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Updated: Jul 12, 2025

Combining Behavioral Endocrinology and Experimental Economics: Testosterone and Social Decision Making
Published on: March 2, 2011
Testosterone promotes dominance behaviors in the Ultimatum Game after players' status increases
Yukako Inoue1, Robert P Burriss2, Toshikazu Hasegawa3
1Department of Social Psychology, Yasuda Women's University, Hiroshima, Japan.
Abstract:
Although testosterone is generally considered to promote dominance behaviors, in humans it fosters behaviors appropriate to achieving and maintaining social status, contingent upon the situation. Recent cross-sectional studies, such as Inoue et al. (Sci Rep 7:5335, 2017), have shown that dominance behaviors induced by testosterone are modulated by high status. Yet, it remains ambiguous whether a rise in social status within real-world social groups reshapes the relationship between testosterone and dominance behavior. To investigate this longitudinal question, we added a second wave to Inoue et al.'s study, collecting further data after an interval of 2 years. Members of a university rugby team that adheres to a rigid hierarchical order rooted in seniority played the Ultimatum Game with teammates and provided saliva for assays of testosterone and cortisol. Our analysis reveals that individuals with higher baseline salivary testosterone levels exhibited more dominance as their position in the hierarchy increased according to their seniority.
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