bims-chumac 2021-11-28 papers

Issue of 2021–11–28
four papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society

Front Psychol. 2021 ;12 753460

Differences in Motivation to Engage in Sexual Activity Between People in Monogamous and Non-monogamous Committed Relationships.

Anna Kelberg Kelberga, Baiba Martinsone.

This study compared motivations to engage in sex between monogamous and non-monogamous respondents (n = 1,238, out of which 641 monogamous and 596 non-monogamous respondents; women-47.4%, men-50.9%, other gender-1.7%; age: M = 27.78 years, SD = 7.53, range = 18-62). The research aim was to identify whether there are differences in self-reported reasons to engage in sexual activity between these two groups. Presented with 17 reasons to engage in sexual activity, the respondents rated the frequency with which they engage in sex for each reason. While both monogamous and non-monogamous respondents reported to engage in sex with the same frequency for the reasons of sexual release and physical desirability of a partner, the research uncovered that non-monogamous respondents engage in sex significantly more often to seek new experiences, to boost self-esteem, to guard their mate, to have a specific kind of sex (such as anal, kink, or fetish) or to experience the thrill of the forbidden. Non-monogamous respondents reported higher frequency to engage in sex for most reasons overall. The study also revealed that there are differences in reasons to engage in sex among men and women, some of the differences are related to the relationship status (monogamous or non-monogamous), while others are universal for men or women irrespective of their monogamy status.

Keywords: monogamy; non-monogamy; reasons for sex; reasons to engage in sex; sexual activity

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.753460

J Soc Psychol. 2021 Nov 23. 1-15

Task measuring implicit attractiveness as a function of skin tone and facial features: a failed replication.

Elena V Stepanova, Michael J Strube, Kali D Mazur.

In two studies, participants completed an implicit attractiveness task with faces as primes varying on (a) facial features from Afrocentric to Eurocentric and (b) skin tone from dark to light, and target pictures of environmental scenes varying in attractiveness. On each trial, participants were briefly primed with a face. Next, they categorized a target picture as either attractive or unattractive as quickly as possible. In addition, in Study 2, participants rated the same faces on an attractiveness scale. While results of Study 1 showed that when faces were medium in skin tone, participants were more accurate when primed with a Eurocentric face responding to attractive targets, but also more accurate when primed with an Afrocentric face responding to unattractive targets, a more powerful Study 2 failed to replicate this effect. There was no relationship between participants' explicit ratings of attractiveness and accuracy rates in the implicit attractiveness task.

Keywords: Attractiveness; facial features; mixed race; priming; race; skin tone

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2021.2000355

Psychol Sci. 2021 Nov 25. 9567976211021854

Neural Representations of the Committed Romantic Partner in the Nucleus Accumbens.

Ryuhei Ueda, Nobuhito Abe.

Having an intimate romantic relationship is an important aspect of life. Dopamine-rich reward regions, including the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), have been identified as neural correlates for both emotional bonding with the partner and interest in unfamiliar attractive nonpartners. Here, we aimed to disentangle the overlapping functions of the NAcc using multivoxel pattern analysis, which can decode the cognitive processes encoded in particular neural activity. During functional MRI scanning, 46 romantically involved men performed the social-incentive-delay task, in which a successful response resulted in the presentation of a dynamic and positive facial expression from their partner and unfamiliar women. Multivoxel pattern analysis revealed that the spatial patterns of NAcc activity could successfully discriminate between romantic partners and unfamiliar women during the period in which participants anticipated the target presentation. We speculate that neural activity patterns within the NAcc represent the relationship partner, which might be a key neural mechanism for committed romantic relationships.

Keywords: functional MRI; reward; romantic love; social cognition; value

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976211021854

Perception. 2021 Nov 25. 3010066211061092

Impact of Face Masks on Female Body Perception is Modulated by Facial Expressions.

Eleanor Mills, Kun Guo.

People routinely wear face masks during the pandemic, but little is known about their impact on body perception. In this online study, we presented female body images of Caucasian avatars in common dress sizes displaying happy, angry, and neutral facial expressions with and without face masks, and asked women to rate the perceived body attractiveness and body size. In comparison with mask-off condition, mask-on decreased body attractiveness ratings for happy avatars but did not affect ratings for neutral avatars irrespective of avatar dress sizes. For avatars displaying angry expressions, mask-on increased body attractiveness ratings for slimmer avatars but did not affect ratings for larger avatars. On the other hand, body size estimation was not systematically affected by face masks and facial expressions. It appears that face masks mainly show an expression-dependent influence on body attractiveness judgement, possibly through suppressing the perceived facial expressions.

Keywords: body attractiveness; body size; face mask; facial expression; women

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/03010066211061092