days. In mammals, anxiety impairs learning and induces memory forgetting. In this study, dominant crayfish were exposed to electrical shocks two days after their first win, after which they were paired with large or small naive opponents the following day. Our results showed that electrical shock-applied dominant animals were beaten by large naive opponents, but overcame small naive opponents, suggesting that electrical shocks cause animals to forget their previous winner effect. Electrical shocks appeared to elicit serotonin-mediated anxiety since electrical shocks had no effect on mianserin-injected dominant animals. A 0.5µM serotonin injection induced a caused anxiety-like reaction, while a 1.0µM serotonin injection-induced no changes in posture and walking activity. For pairings between dominant and naive animals 1 day after serotonin injection, 0.5µM serotonin caused similar forgetting of the winner effect, but 1.0µM serotonin had no effect. Serotonin of low concentrations mediated anxiety and stimulated forgetting of the winner's memory.

Winner effects and switching assessment strategies facilitate fast and frugal decisions in territorial contests

Animals compete in contests over limited resources, and contestants with greater fighting ability, or resource-holding potential (RHP), typically win contests. Contest strategies have evolved to balance contest costs with the benefit of winning resources. Sometimes, contestants decide to leave by estimating their opponent's relative RHP. This strategy (mutual assessment) is cost-effective because it allows weaker opponents to leave contests against formidable opponents before accruing higher costs. However, acquiring reliable information can be costly. Here, we showed that in snapping shrimp ( Alpheus angulosus ) contests, contestants assessed relative RHP quickly and cost-effectively by assessing their opponent's recent contest success. By staging 26 contests between randomly matched individuals and 24 contests between RHP-matched individuals, we determined that snapping shrimp assessed their opponent's RHP during initial contest phases but no longer assessed relative RHP during escalated phases. Then, after staging 24 contests between individuals with contest experience the day prior, we found that snapping shrimp integrated RHP and recent contest success to make contest decisions. This strategy facilitated fast and accurate judgments when the recent winner was also larger but often resulted in the larger individual retreating when facing a small recent winner. Notably, these systematic biases were corrected when RHP differences were stark. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that by assessing recent contest success early in a contest, snapping shrimp can avoid risky contests. Furthermore, by integrating recent contest success with direct observations of RHP, contestants avoid losing contests prematurely. Similar assessment strategies may be widespread, because they circumvent risky contests while minimizing premature defeats from weaker recent winners. • Snapping shrimp switched from mutual assessment to cumulative assessment. • Snapping shrimp assessed their opponent's recent contest success. • Winner effects facilitated early and accurate contest decisions.

Winner and loser effects of juvenile cricket Gryllus bimaculatus

Agonistic encounters of juvenile male crickets were analyzed behaviourally. In a pairing between adult and juvenile male crickets, the juvenile crickets were usually beaten by the adult males of over 3 days after their final moult. Juveniles, by contrast, won significantly more bouts against young adult males 2 days after their final moult. These findings are good indicators to predict which cricket will defeat which opponent. To examine the effect of previous social experience, two juvenile animals were paired first and then juveniles that became subordinate were paired with day 2 adults, while juveniles that became dominant were paired with day 3 adults 5 min after first pairing. Subordinate juveniles were beaten by day 2 adults, while dominant juveniles tended to win against day 3 adults. This is the first time that winner and loser effects have been demonstrated in juvenile crickets. Similar pairings with day 2 or day 3 adult males were performed 2 h after first pairings. Subordinate juveniles were still beaten by day 2 adults, while the winning rate of dominant juveniles against day 3 adults was decreased significantly. These results suggest that the retention time of loser effect lasted more than 2 h while that of the winner effect disappeared within a shorter period.

A Mental Winner Effect? Competitive Mental Imagery Impacts Self-Assurance but not Testosterone in Women

In humans and other species, winning or losing a competition elicits changes in testosterone that may influence engagement or performance in subsequent competitive events. Furthermore, anticipating or observing competition can change mood and testosterone, suggesting that cognitions surrounding competitive events may at least partially drive specific physiological and emotional responses. In the present study, we investigated the effect of imagined competition on mood and testosterone in women. Participants (62 women) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions (high-investment win, high-investment loss, low-investment win, low-investment loss) and were asked to imagine and write about experiencing both the competition and its outcome. Salivary testosterone levels and self-reported mood were assessed before and after the competitive cognition task. Although imagining a competitive scenario was not salient enough to elicit significant changes in testosterone, imagining a high-investment competition and imagining a win each significantly increased feelings of self-assurance. Participants were more likely to write about their motivation to compete again when imagining a loss than when imagining a win, but testosterone did not predict including content about competing again. Visualizing oneself winning a contest of personal importance increased feelings of self-assurance in the absence of a testosterone response in women. Future research is needed to determine how the combination of positive mental imagery and physical competition could influence mood and testosterone, and whether self-assurance induced by mental imagery can increase the chance of future victories.

Winning cures everything? Beliefs about voter fraud, voter confidence, and the 2016 election

Rhetoric about “rigged” elections has raised concerns about the solidity of public trust in the integrity of the voting system. Mitigating these concerns, research by Sinclair et al. (2019) on the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign documents a robust “winner's effect” on voter confidence despite intense partisan messaging aimed at influencing citizens' acceptance of the legitimacy of the election. This suggests that regularly fluctuating electoral outcomes in competitive democracies limit the impact of elite messages on trust in electoral institutions. A critical question is whether similar dynamics apply to dimensions of electoral trust that are more clearly partisan-branded and targeted, such as beliefs about the prevalence of illicit voting. This paper uses a panel study with waves conducted before and after Election Day 2016 to compare the effect of election on beliefs about the extent of illicit voting and voter confidence. Underlining both the promise and limitations of democratic competition as a counterweight to elite efforts to sow electoral distrust, there are significant “winner's effects” on both but substantially smaller impact on beliefs about illicit voting, a difference that is especially large among strong Republican partisans.

Influence of previous agonistic interactions with conspecifics on contest decisions

AbstractRecent wins and losses can inform individuals about their relative fighting abilities and modify their subsequent contest decisions. Using a mangrove rivulus, Kryptolebias marmoratus, we tested the hypothesis that visual and limited physical interactions can also convey information and modify subsequent contest decisions. Individuals were exposed to a stronger or weaker conspecific through a glass or a mesh partition before a contest with a size‐matched naïve opponent. Individuals were expected to (a) assess themselves to have worse/better fighting ability and behave less/more aggressively after having interacted with a stronger/weaker conspecific and (b) display different degrees of behavioural modifications for the two partition treatments (mesh‐partition > glass‐partition). The results showed that interactions with a stronger/weaker conspecific through a glass partition did not have a strong effect on the fish's subsequent contest behaviour. Restricted physical interaction with a stronger/weaker conspecific through a mesh partition, however, had an unexpected effect, causing individuals to behave more/less aggressively (matching the behaviour of the conspecifics) and/or win more/fewer subsequent contests. These results indicate that contest resolution is important for the fish to exhibit the loser–winner effects (i.e. behaving less/more aggressively after having lost/won against a stronger/weaker conspecific) detected in previous studies of the fish. We propose and discuss the possibility that the “behavioural matching” of the mesh‐partition treatment results from unresolved physical interactions with a stronger/weaker conspecific causing the individuals to either anticipate stronger/weaker opponents in subsequent competitions or assess themselves to be an equally good/bad fighter as the conspecific. The results of previous studies and the present study of the fish show that pre‐exposing an individual to the same type of conspecifics could elicit diverse, sometimes opposite, behavioural responses depending on how the individual is permitted to interact with the conspecific.

Fixed or flexible? Winner/loser effects vary with habitat quality in a parasitoid wasp

Prior experience of fighting affects the outcome of subsequent contests, with prior winners being more likely to win and prior losers being more likely to lose a future encounter. These winner and loser effects have been shown in numerous species but have usually been tested in only one set of conditions. However, if such effects are not fixed but context dependent, we can expect their strength to change according to the situation. In particular, their magnitude could covary with other factors, such as those influencing contestants’ fighting abilities or the value they place on the contested resource, which in turn are known to influence contest behaviors and outcomes. Here, we tested the effect that prior experience of resource availability had on the expression of winner and loser effects in Eupelmus vuilleti, a parasitoid wasp fighting for hosts on which to lay their eggs. We showed that a loser effect was observable only when females experienced a habitat rich in hosts (hence placed low value on the contested individual host) but not when they were deprived of hosts (leading to individual hosts having high value). Contrary with a prior study, no clear winner effect was observed. These results suggest that the strength of winner and loser effects are context dependent in E. vuilleti, and interactions with other factors can either accentuate or attenuate the effects. Our data further raise the question of whether the intensity of the first encounter, not only its outcome, influences the behavioral decisions of individuals during a subsequent contest. A previous victory can increase the chance of winning a subsequent fight, while a prior defeat can increase the chance of losing. Such winner and loser effects have been shown in numerous species but have usually been studied in only one set of conditions. We show that the strength of these effects can be context dependent, such that they are accentuated or attenuated when experience interacts with factors such as habitat quality. Our data further raise the question of whether the intensity of the first encounter (how “hard” it was to win or lose), not just the outcome, influences behavioral decisions during subsequent contests.

Social context modulates how the winner effect restructures territorial behaviour in free-living woodpeckers

Animal interactions such as competition are mediated by complex social strategies, which consist of behaviours and cognitive mechanisms that guide their production. As a result, behaviour is highly flexible. This poses a challenge to understanding how competition plays out in natural systems, because the course of a contest can essentially be rewritten by prior experience and/or changes in social context. Here we addressed this gap by studying how both of these factors interact to reconfigure competitive strategies used in territorial defence by a wild bird. After experimentally inducing the winner effect, a cognitive-behavioural phenomenon in which winning a contest increases the probability of winning again in the future, we found that male red-bellied woodpeckers, Melanerpes carolinus, adopted a new social strategy marked by more flexible transitions between different aggressive displays, as well as increasing overall aggressive output. However, this effect was mitigated by the arrival of the female social mate; in response to this momentary shift in social context, males decreased their use of territorial drum displays and became less likely to move around the territory or switch display modes during competition. In other words, the winner effect increased spatiotemporal diversity of territorial strategies, such that males frequently changed their location and display output. A female's arrival, however, reversed this effect. More specifically, males tended to revert to advertisement and social vocalizations on female arrival, which suggests that the need to attend to the social mate may supersede the threat of territorial intrusion. This is consistent with a model in which competitive outcomes are impacted by the interactive effects of an individual's past experiences and shifts in present-day social context, which may allow monogamous animals to effectively manage the competing demands of driving off intruders and attending to the social mate.

Contest experience does not increase survivorship in honey bee queen duels

Animals engage in intraspecific conflict to increase their access to resources as well as improve their rank within the group. Prior experience can contribute to the outcome of conspecific contests and agonistic interactions. Winning a previous encounter can raise an individual’s probability of winning future contests, a phenomenon known as the winner effect. Likewise, a prior loss can reduce the probability of future wins, known as the loser effect. Theoretical and empirical research suggests that a winner effect can only exist in the presence of a loser effect. However, recent evidence suggests that this is not always the case. This finding prompted the present study, which explores whether there is a winner effect in virgin honey bee queens (Apis mellifera).Virgin queens compete with each other in fatal contests; losers do not survive, so there is no possibility of a loser effect, but sometimes virgin queens compete with more than one rival, so a winner effect is a possibility. To test for winner effects, we staged duels between pairs of age-matched virgin queens in the laboratory. The winner of each contest was then paired with another age-matched queen with no prior dueling experience. Winning a duel had a significant impact on the outcome of the second duel, but it reduced, rather than increased the probability of winning the second duel.