Luxury brands are a prominent feature of modern society. Thorstein Veblen
coined the term "conspicuous consumption" to describe how the upper classes
showcased expensive goods without inherent practical benefits to demonstrate
their economic power.
Veblen was inspired by Charles Darwin's theory of biological evolution.
Darwin himself was greatly puzzled by what he considered wasteful
investments in elaborate physiological features, which he saw as the
greatest threat to his theory of natural selection. Darwin was so troubled
that the sight of a peacock's tail feather would make him feel sick, as this
elaborate display made the birds more vulnerable to predators.
Darwin realized that these features provided a reproductive advantage,
leading to his theory of sexual selection, an important component of
evolution. Such features are attractive to potential reproductive partners
because they advertise superior genomic-environmental compatibility and are
only possible when an individual has surplus immune and energetic capacity.
Evolutionary Psychologists combined these accounts with an analogy between
men's displays of luxury goods and the peacock's tail feathers in their
ultimate explanation for conspicuous consumption. Because they are costly,
luxury goods are an honest signal of future paternal investment in
offspring. Investment by fathers is known to promote offspring success. The
greater a man's economic power, the more attractive he is to women.
However, there is a fundamental problem with this model. The peacock's tail
feathers are a signal of the bird's genetic qualities, and peacocks do not
provide any paternal care. Their feathers are an example of secondary sex
characteristics, features that appear in animals at sexual maturity but are
not directly part of the reproductive system. These ornaments and armaments
facilitate mating. They enable quick and reliable assessments of
physiological quality, physical strength, social status, dominance, and
aggressiveness by competitors and potential reproductive partners. The more
exaggerated male secondary sex characteristics are across species, the more
males focus on mating competition (acquiring mates), and the less they
invest in offspring care.
Three studies tested the hypothesis that consumer products mimicking the
physiological properties of male secondary sexual characteristics (e.g.,
exaggerated size, elaborate coloration, and lower-pitched sounds) are
parallel in form and function to secondary sex characteristics themselves.
Participants viewed polo shirts with small and large versions of a luxury
clothing brand logo in randomized order. In some of the studies,
participants predicted the characteristics of the man who owned each shirt.
In another, men were asked which shirt they would wear in specific social
contexts and women were asked which shirt they thought men would be more
likely to wear.
Men owning the large logo shirts were rated higher on mating effort, lower
on parental investment, higher on interest in brief sexual affairs, lower on
interest in long-term committed romantic relationships, higher in
attractiveness to women for brief sexual affairs, lower in attractiveness to
women for long-term committed relationships, and higher in developmental
environment unpredictability compared to men owning shirts displaying a
smaller logo.
Men were most likely to wear the large logo shirt when then competing for
social dominance or attempting to attract a sexual partner. They were least
likely to wear the large logo shirt when meeting their potential in-laws or
applying for a job. Women's responses mirrored this pattern. Such results
indicate the strategic use of luxury displays to signal features consistent
with social goals.
The strong and consistent pattern of results demonstrates support for the
phenotypic mimicry hypothesis and challenges the notion that men's luxury
displays are a reliable signal of their paternal contributions. Overall,
these studies demonstrate the power and potential of applying evolutionary
theory to models of human psychology and behavior.
The article is published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Reference:
Daniel J. Kruger. Phenotypic Mimicry Distinguishes Cues of Mating Competition
From Paternal Investment in Men's Conspicuous Consumption, Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin (2021). DOI:
10.1177/01461672211007229
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