Sex Differences in Risk Preference When an Objective Cost Is Indicated

The current study employed an online scenario experiment to investigate how often participants chose activities explicitly labeled as “high cost” (cost preference range: 0–10). Results showed that men tended to prefer high-cost activities, whereas women tended to avoid them. Men also preferred high-cost activities more than women did. Moreover, when the hypothetical partner was of the same sex, there was no sex difference in cost preference; however, there was a sex difference when the hypothetical partner was of the opposite sex. Findings from the current study reinforce the view that cost is a crucial variable in determining which activities men and women choose to engage in.