• testosterone and assertiveness, AI Overview

One study found that testosterone-related increases in anger and hostility did not affect assertiveness. However, another study found that high-testosterone students entered a room more quickly, focused more directly on their targets, and displayed a more forward and independent manner.

Testosterone is a steroid hormone that is associated with dominance behaviors in both animals and humans. Some of the ways testosterone is associated with dominance and status include:

Social dominance

One study found that adolescent boys who were perceived as socially dominant by unfamiliar peers had higher testosterone levels.

Status-seeking

Testosterone is associated with status-seeking motives in human social interaction.

Social hierarchy

High levels of testosterone promote behaviors intended to enhance one’s status over other individuals and to climb up the social hierarchy.

• Testosterone promotes either dominance or submissiveness in the Ultimatum Game depending on players’ social rank, Yukako Inoue, Taiki Takahashi, Robert P. Burriss, Sakura Arai, Toshikazu Hasegawa, Toshio Yamagishi & Toko Kiyonari

Endogenous testosterone promotes behaviours intended to enhance social dominance. However, recent research suggests that testosterone enhances strategic social behaviour rather than dominance seeking behaviour. This possibility has not been tested in a population whose members are known to vary in social status. Here, we explored the relationship between pre-existing social status and salivary testosterone level among members of a rugby team at a Japanese university, where a strong seniority norm maintains hierarchical relationships. Participants played a series of one-shot Ultimatum Games (UG) both as proposer and responder. Opponents were anonymised but of known seniority. We analysed participants’ acquiescence (how much more they offered beyond the lowest offer they would accept). The results showed that, among the most senior participants, higher testosterone was associated with lower acquiescence. Conversely, higher testosterone among the lower-status participants was associated with higher acquiescence. Our results suggest that testosterone may enhance socially dominant behaviour among high-status persons, but strategic submission to seniority among lower-status persons.