Citation

Welling LL, Moreau BJ, Bird BM, Hansen S, Carré JM. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2015; 64: 136-142.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, Box 5002, North Bay, ON P1B 8L7, Canada. Electronic address: justinca@nipissingu.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.11.016

PMID

26671006

Abstract

Men's testosterone is associated with several constructs that are linked to dominance rank, such as risk-taking, mating success, and aggression. However, no study has directly tested the relationship between men's self-perceived dominance and testosterone using an experimental design. We employed a within-subjects, double-blind, placebo-controlled paradigm to assess whether testosterone influences men's self-perceived dominance. Exogenous testosterone or a placebo was administered to healthy adult men and self-perceptions of physical dominance were subsequently assessed by having participants select what they believed to be their true face from an array of images digitally manipulated in masculinity. Men picked a more masculine version of their own face after testosterone versus placebo-an effect that was particularly pronounced among men with relatively low baseline testosterone. These findings indicate that a single administration of testosterone can rapidly modulate men's perceptions of their own physical dominance, which may explain links between testosterone and dominance-related behaviors.

Language: en