14 DAY TRIAL // In a new study on male behavior, researchers determined that the presence of a young, attractive female in a group of men caused the latter to take more risks. The findings are scientifically-controlled proof of this phenomenon, which is known to most men. In popular culture, many movies depict scenes in which a young man attempts the most dangerous stunts in order to capture the attention of a female peer. The new study showed how this happens, LiveScience reports.
In the experiments, the researchers asked a group of 96 young men to perform a series of skateboard tricks of various degrees of difficulty. At first, they were asked to carry out the assignment in front of other peers, but then they were asked to do the same in front of an attractive female. The women that participated in the study were not chosen at random, but were determined to be very attractive by a separate group of 20 young men.
Before each trick attempt, the testosterone level in the study group was measured. Higher levels of the hormone are associated with an increased chance that males will take more risks, and also that they will engage in more stiff competition with each other. The same actions occur not only in sporting events, but also in mundane tasks, such as driving cares and engaging in physical confrontations. In fact, according to statistics, it would appear that young males are the most at-risk subpopulation in the developed world of early death, due precisely to the fact that they take the highest risks.
It was determined that, in the presence of attractive females, the skaters took more risks, even if the probability of them landing flat on their faces was highest. The research also showed that their testosterone levels were increased when performing the same tricks in front of a woman, rather than when they were doing them in front of one of their peers. Details of the investigation appear in the first issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
“This experiment provides evidence for an effect that has existed in art, mythology, and literature for thousands of years: Beautiful women lead men to throw caution to the wind. These findings suggest that, for men, the adaptive benefits gained by enticing mates and intimidating rivals may have resulted in evolved hormonal and neurological mechanisms that facilitated greater risk-taking in the presence of attractive women,” say Richard Ronay and William von Hippel, two experts from the University of Queensland in Australia who authored the study.