Search results for "CHALLENGE HYPOTHESIS"
showing 7 items of 7 documents
Associations between success and failure in a face-to-face competition and psychobiological parameters in young women
2012
Within an evolutionary framework, in recent years some questions have been raised about whether women have a pattern of psychobiological response to social stress similar to that described in men. The main objective of this study was to analyze women's patterns of neuroendocrine, cardiovascular and mood responses to an individual competitive task, taking into account the outcome obtained. For this purpose, we measured salivary testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) levels, heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP), in addition to mood changes, in 40 healthy young women before, during and after a face-to-face laboratory competition. We also assessed some relevant psychological traits. Our results i…
Men with elevated testosterone levels show more affiliative behaviors during contact with women
2012
Testosterone (T) is thought to play a key role in male–male competition and courtship in many vertebrates, but its precise effects are unclear. We explored whether courtship behaviour in humans is modulated and preceded by changes in T. Pairs of healthy male students first competed in a non-physical contest in which their T levels became elevated. Each participant then had a short, informal interaction with either an unfamiliar man or woman. The sex of the stimulus person did not affect the participants' behaviour overall. However, in interactions with women, those men who had experienced a greater T increase during the contest subsequently showed more interest in the woman, engaged in more…
Testosterone levels and their associations with lifetime number of opposite sex partners and remarriage in a large sample of American elderly men and…
2011
Testosterone (T) has been argued to modulate mating and parenting behavior in many species, including humans. The role of T for these behaviors has been framed as the challenge hypothesis. Following this hypothesis, T should be positively associated with the number of opposite sex partners a male has. Indeed research in humans has shown that T is positively related to the number of opposite sex partners a young man has had. Here we test, in both men and women, whether this relationship extends to the lifetime number of sex partners. We also explored whether or not T was associated with current marital status, partnership status and whether or not the participant remarried. Using a large sam…
Changes in body mass and hormone levels between wintering and spring staging areas in Dark-bellied brent geese Branta bernicla bernicla
2006
International audience; Wintering migratory geese generally replenish protein stores lost during migration before building up their fat stores (Gauthier et al. 1992). Dark-bellied brent geese Branta bernicla bernicla winter mainly along the coasts of France, England and the south-western part of the Netherlands, and stage from March till late May mainly in the Wadden Sea, stretching from the northern Netherlands to Denmark (Ebbinge et al. 1999). During spring, geese accumulate body stores needed both for their long-distance migration to the breeding grounds and for reproduction (Spaans et al. 1993, Ebbinge and Spaans 1995). Dark-bellied brent geese, migrating about 5000 km between the winte…
Testosterone responses to competition: the opponent’s psychological state makes it challenging
2010
Testosterone (T) increases after competition have typically been attributed to winning, yet there is also evidence that being victorious is not in itself sufficient to provoke a T response. Instead, it has been proposed that T responses are moderated by psychological processes. Here, we investigated whether the opponent's psychological state affected hormonal changes in men competing face to face on a rigged computer task. The results show that, irrespective of outcome, the competition led to increases in heart rate and T levels. We found that the T levels of the participants increased more when their opponents had high self-efficacy and that T levels were not influenced by participants' ow…
The presence of a woman increases testosterone in aggressive dominant men
2008
In line with the challenge hypothesis, this study investigated the effects of the presence of a woman on the testosterone (T) levels of young men. An informal contact with a woman of approximately 5 min resulted in an increase in salivary T among men. These effects occurred particularly in men with an aggressive dominant personality. In addition, higher salivary T levels were related to a more aggressively dominant personality, being sexual inactive for a month or more, and not being involved in a committed, romantic relationship. The most important findings of this study are that the short presence of a woman induces specific hormonal reactions in men, and that these effects are stronger f…
Testosterone and cortisol release among Spanish soccer fans watching the 2010 World Cup Final
2012
This field study investigated the release of testosterone and cortisol of a vicarious winning experience in Spanish fans watching the finals between Spain and the Netherlands in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Soccer. Spanish fans (n = 50) watched the match with friends or family in a public place or at home and also participated in a control condition. Consistent with hypotheses, results revealed that testosterone and cortisol levels were higher when watching the match than on a control day. However, neither testosterone nor cortisol levels increased after the victory of the Spanish team. Moreover, the increase in testosterone secretion was not related to participants' sex, age or soccer fandom, b…