Male Dominance and Serotonin Levels

[subndom]

couldn't have said it better sexymom.....u are absolutely right...there are so many researches done all the time and so may times they cum up with some weird wacko results which don't make sense . i find it hard to believe .

 

[Gallant Man]

Hi Tollo,

I would agree with you that many would take issue with sexymom's claims and I think your idea to start a new thread is a good one.

As for the article, I can only say that I tend to be skeptical of any attempt to link such a complex human behavior as "dominance" to a single causal factor, in this case serotonin. But I will leave that for the behavioral scientists to worry about.

I do not want to hijack this thread, but I found the following comment by sexymom very provocative:


sexymom wrote:

There is also an attempt to link dominance with sexuality by innuendo. I don't know of many people in real life who see bdsm as a primarily sexual thing, since vanillas often tend to have more active, and satisfying, sex lives than people in the bdsm world. Many people get interested in bdsm because it is a sex substitute.

I have recently been thinking about just this issue, the link between dominance and sex, in my own relationship, and I would really like to here other's thoughts about this. I suspect that many here would take issue with several of sexymom's statements.

Maybe this should be taken up as a separate thread. sexymom, would you be interested in starting a thread on this topic, or would you mind if I used your ideas to do so?

Thanks, Tollo

 

[Gallant Man]

I believe that the article referenced in the first post by Killishandra was probably written by a lay person and has some errors. However, I've also read about the basic concepts from many sources and they are mostly in agreement. I believe that the reference I gave is accurate. This segment is of primary interest and actually states the opposite of one point made in that original article:

"cerebrospinal fluid concentration of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, a principal metabolite of serotonin, and have related dominance status to serotonergic function. Raleigh and his team of researchers studied the relationship between whole blood serotonin levels and dominance in males. A correlation was found between blood serotonin levels and dominant male status in several multi-male vervet groups. Dominant males had the highest whole blood serotonin levels in the group. When a dominant male was removed from the group, another male would emerge as an interim dominant male. The return of the original dominant male resulted in the interim dominant male's return to his subordinate position. The study found that in situations of stable heirarchical relationships, blood serotonin concentrations within individuals remained quite stable. However, during unstable periods, such as the removal of a dominant male, serotonin levels within the males became unstable. Once an originally subordinate male rose to a higher dominant status, his blood serotonin concentrations rose. The dominant male exhibited significant drops in serotonin levels once removed from the group. Reunion back with the group coincided with an increase in serotonin concentrations in the originally dominant male, and a decrease in the interim dominant male who was forced back to his subordinate position. It was concluded that in vervets, whole blood serotonin levels are influenced by social and environmental factors. Elevated blood serotonin of dominant males is dependent on instigating aggresive encounters and on receiving submissive behavior from the other males of the group (Raleigh, et al. 1984)."

 

[DixieDom]

I'm a firm believer in research, but we often have major problems in the practical applications of the results, or even understanding the results.

From the bdsm point of view, I see at least two problems with this study:

1: First, it seems to be about vervet monkeys, who are not organized, motivated, nor trained the same way humans are. In animals, dominance in social situations is usually closely related to aggressiveness, whereas in humans that is not often the case.

2: The study classified dominants only in the social sense. There is little or no correlation between socially dominant behavior and bdsm dominance in humans; many socially dominant people are submissive, and many socially passive or even submissive people are bdsm dominants.