Attractive women = men taking more risks

BRISBANE, Australia, March 19 (UPI) -- The presence of an attractive woman elevates testosterone levels in young men, increasing their capacity for physical risk, researchers in Australia said.

Richard Ronay and William von Hippel of the University of Queensland asked young adult men to perform both easy and difficult tricks on skateboards, first in front of another male and then in front of a young, attractive female. The skateboarder's testosterone levels were measured after each trick.

Ronay and von Hippel said that when skateboarders attempt tricks, they make a split-second decision about whether to abort the trick or try to land it, based on a midair evaluation of the likelihood of success and on the physical costs of failure.

The researchers sought to examine this moment because it resembles the type of split-second decisions young men make while driving or in a physical confrontation.

The study, published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, found the young men took greater risks in the presence of the attractive female even when they knew there was a greater chance that they would crash. Testosterone levels were significantly higher in these men than in the men who were in the presence of another male, the study said.

"Beautiful women lead men to throw caution to the wind," the study authors said in a statement.