Status, Sex, & Sports Cars: What Science Says

0:00Welcome to the MyBuddyGreen Podcast. I'm Jason Wackeb, founder and co-CEO of MyBuddyGreen and your host. This podcast is presented by Walden University. Now is the time to make a real change in your life, career, and community. For over 50 years, Walden University has helped working adults turn ambition into action through flexible distance learning. With over 100 degrees and certificates, Walden's online programs are designed for working professionals. You'll gain hands-on skills from their expert faculty members who are scholars and practitioners with real-world experience to share. If you've been waiting for the right moment, this is it. Had to WaldenU.edu and take that final step. Walden University said a course for change, certified to operate by Shove. This isn't a running ad from R.E.I. because it's mostly walking and occasionally flying. The Titting Your Favorite Trail with your favorite people who showed up for the same on hinge

1:00reason. And it's not just about fast snowing times, but finding the funnest times. Because this isn't running. It's trail running. Get your gear for the trail in store or at R.E.I. dot com. Get business done with the new American Express Graphite Business Cash Unlimited with unlimited 2% cashback on all eligible purchases. Unlimited 5% cashback on flights and prepaid hotels, booked through American Express Travel Online, and a flexible spending capacity that can grow with your business. You'll have the confidence to keep building. Apply today and earn a welcome offer of $1,500 cashback after you spend $50,000 in qualifying purchases on your new card within the first six months of card membership. Terms apply. Learn more at Go.Tamik's Flash Graphite.

2:16Welcome back to the Mindbite Green Podcast. Let's be honest, at some point we've all seen that guy. You know the one, revving is Ferrari to stoplight, mid 50s sunglasses, top down engine roaring. What do we think? Mid-life prices. Overcompensation. Insecurity on four wheels. But here's the thing, what if there's actually something biological happening? What if that Ferrari isn't just about ego? What if it's about testosterone? Today we're diving into one of the most entertaining studies I've come across. One that involves a bright red Porsche, a beige Toyota Camry, and what happens to men's hormone levels when they get behind the wheel. Now for our female listeners, I know we're talking about testosterone, but trust me, this one is wild. Let's dive in. So back in 2009, researchers at Concordia University in Montreal, designed a study that sounds almost too good to be true. They recruited a group of men, regular guys, not car enthusiasts or

3:21professional drivers, and asked them to do something simple. Drive two different cars. The first car? A bright red Porsche 911 Carbillae. Sleek, loud, unmistakable. The kind of car that turns heads. Second car? Bage Toyota Camry. Reliable, practical, invisible. Now the research measured the men's testosterone levels before and after each drive. But here's the key detail. Some of the drives happened in public, driving through busy streets, stopping in intersections surrounded by pedestrians and other drivers. Some of the drives happened alone on empty roads where no one was watching. So what did they find? When men drove the Porsche in public, where other people could see them, their testosterone level spiked. Not a little, a measurable significant increase. But when they drove the Camry, testosterone didn't just stay the same, in some cases it actually dropped. Now if you're thinking, okay, maybe it's just a thrill of driving a fast car. Hold on,

4:25because here's where it gets really interesting. When the same men drove the Porsche alone on empty roads with no audience, testosterone didn't change much at all. It wasn't the car itself, it wasn't the speed or the handling or the engine rumble. It was the social context, it was being seen. So what is going on here? Why would driving a flashy sports car in public trigger a hormonal response? The answer is rooted in evolutionary biology. Testosterone is deeply tied to dominance, competition, status, and let's be real reproduction for thousands of years, signaling power and resources was how men attracted mates and established their place in the social hierarchy. And while we're not living in the wild anymore, those ancient systems are still wired into us. When these men drove their Porsche in public, their brains registered it as a modern day peacock display, a mating signal,

5:32a status marker, and their biology responded accordingly. Testosterone surged, preparing them for competition, for interaction, for the possibility of social reward. It's not rational, it's not conscious, it's deeply, almost comically biological. And the fact that testosterone only spiked when there was an audience confirms it. The car wasn't doing anything to the men's bodies, the social context was. So here's the deeper question, and here's where this study stops being just fun curiosity and starts getting interesting on a deeper level. This podcast is presented by Walden University. Now is the time to make a real change in your life, career, and community. For over 50 years, Walden University has helped working adults turn ambition into action through flexible distance learning. With over 100 degrees and certificates, Walden's online programs are designed for working professionals. You'll gain hands-on skills from their expert faculty members who are scholars and practitioners with real-world experience to share. If you've been waiting for the right

6:37moment, this is it. Head to WaldenU.edu and take that final step. Walden University said a course for change, certified to operate by Shav. This podcast is sponsored by ColorHealth. We track our steps, sleep, and workouts, but some of the most valuable health signals happen in the bathroom where they get flushed away. Colors Dakota fits discreetly onto your toilet and captures biometric signals to provide insights into hydration, gut health, and more. That's data that our other wearables can't deliver. The info is securely delivered to the ColorHealth app. Learn more at colorhealth.com. Use code MBG1year for a free one-year app membership with your Dakota purchase. If a rented Porsche can temporarily boost testosterone just by signaling status, what else are we doing in our lives for external validation? What are we chasing, buying, posting, or performing because we think it signals something

7:38about who we are? And more importantly, does any of it actually make us feel alive? Because here's the thing. That testosterone spike? It's fleeting. It's tied to the moment, to the audience, to the performance. The second the car is returned, the second no one's watching, the effect disappears. It's a borrowed feeling, a rented sense of worth if you will. And I think this shows up everywhere in modern life. Not just with sports cars, it shows up in the clothes we wear, the titles we chase, the gyms we join, and what we post about on social media. So much of what we do is about signaling about being seen as successful, healthy, desirable, powerful. But if we're honest with ourselves, how much of that actually feeds us? How much of it is real? I'm not saying status doesn't matter. I'm not saying we should all drive beige cameras and live like monks. Although, I do drive a minivan and absolutely love it. What I am saying is that when our sense of self is too dependent on external validation, on the audience, on the reaction, on the signal, we're living a pretty fragile

8:43existence. So the men in this study get a temporary hormonal boost from driving a fancy car in public. What happens when the car goes back? What happens when no one's watching? What happens when the external markers of success fade or shift or stop mattering to the people around you? That's when we find out what's underneath. Real strength, the kind that lasts, the kind that sustains us through midlife and beyond, isn't about what we can signal to others. It's about knowing who we are when no one's looking. It's about feeling alive, not because of the car we drive or the body we have or the title on our business card, but because we're connected to something deeper, purpose, relationships, meaning, growth. And I think that's especially important as we think about aging, about longevity, about what it means to live well because at some point, the external validation stops coming as easily. The culture shifts, the markers of status change. And if we built our entire sense of self on those things, we are in big trouble. But if we built it on something internal,

9:48uncuriosity, on contribution, on love, on resilience, then we're okay. More than okay, we're free. So the next time you see someone driving a flashy car and you think, up midlife crisis, maybe you're right. But maybe, just maybe, there's something more going on, something biological, something human, something we all do in one way or another. We all signal, we all seek validation, we all want to be seen. The question is, are we also building something real underneath, something that doesn't need an audience, something that can't be rented or borrowed or revved up at a stoplight? Because at the end of the day, the most powerful signal isn't the car you drive. It's the life you live when no one is watching. Thanks for listening to today's study episode. If this one made you think or laugh, share it with someone who needs to hear it. And if you want more episodes like this, subscribe to the show. We've got plenty more studies, stories, and insights coming your way. Until next time, stay grounded and be well.

11:025% cashback on flights and prepaid hotels, booked through American Express Travel Online, and a flexible spending capacity that can grow with your business. You'll have the confidence to keep building. Apply today and earn a welcome offer of $1,500 cashback after you spend $50,000 in qualifying purchases on your new card within the first six months of card membership. Terms apply, learn more at go.com.xslashcraftflight.