Knockout
Jon Maner & James McNulty
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Evolutionary theories of mating suggest that changes in fertility across the menstrual cycle play an important role in sexual selection. In line with this framework, the current research examined whether olfactory cues to the fertility of a same-sex rival would prompt hormonal signs of intrasexual competition in women. Women exposed to the scent of another woman close to ovulation subsequently displayed higher levels of testosterone than women exposed to the scent of a woman far from ovulation. Whereas women exposed to the scent of a woman in the mid-luteal phase displayed sizable decreases in testosterone over time, no such decline was observed among women exposed to the scent of a woman near ovulation. Thus, olfactory cues signaling a rival's heightened level of fertility were associated with endocrinological responses in women that could be linked to intrasexual competition.
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Yajin Wang & Vladas Griskevicius
Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Past research shows that luxury products can function to boost self-esteem, express identity, and signal status. We propose that luxury products also have important signaling functions in relationships. Whereas men use conspicuous luxury products to attract mates, women use such products to deter female rivals. Drawing on both evolutionary and cultural perspectives, five experiments investigated how women’s luxury products function as a signaling system directed at other women who pose threats to their romantic relationships. Findings showed that activating a motive to guard one’s mate triggered women to seek and display lavish possessions. Additional studies revealed that women use pricey possessions to signal that their romantic partner is especially devoted to them. In turn, flaunting designer handbags and shoes was effective at deterring other women from poaching a relationship partner. This research identifies a novel function of conspicuous consumption, revealing that luxury products and brands play important roles in relationships.
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The Dark Triad personality: Attractiveness to women
Gregory Louis Carter, Anne Campbell & Steven Muncer
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming
Abstract:
It has been suggested that the Dark Triad (DT) personality constellation is an evolved facilitator of men’s short-term mating strategies. However, previous studies have relied on self-report data to consider the sexual success of DT men. To explore the attractiveness of the DT personality to the other sex, 128 women rated created (male) characters designed to capture high DT facets of personality or a control personality. Physicality was held constant. Women rated the high DT character as significantly more attractive. Moreover, this greater attractiveness was not explained by correlated perceptions of Big 5 traits. These findings are considered in light of mating strategies, the evolutionary ‘arms race’ and individual differences.
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Sex Differences in Succumbing to Sexual Temptations: A Function of Impulse or Control?
Natasha Tidwell & Paul Eastwick
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Men succumb to sexual temptations (e.g., infidelity, mate poaching) more than women. Explanations for this effect vary; some researchers propose that men and women differ in sexual impulse strength, whereas others posit a difference in sexual self-control. These studies are the first to test such underlying mechanisms. In Study 1, participants reported on their impulses and intentional control exertion when they encountered a real-life tempting but forbidden potential partner. Study 2 required participants to perform a reaction-time task in which they accepted/rejected potential partners, and we used process dissociation to separate the effects of impulse and control. In both studies, men succumbed to the sexual temptations more than women, and this sex difference emerged because men experienced stronger impulses, not because they exerted less intentional control. Implications for the integration of evolutionary and self-regulatory perspectives on sex differences are discussed.
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Illness in childhood predicts face preferences in adulthood
Mícheál de Barra et al.
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
The value of different mate choices may depend on the local pathogen ecology and on personal infection susceptibility: when there is a high risk of infection, choosing a healthy or immunocompetent mate may be particularly important. Frequency of childhood illness may act as a cue of the ecological and immunological factors relevant to mate preferences. Consistent with this proposal, we found that childhood illness – and frequency of diarrhea in particular – was positively correlated with preferences for exaggerated sex-typical characteristics in opposite-sex, but not same-sex, faces. Moreover, this relationship was stronger among individuals with poorer current health. These data suggest that childhood illness may play a role in calibrating adult mate preferences and have implications for theories of disease-avoidance psychology, life-history strategy and cross-cultural differences in mate preferences.
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Women’s Luteal-Phase Sexual Proceptivity and the Functions of Extended Sexuality
Nicholas Grebe et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Women’s sexuality, unlike that of most mammals, is not solely defined by sexual receptivity during the short window of fertility. Women demonstrate extended sexuality (in which they initiate and accept sexual advances outside of the fertile phase) more than any other mammalian female. In this light, surprisingly little research has addressed the functions of women’s luteal-phase sexuality. On the basis of theory and comparative evidence, we propose that women’s initiation of sex during nonfertile phases evolved in part to garner investment from male partners. If so, women should be particularly prone to initiate luteal-phase sex when the potential marginal gains are greatest. Results from a study of 50 heterosexual couples showed that women increasingly initiate sex in the luteal phase (but not the fertile phase) when they perceive their partners’ investment to lag behind their own. These findings provide evidence for the distinct nature of women’s extended sexuality and may contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of women’s sexuality.
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Shiyue Li et al.
PLoS ONE, September 2013
Objectives: This study explored sexual knowledge, attitudes and practices of female only-child undergraduates and made a comparison with students with siblings.
Methods: Anonymously completed questionnaires were received from 4,769 female undergraduates, recruited using randomized cluster sampling by type of university and students' major and grade. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the effects of only-child on sexual knowledge, attitudes and practices among female undergraduates.
Results: Of 4,769 female undergraduate students, 41.0% were only-child and 59.0% were students with siblings. Compared with students with siblings, only-child students scored higher on sex-related knowledge, were more inclined to agree with premarital sex, multiple sex partners, one-night stands, extramarital lovers and homosexuality, and were more likely to have a boyfriend and experience sexual intercourse (73.6% vs. 61.4%; 24.0% vs. 14.0%). Only-children were less likely to experience coercion at first sex and have first sexual intercourse with men not their “boyfriends” than children with siblings (3.3% vs. 6.4%; 20.7% vs. 28.8%). There were no significant differences on other risky sexual behaviors (e.g. multiple sex partners and inconsistent condom use) between the only-child students and students with siblings.
Conclusions: Sexual knowledge, attitudes and some practices of only-child female undergraduates were different from students with siblings. Intervention should be designed according to different requirements of only-children and non-only-children.
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I.E. Elia
Quarterly Review of Biology, September 2013, Pages 163-183
Abstract:
Within 20 years, experimental selection of quantified “not too aggressive, not too fearful” behavior to human approach was shown in silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes) to produce a neotenic package of traits in adults: ability to seek, induce, and sustain contact (called friendly or rapport behavior); relatively short limbs and foreshortened skull/face; and light pigmentation areas. Earlier sexual maturation, prolonged receptivity, and larger litters were also noted. The increased estradiol supporting these changes was apparently also responsible for faster skeletal maturation, including earlier fusion of the basicranium causing tooth crowding, but also paedomorphic craniofacial proportions that we find attractive in our own and other species. In this paper, these important findings of the farm fox experiment are juxtaposed with insights from social psychology, physical anthropology, and neuroscience about facial beauty and reaction to it. Since many unrelated species show some or all of the neotenic package or domestication profile when they have achieved rapport past the juvenile stage, craniofacial proportions considered attractive are discussed as genetically and hormonally linked to the evolution of rapport — social contact, trust, and cooperation — whether by natural, intuitive, intentional, or mixed paths of selection.
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Changes in the sexual dimorphism of the human mandible during the last 1200 years in Central Europe
Šárka Bejdová et al.
HOMO - Journal of Comparative Human Biology, forthcoming
Abstract:
According to many investigations, changes in mandibular morphology can occur synchronously with changes in the environment, and sexual dimorphism of the mandible can be influenced by the environment. Sexual dimorphism during the last 1200 years was evaluated using geometric morphometric analysis of virtual cranial models. The method of geometric morphometrics allows differences in size and shape to be assessed separately. We analyzed groups of adult individuals dating to Early Middle Ages, High Middle Ages, Early Modern Ages and from a modern Czech population (21st century). Significant sexual dimorphism in mandibular size was found in all populations. A trend in the sexual dimorphism of size was seen, with differences between the sexes increasing gradually over time. Size changes in female mandibles were a better reflection of environmental conditions and climate than size changes in male mandibles. Regarding changes in the sexual dimorphism of shape, significant dimorphism was found in all four samples. However, the pattern of mandibular shape dimorphism was different and varied considerably between samples. There was only one stable shape trait showing sexual dimorphism across all four samples in our study: the gonion lies more laterally in male than in female mandibles and male mandibles are relatively wider than female mandibles. Sexual dimorphism of shape is not influenced by the climate; instead sexual selection might play a role. This research supports earlier studies that have found that the degree and pattern of sexual dimorphism is population-specific and the factors regulating sexual dimorphism today may not be the same as those in the past.
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Qinghua Yang & Cong Li
Computers in Human Behavior, November 2013, Pages 2796–2804
Abstract:
Computer-mediated communication environments such as personal websites enable users to use multimedia to construct their self-identities. How these multimedia elements in the cyberspace such as audios influence interpersonal impressions is somewhat unclear in the literature. Based on Brunswik’s lens model, this research aims to examine the impact of audio information on impression formation by testing: (a) how the background music of a personal website affects perceived attractiveness of the website owner and how gender moderates this effect, and (b) whether such an effect is mediated by perceived personality. A 2 × 2 full factorial experiment was conducted where participants (N = 122) were randomly assigned to view a cross-gender personal website with either classical or heavy metal background music. The experimental findings suggested a significant mediated moderation effect: gender moderated the relationship between music type and perceived attractiveness of the website owner such that male participants perceived the female website owner with classical background music as more attractive while female participants considered the male website owner with heavy metal background music to be more attractive, and this moderation was mediated by the website owner’s perceived agreeableness.
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Environmental Influences on Mate Preferences as Assessed by a Scenario Manipulation Experiment
Daniele Marzoli et al.
PLoS ONE, September 2013
Abstract:
Many evolutionary psychology studies have addressed the topic of mate preferences, focusing particularly on gender and cultural differences. However, the extent to which situational and environmental variables might affect mate preferences has been comparatively neglected. We tested 288 participants in order to investigate the perceived relative importance of six traits of an ideal partner (wealth, dominance, intelligence, height, kindness, attractiveness) under four different hypothetical scenarios (status quo/nowadays, violence/post-nuclear, poverty/resource exhaustion, prosperity/global well-being). An equal number of participants (36 women, 36 men) was allotted to each scenario; each was asked to allocate 120 points across the six traits according to their perceived value. Overall, intelligence was the trait to which participants assigned most importance, followed by kindness and attractiveness, and then by wealth, dominance and height. Men appraised attractiveness as more valuable than women. Scenario strongly influenced the relative importance attributed to traits, the main finding being that wealth and dominance were more valued in the poverty and post-nuclear scenarios, respectively, compared to the other scenarios. Scenario manipulation generally had similar effects in both sexes, but women appeared particularly prone to trade off other traits for dominance in the violence scenario, and men particularly prone to trade off other traits for wealth in the poverty scenario. Our results are in line with other correlational studies of situational variables and mate preferences, and represent strong evidence of a causal relationship of environmental factors on specific mate preferences, corroborating the notion of an evolved plasticity to current ecological conditions. A control experiment seems to suggest that our scenarios can be considered as realistic descriptions of the intended ecological conditions.
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Dating Relationships in Older Adulthood: A National Portrait
Susan Brown & Sayaka Shinohara
Journal of Marriage and Family, October 2013, Pages 1194–1202
Abstract:
Dating in later life is likely common, especially as the proportion of older adults who are single continues to rise. Yet there are no recent national estimates of either the prevalence or factors associated with dating during older adulthood. Using data from the 2005–2006 National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, a nationally representative sample of 3,005 individuals ages 57–85, the authors constructed a national portrait of older adult daters. Roughly 14% of singles were in a dating relationship. Dating was more common among men than women and declined with age. Compared to non-daters, daters were more socially advantaged. Daters were more likely to be college educated and had more assets, were in better health, and reported more social connectedness. This study underscores the importance of new research on partnering in later life, particularly with the aging of the U.S. population and the swelling ranks of older singles.