Wedded to the System
The irony of (romantic) harmony: Heterosexual romantic relationships can drive women’s justification of the gender hierarchy
Danit Sobol-Sarag et al.
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, forthcoming
Abstract:
Even though gender inequality is evident across life domains, women often justify the gender hierarchy. We examined whether the very closeness that heterosexual women share with their male romantic partners predicts their justification of gender inequality. We drew on intergroup-related research, showing that positive perceptions that minority groups develop within harmonious intergroup interactions, generalize to affect their views of group-based inequality. We expected that to the extent that women experience their romantic relationships positively, they will be more accepting of gender inequality within their homes, and these perceptions will generalize to predict justification of macro-level gender inequality. Five correlational and two experimental studies supported this prediction. The more women rated (or were primed with) their relationship as positive, the more they justified the gender social system. This was mediated by women’s perception of their housework division as fair, and was less pronounced among feminists. Implications regarding social change are discussed.
Social Distancing, Stimulus Payments, and Domestic Violence: Evidence from the US during COVID-19
Bilge Erten, Pinar Keskin & Silvia Prina
AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2022, Pages 262-266
Abstract:
We examine the effects of social distancing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on the reporting of domestic violence to the police in the United States. Using daily domestic violence calls from 31 police departments from January to September 2020 (compared to 2019), we find that the early spike in police calls disappears around mid-April, coinciding with the distribution of CARES Act stimulus payments. We observe that domestic violence calls for areas with higher concentration of Hispanics and noncitizens remain elevated even after this period. These results underscore the importance of improved access to social safety programs in combating domestic violence.
Prime Time Affairs: A Quantitative Analysis of Infidelity in Popular Television Programs
Cassandra Alexopoulos & Hilary Gamble
Sexuality & Culture, August 2022, Pages 1490–1509
Abstract:
A content analysis was conducted of infidelity depictions in popular television programs released in 2017–2018. Findings revealed that approximately one-third of the television programs sampled depicted infidelity behaviors or talk about infidelity; however, the amount of infidelity depicted did not differ by genre. Attraction to another was the main reason characters engaged in infidelity. Although the consequences of engaging in infidelity were primarily negative, these consequences differed by type of infidelity: Sexual infidelity incurred more positive consequences, and romantic infidelity incurred more negative consequences.
The Relational Wear and Tear of Everyday Racism Among African American Couples
Anthony Ong et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
The wear and tear of adapting to chronic stressors such as racism and discrimination can have detrimental effects on mental and physical health. Here, we investigated the wider implications of everyday racism for relationship quality in an adult sample of 98 heterosexual African American couples. Participants reported on their experiences of racial discrimination and positive and negative affect for 21 consecutive evenings. Using dyadic analyses, we found that independently of age, gender, marital status, income, racial-discrimination frequency, neuroticism, and mean levels of affect, participants’ relationship quality was inversely associated with their partner’s negative affective reactivity to racial discrimination. Associations did not vary by gender, suggesting that the effects of affective reactivity were similar for men and women. These findings highlight the importance of a dyadic approach and call for further research examining the role of everyday racism as a key source of stress in the lives of African American couples.
Extreme metal guitar skill: A case of male–male status seeking, mate attraction, or byproduct?
Tara DeLecce et al.
Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
There has been much debate around the ultimate explanation of cultural displays such as music and art. There are two main competing hypotheses for the function of music: sexual selection or byproduct of the complexity of the human brain. Although there is evidence that playing music increases male attractiveness, the sexual selection explanation may not be mutually exclusive to all types of music. Extreme metal is a genre that is heavily male-biased, not only among the individuals that play this style of music, but also among the fans of the genre. Therefore, it is unlikely that extreme metal musicians are primarily trying to increase their mating success through their music. However, musicians in this genre heavily invest their time in building technical skills (e.g., dexterity, coordination, timing), which raises the question of the purpose behind this costly investment. It could be that men engage in this genre mainly for status-seeking purposes: to intimidate other males with their technical skills and speed and thus gain social status. To explore the reasoning behind investment in technical guitar skills, a sample of 44 heterosexual male metal guitarists was recruited and surveyed about their practicing habits (newly created survey for this study), sexual behavior (using the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory–Revised [SOI-R]; Penke & Asendorpf, 2008), and feelings of competitiveness toward the same sex (via the Intrasexual Competition Scale [ICS]; Buunk & Fisher, 2009). The survey results indicated that time spent playing chords predicted desire for casual sex with women whereas perceptions of playing speed positively predicted intrasexual competitiveness (a desire to impress other men). The discussion addresses how these results, and the extreme metal genre, might relate to the three competing hypotheses for the function of cultural displays.
Unrestricted Sociosexuality Decreases Women’s (but not Men’s) Homophobia
Satoshi Kanazawa
Sexuality & Culture, August 2022, Pages 1422–1431
Abstract:
A recent evolutionary theory of female sexual fluidity suggests that women do not have sexual orientations in the same sense that men do, and instead women’s apparent sexual orientation is a function of their sociosexual orientation. Among other things, the theory predicts that women’s unrestricted sociosexual orientation decreases their negative attitude toward same-sex behavior, whereas men’s unrestricted sociosexual orientation increases it. An analysis of the General Social Surveys data shows that, net of age, education, race, religion, religiosity, political attitude, intelligence, urbanicity and region of residence, and survey year, sociosexually unrestricted women are less likely to believe homosexual relationships are always morally wrong, while sociosexuality was not associated with homophobia among men. The study provides further evidence for the evolutionary theory of female sexual fluidity.
Aloneliness predicts relational anger and aggression toward romantic partners
Julie Swets & Cathy Cox
Aggressive Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Aloneliness is the negative psychological state characterized by dissatisfaction with one's lack of solitude, which is connected to well-being deficits (e.g., depression, stress). From an I3 theory perspective, we expected that aloneliness could predict anger and partner-directed aggression among persons in romantic relationships, who must, by nature of their partnership, dedicate time to their romantic partners. In Studies 1a and 1b (N = 554), trait aloneliness positively correlated with trait anger, aggression, and violence, but more strongly among persons in relationships (vs. single persons). In Study 2, aloneliness was experimentally primed among 93 undergraduates in relationships. When aloneliness was salient (vs. a control), participants reported higher anger and used more pins in a partner-representative voodoo doll. These results suggest that solitude is an inhibiting factor against anger and, potentially, the perpetration of partner-directed aggression. Although subsequent work in this area is needed, we add evidence showing the importance of individual differences in the need for solitude.