Sexually charged images make men want to shop immediately

Men who look at catalogues don''t just want to buy, they want to buy immediately.

A review of studies in America found that men exposed to "sexy" images were more impatient, and wanted rewards immediately.

Men who had seen sexy images, as opposed to ‘control' images of animals, were prepared to lose money to enjoy an offer right away.

They were also inclined to rate three months as being a "very long" time to wait for a voucher from the catalogue.

"Sexual cues influence decisions not only about sex, but also about unrelated outcomes such as money," a major newspaper quoted Gal Zauberman from the University of Southern California as saying.

"That is, sexual cues induce impatience not only by changing the perceived value of immediate rewards, but also by influencing the perceived distance to delayed rewards," Zauberman said.

For the study, the researchers presented 116 males with images from an online Victoria's Secret catalogue and gauged their response to receiving one of two fictitious online shopping website promotions: a gift certificate available that day or one available three months from now.

They asked the subjects the dollar value that would compensate for having to wait.

Those exposed to sexually charged imagery as compared to those in a control group exposed to nature images were found to be more impatient and expressed that future discounts would have to be steeper to compensate for the time delay.

Afterwards, the subjects were asked to judge whether three and six-month time frames were ‘very short' or ‘very long' distances away from the present time.

According to the study, those who had been exposed to individuals to whom they were attracted, reported the three and six-month time frames to be further into the future than others in the control group.