Exogenous testosterone increases status-seeking motivation in men with unstable low social status

Abstract

Testosterone is associated with status-seeking behaviors such as competition, which may depend on whether one wins or loses status, but also on the stability of one's status. We examined (1) to what extent testosterone administration affects competition behavior in repeated social contests in men with high or low rank, and (2), whether this relationship is moderated by hierarchy stability, as predicted by the status instability hypothesis. Using a real effort-based design in healthy male participants (N = 173 males), we first found that testosterone (vs. placebo) increased motivation to compete for status, but only in individuals with a low unstable status. A second part of the experiment, tailored to directly compare stable with unstable hierarchies, indicated that exogenous testosterone again increased competitive motivation in individuals with a low unstable status, but decreased competition behavior in men with low stable status. Additionally, exogenous testosterone increased motivation in those with a stable high status. Further analysis suggested that these effects were moderated by individuals' trait dominance, and genetic differences assessed by the androgen receptor (CAG-repeat) and dopamine transporter (DAT1) polymorphisms. Our study provides evidence that testosterone specifically boosts status-related motivation when there is an opportunity to improve one's social status. The findings contribute to our understanding of testosterone's causal role in status-seeking motivation in competition behavior, and indicate that testosterone adaptively increases our drive for high status in a context-dependent manner. We discuss potential neurobiological pathways through which testosterone may attain these effects on behavior.

Exogenous testosterone increases status-seeking motivation in men with unstable low social status

“…In the current study, individuals with high androgen receptor sensitivity to testosterone (i.e., low AR(CAG)-repeat length), showed that testosterone (vs. placebo) increased motivation to compete when the competition progressed in those who had an unstable low status as well as in those who had a stable high status. A recent study in males demonstrated testosterone to promote aggression only among individuals with fewer AR(CAG) repeats (Geniole et al, 2019), which further supports our findings. In sum, these exploratory findings suggest that the conditional effects of testosterone on status-seeking motivation are moderated by androgen receptor-dependent pathways.…”

“…Our findings contribute to other recent pharmacological studies using different behavioural paradigms, and suggest a causal role of testosterone in status-enhancing behaviors that depend on the social context. For instance increase preference for high status goods (Nave et al, 2018;Wu et al, 2017), increase willingness to punish a proposer who proposed an unfair offer in an Ultimatum Game, and increase willingness to reward those who propsed a fair offer (Dreher et al, 2016). Future studies could test if our findings of testosterone in individuals with unstable low social status also extend to behaviors in these paradigms.…”

“…For example, a correlational study by Eisenegger and colleagues (2017) found that among individuals with a low CAG-repeat polymorphism and who decided to compete, greater confidence and performance in competition was observed. Furthermore, a recent pharmacological study with a larger sample (Geniole et al, 2019) found testosterone to predict subsequent aggression among men with a low CAG-repeat polymorphism. Based on these studies, we hypothesized that men with fewer AR (CAG) repeats show enhanced effects of testosterone on behavior.…”

“…Likewise, it has been suggested that testosterone may influence behavior by interacting with dopamine and activating dopaminergic pathways such as the striatum (Mehta et al, 2015;Purves-Tyson et al, 2014;see also Losecaat Vermeer et al, 2016). In rodent studies, dopamine release and availability in the ventral striatum were increased with exogenous testosterone (de Souza Silva et al, 2009;Packard et al, 1997;Thiblin et al, 1999), and increased expression of ARs in regions of the mesolimbic system were found after winning in competition, associated with reward and status-enhancing behaviors (Fuxjager et al, 2010).…”

“…Research has shown that testosterone levels fluctuate with social challenges (challenge hypothesis; Wingfield et al, 1990;Archer, 2006;Wobber et al, 2010) and that these fluctuations predict competition-related motivations (e.g., Carré and McCormick, 2008;Eisenegger et al, 2017;Mehta et al, 2008;Mehta and Josephs, 2006), performance (Zilioli and Watson, 2014), and other behaviors (e.g., aggression, Carré et al, 2009;Geniole et al, 2013; see also for recent reviews Geniole and Carré, 2018;Zilioli and Bird, 2017). Nevertheless, the direction and magnitude of effects often depended on the individual's status within the hierarchy, differing for those who recently won or lost a competition (Josephs et al, 2006;Mehta and Josephs, 2006; for review Carré and Olmstead, 2015;Casto and Mehta, 2018; but also see, Carré et al, 2013) 1 .…”