Ovulation, Female Competition, and Product Choice: Hormonal Influences on Consumer Behavior

By Kristina M. Durante, Vladas Griskevicius, S. Hill, C. Perilloux, Norman P. Li. 2011

306 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Recent research shows that women experience nonconscious shifts across different phases of the monthly ovulatory cycle. For example, women at peak fertility (near ovulation) are attracted to different kinds of men and show increased desire to attend social gatherings. Building on the evolutionary logic behind such effects, we examined how, why, and when hormonal fluctuations associated with ovulation influenced women's product choices. In three experiments, we show that at peak fertility women nonconsciously choose products that enhance appearance (e.g., choosing sexy rather than more conservative clothing). This hormonally regulated effect appears to be driven by a desire to outdo attractive rival women. Consequently, minimizing the salience of attractive women who are potential rivals suppresses the ovulatory effect on product choice. This research provides some of the first evidence of how, why, and when consumer behavior is influenced by hormonal factors.

Subfields: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Marketing, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/049ce521613d36684d439558a00ef120674a2640

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Citations in the corpus

Isn't It Cute: An Evolutionary Perspective of Baby-Schema Effects in Visual Product Designs (2011, unknown): “15), and no interaction of feature size with time interval (F (1, 27) < 1).”
Calories, beauty, and ovulation: The effects of the menstrual cycle on food and appearance-related consumption (2012, background): “For instance, Durante and Li (2009) showed that estrogen levels were positively correlated with extra-pair desires.”
How valid are assessments of conception probability in ovulatory cycle research? Evaluations, recommendations, and theoretical implications (2016, background): “1 Based on Fehring et al. (2006). 2 Based on Stirnemann et al. (2013). 3 Based on Lenton et al.”
Branding the brain: A critical review and outlook (2012, background): “In particular, recent studies have demonstrated changes in consumer behavior, including the increased likelihood of purchasing and wearing sexually suggestive clothing at peak fertility (Durante, Li, & Haselton, 2008; Durante et al., 2010), although Saad and Stenstrom (in press), interestingly, did ”
Increasing Transparency Through a Multiverse Analysis (2016, methodology): “It is of note that this alternative strategy of assessing fertility was used in several papers by Durante (e.g., Durante et al., 2011; Durante et al., 2012).”
Humor, Comedy, and Consumer Behavior (2018, background): “…a constellation of products in an attempt to influence others, gain status, secure friendships, attract mates, raise children, and attain a range of other social goals (Burnkrant and Cousineau 1975; Durante et al. 2011; Griskevicius, Tybur, Van den Bergh 2010; Kornrich and Furstenberg 2013).”
The Effect of Stress on Consumer Saving and Spending (2016, background): “Finally, this research contributes to literature on how hormones influence behavior (Durante et al. 2011, 2014; Lens et al. 2012; Saad and Stenstrom 2012).”