title: Testosterone abolishes implicit subordination in social anxiety.
abstract: Neuro-evolutionary theories describe social anxiety as habitual subordinate tendencies acquired through a recursive cycle of social defeat and submissive reactions. If so, the steroid hormone testosterone might be of therapeutic value, as testosterone is a main force behind implicit dominance drive in many species including humans. We combined these two theories to investigate whether the tendency to submit to the dominance of others is an implicit mechanism in social anxiety (Study-1), and whether this can be relieved through testosterone administration (Study-2). Using interactive eye-tracking we demonstrate that socially anxious humans more rapidly avert gaze from subliminal angry eye contact (Study-1). We replicate this effect of implicit subordination in social anxiety in an independent sample, which is subsequently completely abolished after a single placebo-controlled sublingual testosterone administration (Study-2). These findings provide crucial evidence for hormonal and behavioral treatment strategies that specifically target mechanisms of dominance and subordination in social anxiety.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic address: d.terburg@uu.nl.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Terburg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Supriya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Syal
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychopharmacology & Biopsychology Unit, University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Lisa A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Rosenberger
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Heany
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa; MRC Unit on Anxiety & Stress Disorders, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Dan J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Jack van
authors.initials: Jv
authors.lastname: Honk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000728:Androgens / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004291:Dominance-Subordination; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D000072861:Phobia, Social / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012938:Social Perception; D013739:Testosterone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000728:Androgens; D013739:Testosterone
keywords: Dominance; Eye tracking; Social anxiety; Submissiveness; Testosterone