Showing Off in Humans: Male Generosity as a Mating Signal

By Wendy Iredale, M. van Vugt, Robin I. M. Dunbar. 2008

206 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We examined people's charity contributions while in the presence of an observer of the same sex, opposite sex, or no observer. Inspired by costly signaling theory, we hypothesized that men would be more generous in the presence of a potential mate. Men and women played a number of experimental games in which they could earn money. On completion of these games participants were asked what percentage of their earned money they would be willing to donate to charity. Our results show that men contribute more to charity when observed by a member of the opposite sex than by a member of the same sex or no observer. Conversely, female charity donations did not significantly vary across the three observer conditions. Findings support the notion that men's generosity might have evolved as a mating signal.

Subfields: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Safety Research, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bde6b64759fb97e8803507e0ac91884aad53dc82

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In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

In Safety Research

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

Naturally Green: Harnessing Stone Age Psychological Biases to Foster Environmental Behavior (2014, background): “Similarly, riding an expensive racing bike might increase an individual’s reputation in various ways: It conveys that this person is both wealthy, healthy, and is concerned with the environment—a great combination of traits in any romantic partner (Iredale et al., 2008).”
Empathy: Gender effects in brain and behavior (2014, background): “A uthor M anuscript A uthor M anuscript A uthor M anuscript A uthor M anuscript Schnepf, 2008); although, this may be due to higher incomes, on average, for males, or due to the fact that males are more likely to display their resources as a mating signal (e.g., Iredale et al., 2008).”
Brand personality: theory and dimensionality (2018, background): “For example, men give higher tips than women, particularly when in female company, signalling altruism and generosity (Iredale et al., 2008).”
Cooperation for reputation: Wasteful contributions as costly signals in public goods (2010, background): “Furthermore, they also find that women find generous men sexually more attractive (Iredale et al., 2008).”
Giving from a distance: Putting the charitable organization at the center of the donation appeal (2013, result): “With regard to the relation between gender and willingness to donate, this research further accounts for previously observed differences between men's and women's donation patterns (e.g., Brunel & Nelson, 2000; Iredale et al., 2008; Nelson et al., 2006; Thornton et al., 2006; Winterich et al., 2009)”