bims-chumac 2020-01-12 papers

Issue of 2020–01–12
three papers selected by
Jay Dixit, Storytelling.NYC

J Sex Marital Ther. 2020 Jan 09. 1-13

Partners' Daily Love and Desire as Predictors of Engagement in and Enjoyment of Sexual Activity.

Romantic love and sexual desire have often been seen as two distinct constructs and studied separately. However, in most romantic relationships love, desire, and sex are intertwined. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether daily feelings of love and desire influence engagement in and enjoyment of sexual activity. Ninety mixed-sex couples (N = 180) completed a 30-day daily diary. The results were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling and showed that both love and desire significantly predicted engagement in and enjoyment of sexual activity with desire being a stronger predictor. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2019.1711274

J Sex Marital Ther. 2020 Jan 09. 1-16

Factors Associated with Subjective Orgasm Experience in Heterosexual Relationships.

Ana Isabel Arcos-Romero, Juan Carlos Sierra.

The main objective of this study was to determine the predictive capacity of different variables, organized based on Ecological theory (i.e., personal, interpersonal, social, and ideological), in the intensity of the subjective orgasm experience within the context of heterosexual relationships. The sample was composed of 1,300 adults (547 men, 753 women). The proposed model for men showed that more intense subjective orgasm experience was predicted by age, sexual sensations seeking, sexual satisfaction, and partner-focused sexual desire. The model for women showed that more intense subjective orgasm experience was predicted by age, erotophilia, sexual sensation seeking, partner-focused sexual desire, and sexual satisfaction.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2019.1711273

Sci Rep. 2020 Jan 10. 10(1): 110

Humans judge faces in incomplete photographs as physically more attractive.

Diana Orghian, César A Hidalgo.

Attractive people are perceived to be healthier, wealthier, and more sociable. Yet, people often judge the attractiveness of others based on incomplete and inaccurate facial information. Here, we test the hypothesis that people fill in the missing information with positive inferences when judging others' facial beauty. To test this hypothesis, we conducted seven experiments where participants judged the attractiveness of human faces in complete and incomplete photographs. Our data shows that-relative to complete photographs-participants judge faces in incomplete photographs as physically more attractive. This positivity bias is replicated for different types of incompleteness; is mostly specific to aesthetic judgments; is stronger for male participants; is specific to human faces when compared to pets, flowers, and landscapes; seems to involve a holistic processing; and is stronger for atypical faces. These findings contribute to our understanding of how people perceive and make inferences about others' beauty.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-56437-4