bims-chumac Biomed News
on Context effects on human mate choice
Issue of 2021–08–08
five papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society



  1. PLoS One. 2021 ;16(8): e0254725
      Evolutionary psychology has emerged as a controversial discipline, particularly with regard to its claims concerning the biological basis of sex differences in human mate preferences. Drawing on theories of motivated inference, we hypothesized that those who are most likely to be privileged by specific aspects of the theory would be most likely to support the theory. In particular, we predicted that physical attractiveness would be positively associated with endorsement of predictions of evolutionary psychology concerning mating strategies. Two studies confirmed this hypothesis. In Study 1, participants rated as higher in physical attractiveness were more likely to support specific principles of evolutionary psychology. In Study 2, a manipulation designed to boost self-perceived physical attractiveness increased endorsement of those same principles. Observer-rated physical attractiveness generally predicted individuals' support of the theoretical principles better than did gender, political orientation, or self-esteem. Results suggest that those most likely to benefit according to certain predictions of evolutionary psychology are also those most likely to be sympathetic toward its relevant principles.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254725
  2. Front Psychol. 2021 ;12 656084
      Perceived trustworthiness is one of the most important facial traits in social interaction. To elucidate how facial trustworthiness is assessed by others and its relationship to other facial traits would have significant theoretical and practical implications. Prior studies have shown that perceived attractiveness and typicality of a face may contribute to trustworthiness judgments; i.e., trustworthy faces are always the typical and attractive ones. Here, by conducting judgments of facial traits (i.e., trustworthiness, attractiveness, and typicality) on the same set of faces, we revealed a more profound relationship among these facial traits. First, we found that trustworthiness judgments did not always peak at the average face, in contrast to previous research. Second, trustworthiness exhibited a nonlinear relationship with attractiveness and typicality: Men relied more on typicality when judging a face as untrustworthy or neutral, whereas women relied more on typicality when judging a face as untrustworthy but more on attractiveness when judging a face as trustworthy. Third, women and men may utilize different traits to evaluate face trustworthiness: The relationship between trustworthiness and typicality judgments was closer in men than in women, whereas women counted on face attractiveness more than men did to evaluate face trustworthiness. These findings demonstrate that judging the trustworthiness of a face is a more complex process than previously thought, which may lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying highly flexible and sophisticated social interactions in humans.
    Keywords:  attractiveness; face perception; gender differences; trustworthiness; typicality
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656084
  3. Front Psychol. 2021 ;12 673202
      Technology-mediated sexual interaction (TMSI) refers to any partnered interaction that involves sending or receiving self-created, sexually explicit content using communication technology (e. g., sexting, cybersex). Most research on TMSI assumes that experiences are desired and consensual. However, it is likely that some people do not desire all their TMSI experiences but consent to them anyways (compliance), or experience non-consensual TMSIs. People also engage in TMSIs with different types of partners. According to the traditional sexual script (TSS), other-gender attracted women and men's non-consensual TMSI experiences should differ overall and depending on the relationship context of the experience. The goal of this study was to examine the role of sexual scripts in other-gender attracted women and men's non-consensual and compliant TMSI experiences with committed romantic partners (CRPs), known non-partners (KNPs), and strangers (Ss). Women (n = 331) and men (n = 120) completed an online survey with questions about lifetime prevalence of experiencing seven types of compliant and non-consensual TMSIs in each relationship context. Results of mixed ANOVAs revealed significant interactions: overall, more participants reported compliant TMSI with CRPs. More women than men had received a non-consensual TMSI from someone they were not in a committed relationship with, and more men than women reported sending non-consensual TMSIs to a stranger. Tests of unpaired proportions suggested that the prevalence of sending and receiving non-consensual TMSIs was discordant in the KNP and S contexts: both women and men received more non-consensual TMSIs from KNPs and Ss than the other-gender reported sending. Our findings suggest that gendered sexual scripts are evident in some, but not all, aspect of other-gender attracted women and men's compliant and non-consensual TMSI experiences.
    Keywords:  gender differences; relationships; sexting; sexual compliance; sexual consent; technology-mediated sexual interaction; token resistance; traditional sexual script
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.673202
  4. Br J Soc Psychol. 2021 Aug 04.
      Self-objectification, the internalization of an observer's appearance-based perspective of one's body, has been theorized and demonstrated to reduce body awareness among women. In this field study, we propose self-objectification as the mechanism to explain the oft-observed phenomenon where women wearing little clothing appear unbothered by cold weather, positing that self-objectification obstructs women's feelings of cold. We surveyed women outside nightclubs on cold nights, assessed self-objectification, and asked participants to report how cold they felt. Anonymous photos were taken and coded for amount of skin exposure. We hypothesized that self-objectification would moderate the relationship between clothing coverage and reports of feeling cold. Our hypothesis was supported: women low in self-objectification showed a positive, intuitive, relationship between skin exposure and perceptions of coldness, but women more highly focused on their appearance did not feel colder when wearing less clothing. These findings offer support for the relationship between self-objectification and awareness of bodily sensations in the context of a naturalistic setting. We discuss implications of these findings, and also consider limitations, an alternative explanation, and directions for future research.
    Keywords:  body awareness; field study; self-objectification
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12489
  5. J Sex Res. 2021 Aug 06. 1-12
      While the sexual acceptability of contraception - or, the impact of contraceptive methods on individuals' sexual experiences - is a growing area of research, less frequently do studies engage the importance of individual emotions around sex when it comes to perceptions of sexual acceptability. Building on Higgins and Smith's model of sexual acceptability and drawing upon insights from the sociology of gender, we used qualitative interview data with 30 women in Utah (USA) to explore the importance of emotional understandings of sex for women's assessments of the sexual acceptability of different contraceptives. Here we posit that emotional understandings of sex are not just individualistic - they are also structured by experiences with sexual partners and broader gendered expectations. This work adds insight into the importance of emotions in sexual acceptability and suggests the need for an amendment to Higgins and Smith's model that reflects the synergistic nature of the micro/individual, meso/interactional, and macro factors related to sexual acceptability. We conclude that assessing the sexual acceptability of contraceptives requires a nuanced multi-level interaction framework.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2021.1958194