Not Sexy Images, But Sexy Touch That Drives Women’s Purchases
Christopher Philip
Previous research has suggested that men are driven to purchase goods when the specific goods are accompanied by sexual images of the opposite sex. However, the same can not be said with respect to women. When goods aimed at women have been presented alongside sexualized men in the past, it was not found that it primed motivation for purchase.
In the current research Belgian researchers Anouk Festjens, Sabrina Bruyneel and Siegfried Dewitte it is argued that visual sexual primes may have cause women’s unresponsiveness to sexual cues when engaging in economic decisions making. However, it is postulated that it is the tactile sexual prime that results in altered economic decisions for women.
Certainly, we know that touch and touching has profound effects on our emotion as well as our decision making. A light touch to the arm between a server and patron can boost tips, providing a pamphlet can boost donations to an organization and certainly, holding an object increases the likelihood of purchase.
However, until now, no such link has been tied to the sexuality of the artifact. In the current study, the researchers wanted to see if women would be more likely to purchase if they held male boxer brief underwear. The researchers assumed that when women touched men’s boxers that they would act analogously to men viewing sexual artifacts, such as lingerie on a mannequin.
Therefore, the researchers predicted that touching sexually laden stimuli would lead women to “have a higher craving for monetary rewards (Study 1), a lower level of monetary loss aversion (Study 2), and a higher willingness-to-pay (WTP) for rewarding products (Study 3) as compared to touching unrewarding stimuli or merely seeing sexually laden stimuli (Study 3).”
Study #1
In the first study, participants worked by themselves at a computer work station. They were given either a t-shirt (the control) or a pair of boxers and asked to rate the material on a variety of factors including quality of the material.
Upon completion, the subjects were asked to specify the amount of money they would require in one week, in two weeks, and in one month to make them indifferent to receiving $15 immediately. This is called a “delay discounting task.” It was predicted, that if women behaved similar to men as they viewed sexual material, they would require an even greater compensation for the delay. Put differently, if women were primed according to the sexual material, they would be willing to accept smaller more immediate monetary rewards; the sexual priming would make them behave impulsively.
Results: The hypothesis was confirmed. Women required more money in the future to make them indifferent to receiving $15 now, but only after touching the boxers rather than touching the t-shirt. The results indicate that women do react in a similar way to sexual cues as do men, but unlike men, this occurs while touching sexual objects rather than view them.
Study #2
The goal of the second study was to test the affects of sexual touch cues on loss aversion. It is well understood that people tend to suffer and that it is more impactful to lose $10, than to potentially gain $10.
The researchers therefore predicted that when women touch sexually laden stimulus (male boxers), they would experience a decrease of loss aversion given that they when they touch a pair of boxers it heightens the immediate impact of monetary rewards or gains.
According to the procedure, the women were first asked to rate the boxers and t-shirt in the same way as the first experiment. They were then tested on their loss aversion. To do so, they were given a hypothetical amount of money ($25) or food (truffles) and told they would roll a set dice twice. Should it land even they would gain a set amount of either and if odd, lose a set amount (thus, it was a 50/50 chance of win and loss). The subjects were asked how much they wished to wager against the odds. Thus the loss aversion was measured as the maximum and minimum amount wagered against the dice roll.
Results: The results showed that exposure to sexual cues makes women less loss averse when making decisions about money and food.
Study #3
The third study used touch cues, but also cues that were hidden behind plexiglass and thus were not able to be touched. The study also included men to extend the findings of previous studies.
The same set-up was employed as the first two except that men where presented with a bra and women with a pair of boxer shorts. This time, the participants were either permitted to touch the material or they were placed behind plexi glass prohibiting touch.
After the materials were reviewed and rated, the participants were asked to record their WTP (willingness to pay) for various items including a bottle of wine, box of chocolates, a computer mouse, a keyboard, a DVD box and a chair. Only the wine and chocolate were considered to be rewards.
Results: The results showed that women’s WTP was significantly higher in the tactile sexual cue condition as compared to the control. There was no effect found for the neutral products i.e. the effect was found only for the chocolates and wine.
The men, on the other hand, showed a significantly higher WTP when touching the sexually laden material and marginally significantly higher when visually inspecting the material.
Summarizing The Findings
The results showed that after women touched men’s boxers they were more likely to desire greater amounts of compensation for waiting. In other words, they were willing to accept smaller amounts of compensation immediately rather than larger delayed amounts. This tells us that touching the boxers was a significant purchase motivator.
The same conditions led women to be less loss averse and more likely to take risks. Additionally, women were more willing to pay for rewards when touching sexual materials.
Therefore, the research confirmed that women’s previously documented unresponsiveness to sexually laden materials is due to sex specific primes. That is, while men are primed by visual sexual cues, women are more affected by tactile sexual cues.
Additional Thoughts
While this particular study looked at consumer behaviour it may have implications for sexual behaviour generally. Men are well known for actively desiring sex from simply observing sexual stimuli, while women show far less desire. It may be that touching or being touched is the more salient stimulus that primes women’s sexual motivation.
Image Credit: dollen
Resources
Festjens, Anouk; Sabrina Bruyneel and Siegfried Dewitte. What a Feeling! Touching Sexually Laden Stimuli Makes Women Seek Rewards. Journal of Consumer Psychology. 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2019.10.001