Mercedes Benz
Most people were dual earners, driving mighty SUVs.
Cars are a major status symbol: portable displays of affluence, heavily bought on credit, to keep up with the Joneses.
Cars are a portable display of affluence. If others respect wealth, cars are the best way of telling everyone “I have made it, I have succeeded”. So ofc you’ll buy the best car you can possibly afford [or even if you can’t].
Have It Your Way Pimp!
"CHICCA'S DON'T HAVE NO SHAME IN PICCIN' WHO SHE LET STICC THEY DICC IN BASED ON WHAT KINDA CAR HE WHIPPIN!'" - MITCHELL SLIKKSTER! - MITCHELL SLIKKSTER PIMPIN' SOMETHIN' IN THE PARKING LOT WHERE THE SLUTZ B AT!
SILVER SURFER
"FREE, YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CARRS, HONEY? YEAH, YOU FILL 'EM UP WITH HOES TAKE 'EM TO THE HOE STROLL SO THEY CAN GET THAT MONEY!" - MR. FREE
You might guess that bowerbirds build bowers because these nests will eventually function as their homes. But that's not the case - the bowers aren't nests at all. Instead, the bower's only function is to attract mates. After spending months erecting and adorning his showpiece, the male patiently waits for females, who periodically drop by for an inspection. As females scrutinize the size, symmetry, and decor of his mini-mansion, the male performs an elaborate dance in the front yard, rhythmically flashing his lovely array of satin-sheened feathers, in hopes of persuading the female to stick around a little longer. If the female is impressed, the couple will copulate for a few seconds, after which the female flies back home to raise any future offspring. And when the mating season is over, the male also returns to his old bachelor pad, completely deserting the bower that took months of work to build, only to start construction on another one from scratch the following year.
The satin bowerbird is one of countless examples of conspicuous display in the animal kingdom. Looking across a wide array of species, we can make two generalizations about conspicuous displays. First, if you see a critter showing off its colorful plumage, dancing up a rhythmic spectacle, or belting out a melodious song, it's a good bet that mating season is in full swing. These kinds of conspicuous displays increase specifically during the mating season...
The second generalization we can make about those conspicuous displays is that if you see an animal showing off, it's a good bet you're looking at a male. Across a wide range of species, males do most of the boastful swaggering. The reason is that for most species, including humans, females enjoy a buyer's market, and males have to sell themselves...this is because females produce the offspring, which requires a much more costly investment - whether it's laying a large egg and sitting on it, avian style, or carrying a fetus inside her body and nursing it, mammalian style. Males in the animal kingdom often provide little more than a donation of sperm. Because one male can fertilize many females in the same season, but one female cannot carry offspring for multiple males at the same time, this makes individual males more expendable when it comes to reproduction.
As a consequence, females across most species tend to be very choosy about which males will suffice as mates, especially if the fellows' only contribution will be a droplet of DNA. And to be selected by a choosy female, males have to compete vigorously. Blokes need to pull out all the stops to impress even one lady, by singing the most awe-inspiring song, growing the most lustrous tail, or building the tallest and shiniest bower.
Why do females choose showy males? Evolutionary biologists believe that conspicuous displays are signals that those males possess "good genes." If a male has the time, energy, ability, and resourcefulness to build, decorate, and maintain a giant bower, for example, it indicates that he carries genes that have allowed him to thrive. By mixing her own genes with those of the most successful male around, the female passes those desirable traits on to her own offspring.
Might conspicuous consumption in humans serve a similar evolutionary function as bowers in bowerbirds and flashy feathers in peacocks? If so, we'd expect to find two things. First, the tendency toward showy resource displays should increase motivation to attract a mate - the prime directive of our mate-acquisition susbelf. And second, this motivation should be especially likely to produce conspicuous consumption in men but not in women.
The satin bowerbird is one of countless examples of conspicuous display in the animal kingdom. Looking across a wide array of species, we can make two generalizations about conspicuous displays. First, if you see a critter showing off its colorful plumage, dancing up a rhythmic spectacle, or belting out a melodious song, it's a good bet that mating season is in full swing. These kinds of conspicuous displays increase specifically during the mating season...
The second generalization we can make about those conspicuous displays is that if you see an animal showing off, it's a good bet you're looking at a male. Across a wide range of species, males do most of the boastful swaggering. The reason is that for most species, including humans, females enjoy a buyer's market, and males have to sell themselves...this is because females produce the offspring, which requires a much more costly investment - whether it's laying a large egg and sitting on it, avian style, or carrying a fetus inside her body and nursing it, mammalian style. Males in the animal kingdom often provide little more than a donation of sperm. Because one male can fertilize many females in the same season, but one female cannot carry offspring for multiple males at the same time, this makes individual males more expendable when it comes to reproduction.
As a consequence, females across most species tend to be very choosy about which males will suffice as mates, especially if the fellows' only contribution will be a droplet of DNA. And to be selected by a choosy female, males have to compete vigorously. Blokes need to pull out all the stops to impress even one lady, by singing the most awe-inspiring song, growing the most lustrous tail, or building the tallest and shiniest bower.
Why do females choose showy males? Evolutionary biologists believe that conspicuous displays are signals that those males possess "good genes." If a male has the time, energy, ability, and resourcefulness to build, decorate, and maintain a giant bower, for example, it indicates that he carries genes that have allowed him to thrive. By mixing her own genes with those of the most successful male around, the female passes those desirable traits on to her own offspring.
Might conspicuous consumption in humans serve a similar evolutionary function as bowers in bowerbirds and flashy feathers in peacocks? If so, we'd expect to find two things. First, the tendency toward showy resource displays should increase motivation to attract a mate - the prime directive of our mate-acquisition susbelf. And second, this motivation should be especially likely to produce conspicuous consumption in men but not in women.
"Conspicuous consumption by men primarily reflects an interest in short-term mating rather than long-term mating. This is accurately detected by females who consider conspicuous consumers more desirable as short-term (but not long-term) mates."
In an initial test of this idea, psychologist Jim Roney asked men to fill out a survey rating themselves on a series of traits. Some of the men answered the survey together with a group of other men working on the same questionnaire. Other guys filled out the survey in a room that included several attractive women.Roney found that men's responses changed depending on the room in which they filled out the survey. In the room with women, men said they were more ambitious about their careers and rated attaining wealth as very important to them. Even though the women never talked to the men and could not even see what they wrote on their questionnaires, the mere presence of females apparently indicated to men that mating season was open.
Our own research with Josh Tybur, Jill Sunda, Bob Cialdini, and Geoffrey Miller found that activating men's mate-acquisition subself doesn't simply lead men to value wealth in their hearts - it leads them to want to flaunt their wealth in public. We asked men and women how much money they would spend on things such as a car, a watch, a dinner, a mobile phone, and a vacation. For example: Do you want an inexpensive watch for $25 or one that costs $275, a $50 restaurant dinner or a $300 gourmet feast, a cut-rate $500 European junket or a luxury $3,000 vacation?
Before asking them to make their spending decisions, we activated the mate-acquisition subself for half the participants. We had them write about going on their ideal date, describing in detail their fantasy partner's looks and personality, as well as how they wanted their perfect evening to end. The other half of the subjects were in the control condition: they wrote about pleasant weather.
When the mate-acquisition subself was off duty, men and women did not differ in their inclination to spend. They didn't always want the cheapest products, but they weren't inclined to overspend either. Waking people's inner mate seeker, though, triggered an impulsive spending orgy - but only for men. With the flame of desire lit, men went into show-off mode, craving extravagant cars, flashier mobile phones, expensive vacations, and any other product they could display conspicuously.
It's not that men were consciously aware of a link between their purchasing decisions and their mating motives; they did not, in fact, have any reason to believe that women would see their flashy purchases. Instead, activating the mate-acquisition subself simply led men to want the expensive items. And with mating on their minds, they were more willing to shell out extra money to acquire those conspicuous goodies.
Just as bowerbirds flaunt the blue in their bowers for potential mates, men appear to flaunt the green in their wallets to charm their dates. Does it work? It probably depends on the amount of green in the wallet and the choosiness of the date...
The fact that a desire to acquire a mate triggers men to flash the cash is consistent with findings that male animals are more likely to conspicuously display their feathers, antlers, or bowers when presented with mating opportunities. Men, it seems, are not always that different from peacocks. When a peahen comes strutting into the vicinity, peacocks instinctively fan out their magnificently grandiose tails. It doesn't even need to be a real peahen - a picture of one will trigger the same show-off response. Men appear to do likewise. Merely sitting in a room with other women - or just thinking about a date - prompts the desire to spend conspicuously.
But while it's tempting to draw analogies between them, are all men really like peacocks?...Psychologists Jeffry Simpson and Steve Gangestad developed a personality test that can access the extent to which a man is like a peacock - inclined to invest all of his energies into colorful and flashy feathers while contributing little toward helping the female raise the young. In the language of life history theory, peacocks follow a fast strategy. And just as some humans follow a fast strategy, the researchers found that these men are indeed very much like peacocks. Simpson and Gangestad call these fast players "unrestricted" strategists. The unrestricted playboy types are interested in having a good time, with little or no desire to settle down or raise a family. And like peacocks, such men are more promiscuous. They are willing to have sex with women even when they're not in love, and they think it's a fine idea to have ongoing sexual relationships with more than one woman at a time.
But not all men are like this. Simpson and Gangestand found that a substantial proportion of men find promiscuity unfulfilling and even downright unappealing. Unlike peacocks, some men are more "restricted"; they want to find one long-term romantic partner, settle down, and raise a family. These men follow a slow life history strategy.
Our colleague Jill Sundie suspected that conspicuous consumption would be found primarily among fast, peacock-like men. Working with Jill, Josh Tybur, Kathleen Vohs, and Dan Beal, we tested whether putting the mate-acquisition subself in charge would have a different effect on men who are like peacocks and those who aren't.
The findings couldn't have been clearer: priming a desire to attract a mate produced conspicuous consumption only in the fast, peacock-like men. For the marrying kind of fellows following a slow strategy, on the other hand, the same mate-attraction motive did not trigger a desire to put themselves on display. If anything, these men didn't want to draw attention to themselves by going over the top with flashy purchases (if these guys are going to spend big money, they want it to be inconspicuous). By contrast, the fast peacock types went straight for the most blaring products. They didn't even care if the goods were genuine or counterfeit. As long as they looked expensive and attracted attention, these guys wanted to display them. In fact, the effects were strongest after the playboy-style guys thought about a romantic tryst with someone they'd never see again - a one-night stand. As soon as the women indicated they wanted a relationship, these guys started losing their inspiration to spend.
This study shows that if you see a man cruising around in a shiny Porsche, gold plated or otherwise, he's probably of the fast peacock variety. When a man drives a Porsche, Gad Saad and John Vongas find, he actually experiences a surge of testosterone - the hormone involve, across the animal kingdom, in male mating displays, as when a peacock spreads his tail or a bowerbird struts in front of his bower. It's probably a good bet that the guy driving the Porsche is looking for a good time, not for a good wife.
Does conspicuous consumption work? In one study, Jill Sundie and her colleagues compared women's interest in young professional men who drove either a flashy Porsche or a modest Honda. The flashy car impressed women, who indicated that they would rather go out on a date with the guy driving the Porsche. But women weren't blindly seduced by the bling. When asked which man they would rather marry, the luster of the conspicuous car quickly dulled. For long-term commitment, women preferred the less flashy, and likely more reliable, fellow driving the Honda.
After the "peacocks and Porsches" findings were published, both Jill and Vlad got yet another wave of e-mails, calls, and letters from outraged Porsche owners. These men (and they were all men) argued that their conspicuous consumption had nothing at all to do wit the ultimate reason of attracting a mate. They pointed instead to various proximate reasons. Some said they had purchased the cars for their distinctive styling; others bought them because they liked the feel of a Porsche; still other simply enjoyed the experience of cruising with the top down on weekends. As one man put it, he'd owned his Porsche for over two decades and been happily married to his wife for most of that time. Of course, this raises the question why he purchased a Porsche back when he was single and whether it had anything to do with sparking the interest of this attractive woman.
...
Once again, when we observe people doing seemingly foolish things like throwing away money to have their Porsches or their bathroom fixtures plated in gold, there is often more going on than meets the eye. Although conspicuous consumption might appear to be vain and wasteful, such behavior can serve an important function at a deeper evolutionary level.
Our choices have multiple causes; some obvious, other obscure. We are aware of some of the proximate causes of our behavior. If you've ever purchased a luxury car, you might have spent a lot of time thinking about its eye-popping leather interior or its chrome-plated engine that blasts from zero to sixty in a few milliseconds. And if you bought a hybrid car, you may very well have been thinking about how the environmental benefits outweighed the hefty price tag. But most of the time we are not consciously aware of the underlying ultimate reasons for our choices.
The Rational Animal: How Evolution Made Us Smarter Than We Think. Kenrick, Griskevicius, p. 153-159.
MALES SPEND BIG MONEY AND SHOW OFF THEIR GOODS (CONSPICUOUSLY CONSUME) TO DEMONSTRATE (PROVE) TO FEMALES THAT THEY HAVE THE NECESSARY GENES (OR THE BEST GENES) TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE IN THIS CURRENT ENVIRONMENT AND THAT THESE GENES WILL ALLOW THEIR OFFSPRING (THE CHILDREN THEY HAVE WITH A POTENTIAL FEMALE MATE) TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE IN THIS ENVIRONMENT AS WELL. THAT'S WHAT GETTING A CERTAIN JOB, BUYING AND LIVING IN A CERTAIN HOME IN A CERTAIN NEIGHBORHOOD, BUYING AND DRIVING A CERTAIN CAR, BUYING AND WEARING CERTAIN CLOTHES AND SHOES IS ALL ABOUT!
I HAVE NO MONEY AND NO JOB AND NO CAR AND NO HOME!
According to P.J. O'Rourke, "There are a number of mechanical devices which increase sexual arousal, particularly in women. Chief among these is the Mercedes-Benz convertible."
Geoffrey Miller Retweeted
Driving in cars with boys: "Having a car increased sexual desire and the probability of having sexual intercourse at a younger age, of having more sexual partners, of being promiscuous, and of increasing the frequency of sexual activities."
According to P.J. O'Rourke, "There are a number of mechanical devices which increase sexual arousal, particularly in women. Chief among these is the Mercedes-Benz convertible."
"CHICCA'S DON'T HAVE NO SHAME IN PICCIN' WHO SHE LET STICC THEY DICC IN BASED ON WHAT KINDA CAR HE WHIPPIN'" - MITCHELL SLIKKSTER!
