5 ms·
Whenever testosterone comes up, I always think of the study showing testosterone levels change in sports fans according to whether their preferred team wins or
by ttctciyf 8y ago
Whenever testosterone comes up, I always think of the study showing testosterone levels change in sports fans according to whether their preferred team wins or loses[1].
The interest for me is not so much in the question of testosterone and dominance, but more to do with how mere perception of events whose meaning is entirely culturally determined can mediate hormone levels in this way.
Winning at football is very different from winning at a fight, that is - you need to understand football's rules to understand who's won, whereas the winner of a fight is immediately clear.
Thinking about it, though, I guess ritualised proxies for fighting to establish dominance (like antler fights, etc.) might be thought to occupy an intermediate position.
1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9811365 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9811365
- solarkraft 8y agoWinning at football is exactly like winning a fight. The member of the winning tribe will feel more confident that they will be able to win the next fight/feel more dominant, which correlates well with testosterone levels in my mind.
- chillacy 8y agoSometimes the winner also riots and wrecks their city. Actually a lot of the time.
- solarkraft 8y agoThis is possibly related to testosterone levels/heightened confidence as well. I don't see many riots, though. At least in my kind of football (soccer).
- chillacy 8y agoI was reminded of that by the recent news in France after they won the world cup https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/989289/world-cup-final-france-vs-croatia-riots-Paris-French-celebrations https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/989289/world-cup-final-...
- ttctciyf 8y agoUnderstanding you've won at football is quite different to understanding you've won a fight. Compare two cats fighting and knowing who's won to two cats playing football and knowing who's won :)