Assorted Sex

Men 'no less chatty than women'

Paula Hall, a relationship psychotherapist based in the Midlands and spokeswoman for Relate, said her experience working with couples tallied with the results.

"What makes the biggest difference is whether someone is naturally an introvert or an extrovert, not whether they are a man or a woman.

"It's not fair to say men don't talk. Blokes in the pub don't stand around in silence."

She said that in her experience, women complain that men do not talk about the right things.

"The problem is not how much people talk or don't talk, the problem is how well people listen.

"If women listened more we might find men talked more than we thought, and if men listened they might find that women actually don't talk a lot of rubbish all the time. Some of what we say is actually valuable."

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Adultery yields benefits to females as well as males ;

What she found was that young born as a result of adultery were 30% more likely to survive for at least two years, and thus have a decent chance of breeding themselves, than those fathered by a female's permanent male partner. That does, however, raise the question of what the correspondent males are providing to generate this advantage.

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Hormones affect men's sense of fair play

Burnham notes that the high-testosterone subjects were slightly more likely to make the more reasonable offer of $25 when placed in the position of making the proposal.

This, he says, is in line with the idea from primate studies that found high testosterone males sometimes play a "magnanimous and peacekeeping" role.

Previous studies have found that other hormones can influence economic decisions. Researchers recently reported that a whiff of the hormone oxytocin can make someone more willing to invest their money in an anonymous trustee.

And, lastly, if you are seeking to determine your business contact's testosterone levels and saliva is hard to obtain, look out for a wedding ring. Married men tend to have less of the hormone.