Do sex hormones make men spend more?

• Study says that testosterone plays a part in men’s interest in buying luxurious stuff.
• In a recent survey, it is said to affect the urge of the male population as luxurious brands help in the ranking of their social status.

It is recently reported that a dose of testosterone makes men look at luxury brands more, especially when it comes to cars, watches, pens, or clothes, which is usually a sign of status when it comes to the female community.

According to a study published in the journal Nature Communications, it turns out that the sex hormones is a major influencer of the male consumer behavior.

The c0-author of the study, Gideon Nave of the University of Pennsylvania, stated that it is possible because the testosterone actually plays a part in the behavior and hierarchy of animals, and it is somewhat connected to how humans look at products as a sign of social status.

“This is likely because testosterone plays a role in behaviors that relate to social rank (in animals), and owning status products is a strategy to signal one’s rank within human social hierarchies,”

The team of researchers tested 243 men aged 18 to 55. Some of them were given a dose of testosterone, in the form of a skin gel, while the others received a dummy.

The men were then asked to choose two products of similar quality and the only difference is that the other one is boasting a trademark that is considered as high status.

This is a judgment determined in a previous survey that was answered by 600 men.

“We found that the men who received testosterone showed greater preference towards the high status brands,

[the effect] is akin to behavior of non-human animals, where testosterone typically rises during the breeding season and promotes the display of traits that signal the organism’s fitness to potential competitors and mates,

The use of brands to signal status does not necessarily have to ‘work’, it’s enough that the men believe that it works,”

The researchers clarified that the products associated with the status would differ depending on the culture.