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Comment by pmichaud | Hacker News Reader

This can be explained by placebo. If you expect to feel more impressive and manly in a porche, then your body will react accordingly. It's not the car, it's the idea of the car, which is mostly marketing.

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Of course it's placebo, that's the point. What else could it be, some substance in the car? The point is that self-perception can influence brain chemistry and hormone production.

I could be the sound/vibration of the engine, the increased power/acceleration, the handling, the interior. I'm not sure all of these would classify as placebo in the traditional sense. But I'd agree it's mostly the pure placebo of knowing it's an expensive car.

What else could it be, some substance in the car?

Well, maybe, and that needs to be ruled out. Plasticizer vapors, such as those present in newer cars, have been said to mimic human hormones before.

Maybe responsiveness; quick acceleration; "Road feel"; admiring looks from nubile women; defeated looks from men; knowing that you have more power available than you need; etc.

FWIW, weight lifting could provide all except road feel.

Be the porche. And it's free. I've noticed that porche drivers are mostly older people (presumably because, statistically, they can afford it).

To be picky: it also doesn't provide responsiveness (i.e. agility), but in isolation tends to muscle boundness. Easy to address with other exercise of course.

Slam your foot down in the Camry, what happens? Slam your foot down in the Porsche and you're doing 150mph before you know it ... isn't the perceived danger also a large (non-placebo) factor?

In case you've never tried it, the experience of driving a Porsche is substantially different from driving a Camry. I doubt it's a placebo effect.

Exactly.

>I always had a sneaking suspicion that the "manly" feeling that comes from driving a sports car was nonsense promoted by car companies. But I guess it may have some truth.

Correlation != causation. If feeling manly makes testosterone go up, and you think a sports car should make you feel manly, then your testosterone will go up in a sports car. But that can only be from the ads, not from the car at all.

While I agree Correlation != causation a better example might be, driving an expensive car was novel and novel experiences increase T levels. In other words you might have increased T levels when on the test drive, but little response if you actually owned the car.

I wouldn't call it "placebo;" more like "social status." Which makes me wonder what studies on males of varying social status would indicate about long-term testosterone levels.

well a Porsche might be a poor example because its an easily recognized symbol.

what about two men entering a trendy club and one is dressed in an off the shelf suit and a $20 watch while the other is wearing a suit that costs as much as some people's monthly paychecks and a watch to fit. Will the second man project more confidence and therefor be more successful?

Yes.

In that case, a confounding factor is that the people in the club may be able to tell the difference between the outfits. So it isn't just the second man's confidence, it's that the people there know he's willing to blow a lot of money on looks. That may conceivably affect their reactions regardless of the man's confidence.

I wonder if you'd get the same effect with powerful used cars that cost much less. I tend to think you would.

Perhaps someone can do a better study by having isolated tribes free of advertisement exposure to have a try.

What's interesting is the discovery that the placebo effect can actually affect testosterone levels!

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