The role of testosterone in odor-based perceptions of social status

IF 3.2 1区心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Evolution and Human Behavior Pub Date : 2025-08-28 DOI:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106752

Marlise K. Hofer , Tianqi Peng , Jennifer C. Lay , Frances S. Chen

{"title":"The role of testosterone in odor-based perceptions of social status","authors":"Marlise K. Hofer , Tianqi Peng , Jennifer C. Lay , Frances S. Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106752","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Awareness of the social status of conspecifics is crucial for members of social species, including humans. Given that testosterone is thought to promote status motivation in humans and may also alter body odor, the present study investigates whether perceptions of social status can be influenced by body odor cues associated with testosterone. Male scent donors (<em>N</em> = 74) provided salivary testosterone samples and scent samples from worn T-shirts. Raters (<em>N</em> = 797) smelled the worn shirts and provided ratings of the odor quality and the perceived social status of the wearer (i.e., perceived dominance, perceived prestige). Scent donors' self-rated dominance and prestige, as well as raters' perceptions of prestige, were not significantly associated with scent donor's testosterone levels. However, raters' perceptions of dominance were positively associated with the scent donors' testosterone levels. These findings suggest that hormonally based odor cues contribute to perceptions of dominance and may serve as one channel through which information about social status and personality is communicated.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"46 6","pages":"Article 106752"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Evolution and Human Behavior","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513825001011","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Awareness of the social status of conspecifics is crucial for members of social species, including humans. Given that testosterone is thought to promote status motivation in humans and may also alter body odor, the present study investigates whether perceptions of social status can be influenced by body odor cues associated with testosterone. Male scent donors (N = 74) provided salivary testosterone samples and scent samples from worn T-shirts. Raters (N = 797) smelled the worn shirts and provided ratings of the odor quality and the perceived social status of the wearer (i.e., perceived dominance, perceived prestige). Scent donors' self-rated dominance and prestige, as well as raters' perceptions of prestige, were not significantly associated with scent donor's testosterone levels. However, raters' perceptions of dominance were positively associated with the scent donors' testosterone levels. These findings suggest that hormonally based odor cues contribute to perceptions of dominance and may serve as one channel through which information about social status and personality is communicated.

查看原文本刊更多论文

睾酮在基于气味的社会地位感知中的作用

同种动物的社会地位意识对包括人类在内的社会物种成员至关重要。鉴于睾酮被认为可以促进人类的地位动机，并可能改变体臭，本研究调查了对社会地位的感知是否会受到与睾酮相关的体臭线索的影响。男性气味供体（N = 74）提供了唾液睾酮样本和穿过的t恤的气味样本。评分者（N = 797）闻到穿过的衬衫，并提供气味质量和穿着者感知到的社会地位（即感知到的支配地位，感知到的声望）的评级。气味供者自评的支配地位和声望，以及评分者对声望的感知，与气味供者的睾丸激素水平没有显著关联。然而，评分者的支配感与气味供体的睾丸激素水平呈正相关。这些发现表明，基于激素的气味线索有助于感知支配地位，并可能作为社会地位和个性信息交流的一个渠道。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Evolution and Human Behavior 生物-行为科学

CiteScore

8.30

自引率

9.80%

发文量

审稿时长

82 days

期刊介绍： Evolution and Human Behavior is an interdisciplinary journal, presenting research reports and theory in which evolutionary perspectives are brought to bear on the study of human behavior. It is primarily a scientific journal, but submissions from scholars in the humanities are also encouraged. Papers reporting on theoretical and empirical work on other species will be welcome if their relevance to the human animal is apparent.