User:YorshkaScale/Sample page

For mammals, competition has always been one of the main sources of stress. The competition for dominance, social status, and even the winning or losing of a simple game can have an impact on individual behavior, hormones, and so on. These impacts are very complex and can result in different outcomes due to individual differences.

Winner-loser effect
This is a theory proposed by the Biological Status Model (BMS), which attempts to explain the most fundamental relationship between hormones and competition.

Winners will gain higher social status, in this case, a rising testosterone level can help them build a stronger body, in order to defending and maintaining status. At the same time, testosterone can make a person more aggressive, motivating them to seek higher status or ‘replicate their success.

For the loser, the decrease in social status and the experience of losing make this individual more susceptible to challenges from others. In this case, decrease on testosterone will lead submissive behaviors, to avoid further loss of status or physical harm.

Reverse Winner loss effect
Unlike other kinds of therior, the hypothesis about behavior and hormone aren’t that stable. Or in another words its more complex.

One factor that may affect testosterone responses is whether a competition results in a clear, decisive victory or a close one, or even an unknow one. Decisive victories build stable hierarchies where the winner clearly dominates the loser, and testosterone may rise or fall in as the BMS predicts. In contrast, competitions in which the outcome is close or unknow cause the status to become unpredictable and unstable, and this instability may induce testosterone response in a different way as winner-loser efect. Higher testosterone for loser, lower for winner.

Loser - increased testosterone can allow lower status individuals to seize the opportunity to improve their status.

Winner - avoidance of further competition as a strategy to protect one's vulnerable high status

This effect can be very evident in gambling. A complete failure can make players want to quickly end the game, while a small failure in a win lose game can be attributed to luck. Most players exhibit a strong desire to attack and try to continue the game to reverse their "temporary" failure.

This reverse Winner loss effect is widely used in various fields, that is, "a slight setback can actually enhance the attractiveness of the product."

Reverse Winner loss effect

Cognitive effect
Emotional responses to competitive outcomes are influenced by cognitive, like attributions of skill versus chance. Likewise, testosterone reactivity does not respond simply to winning or losing outcomes. In a study of basketball players, testosterone changes did not differ between winners and losers, but connect with the score to the time spent playing, which reflecting each players contribution to the overall team outcome. External attributional styles moderate the testosterone change: the tendency to attribute the team's success to external factors  buffered individual testosterone increases, whereas players who attributed their victories to skill showed the strongest testosterone increase.

Researchers believe that may partly explain why state instability hypothesis happened from a psychological way. For a close outcome, the winner is more likely to attribute this success to external factors such as luck, which makes their testosterone levels did not increasing as normal.

dual-hormone hypothesis

Dual-hormone hypothesis
The research at The University of Texas at Austin reveals that elevated cortisol levels hinder testosterone's impact on dominance. When cortisol, linked to stress, increases due to threats, the body prioritizes survival over responding to testosterone's effects. This adaptation is crucial in emergencies to avoid fatal behaviors associated with testosterone, like mating and aggression. The study involved 57 participants in competitive scenarios, showing that those with high testosterone and low cortisol sought a rematch after losing, while those with high levels of both hormones declined. The decline in testosterone after defeat possibly explains their reluctance to compete again.

Reference section
1. Samuele Z, Losing the battle but winning the war: Uncertain outcomes reverse the usual effect of winning on testosterone, Biological Psychology, Volume 103, December 2014, Pages 54-62

2. Allan Mazur, A Biosocial Model of Status in Face-to-Face Primate Groups, Social Forces, Volume 64, Issue 2, December 1985, Pages 377–402, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/64.2.377

3. Gonzalez-Bono, Esperanza, et al. "Testosterone, cortisol, and mood in a sports team competition." Hormones and behavior 35.1 (1999): 55-62.

4. Casto, Kathleen V., Aileen Rivell, and David A. Edwards. "Competition-related testosterone, cortisol, and perceived personal success in recreational women athletes." Hormones and Behavior 92 (2017): 29-36.

5. Oyegbile, Temitayo O., and Catherine A. Marler. "Winning fights elevates testosterone levels in California mice and enhances future ability to win fights." Hormones and behavior 48.3 (2005): 259-267.

6. Salvador, Alicia, et al. "Causal attribution and psychobiological response to competition in young men." Hormones and Behavior 92 (2017): 72-81.

7. Wu, Yin, et al. "Comparison of clear and narrow outcomes on testosterone levels in social competition." Hormones and behavior 92 (2017): 51-56.

8. Vongas, John G., and Raghid Al Hajj. "The effects of competition and implicit power motive on men's testosterone, emotion recognition, and aggression." Hormones and Behavior 92 (2017): 57-71.

9. Geniole, Shawn N., et al. "Effects of competition outcome on testosterone concentrations in humans: An updated meta-analysis." Hormones and behavior 92 (2017): 37-50.

External links section
Example external link