女性数量不足 男性出手更大方
Bachelors 'spend more money' to impress potential mates when fewer women are available
When men believe that competition for wives and girlfriends is increasing they become impulsive with their money and even increase their borrowingMen 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.)
新研究显示，男性认为周围女性数量不足时就会从小气节俭变成慷慨大方。
当男性认为娶媳妇或找女朋友的竞争变得激烈时，他们花钱会变得冲动，甚至会借更多的钱。
为了测试“性别比会影响经济决策”这一理论，明尼苏达大学卡尔森管理学院的研究员让志愿者们朗读一些文章，这些文章描述了当地人口男性偏多或者女性偏多的情况。
然后研究员们要求志愿者指出他们准备从每个月的收入中存下多少钱，以及他们会从信用卡中借多少钱用来应急。
当志愿者们得知女性数量不足时，男性志愿者们的存款率下降了42%。
此外男性每个月打算借的钱数增加了84%。
在另一个研究中，参与者们看到的图片显示男性更多、女性更多或男性和女性一样多。
看完后，研究人员要求参与者在“明天得到一点钱”和“一个月后得到更多的钱”两者间做出选择。
当图片中女性较少时，男性更倾向于选择马上拿到20美元，而非一个月后拿到30美元。
该研究的带头人伏拉达•格里斯克维修斯说：“我们从其他动物身上可以看到，当雌性数量不足时，雄性间的竞争变得更激烈。它们的竞争加剧是为了获得交配机会。”
“人类是如何为得到求偶机会而竞争的呢？纵览各种文化，你会发现男性通常凭借金钱、地位和成果来竞争。”
“研究表明，我们与其它动物有很多相同之处。我们的一些行为更具反射性，而且更多地来自潜意识。当我们看到我们生活的环境中男性比女性更多时，我们的欲望、行为和整个心理世界就会不自觉地发生改变。”
