Abstract
Evolutionary psychology suggests that men are more likely than women to deceive to bolster their status and influence. Also gender perception influences deceptive behavior, which is linked to pervasive gender stereotypes: women are typically viewed as weaker and more gullible than men. We assessed bluffing in an online experiment (N = 502), where participants made decisions to bluff or not in simulated poker tasks against opponents represented by avatars. Participants bluffed on average 6% more frequently at poker tables with female-only avatars than at tables with male-only or gender mixed avatars—a highly significant effect in games involving repeated decisions. Nonetheless, participants did not believe the avatar genders affected their decisions. Males bluffed 13% more frequently than females. Unlike most economic games employed exclusively in research contexts, online poker is played for money by tens of millions of people worldwide. Thus, gender effects in bluffing have significant monetary consequences for poker players.
Highlights
Deception and dishonest signaling—implicit or explicit acts to propagate false information— can be observed throughout the animal kingdom [1]
An online survey created with Qualtrics in English was advertised on various international online poker web-forums
Small effect sizes have been reported in previous online poker studies, calling for large sample sizes to increase statistical power [37]
Summary
Deception and dishonest signaling—implicit or explicit acts to propagate false information— can be observed throughout the animal kingdom [1]. Deceptiveness has been linked to intra- and intersexual competition, risk preferences and gender differences [6]. Ancestral human male reproductive fitness was constrained by access to females, and female fitness by factors related to providing for offspring survival [7]. Access to females and reproduction is a resource for which males engage in risky competition against one another [8], and in costly signaling directed towards females [9]. In modern men, this competition is reflected in deception to obtain status and influence, which indirectly result in PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0157838. This competition is reflected in deception to obtain status and influence, which indirectly result in PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0157838 July 6, 2016
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