Overview
- Researchers measured salivary testosterone in roughly 74–76 male donors and gathered odor samples from worn shirts that were evaluated by 797 raters.
- Raters judged scents from higher‑testosterone men as more dominant even after controlling for intensity, pleasantness, donor ethnicity, self‑rated dominance, and rater sex.
- Perceived prestige showed no association with testosterone, suggesting distinct pathways for how scent relates to status judgments.
- Male and female participants showed similar sensitivity to testosterone‑linked dominance cues in body odor.
- The authors note limitations including a relatively small, demographically narrow donor sample, a single hormone measurement, repeated freeze–thaw cycles of shirt samples, and no verification of real‑world dominance.