{
  "abstract": "This paper examines hormonal fluctuations associated with fertility as one of the reasons behind women’s desire for luxury. We suggest that women engage in conspicuous luxury consumption during ovulation, when they have a physiologically activated mating goal, because doing so helps women be noticed by men. Being noticed by as many men as possible increases the likelihood of attracting a desired partner for a romantic relationship. The finding that ovulation—the time of peak fertility—increases women’s desire to purchase conspicuous luxury goods challenges previous research suggesting that women use luxury to signal high standards and limit their pool of potential partners. We reconcile this apparent contradiction by proposing a two-phase mating process: women first seek to attract a broad pool of potential partners (attraction phase), then select from among them for a romantic relationship (selection phase). These findings have benefits for researchers’ understanding of how ovulation changes women’s behavior towards men, and how mating motives can be a driver of the desire for luxury and conspicuous consumption in general.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do, Republic of Korea",
    "Rutgers Business School, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America",
    "Schema Behavioral Science, Newberry, Florida, United States of America",
    "School of Economics and Business, SUNY Oneonta, Oneonta, New York, United States of America",
    "Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America"
  ],
  "article_type": "Research Article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Aekyoung Kim"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Kristina M. Durante"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Juliano Laran"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Lambrianos Nikiforidis"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Vladas Griskevicius"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8et77mqqmk2hc.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1371/journal.pone.0354126",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "8et77mqqmk2hc",
  "issns": [
    "1932-6203"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0354126",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3205|Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Anatomy/Body fluids/Urine"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Biochemistry/Hormones"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Physiology/Body fluids/Urine"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Physiology/Endocrine physiology/Menstrual cycle"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Physiology/Endocrine physiology/Menstrual cycle/Ovulation"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Physiology/Reproductive physiology/Menstrual cycle"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Physiology/Reproductive physiology/Menstrual cycle/Ovulation"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Psychological attitudes"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Medicine and health sciences/Anatomy/Body fluids/Urine"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Medicine and health sciences/Endocrinology"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Medicine and health sciences/Endocrinology/Endocrine physiology/Menstrual cycle"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Medicine and health sciences/Endocrinology/Endocrine physiology/Menstrual cycle/Ovulation"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Medicine and health sciences/Women's health/Obstetrics and gynecology/Contraception/Female contraception"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Research and analysis methods/Research design/Survey research/Surveys"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Social sciences/Psychology/Psychological attitudes"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7206181027",
  "pdf_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0354126&type=printable",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-02",
  "publisher": "Public Library of Science",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8et77mqqmk2hc.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:02Z",
      "native_id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0354126",
      "source": "plos",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0354126"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "plos:anatomy",
      "subfield": "physiology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Fertility increases women’s desire for conspicuous luxury",
  "title_text": "Fertility increases women’s desire for conspicuous luxury",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:02Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8et77mqqmk2hc",
  "venue": "PLOS One",
  "versions": []
}