From a May 18 Op-Ed in the NY Times…
Dr. Miller [Geoffrey Miller, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico] says that much of the pleasure we derive from products stems from the unconscious instinct that they will either enhance or signal our fitness by demonstrating intelligence or some of the Big Five personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, stability and extraversion.
In a series of experiments, Dr. Miller and other researchers found that people were more likely to expend money and effort on products and activities if they were first primed with photographs of the opposite sex or stories about dating.
After this priming, men were more willing to splurge on designer sunglasses, expensive watches and European vacations. Women became more willing to do volunteer work and perform other acts of conspicuous charity — a signal of high conscientiousness and agreeableness, like demonstrating your concern for third world farmers by spending extra for Starbucks’s “fair trade” coffee.
Apparently the demonstrations are evolutionarily useless at this point. But, if people still make them, The Carrot Project ought to be paying attention. And delivering brand comparison data on matchmaking sites and in romance novels? Hmmm…