Elsevier

Hormones and Behavior

Volume 36, Issue 3, December 1999, Pages 234-241
Hormones and Behavior

Regular Article
Implicit Power Motivation Moderates Men's Testosterone Responses to Imagined and Real Dominance Success

https://doi.org/10.1006/hbeh.1999.1542Get rights and content

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that implicit power motivation moderates individuals' testosterone responses to the anticipated success in and actual outcome of a dominance contest. Salivary testosterone levels were assessed in 42 male students at the beginning of the study, after they had imagined a success in an ensuing power contest, and immediately after the contest had taken place. Contest outcome (winning or losing against a competitor on a speed-based task) was varied experimentally. Participants' power motive was assessed with a picture-story exercise, in which an assertive, personalized (p Power) component was distinguished from an altruistic, socialized (s Power) component. In contrast to all other participants, individuals high only in p Power (a) had elevated testosterone after imagining a success in a subsequent dominance contest and (b) continued to have high testosterone levels after actually winning, but not after losing, the contest.

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    • The effects of competition and implicit power motive on men's testosterone, emotion recognition, and aggression

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      Citation Excerpt :

      Therefore, we focused exclusively on p Power because of its closer association with a distributive outcome orientation (win-lose), as opposed to s Power which is conceptually tied to an integrative outcome orientation (win-win) (McClelland, 1975). Some scholars have found that implicit power predicted testosterone increases and decreases in male winners and losers, respectively (Schultheiss et al., 1999, 2005; Schultheiss and Rohde, 2002). Schultheiss et al. (1999) proposed that, compared to low p-Power individuals, those who are high in this form of implicit power experience a greater sensation of dominance after a victory and a stronger reaction after a defeat because of the importance they attribute to impacting other people.

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    1

    To whom correspondence should be addressed at present address: Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, P. O. Box 601553, D-14415 Potsdam, Germany. Fax: +49 331 977 2829. E-mail: [email protected].

    Deceased on March 27, 1998.

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