men's taste for luxury goods is linked to high testosterone levels

Overpriced bags, designer watches or beautiful cars … The luxury market accounted for 262 billion euros in 2017. What drives consumers to head for the outward signs of wealth? According to a study published in the journal Nature testosterone levels affect the attraction of luxury goods.

A testosterone-based gel

American, British and French researchers recruited 243 men for this study. Some of them received a testosterone-based gel on the skin, the other part received a placebo. The participants were then placed in front of advertisements for more or less luxurious products and had to clbadify objects with a score ranging from 1 to 10. The 10 was the object that improved their social position the most. Men who had overdosed testosterone tended to be more attracted to luxury goods.

The desire to improve its social position

Scientists wanted to test a second criterion to understand if these individuals were attracted by the idea of ​​power that emerges from these products or by the social rise that there is badociated. This time, the advertisements presented proposed three types of products: those that referred to the notion of luxury, those that referred to power and those whose quality was remarkable. Participants who received testosterone were again attracted to products that evoked luxury. The purchase or desire for this type of property would therefore be linked to the social image they convey and not to the power they confer.

Testosterone, a behavioral modifier

In 2015, another study showed that testosterone influences male behavior. British researchers had studied the links between stock markets and levels of testosterone and cortisol. They found that when these hormones reach a high threshold, the risk taking of these men is greater in the financial markets. Women are not alone in being sensitive to variations in hormones.