Performance ranking is common across a range of professional and recreational domains. Even when it has no economic consequences but does order people in terms of their social standing, anticipating such performance ranking may affect how people feel and perform. We examined this possibility by asking human subjects to execute a simple cognitive task while anticipating their performance being ranked by an outside evaluator. We measured baseline and postperformance levels of testosterone and cortisol. We find that (1) anticipating performance ranking reduces testosterone and increases cortisol, (2) both these hormonal responses benefit cognitive performance, which explains why (3) anticipation of being ranked by a peer increases cognitive performance.

绩效排名在一系列专业和娱乐领域很普遍。即使没有经济影响，但确实会根据人们的社会地位对人们进行排序，但预期这样的绩效排名也可能会影响人们的感受和表现。我们通过要求人类受试者执行简单的认知任务，同时预期他们的表现被外部评估者排名，来检验这种可能性。我们测量了睾丸激素和皮质醇的基线水平和后期表现水平。我们发现（1）预期成绩排名会降低睾丸激素并增加皮质醇，（2）这两种激素反应均有利于认知成绩，这解释了为什么（3）预期被同伴排名会提高认知成绩。