Acute stress reactivity from contested dominance in dominant and submissive males

We examined the cardiovascular and testosterone responses of dominant and submissive males to an interpersonal challenge of dominance status. Twenty college-aged students rated their dominance to predefined reference groups and engaged in a debate against a trained technician. Throughout the task, they were continuously given false feedback regarding biochemical substances in the plasma that purportedly covaried with dominance. Covariance analyses revealed that the task created greater heart rate reactivity and lower testosterone levels on the part of submissive subjects when contrasted with those scoring high in self-reported dominance. Interpretation of these data emphasizes the importance of an interactionist perspective in research dealing with acute stress reactivity.