Abstract
In modern human cultures where social hierarchies are ubiquitous, people typically signal their hierarchical position through consumption of positional goods—goods that convey one’s social position, such as luxury products. Building on animal research and early correlational human studies linking the sex steroid hormone testosterone with hierarchical social interactions, we investigate the influence of testosterone on men’s preferences for positional goods. Using a placebo-controlled experiment (N = 243) to measure individuals’ desire for status brands and products, we find that administering testosterone increases men’s preference for status brands, compared to brands of similar perceived quality but lower perceived status. Furthermore, testosterone increases positive attitudes toward positional goods when they are described as status-enhancing, but not when they are described as power-enhancing or high in quality. Our results provide novel causal evidence for the biological roots of men’s preferences for status, bridging decades of animal behavioral studies with contemporary consumer research.
Highlights
In modern human cultures where social hierarchies are ubiquitous, people typically signal their hierarchical position through consumption of positional goods—goods that convey one’s social position, such as luxury products
To monitor the levels of T and other hormones that might influence decision making during the experiment[43], participants provided one pre-treatment saliva sample and three post-treatment saliva samples, that were assayed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)
We did not detect a reliable baseline T × status interaction, though the coefficient was positive in sign. Taken together, these findings suggest that the consumption of positional goods may stem, at least partly, from biological motives
Summary
In modern human cultures where social hierarchies are ubiquitous, people typically signal their hierarchical position through consumption of positional goods—goods that convey one’s social position, such as luxury products. Another prevalent route to higher status rests on the display of wealth through positional consumption[10,11] This idea was introduced by Thorstein Veblen’s seminal work, The Theory of the Leisure Class[12], which describes how wasteful expenditures on positional goods, which display one’s apparent resources to others, shape the social strata over time[8]. Such goods are effective signals of status because they separate the “haves” from the “have nots” through economic (e.g., high price) or physical (e.g., restricted access for private club members) barriers. Given that the proximal purpose of such adaptations is to promote the spread of genes by increasing attractiveness to mates, these traits must be displayed conspicuously— the length of the stag’s antlers and iridescence of the peacock’s tail
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