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08.07.2018

More testosterone means more appreciation for status symbols

Why do so many - thank God not all - extremely muscular bodybuilders like to wear those monstrously large watches? And why do these same athletes remarkably often prefer to drive these equally monstrous large automobiles? The answer to these and a number of similar questions can be found in an article published by market scientists at the University of Pennsylvania in Nature Communications. After reading it, you will come to the realization that the guys can't help themselves.

Study
The researchers had 234 men aged 18-55 years rub a gel on their upper body. Half of the men was given a gel with testosterone, in the other half a gel with no active substances.

Four hours after applying the gel, the men had to read advertising text for 6 products.

For each product the men read 3 texts: a text in which the emphasis was on the quality of the article [Quality], what useful things you could do with it [Power] or the status-increasing properties of the thing [Status].

The men then told which description made them desire the product the most.

Results
The men who had received testosterone had significantly more preference for the status-enhancing products than the men who had rubbed themselves with a gel without testosterone.

Conclusion
"In the animal kingdom, testosterone promotes aggression, but the aggression is in service of status", co-author Colin Camerer says in a press release. [sciencedaily.com July 3, 2018]

"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."

"A lot of human behaviors are repurposed behaviors seen in our primate relatives. So, here, we're replacing physical aggression with a sort of 'consumer' aggression."

Source:
Nat Commun. 2018 Jul 3;9(1):2433.

More:
Testosterone makes naive people less trusting 26.09.2010
Testosterone reduces pain sensitivity 28.07.2009
Testosterone makes men fall for feminine women 26.07.2009

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Psychology

Lonely men have higher testosterone levels Men who socialise more may produce less testosterone than men who live an isolated existence.	Testosterone makes you more indifferent The more testosterone circulating in your body, the less concerned you are likely to be about what other people think or feel.	More testosterone makes men more honest The more testosterone there is circulating in a man's body, the more honest he's likely to be. Even when he knows that no one is likely to find out that he is lying, he's more likely to tell the truth than a man with less testosterone in his body.