Testosterone Makes Men Miserly

Ladies, if "extravagant presents" is on your What I Need In a Man list, don't go for a muscle-bound man.

Researchers have found that men with high testosterone levels are less generous than skinny men.

Volunteers at Claremont Graduate University in California were given a gel containing testosterone, which doubled the amount of the hormone flowing through their veins. Others were given a placebo cream either a few days before or after the testosterone top-up. Neither the researchers nor the participants knew which was which until after the study.

According to New Scientist, the volunteers then played a computer economics game in pairs, splitting $10. One volunteer got to choose how to split it however he wanted, and the other half of the pair either accepted the offer or nixed it as unfair, in which case neither received a penny. Each volunteer got a turn to offer the split or to flex their muscles and reject it.

Overall, the testosterone cream caused a 27 per cent reduction in the generosity of the offers, from averages of $2.15 to $1.57. Doesn’t sound like a big deal? Consider this: A higher octane variant of testosterone – called dihydrotestosterone (DHT) – made the men even more miserly. Men with the most DHT in their bloodstream wanted to part with just 55 cents of the $10, while men with the least DHT suggested an average of $3.65.

On the flip side, high levels of DHT meant the men were more likely to just say no to lower offers. The beefiest men would accept only the beefiest offers: Men with the highest DHT levels dissed offers below $4, while men with low levels only spurned offers below $2.15.

Lead researcher Karen Redwine, a neuroeconomist at Whittier College in California, told New Scientist: "Our broad conclusion is that testosterone causes men essentially to be stingy. People are selfish, but they're selfless as well, and it's not understood why the behavior shifts."

Bottom line: Ladies, don't muscle in on the beefy guys by the barbells.

Photo courtesy Bob.Fornal via Flickr.