Author Topic: Why Do Married Men Cheat More Than the Others?  (Read 911 times)

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Why Do Married Men Cheat More Than the Others?
« on: July 06, 2007, 05:31:01 AM »
Why Do Married Men Cheat More Than the Others? - High testosterone levels linked to fair play behavior
By: Stefan Anitei, Science Editor - Softpedia


Being fair play or not seems to be a question of sex hormones in men. A new research found that men with high testosterone levels are more likely to reject low offers, even if, this way, they’re losing money. It appears that our deepest ancestral behaviors can make us choose irrational economic decisions.

In the experimental game, an anonymous individual can give either a large or small chunk of cash to another person, without any negotiation. The receiver knows the total sum held by the other player, and thus the share is proposed. If there is a deal, both players keep their money of the total and if there is not, neither gains anything. Often, the person offered
denied the free money if the share was too small.

This puzzled the economists as the money came with nothing in exchange. A common theory is that the payout punishes this way the other player for cheating. But Terry Burnham at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, guessed this was more connected to biology than ethics.

He put 26 male graduate school students to play the low ultimatum game. Each one started out with $40 and could anonymously offer either $5 or $25 of this initial $40 to another player. But Burnham also assessed testosterone levels in saliva samples from all the subjects.

The highest testosterone level was 497 picomoles per litre of saliva, the lowest 153. When Burnham correlated hormone levels with the results of the money game, a correlation emerged between high testosterone levels and an increased likelihood of rejecting the low offer. Those rejecting small sums presented an average testosterone count of 380 picomoles per litre of saliva, while those accepting it, of 150. "This suggests that people with more testosterone are less tolerant of what they see as inequitable deals – possibly due to the hormone's influence on the brain: You have to be very careful about being fair with them. Testosterone produces a greater aversion to unfair deals because the hormone is linked to dominance-seeking behaviors," said Burnham.

Thus, high-testosterone men do not accept low offers because they put them in a lower social position, a clear social disadvantage, especially in primitive societies. "The new findings suggest that biological traits that evolved to give individuals an advantage – rather than behaviors that evolved to give a general group advantage – explain the irrational refusal of free money in the low ultimatum game," said Burnham. "The high-testosterone subjects were slightly more likely to make the more reasonable offer of $25 when placed in the position of making the proposal. This is in line with the idea from primate studies that found high testosterone males sometimes play a "magnanimous and peacekeeping" role", said Burnham.

As married men tends to possess less testosterone levels, watch out: they are not in the fair play mood.

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hazel

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Re: Why Do Married Men Cheat More Than the Others?
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2008, 07:06:41 AM »

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