When men believe that competition for wives and girlfriends is increasing they become impulsive with their money and even increase their borrowing |
Men turn from penny-pinching savers to big spenders if they think there is a shortage of women around them according to new research. When men believe that competition for wives and girlfriends is increasing they become impulsive with their money and even increase their borrowing. To test their theory that sex ratios affect economic decisions, researchers at Minnesota University's Carlson School of Management told volunteers to read articles that described their local population as having more men or more women. They were then asked to indicate how much money they would save each month from a pay cheque, as well as how much they would borrow with credit cards for immediate expenditures. When led to believe women were scarce, the savings rates for men decreased by 42 percent. Men were also willing to borrow 84 percent more money each month. In another study, participants saw photographs showing more men, more women or were neutral. After looking at the photographs, participants were asked to choose between receiving some money tomorrow or a larger amount in a month. When women were scarce in the photos, men were much more likely to take an immediate $20 rather than wait for $30 in a month. Study leader Vlada Griskevicius said: 'What we see in other animals is that when females are scarce, males become more competitive. They compete more for access to mates. 'How do humans compete for access to mates? What you find across cultures is that men often do it through money, through status and through products. 'It turns out we have a lot in common with other animals. Some of our behaviours are much more reflexive and subconscious. We see that there are more men than women in our environment and it automatically changes our desires, our behaviours, and our entire psychology.' (Read by Emily Cheng. Emily Cheng is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
新研究顯示,男性認(rèn)為周圍女性數(shù)量不足時(shí)就會(huì)從小氣節(jié)儉變成慷慨大方。 當(dāng)男性認(rèn)為娶媳婦或找女朋友的競爭變得激烈時(shí),他們花錢會(huì)變得沖動(dòng),甚至?xí)韪嗟腻X。 為了測試“性別比會(huì)影響經(jīng)濟(jì)決策”這一理論,明尼蘇達(dá)大學(xué)卡爾森管理學(xué)院的研究員讓志愿者們朗讀一些文章,這些文章描述了當(dāng)?shù)厝丝谀行云嗷蛘吲云嗟那闆r。 然后研究員們要求志愿者指出他們準(zhǔn)備從每個(gè)月的收入中存下多少錢,以及他們會(huì)從信用卡中借多少錢用來應(yīng)急。 當(dāng)志愿者們得知女性數(shù)量不足時(shí),男性志愿者們的存款率下降了42%。 此外男性每個(gè)月打算借的錢數(shù)增加了84%。 在另一個(gè)研究中,參與者們看到的圖片顯示男性更多、女性更多或男性和女性一樣多。 看完后,研究人員要求參與者在“明天得到一點(diǎn)錢”和“一個(gè)月后得到更多的錢”兩者間做出選擇。 當(dāng)圖片中女性較少時(shí),男性更傾向于選擇馬上拿到20美元,而非一個(gè)月后拿到30美元。 該研究的帶頭人伏拉達(dá)?格里斯克維修斯說:“我們從其他動(dòng)物身上可以看到,當(dāng)雌性數(shù)量不足時(shí),雄性間的競爭變得更激烈。它們的競爭加劇是為了獲得交配機(jī)會(huì)?!?/p> “人類是如何為得到求偶機(jī)會(huì)而競爭的呢?縱覽各種文化,你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)男性通常憑借金錢、地位和成果來競爭?!?/p> “研究表明,我們與其它動(dòng)物有很多相同之處。我們的一些行為更具反射性,而且更多地來自潛意識(shí)。當(dāng)我們看到我們生活的環(huán)境中男性比女性更多時(shí),我們的欲望、行為和整個(gè)心理世界就會(huì)不自覺地發(fā)生改變?!?/p> 相關(guān)閱讀 男性擇偶標(biāo)準(zhǔn)大變遷:人品遠(yuǎn)比貞節(jié)重要 (中國日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津 實(shí)習(xí)生唐徐進(jìn) 編輯:陳丹妮) |
Vocabulary: penny-pinching: 小氣的 pay cheque: 【英】薪金(或工資)支票,付薪金用的支票 automatically: 無意識(shí)地,不自覺地 |