Mid-range crossover or awesome 4WD off-roader? These types of purchasing decisions do not always involve a rational calculation of costs and benefits - often the balance is tipped by … testosterone levels.
When spending a lot of money on a high-end car, a luxury brand watch, do we always pay attention to the quality of materials and solid workmanship? Psychologists have long stated that the point is largely that luxury goods, as a symbol of high social and material status, are a kind of visiting card that tells the environment: look how wonderful I am. The contribution to the explanation of this mechanism is the study of the effect of testosterone levels on men's purchasing decisions (its results were published in the scientific journal Nature Communications).
Testosterone rules
The study included 243 young men, mostly students. They were divided into two groups. The first was given a certain dose of testosterone, causing an increase in the concentration of this hormone in the blood similar to what happens when competing with another man or when looking for a partner. The control group received a placebo. Next, the respondents were to decide to buy products of comparable quality but with different status (e.g. jeans from the popular Levis brand or high-end Calvin Klein jeans). Men who were under the influence of testosterone more often decided to buy high-end products.
Status more valuable than durability
In another study, the goods received a special description, of the type that are invented by marketing and advertising specialists. For example, fountain pens and watches were given labels such as "an instrument whose quality will last for centuries" or "a world-recognized symbol of power and authority". Again, the subjects under the influence of an additional dose of testosterone more often chose goods associated with power and power (i.e. with a higher status) than those whose description suggested high quality and durability.
Competition mechanism
Researchers believe that this is a biologically conditioned mechanism. In animals, the testosterone level increases during the mating season, when the male competes with other males for females, but also in other such situations, e.g. during hunting, fighting for access to resources. Then - to gain the favors of a potential partner or to scare other males away - tospecific signs of high status enter the action, e.g. elaborate antlers, colorful plumage. In the case of animals, they signal strength and he alth, providing better access to resources, more influence in the group or a better chance of winning the favor of females.
Male like a peacock
Scientists speculate that in humans this mechanism works similarly: when a man has to compete with another man or is in the company of an attractive woman, his testosterone concentration naturally increases and then he is more likely to make decisions to strengthen his status. At such moments, the purchase of a luxury brand's goods - it would seem irrational from an economic point of view - is exactly what nature tells him: show that you are better than others. It is a message that is very often communicated by advertisements (stand out, be the first to buy this car, TV, smartphone …). As you can see, marketers manipulate us, intuitively preying on our most primal instincts.
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