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Definition
Testosterone and cortisol are steroid hormones that have effects on dominance behavior and are in turn influenced by dominance-related social interactions.
Introduction
Dominance status is an important factor in the structuring of many animal and human societies. Dominance is the state of having high social status relative to one or more group-mates, who react submissively to dominant individuals. High status within hierarchical societies provides important benefits to individuals, including priority of access to resources, enhanced influence over subordinates, and ultimately, increased fitness. Lower-ranking individuals are therefore often motivated to improve their position in the hierarchy, whereas higher-ranking individuals strive to maintain their current status. Dominance relationships are often established by fight or threat displays, perhaps most commonly observed...
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References
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Montgomery, T.M., Holekamp, K.E. (2017). Dominance, Testosterone, and Cortisol. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1439-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1439-1
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