Check out this fascinating study from the University of Texas at Austin about how high levels of the stress hormone cortisol play a crucial role in blocking testosterone’s influence on competition and domination.
As the press release explains — the findings, available online in Hormones and Behavior — show that “when cortisol, a hormone released in the body in response to threat, increases, the body is mobilized to escape danger, rather than respond to any influence that testosterone is having on behavior.”