Five Dollars
In a recent study, some dudes were, like, offered five bucks. For free. For nothing. Only thing is, it was out of $40, so $35 remained. Still. Five bucks vs. nothing.
Which would you pick?
If you are a man and your answer is “Nothing! F*ck that! Other dude walkin’ away with $35…”, then you’re probably a pretty aggressive man. Really, you don’t have to have even said/thought all that. If you would rather reject the free money than take it while the other guy got more, you’re an aggressive sort of guy, where aggressive = higher levels of testosterone than the norm.
They did a study and everything (study done at Harvard by Dr. Terence Burnham). Past studies have shown that “People will even reject relatively large sums of money, such as two weeks’ wages, if these offers are roughly one-fifth or less of the stakes involved…” (says the article). Now, it’s been tied to tough guys and their high levels of testosterone. All of the men who rejected the offer had higher levels of testosterone than average.
Economist.com puts it this way:
“It backs the idea that what people really strive for is relative rather than absolute prosperity. They would rather accept less themselves than see a rival get ahead. That is likely to be particularly true in individuals with high testosterone levels, since that hormone is correlated with social dominance in many species. ”
Hm. Does this mean that I should maybe get more things because I am a lady? Please? Maybe the testosterone-y dudes can take the $5 anyway, and give it to me, and I will, like, wink at them in front of the other guy, and then they will feel tough and I will have $5.
Please somebody do some studies on estrogen and dollars.
testosterone, estrogen, dollars, study, aggressive, Burnham, Harvard
July 25th, 2007 at 1:13 am
I read a theory from Anthony Robbins that peer acceptance and how our peers are doing (financially) can be the greatest motivator.
So it also affects you when no one around you is trying hard or trying to achieve anything.
You become what you are surrounded with…
November 12th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
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