In men, high levels of endogenous testosterone (T) seem to encourage behavior intended to dominate - to enhance one's status over - other people. Sometimes dominant behavior is aggressive, its apparent intent being to inflict harm on another person, but often dominance is expressed nonaggressively. Sometimes dominant behavior takes the form of antisocial behavior, including rebellion against authority and law breaking. Measurement of T at a single point in time, presumably indicative of a man's basal T level, predicts many of these dominant or antisocial behaviors. T not only affects behavior but also responds to it. The act of competing for dominant status affects male T levels in two ways. First, T rises in the face of a challenge, as if it were an anticipatory response to impending competition. Second, after the competition, T rises in winners and declines in losers. Thus, there is a reciprocity between T and dominance behavior, each affecting the other. We contrast a reciprocal model, in which T level is variable, acting as both a cause and effect of behavior, with a basal model, in which T level is assumed to be a persistent trait that influences behavior. An unusual data set on Air Force veterans, in which data were collected four times over a decade, enables us to compare the basal and reciprocal models as explanations for the relationship between T and divorce. We discuss sociological implications of these models.

https://users.ox.ac.uk/~kgroup/publications/pdf/kacelnik_norris_1998_bbs_testosterone.pdf

Testosterone and dominance in men.

Testosterone and Human Aggression: An Evaluation of the Challenge Hypothesis

Androgens in teleost fishes

Social modulation of androgens in male vertebrates: Meta-analyses of the challenge hypothesis

Many aspects of reproductive physiology are subject to regulation by social interactions. These include changes in neural and physiological substrates of reproduction. How can social behavior produce such changes? In experiments reported here, we manipulated the social settings of teleost fish and measured the effect (1) on stress response as reflected in cortisol production, (2) on reproductive potential as measured in production of the signaling peptide, gonadotropin-releasing hormone, and (3) on reproductive function measured in gonad size. Our results reveal that the level of the stress hormone cortisol depends critically on both the social and reproductive status of an individual fish and on the stability of its social situation. Moreover, the reproductive capacity of an individual fish depends on these same variables. These results show that social encounters within particular social contexts have a profound effect on the stress levels as well as on reproductive competence. Social behavior may lead to changes in reproductive state through integration of cortisol changes in time. Thus, information available from the stress pathway may provide socially relevant signals to produce neural change.

/pdf/stress-and-dominance-in-a-social-fish-41m84e67b4.pdf

Stress and Dominance in a Social Fish

Relationship of population density, territorial interaction and plasma levels of gonadal steroids in spawning male demoiselles Chromis dispilus (Pisces: Pomacentridae).

Changes in plasma levels of gonadal steroids and gonad morphology during the spawning cycle of male and female demoiselles Chromis dispilus (Pisces: Pomacentridae)

C.W. Barnett

Papers

Relationship of population density, territorial interaction and plasma levels of gonadal steroids in spawning male demoiselles Chromis dispilus (Pisces: Pomacentridae).

Changes in plasma levels of gonadal steroids and gonad morphology during the spawning cycle of male and female demoiselles Chromis dispilus (Pisces: Pomacentridae)