title: Effects of ability- and chance-determined competition outcome on testosterone.
abstract: Winning competitions has been shown to lead to higher testosterone (T) relative to losing in men and males of other species. In Experiment 1, 38 women and 37 men provided a saliva sample, completed a novel computer-based vocabulary competition task at which they won or lost based on their own ability, provided feedback about the competition via questionnaire, and then produced a second saliva sample. Task outcome and performance was not sexually differentiated, and overall task performance was negatively correlated with T. Male but not female winners had lower baseline and post-competition T, and male losers had a larger decrease in T from baseline to post-competition. In Experiment 2, 31 men and 43 women completed the same as above, but were randomly assigned to win or lose. In this case, competition outcome did not affect T for men but there was an effect such that women who would have had an ability-determined loss showed a larger decrease in T than women who would have had an ability-determined win. Thus, earned wins appear to attenuate a decline in T in men, consistent with past research into the competition effect and T, and perhaps women under complex circumstances.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, RCB 5246, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: Sari M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: van Anders
authors.forename: Neil V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Watson
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D011863:Radioimmunoassay / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism; D012737:Sex Factors; D013739:Testosterone / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D013739:Testosterone