Men were much more likely to use the artist’s brand as a deciding factor when evaluating art. Mangus said this jibes with past research that indicates men tend to use factors that are known to them (in this case, the artist’s brand) when making a decision.
Women also took the artist’s authenticity into account, but a bigger factor for them was the artwork itself. “Women are more willing to go through a complicated process of actually evaluating the artwork,” Mangus said, “whereas men may say, ‘This guy’s a great artist, so I’ll buy his art.’”
These are averages, of course, so it doesn’t mean all men react to art one way, while all women react another way. Plus, as with most studies involving gender, it’s impossible to disentangle the role of culture and socialization here. In other words, it could be that many of the men in this study who didn’t look closely at the art had had it drilled into their heads at an early age — perhaps as a result of overexposure to dumb beer commercials — that that just isn’t something men are supposed to do.
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