It's not uncommon for women to have luxurious cravings and overly expensive shopping sprees. But today, we're here to talk about all you men. A recent study suggests that testosterone has a measurable effect on a man's preference for brands that are considered to be status symbols. What we mean to say is that a man with a higher level of testosterone in his body will be more likely than a man with lower testosterone levels to prefer a pair of Calvin Klein jeans.
"In the animal kingdom, testosterone promotes aggression, but the aggression is in service of status," said a researcher, Colin Camerer." "A lot of human behaviours are repurposed behaviours seen in our primate relatives. So, here, we're replacing physical aggression with a sort of 'consumer' aggression," he added.
The study focused on conspicuous consumption. What's that, you ask? It's the human practice of acquiring and showing off luxury goods and services to increase one's social status. Researchers liken the cost of this behaviour to the cost and weight of the elaborate tails carried around by male peacocks. "If it didn't need to attract mates, a peacock would be better off without its tail. It would be easier for the peacock to escape from predators and easier for it to find food if it wasn't carrying that tail around," said Colin. "In biology, that's known as costly signalling. A human male would probably be better off not spending $300,000 on a car but, by buying that car, he's showing people that he's wealthy enough that he can," he further added.
Researchers concluded from the two tasks they included as part of the research that men who received a dose of testosterone as part of the study had a stronger preference for luxury goods than men who received the placebo. There was no corresponding increase in preference for goods that were advertised as powerful or higher in quality. "In our closest animal kin, males spend a lot of time and energy fighting to establish dominance. We do, too, but our weapons are what we wear, drive, and live in rather than claws, fists, and muscles," Camerer concluded.
