A review and p-curve analysis of research on the menstrual cycle correlates of consumer preferences and economic decisions.

A number of studies have been claimed to show that ovarian hormones, whose levels fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle, affect consumer preferences and financial decisions. The present article aims to critically analyze the literature examining associations between the phases of the menstrual cycle (peri-ovulatory vs. non-ovulatory) with particular consumer preferences (especially regarding clothing choices) and economic decisions (especially in regards to economic games and risk-taking).

Ovarian hormones in relation to naturally cycling women's conception risk: Empirical evidence and implications for behavioral endocrinology.

A substantial body of literature has examined how women's psychology and behavior vary as a function of conception risk across the ovarian cycle. These effects are widely believed to be outcomes of hormonal regulation, in particular effects of estrogens (E) and progesterone (P). Increasingly, researchers have sought to test predictions about how psychological processes or behavior vary as a function of conception risk by examining associations with estrogen (e.

Developmental instability, fluctuating asymmetry, and human psychological science.

Developmental instability (DI) is an individual's inability to produce a specific developmental outcome under a given set of conditions, generally thought to result from random perturbations experienced during development. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) - asymmetry on bilateral features that, on average, are symmetrical (or asymmetry deviating from that arising from design) - has been used to measure DI. Dating to half a century ago, and accelerating in the past three decades, psychological researchers have examined associations between FA (typically measured on bodily or facial features) and a host of outcomes of interest, including psychological disorders, cognitive ability, attractiveness, and sexual behavior.

Women's Estrus and Extended Sexuality: Reflections on Empirical Patterns and Fundamental Theoretical Issues.

How do women's sexual interests change across their ovulatory cycles? This question is one of the most enduring within the human evolutionary behavioral sciences. Yet definitive, agreed-upon answers remain elusive. One empirical pattern appears to be robust: Women experience greater levels of sexual desire and interest when conceptive during their cycles.

Hormone ratios suffer from striking lack of robustness to measurement error.

Hormone ratios are often used to capture the joint effect (or "balance") of two hormones with opposing or mutually suppressive effects. Despite some statistical and interpretative problems, hormone ratios are being increasingly used to examine associations of testosterone/cortisol, estradiol/progesterone, testosterone/estradiol, and other hormone pairs. Here we discuss a methodological problem that has not been previously recognized, namely, the striking lack of robustness of raw hormone ratios in the face of measurement error.