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Fertile Women Discount the Future: Conception Risk and Impulsivity Are Independently Associated with Financial Decisions

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Abstract

According to the ovulatory shift hypothesis, women’s behavior near ovulation changes in ways that will enhance mating opportunities. In this study, the relationship between the ovulatory cycle and financial decision-making was investigated. We hypothesized that fertile women, compared to non-fertile women, would exhibit steeper discounting in a monetary choice task, i.e., they would prefer smaller, sooner rewards over larger, later ones, in order to secure resources that could be used for mating purposes. One hundred college-aged women who were normally ovulating and not on hormonal contraceptives completed a monetary choice task along with measures of three forms of impulsivity: nonplanning, motor, and financial. Conception risk was assessed in two ways, by discrete cycle phase windows and by a continuous measure. Results indicated that both fertility and financial impulsivity predicted future discounting. Neither nonplanning nor motor impulsivity influenced discounting. There was no interaction between impulsivity measures and conception risk, suggesting that fertility and impulsivity have independent effects on future discounting. The findings are consistent with the ovulatory shift hypothesis in showing that women’s economic behavior, particularly their preferences for acquiring resources now rather than later, is related to their fertility status. This behavior might be adaptive in that it could help women to gain resources that could enhance their appearance in the service of attracting potential mates or deterring rivals.

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Acknowledgments

Both authors contributed equally to this work. Support was provided by an internal Wellesley College Research Grant. We are grateful to Molly McNamara for her valuable research assistance.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, 106 Central St, Wellesley, MA, 02481, USA

    Margery Lucas & Elissa Koff

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  1. Margery Lucas
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  2. Elissa Koff
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Correspondence to Margery Lucas.

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Lucas, M., Koff, E. Fertile Women Discount the Future: Conception Risk and Impulsivity Are Independently Associated with Financial Decisions. Evolutionary Psychological Science 3, 261–269 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-017-0094-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-017-0094-8

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