Posted on 07/18/2011 1:01:01 PM PDT by null and void
New research finds that men’s conspicuous spending is driven by the desire to have uncommitted romantic flings. And, gentlemen, women can see right through it. Study shows that flashy spending may work for the short term but not for marriage. Just as peacocks flaunt their tails before potential mates, men may flaunt flashy products to charm potential dates. Notably, not all men favored this strategy – just those men who were interested in short-term sexual relationships with women.
The series of studies, "Peacocks, Porsches and Thorstein Veblen: Conspicuous Consumption as a Sexual Signaling System," was conducted with nearly 1,000 test subjects and published recently in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The research was performed by faculty at Rice University, the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) and the University of Minnesota.
"This research suggests that conspicuous products, such as Porsches, can serve the same function for some men that large and brilliant feathers serve for peacocks," said Jill Sundie, assistant professor of marketing at UTSA and lead author of the paper.
"The studies show that some men are like peacocks. They’re the ones driving the bright colored sports car," said co-author Vladas Griskevicius, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota.
According to the researchers, women found a man who chose to purchase a flashy luxury product (such as a Porsche) more desirable than the same man who purchased a non-luxury item (such as a Honda Civic). However, there was a catch: although women found the flashy men more desirable for a date, the man with the Porsche was not preferred as a marriage partner. Women inferred from a man's flashy spending that he was interested in uncommitted sex.
"When women considered him for a long-term relationship, owning the sports car held no advantage relative to owning an economy car," said co-author Daniel Beal, assistant professor of psychology at Rice. "People may feel that owning flashy things makes them more attractive as a relationship partner, but in truth, many men might be sending women the wrong message."
Though often associated with Western culture, extreme forms of conspicuous displays have been found in cultures across the globe and throughout history. While finding that men may use conspicuous consumption as a short-term mating signal, the researchers discovered that women don't behave in the same manner and don’t conspicuously spend to attract men. "Obviously, women also spend plenty of money on expensive things," Sundie said. "But the anticipation of romance doesn't trigger flashy spending as it does with some men."
Other co-authors of the study are Kathleen Vohs, University of Minnesota; Douglas Kenrick, Arizona State University; and Joshua Tybur, University of New Mexico.
I was always a weirdo ,, I did Fords and Pontiacs ,, I knew someone that had a VERY rare Hemi Dart and an even rarer lightweight Dart Rally car with a high performance slant 6 ...
Back in the early 1980’s I had to pass on a lightweight 64 Pontiac fullsize with a dual quad 428 and a muncie 4 speed ... maroon with a black top , aluminum fenders and window straps instead of cranks, perfect straight body with original paint ... I’d love a time machine to go back and buy it ,, they wanted about $6000 if I remember right.
Aw man...I wish I’d had a camera with me this weekend.
We had a local “bike week” [actually only 3 days, low budget] and somebody took a perfectly good Softail and painted it lavender with frikkin’ butterflies, Bambi and Thumper _all over it_.
It was in line to have LEDs installed.
Pink and purple matching LEDs.
Willie G wept.
I wouldn’t know - I reckon you would have to qualify for the mortgage, before they let you leave the lot.
;)
If I showed him the picture of that "kitty Porsche" you posted he would have a stroke. That is just wrong! It looks like Peter Max dropped a stool on the road.
Nobody’s replied.
The outlook is grim....LOL
I’m waiting on the skin-tight outfit pix.
:)
In clicking through the channels I chanced upon the show “Manswers” where it they answer men questions. Usually on stupid sex things, etc.
One of them was on what car drives women crazy. Corvette, porsche or maesarrati (sp??). Not sure how scientific it was, but they looked at the frequency of the engine, and the maesarrati IIRC was at the frequency of the fluids in the womb, and were therefore somehow related to stronger sexual urges in the woman. (One would think that man as well?)
I was thinking it might be interesting to put some speakers under the pickup truck seats with a CD putting out the 552 Hz frequency or whatever it was as a test!
Nice
Steve McQueen drove a Porsche. He wasn’t a Metro sexual.
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His Porsche had 12 cylinders ,over 1000 hp and a curb weight lower than a Mazda Miata.
An old joke some of my girlfriends used to tell:
Q: Do you know the difference between a porcupine and a Porsche?
A: Porcupines have the pr*cks on the outside.
Sound kind of like the 427 Ford Cammer getting banned from NASCAR. Maybe Chrysler did want want to get beat by Ford’s “Hemi”
On a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) how does the owner of a plain Jane white, half ton Chevy, extended cab, 4 wheel drive, V8 327 cubic inch motor, with plain white cab high camper shell full of fishing tackle, a shovels, rake, jumper cables, tow chains, air tank, chain saws, with small magnetic America flags on the cab and a magnetic 88 on the tailgate rate?
When I heard it, it was BMWs.
I drove a Porsche for years and now drive a Corvette and my wife really likes me! :)
A certain man came to visit me (many years ago when I was young and single) and asked me to come out and see his new Porsche. I went out and saw it and said “Nice car” and cared very little. Because I did not like that man. The fancy car did not help. Though I would have liked to drive it around.
Another man once was begging for my hand in marriage. My answer was always no. We were still friends, and we were family friends too. One day he told me he’d buy me a Bentley if I agreed to marry him. That did actually shut me up long enough to imagine driving around town in a Bentley... It took me a few minutes to say that no, that didn’t help. Because it didn’t, but I would have liked that vintage Bentley.
I still would like that vintage Bentley. But I’m not marrying someone just to get it.
One more car-to-make-impression story: one guy drove a DeLaurean (sp?). He did NOT know how to drive a sportscar. His right turns were as wide as a semi’s. It was a CRYING shame. He didn’t let me drive it. I would have done a great job with it. It was such a waste of the car to see him slam and twist that thing around like it was an out of control gokart.
Moral might be: some of us girls love sportscars, but it doesn’t mean we like you better ‘cause you gots one.
All so true...
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