

Evolutionary psychologists Margo Wilson and Martin Daly (both of McMaster University) studied this phenomenon and concluded that pictures of attractive women were causing men to “discount the future” more by putting them in a “mating” frame of mind. A clever experimental plan demonstrated the priming effect of photos of attractive women.

The researchers evaluated the degree to which subjects discounted the future. We all discount the value of future benefits vs. immediate or short-term benefits. Most of us would choose to have $100 given to us immediately vs., say, $105 in two years. Every individual has their own “discount rate” for making these kinds of decisions. Men, as a group, have a higher discount rate than women, i.e., their preferences skew toward shorter-term rewards. Wilson and Daly explain this based on evolutionary psychology:

A sex difference in discounting is predictable. Because men have always had some chance of gaining fitness from short-term expenditures of mating effort, whereas successful reproduction typically requires more prolonged parental investment by women, men should have evolved to discount the future more steeply than women, and sex differences in age-specific mortality confirm this expectation (e.g. Arias 2002). Men also have higher discount rates than women in choices of monetary rewards (Kirby & Marakovic 1996). [From Do pretty women inspire men to discount the future? by Margo Wilson and Martin Daly.]

Wilson and Daly tested this hypothesis by showing men and women photos of faces of attractive and unattractive members of the opposite sex. Men who viewed photos of women judged to be attractive showed a significant increase in their discount rate, i.e., they became more attracted by short-term rewards. The other groups did not show statistically significant changes.

As with my previous coverage of this issue, the neuromarketing implications remain the same: male viewers are influenced by photos of attractive women, and their decisions skew toward the short-term and impulsive. Incorporating such images in marketing or point-of-sale materials has the potential to lift sales if the product itself has an appropriate reward. For example, I would think that sales of, say, apparel or grooming products would do better than, say, broccoli. The work done by Wilson and Daly specifically looked at monetary rewards, which would have most significance for products like loans, insurance, investments, casinos, etc.

When NOT to use pretty women

I’d also expect that photos of attractive women could be ineffective or even a negative when selling certain kinds of products to men. For example, products like life insurance and annuities both involve spending current money for a future (and, in the case of insurance, uncertain) payout. Priming male sales prospects with mating cues could be counter-productive by making the cash in their pocket seem more valuable compared to the future rewards.
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