According to a new study, men are far more competitive that we thought. While Hollywood has taught us that men are competitive when it comes to winning over a woman, (I’m looking at you, Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver), what Hollywood hasn’t shown is just how much men can be in competition when they’re face to face with a man whom they regard to be more attractive than them. Basically, there's a big link between good looks and financial risk.
The study out of the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia examined the effect that images of good-looking men and women had on 180 heterosexual participants, 86 of whom were men and 94 of whom were women. After being shown a series of 10 images of men and women who were either more or less attractive than average, the participants were asked to gamble on six hypothetical situations.
The findings revealed that men were more likely to take greater financial risks after viewing a photo of a good looking guy, than those who were shown photos of men who weren’t so attractive. Not only that, but these gamblers were willing take even more of a financial risk if they perceived that the hot guy made more money than them. Talk about a pissing contest.
But when these guys were presented with photos of attractive women, they took financial risks that they would normally, no matter what they thought the woman was making for money. The women in the study, clearly being more rational, remained pretty much unaffected by the images.
Apparently men, when faced with competition from another man they perceive as “better” than them go into some sort of mode in which they need to prove their significance, too. They are essentially motivated to act like the big man on campus because they inherently believe that this will make them more attractive to the opposite sex. You know, because we like our mates to be winners with fat wallets… I guess.
The takeaway here is if you have an insecure, average-looking male partner, it is in your best interest to stay away from any and all casinos. All he needs is to be across from someone who looks like George Clooney or Ryan Gosling, and before you know it he’s blown not just what’s in his checking account, but in his savings account, too, all in the name of trying to impress you and any other woman in the vicinity. Wanting to be impressive is one thing, but kissing goodbye that down payment you’ve been saving up for your dream house is just crappy.
Images: Paramount Pictures; Giphy(2)
