Yes, indeedy, that guy in the Porsche or other jazzy, high-priced set of wheels is definitely an eye-catcher. But any woman seeking a long-term relationship should let this dude keep on driving, no matter how tempting his ride makes him seem.
That's because such flamboyant spending seems to be driven by the desire to have no-strings-attached romantic flings -- not marriage or other committed partnerships, a series of four studies by U.S. researchers has concluded.
"This research suggests that conspicuous products, such as Porsches, can serve the same function for some men that large and brilliant feathers serve for peacocks," says lead author Jill Sundie, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Texas-San Antonio.
Just as peacocks flaunt their tails before potential mates, men may show off high-dollar products to charm potential dates.
"In peacocks, the male makes the very minimal investment in reproduction and mating," Sundie said in an interview. "He basically mates with the female and that's about it. And the female does everything else -- raises the offspring, takes care of them, feeds them, etcetera."
The studies show a similar connection in human males between spending behaviour and a reluctance to make an emotional investment in a woman, she said.
But Sundie stressed that not all men favour this strategy -- just those men who are interested in short-term sexual relationships.
"What we're looking at obviously are mean differences ... we certainly can't say all men who spend money this way are just interested in short-term relationships. But on average that's the case."
Overall, the studies involved almost 1,000 male and female subjects aged 18 to 57. For part of the research, subjects were exposed to "romantic priming" exercises -- including thinking or reading about a date versus falling in love -- followed by questionnaires on spending and attraction.
The results suggest women found a man who chose to spend money on an expensive luxury product like a Porsche Boxster were more sexually desirable than a man who purchased a more moderately priced car such as a Honda Civic.
However, while women found ostentatious guys more attractive for a date, such men were not preferred as marriage partners. Indeed, women inferred from a man's showy spending that his intentions didn't include pairing up in a forever-after kind of way.
"So the identical guy with the identical job with the identical income who chooses to drive a Porsche is perceived by women as being much more open to short-term, uncommitted sex than the guy who drives the more conservative car," Sundie said.
In fact, the Porsche driver wasn't any more attractive as a prospective marriage partner than the Civic driver, said co-author Daniel Beal, assistant professor of psychology at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
"When women considered him for a long-term relationship, owning the sports car held no advantage relative to owning an economy car," Beal noted in a release. "People may feel that owning flashy things makes them more attractive as a relationship partner, but in truth, many men might be sending women the wrong message."
The authors, whose paper was recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, say that although often associated with Western culture, extreme forms of conspicuous consumption have been found in cultures around the world and throughout history.
While finding that men may use overt purchasing power as a short-term mating signal, the researchers discovered that women don't behave in the same manner and don't conspicuously spend to attract men.
"Obviously, women also spend plenty of money on expensive things," Sundie said. "But the anticipation of romance doesn't trigger flashy spending as it does with some men."
The four related studies also involved researchers at the University of Minnesota, Arizona State University and the University of New Mexico.
