Romance, risk, and replication: Can consumer choices and risk-taking be primed by mating motives?
Interventions aimed at influencing spending behavior and risk-taking have considerable practical importance. A number of studies motivated by the costly signaling theory within evolutionary psychology have reported that priming inductions (such as looking at pictures of attractive opposite sex members) designed to trigger mating motives increase males' stated willingness to purchase conspicuous consumption items and to engage in risk-taking behaviors, and reduce loss aversion. However, a meta-analysis of this literature reveals strong evidence of either publication bias or p-hacking (or both). We then report 8 studies with a total sample of over 1,600 participants which sought to reproduce these effects. None of the studies, including one that was fully preregistered, was successful. The results question the claim that romantic primes can influence risk-taking and other potentially harmful behaviors.
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences.
David R
DR
Shanks
Department of Primary Care and Public Health Sciences, King's College London.
Miguel A
MA
Vadillo
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences.
Benjamin
B
Riedel
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences.
Ashley
A
Clymo
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences.
Sinita
S
Govind
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences.
Nisha
N
Hickin
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences.
Amanda J F
AJ
Tamman
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences.
Lara M C
LM
Puhlmann
D000328:Adult; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D060865:Repetition Priming; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D055815:Young Adult