Why Men Will Risk All for a Beautiful Woman

New study answers old question of mating rituals.

ByABC News
March 23, 2010, 2:22 PM

March 24, 2010 — -- What does it take to make a young man literally "throw caution to the wind" and risk life and limb in a daring task? The mere presence of a good looking woman.

That startling conclusion, which most people have probably believed ever since Adam cast his eyes upon a naked Eve, is no longer just common sense. It's now science.

That's right, two psychologists in Australia have shown that when an attractive woman is on the scene, levels of testosterone - the principal male sex hormone that makes men different from women - soar. Richard Ronay and William von Hippel of the University of Queensland published their findings in the journal, Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Their research, they say in the conclusion of their study, "provides evidence for an effect that has existed in art, mythology, and literature for thousands of years: Beautiful women lead men to throw caution to the wind." That's probably part of our evolutionary heritage, the scientists argue. Male birds aren't the only ones who preen in front of a potential mate.

Ronay and Hippel recruited 96 male skateboarders, ranging in age from 18 to 35, in Brisbane, Australia, for their experiment. The participants, who were paid $20 each, were divided into two groups and asked to try both easy and difficult tricks on their skateboards.

A male judge rated all the tricks by one group, but the second group performed first before a male judge, and then before a female judge.

No photos were supplied with the study, but the female must have been, in skateboarder parlance, a fox. According to the study, 20 "independent male raters" looked at a photo of the 18-year-old female and rated her on a scale of 1 (very unattractive) to 7 (very attractive.)

"The mean attractiveness rating was 5.58 which was significantly higher than the scale midpoint of 4," the study notes, and the "attractiveness ratings were corroborated by many informal comments and phone number requests from the skateboarders."

When the observer was a male, the participants went through their routines rather ... routinely. But when the observer was the attractive young lady, everything changed.

The skateboarders attempted more daring tricks, and they succeeded more often.