Effects of ability- and chance-determined competition outcome on testosterone

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.