By Karen Herbert Bristol

Oscar worthy actors may have higher testosterone levels than their less successful counterparts. Dr James Dabb and PhD student Kelly Leach Cate from Georgia State University investigated the testosterone levels of 50 male actors auditioning for lead acting roles.

Actors gave saliva samples both before and after a videotaped audition. They also completed questionnaires which asked them to rate how "in character," confident, and eager they felt before the audition. They were also asked to rate how satisfied they felt with their performance after leaving the stage.

"In this double blind study, the three actors who were actually given the lead roles had significantly higher levels of testosterone after their audition than did all the other actors auditioning," Kelly Leach Cate explained. "Testosterone seems to be a major component in stage presence. It therefore appears that testosterone might be an indicator of an actor's ability or Oscar worthiness."

Actors who were pleased with their performance and felt that they had been "in character" had higher levels of testosterone post-performance compared with baseline. Testosterone levels dipped from baseline in the actors who were unhappy with their performances and felt that they had lacked "stage presence."

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This is not the first link found between testosterone and social behaviour. Dabb has spent most of his career researching the correlation between testosterone and social behaviour.

Previous studies have shown that higher testosterone levels are linked to winning sports matches and lower levels to losing. Dabb has even shown that testosterone levels surged in World Cup football fans who were watching their team win and dipped if their team was losing.

"There's always been this feeling that maybe testosterone is related more broadly to winning and losing," Dabb said. "A high level of testosterone is going to make you look like a more formidable opponent and make you look stronger before the next encounter."

Among other bizarre correlations, testosterone has been linked to occupation and the workplace. In either sex, trial lawyers have higher levels of testosterone than other kinds of lawyers. It also seems that women with higher testosterone levels are more likely to have extramarital affairs, smile less, and have a firmer handshake.

Of course Oscar winning performances couldn't be attributed purely to testosterone levels. Testosterone surges did not correlate to the men giving good performances--only to the fact that they thought they had.