Is Your Man a Cheapskate? Blame Testosterone!

Posted by Alex in Science & Tech on November 12, 2009 at 3:32 am


Why are men so cheap? Blame testosterone:

"Our broad conclusion is that testosterone causes men essentially to be stingy," says Karen Redwine, a neuro-economist at Whittier College in California [...] To make this case, Redwine and her colleague Paul Zak, at the Claremont Graduate University in California, gave a testosterone-containing gel to 25 male university students, and then tested their generosity.

The students then played a simple economic game with another participant via a computer. One volunteer is tasked with splitting $10 with another volunteer in any way he likes. The other volunteer either accepts the offer or rejects it as unfair, in which case no one gets any money. Each volunteer played this game in both roles, on and off the testosterone gel.

Overall, the testosterone cream caused a 27 per cent reduction in the generosity of the offers, from averages of $2.15 to $1.57, Redwine and Zak found.

The article also described how oxytocin, the so-called cuddle chemical, can actually boost generosity: Link


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6 comments to "Is Your Man a Cheapskate? Blame Testosterone!"

  1. Jenny
    November 12th, 2009 at 4:43 am

    what about my very manly boyfriend with a spending problem? cant keep his money for anything and im the one that saves all the money.hmm

  2. Miss Cellania
    November 12th, 2009 at 9:58 am

    Hmm, then how would one explain people like me? I pinch pennies like crazy, and hate to spend any more than I have to. At the same time, I'll gladly give away anything I have to someone who needs it.

    Oh, I'm a MOM.

  3. GrouchieGrumbles
    November 12th, 2009 at 10:37 am

    So what this study basically says is that men are thrifty, and women are shop-a-holics?!? I can read between the lines.. /snicker

    Darn you women and your spending habits!

    Hrmm, actually, my wife is much more thrifty than I am... I guess I need some testosterone shots! Keep that oxytocin away from me! I don't want my wife's cooties!

  4. pwscott
    November 12th, 2009 at 1:35 pm

    What about the guy nice enough to support a woman and her kids and still gets the old stinkeye for doing something for hisself. quoi que :p

  5. HS
    November 12th, 2009 at 4:57 pm

    This is total crap. The experiment that was conducted is often used in game theory to explore how people value the concept of "fairness".

    Another interpretation of the results would be that higher levels of testosterone induce men to engage in behavior to assert their dominance over others, with the share that the subject earns acting as a proxy for rank in a social hierarchy.

  6. F4BM
    November 14th, 2009 at 11:25 pm

    Wooooow. Incredible how we make up excuses and then conveniently "find/prove/test" the evidence that miraculously makes those excuses valid.

    You wanna know why "men" (or really the AVERAGE man) are the way they are?

    THEN GO HERE AND HELP US FIGURE IT OUT:

    http://www.femsforbettermen.blogspot.com

    Thanks,
    A Fem For Better Men


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