Sexual arousal and the pursuit of attractive mating opportunities

From an evolutionary perspective, sexual arousal may function, in part, to motivate the pursuit of attractive mating opportunities. We designed a study to test three aspects of this hypothesis. Several hundred heterosexual men and women completed a short survey about sexual arousal in response to a casual sex mating opportunity. We replicated previous research documenting that men report greater sexual arousal than women in response to a short-term mating opportunity. We argue that it is unlikely that a “downplaying of alternatives” psychology evolved, whereby mated individuals rate opposite-sex targets as less attractive than do unmated individuals, but instead that men and women have a relationship-seeking psychology, motivating them to pursue attractive mating opportunities. The results supported this relationship-seeking psychology rather than a downplaying alternatives psychology. Discussion addresses directions for future research on the motivational properties of sexual arousal.     

Automatic attention towards face or body as a function of mating motivation

Because women?s faces and bodies carry different cues of reproductive value, men may attend to different perceptual cues as functions of their long-term versus short-term mating motivations. We tested this hypothesis in three experiments on 135 male and 132 female participants. When influenced by short-term rather than long-term mating motivations, men?s attention was captured by (Study 1), was shifted to (Study 2), and was distracted by (Study 3) the waist/hip area rather than the face on photographs of attractive women. Similar effects were not found among the female participants in response to photographs of attractive men. These results support the evolutionary view that, similar to the attentional selectivity found in other domains of life, male perceptual attention has evolved to selectively capture and hold reproductive information about the opposite sex as a function of short-term versus long-term mating goals.     

Do men find "bony" women attractive?: Consequences of misperceiving opposite sex perceptions of attractive body image

Due to its role in the development and maintenance of eating disorders, body image perceptions and dissatisfaction continue to be an important area of study. Perceptions of attractive body images held by members of the opposite sex are an important determinant of body image satisfaction among both men and women. This research shows that men are accurate in their perceptions of what women find attractive among men, but women believe men want women to be thinner than men actually report. Furthermore, this inaccurate perception is associated with eating disorder symptomatology. The role of contingent self-worth was also assessed. Results indicate that individuals whose self-worth is more contingent on appearance-related standards experience more negative consequences than those who misperceive what the opposite sex finds attractive, but whose self-worth is less contingent on appearance. Implications for intervention are discussed.     

Mating competitors increase religious beliefs

It has been presumed that religiosity has an influence on mating behavior, but here we experimentally investigate the possibility that mating behavior might also influence religiosity. In Experiment 1, people reported higher religiosity after looking at mating pools consisting of attractive people of their own sex compared to attractive opposite sex targets. Experiment 2 replicated the effect with an added control group, and suggested that both men and women become more religious when seeing same-sex competitors. We discuss several possible explanations for these effects. Most broadly, the findings contribute to an emerging literature on how cultural phenomena such as religiosity respond to ecological cues in potentially functional ways.     

Going along versus going alone: when fundamental motives facilitate strategic (non)conformity

Three experiments examined how 2 fundamental social motives--self-protection and mate attraction--influenced conformity. A self-protective goal increased conformity for both men and women. In contrast, the effects of a romantic goal depended on sex, causing women to conform more to others' preferences while engendering nonconformity in men. Men motivated to attract a mate were particularly likely to nonconform when (a) nonconformity made them unique (but not merely a member of a small minority) and when (b) the topic was subjective versus objective, meaning that nonconformists could not be revealed to be incorrect. These findings fit with a functional evolutionary model of motivation and behavior, and they indicate that fundamental motives such as self-protection and mate attraction can stimulate specific forms of conformity or nonconformity for strategic self-presentation.     

择偶与人类嗓音

本文对择偶与人类嗓音之间的关系进行了深入分析。首先, 人类具有普遍的异性嗓音偏好：男性偏爱高音调的女性嗓音, 女性偏爱低音调的男性嗓音, 这种普遍偏好受到一系列跟自身婚配价值有关的因素的调节。其次, 人类的嗓音偏好跟嗓音背后的进化意义密切关联：女性化嗓音是女性生育力的线索, 而男性化嗓音是男性好基因和好资源的线索。而且, 富有吸引力的男性嗓音和女性嗓音能够预测个体的性行为和繁殖成功。再次, 富有有吸引力的人类嗓音影响个体的社会认知, 对亲密关系的维系也会带来消极影响。最后, 我们探讨了未来研究的若干方向：研究基频之外的其他嗓音参数, 探讨嗓音偏好的性选择机制、特殊群体的嗓音偏好, 以及嗓音偏好与其他认知过程的关系。     

The sexual overperception bias is associated with sociosexuality

As reproductive rates have the potential to be higher in men than women, it is more costly (from an evolutionary perspective) for men to miss a mating opportunity than women. This asymmetry in costs has been proposed to result in men being more sensitive to cues to sexual opportunity than women, and thus men are more likely than women to misperceive sexual interest from opposite sex others. To investigate this sexual misperception bias, smiling male and female faces were presented to participants who were asked to judge whether the face appeared friendly or flirtatious. Participants also completed a sociosexual orientation questionnaire in order to assess their current attitudes towards sexual relationships. In general, we found that males perceive female faces as flirtatious significantly more often than females. However, our results also suggested that people with high scores on the sociosexuality inventory (who rated themselves as more likely to engage in short-term, casual relationships), regardless of sex, had a tendency to perceive the faces of potential mates as more flirtatious, and that this variable explained more variance than sex alone. Our findings demonstrate that sociosexuality may mediate biases in perceiving the sexual intent of others.     

The sex-->aggression link: a perception-behavior dissociation

Four studies suggest that priming may yield directionally different effects on social perception and behavior if perceptual and behavioral experiences with the stimulus diverge. This seems true for sex and aggression: Men are more likely to behave aggressively than women, whereas women are more likely to perceive aggressive behavior than men. Using a sequential priming paradigm, Study 1 demonstrates that a basic semantic link between sex and aggression exists for both genders. This link, however, has opposing behavioral and perceptual consequences for men and women. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrate that sex priming facilitates aggressive behavior only for men. Study 4 shows that only women perceive the ambiguously aggressive behavior of a male target person as more aggressive after sex priming. Thus, the perceptual and behavioral responses to sex priming are consistent with the experiences men and women typically have with sex and aggression.     

Economic decision biases and fundamental motivations: how mating and self-protection alter loss aversion

Much research shows that people are loss averse, meaning that they weigh losses more heavily than gains. Drawing on an evolutionary perspective, we propose that although loss aversion might have been adaptive for solving challenges in the domain of self-protection, this may not be true for men in the domain of mating. Three experiments examine how loss aversion is influenced by mating and self-protection motives. Findings reveal that mating motives selectively erased loss aversion in men. In contrast, self-protective motives led both men and women to become more loss averse. Overall, loss aversion appears to be sensitive to evolutionarily important motives, suggesting that it may be a domain-specific bias operating according to an adaptive logic of recurring threats and opportunities in different evolutionary domains.     

Effect of relationship status on perceptions of physical attractiveness for alternative partners

Coupled people, those in a relationship, devaluate the attractiveness of an alternative partner compared to noncoupled people (D. J. Johnson & C. E. Rusbult, 1989). The present research tested two competing hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. According to the motivational hypothesis, coupled and noncoupled people initially perceive opposite‐sex others as equally attractive. Coupled people, however, recalibrate their perceptions. In contrast, the perceptual hypothesis proposes that coupled people do not perceive opposite‐sex others as attractive. The present study tested these competing hypotheses by measuring both involuntary and self‐reported perceptions of attractiveness of opposite‐sex models. Supporting the motivational hypothesis, coupled participants (n = 38) and noncoupled participants (n = 34) exhibited the same degree of pupil dilation, however, coupled participants reported lower attractiveness ratings.     

Can buy me love: Mate attraction goals lead to perceptual readiness for status products

Exposure to mating cues activates the goal to signal one's mate value to members of the opposite sex. This mate attraction goal may render men perceptually ready for products that signal their mate value to women. As men's mate value is partly determined by their financial prospects, men may be more likely to notice products that would signal their financial resources to women. The current study demonstrates that exposure to a sexily dressed woman increases single men's likelihood of noticing status products in a visual display. Not only do these findings further support the link between conspicuous consumption and male mating strategies, they are the first to demonstrate perceptual readiness for indirect (i.e., products) rather than direct (i.e., opposite sex individuals) means for reproduction.     

From Posttrauma to Gender and Back: A Gender Motivation Theory-Explanation of Gender Differences in Trauma Exposure,Symptoms, Diagnosis,and Implications

This article proposes the “gender motivation theory” as a potential starting point for the study of gender differences in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Grounded in evolutionary and sociological theories, the gender motivational theory argues that men are generally motivated by status enhancement, whereas women are motivated by risk reduction. Accordingly, the theory considers these differing motivations as the core factor differentiating men and women in challenging situations regarding their perception, meaning, experience, and behavior. The theory refers to PTSD as a subjectively perceived failure fulfilling gender motives. Applying this theory to trauma victims enables expanding and increasing gender sensibility for an understanding of PTSD and its various consequences. It also allows a broader and deeper understanding of gender beyond normative boundaries. The article examines the validity of the gender motivation theory in view of the cumulative empirical evidence of gender differences in the study of PTSD as well as other fields of knowledge. Additionally, the proposed theory offers a coherent perspective and guidelines for further examination and practical applications in PTSD research.     

Ovulation leads women to perceive sexy cads as good dads

Why do some women pursue relationships with men who are attractive, dominant, and charming but who do not want to be in relationships--the prototypical sexy cad? Previous research shows that women have an increased desire for such men when they are ovulating, but it is unclear why ovulating women would think it is wise to pursue men who may be unfaithful and could desert them. Using both college-age and community-based samples, in 3 studies we show that ovulating women perceive charismatic and physically attractive men, but not reliable and nice men, as more committed partners and more devoted future fathers. Ovulating women perceive that sexy cads would be good fathers to their own children but not to the children of other women. This ovulatory-induced perceptual shift is driven by women who experienced early onset of puberty. Taken together, the current research identifies a novel proximate reason why ovulating women pursue relationships with sexy cads, complementing existing research that identifies the ultimate, evolutionary reasons for this behavior.     

从进化心理学视角看两性冒险行为

进化心理学研究发现, 男性比女性更冒险, 男性冒险行为有社会助长和性别助长效应, 求偶动机与异性高魅力均可助长男性冒险行为。按照进化心理学观点, 冒险行为能表现男性作为潜在配偶的积极特征, 可增加其获得异性配偶的几率。择偶偏好研究也证实, 女性青睐敢于冒险的男性。作者认为, 女性冒险行为与求偶动机的关系主要受社会文化影响, 如中国女性在中意的异性面前更避险, 冒险行为领域中进化和文化的交互作用可能成为未来研究焦点。     

Subjective Distress to Violations of Trust in Mexican American Close Relationships Conforms to Evolutionary Principles

Sex differences in subjective distress to violations of trust in a close relationship were observed among Mexican American men and women. Imagining a partner’s emotional infidelity and other female-linked violations (for example, a partner who no longer desires to work) distressed a larger percentage of women than men. In contrast, imagining a partner’s sexual infidelity and other male-linked violations (for example, a partner who no longer makes an effort to look physically attractive) distressed a larger percentage of men than women. The results from two studies provided compelling evidence against a social–cognitive explanation of the sex differences and for an evolutionary psychology explanation based on men and women responding to threats to their sex-linked mating strategies.     

Evolution and human motivation: A fundamental motives framework

An evolutionary perspective on human motivation provides a means of identifying conceptually distinct motivational systems (including motives pertaining to self‐protection, disease avoidance, affiliation, status, mate acquisition, mate retention, and parental care), each of which has unique implications for affect, cognition, and behavior. We provide an illustrative summary of some of these empirically documented implications—including those pertaining to individual differences in chronic motivational tendencies, as well as additional implications that follow from temporary activation of these motivational systems. We also summarize a variety of broader implications—both conceptual and practical—that follow from this framework.     

Beliefs,motives and situational factors related to pedestrians’ self-reported behavior at signal-controlled crossings

The study examined pedestrians’ self-reported road-crossing behavior in relation to beliefs regarding the consequences of the behavior incorporated in the health belief model, instrumental and normative motives for compliance with safety rules, and situational factors. A questionnaire was administered to 205 students at two Israeli higher education institutions. The results show that crossing against a `Don’t walk' sign is predicted by perceived consequences of the behavior, as well as by normative motives. The results revealed consistent gender differences: women’s perception of their susceptibility to an accident resulting from an unsafe crossing is higher than that of men; women also report more than men that they are motivated by normative and instrumental considerations. Nevertheless, for women unsafe crossing is predicted only by instrumental motives, whereas for men both normative and instrumental motives predict unsafe crossing behavior. Among the situational variables, the presence of other pedestrians is related to the self-reported crossing behavior of women, whereas traffic volume is related to that of men. The results are discussed with regard to similarities and differences between pedestrians and drivers in compliance with safety laws.     

Selective attention to signs of success: social dominance and early stage interpersonal perception

Results from two experiments suggest that observers selectively attend to male, but not female, targets displaying signs of social dominance. Participants overestimated the frequency of dominant men in rapidly presented stimulus arrays (Study 1) and visually fixated on dominant men in an eyetracking experiment (Study 2). When viewing female targets, participants attended to signs of physical attractiveness rather than social dominance. Findings fit with evolutionary models of mating, which imply that dominance and physical attractiveness sometimes tend to be prioritized preferentially in judgments of men versus women, respectively. Findings suggest that sex differences in human mating are observed not only at the level of overt mating preferences and choices but also at early stages of interpersonal perception. This research demonstrates the utility of examining early-in-the-stream social cognition through the functionalist lens of adaptive thinking.     

Task-Intrinsic and Social-Extrinsic Sources of Arousal for Motives Assessed in Fantasy and Self-Report

ABSTRACT A review of the literature on individual differences in motive dispositions points toward the importance of distinguishing between motives as assessed in fantasy and self-report. We proposed that these two modes of assessment have identified independent motivational systems that influence behavior in different ways. Two experiments were designed to show that the two kinds of motives are unrelated to one another and are aroused by different factors in a performance situation. It was hypothesized that motives as assessed from fantasy (seen as implicit needs) are primarily aroused by factors intrinsic to the process of performing an activity, whereas motives obtained through self-report inventories (seen as self-attributed needs) are aroused by social factors that are extrinsic to the process of performing an activity (e.g., the way in which a task is presented by an experimenter). In the first experiment, performance on a memory task was shown to depend on the interaction of subjects' self-reported motive for achievement with achievement-arousing instructions, whereas performance on a word-finding puzzle depended on the interaction of subjects' fantasy need for achievement with the puzzle's level of intrinsic challenge. A second experiment generalized these findings to the power domain.     

Sexual Motives: Cultural,Evolutionary, and Social Psychological Perspectives

Recently, scholars from a variety of disciplines have begun to investigate passionate love, sexual desire, and sexual behavior. Specifically, they have started to ask such questions as: “Why do young men and women engage in sexual liaisons?” “Why do they avoid such encounters?” Unfortunately, in attempting to answer such questions, scholars have generally focused on surveys and experiments within their own disciplines and have accorded scant attention to the discoveries of other disciplines. In this paper, we will begin by discussing three theoretical perspectives that have had the most to say about why young people seek out (or avoid) sex—cultural psychology, evolutionary psychology, and social psychology (where theorists often take a biopsychosocial approach). Then, we will (1) describe the many scales that have been used to assess sexual motives, and (2) review the multidisciplinary data which has been assembled in an attempt to answer the questions as to why people seek out (or avoid) sexual activity. Unfortunately, almost all this research was conducted by Western researchers, investigating the attitudes and behavior of young American men and women, who were heterosexual. (Alas, the wider-ranging data one would wish to consider is as yet only rarely available.) Through this multi-disciplinary synthesis, we hope to demonstrate the impact of culture, social experience, and biological imperatives in shaping young men’s and women’s motives for engaging in sexual encounters and provide a sort of “encyclopedia” of sexual motives measures and research for future scholars.