Are Beards Honest Signals of Male Dominance and Testosterone?

The aim of the study was to investigate the response of testosterone and cortisol to sprint interval exercises (SIEs) and to determine the role of dominance. The experiment was conducted in a group of 96 men, divided into endurance-training, strength-training, and non-training groups. Participants performed SIEs consisting of 5 × 10-s all-out bouts with a 50-s active recovery. Using the passive drool method, testosterone and cortisol concentrations were measured in saliva samples at rest at 10 min pre and 12 min post exercise. Participants’ heart rate (HR) was measured during the whole exercise. Dominance was assessed by the participants before the study; the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was measured immediately after each bout. The study showed that those who trained in endurance and strength sports had significantly lower mean HRs after five acute 10-s interval bouts than those in the non-training group (p = 0.006 and p = 0.041, respectively). Dominance has an inverse relation to changes in HR; however, it has no relation to hormone response. No significant differences were observed in testosterone and cortisol changes in the endurance-training, strength-training, and non-training groups after SIE (p > 0.05), which may indicate that the exercise volume was too low.

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“…Dominance was measured with a 5-item questionnaire previously used in studies by Kowal et al [ 27 ]. This scale has not yet been published.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Dominance and Sprint Interval Exercise on Testosterone and Cortisol Levels in Strength-, Endurance-, and Non-Training Men

Żurek

Danek

Żurek

et al. 2022

Biology

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“…Moreover, diverse facial ornamentation (such as the presence of ear or head tufts, beards or other facial hair) evolved across the primate taxa (Petersen & Higham, 2020 ). Despite extensive research suggesting the potential role of human facial hair in signalling dominance (Dixson & Vasey, 2012 , but see also Kowal et al, 2021 ), the link between shape and size variation of primate facial hair features and behavioural variation has not been studied yet. Future studies thus should explore the potential facial hair-personality links and their selection pressures (Dixson et al, 2005 ; Petersen & Higham, 2020 ).…”

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does the primate face cue personality?

Wilson

Masilkova

2023

Personality Neuroscience

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When looking at others, primates primarily focus on the face – detecting the face first and looking at it longer than other parts of the body. This is because primate faces, even without expression, convey trait information crucial for navigating social relationships. Recent studies on primates, including humans, have linked facial features, specifically facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR), to rank and Dominance-related personality traits, suggesting these links’ potential role in social decisions. However, studies on the association between dominance and fWHR report contradictory results in humans and variable patterns in nonhuman primates. It is also not clear whether and how nonhuman primates perceive different facial cues to personality traits and whether these may have evolved as social signals. This review summarises the variable facial-personality links, their underlying proximate and evolutionary mechanisms and their perception across primates. We emphasise the importance of employing comparative research, including various primate species and human populations, to disentangle phylogeny from socio-ecological drivers and to understand the selection pressures driving the facial-personality links in humans. Finally, we encourage researchers to move away from single facial measures and towards holistic measures and to complement perception studies using neuroscientific methods.

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