Social influence is an important component of contemporary conceptualizations of masculinity in the U.S. Men who fail to achieve masculinity by maintaining social influence in the presence of other men may be at risk of stigmatization. As such, men should be especially likely to exhibit a stress response to loss of social influence in the presence of other men. This study assesses whether men who lose social influence exhibit more of a stress response than men who gain social influence, using data collected in a laboratory setting where participants were randomly assigned into four-person groups of varying sex compositions. The groups were videotaped working on two problem-solving tasks. Independent raters assessed change in social influence using a well-validated measure borrowed from experimental work in the Status Characteristics Theory tradition. Cortisol is used as a measure of stress response because it is known to increase in response to loss of social esteem. Results show that young men who lose social influence while working with other young men exhibit cortisol response. In contrast women do not exhibit cortisol response to loss of social influence, nor do men working with women. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that loss of social influence in men may be associated with a physiological stress response because maintaining social influence is very important to men while in the presence of other men. This physiological response to loss of social influence underscores the importance to men of achieving masculinity through gaining and maintaining social influence, and avoiding the stigma associated with the failure to do so.
Scholars have long been interested in how social status is linked to physiological stress response (Gesquiere et al., 2011, Hamer et al., 2010, Nicolson, 2008, Sapolsky, 2005, Scheepers et al., 2009 and Shively and Clarkson, 1994). Although initial work focused on stress response among low status groups, recent work has shown that in some conditions – namely in the presence of status threats or in unstable status hierarchies – being a member of a high status group can also cause a physiological stress response, including cortisol response and high systolic blood pressure (Sapolsky, 2005, Scheepers, 2009 and Scheepers et al., 2009). In addition, threats to dominance and social influence appear especially likely to cause stress and anxiety among members of groups with high social status (Gesquiere et al., 2011, Pascoe, 2007, Sapolsky, 2005, Scheepers, 2009 and Scheepers et al., 2009).
These analyses provide support for the idea that men are especially sensitive to loss of social influence when in the company of other men, even in a relatively low stakes laboratory environment. And, in so far as social influence is an important component of masculinity, they are consistent with the hypothesis that men are physiologically responsive to the stigma of failed manhood. In contrast, this association does not appear for men-with-women and women working with men or women. Previous research has established the importance of social influence to young men (Pascoe, 2007), but has not linked threats to social influence to cortisol response in this context.
