bims-chumac 2022-12-04 papers

bims-chumac

Biomed News

on Context effects on human mate choice

Issue of 2022–12–04
six papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society

Put Me in Your Shoes: Does Perspective-Taking Inoculate Against the Appeal of Alternative Partners?
Hot for Robots! Sexual Arousal Increases Willingness to Have Sex with Robots.
Lordosis in Humans.
Stigma Toward Consensual Non-Monogamy: Thematic Analysis and Minority Stress.
Dating app usage and motivations for dating app usage are associated with increased disordered eating.
Psychological Perceptions of Women With Sexual Arousal Disorder: A Qualitative Study in Iranian Culture.

J Sex Res. 2022 Dec 02. 1-10

Put Me in Your Shoes: Does Perspective-Taking Inoculate Against the Appeal of Alternative Partners?

Gurit E Birnbaum, Tammy Bachar, Gal F Levy, Kobi Zholtack, Harry T Reis.

People commit to monogamous relationships with the intent of maintaining sexual exclusivity but often fail to do so. Existing research has focused on individual and relationship characteristics that render relationships more vulnerable to infidelity, paying less attention to strategies that decrease the likelihood of straying. Three experiments investigated the impact of one strategy that might encourage people to enact relationship-protective responses toward alternative partners, perspective-taking. In all studies, participants either adopted the perspective of their partner or not and then evaluated, encountered, or thought about attractive strangers, in Studies 1-3, respectively. Participants' pro-relationship orientation and reactions during these experiences (interest in alternative and current partners, commitment to current relationships, and fantasmatic themes) were recorded. Results showed that perspective-taking decreased sexual and romantic interest in alternatives, while increasing commitment and desire for current partners. These findings suggest that partner perspective-taking discourages engagement in behaviors that may hurt partners and damage the relationship with them.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2022.2150998
J Sex Res. 2022 Nov 30. 1-11

Hot for Robots! Sexual Arousal Increases Willingness to Have Sex with Robots.

S Dubé, M Williams, M Santaguida, R Hu, T Gadoury, B Yim, D Vachon, A P Johnson.

Robots designed to elicit sexual arousal are coming. Sexual arousal can increase our willingness to engage in risky or unconventional sexual behaviors. However, researchers have yet to examine whether this effect extends to robots. Hence, this study provides the first empirical evidence that state sexual arousal can increase our willingness to engage erotically with robots. Based on previous research, we hypothesized that levels of sexual arousal would positively predict willingness to engage erotically with robots (Hypothesis 1); and that men would be more willing to engage erotically with robots than women (Hypothesis 2). A convenience sample of 321 adults (≥18y) completed a two-part online survey measuring their willingness to have sex with, love, engage in an intimate relationship with, and be friends with a robot and a human before and after viewing a sexually explicit video. The results partly support Hypotheses 1-2. They show that state sexual arousal increases willingness to have sex with a robot, and that men are more willing to have sex and engage in an intimate relationship with a robot than women, pre- and post-manipulation. These findings are important given the rise of sex robots and their potential influence on our intimate decisions and behaviors.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2022.2142190
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2022 Dec 02. 1461672221115218

Lordosis in Humans.

Ayten Yesim Semchenko, Zeynep Senveli, Mitchell R L Forrest, Jonathon Flores, Vojtěch Fiala, Laith Al-Shawaf, David M Buss, David M G Lewis.

  Despite progress in attractiveness research, we have yet to identify many fitness-relevant cues in the human phenotype or humans' psychology for responding to them. Here, we test hypotheses about psychological systems that may have evolved to process distinct cues in the female lumbar region. The Fetal Load Hypothesis proposes a male preference for a morphological cue: lumbar curvature. The Lordosis Detection Hypothesis posits context-dependent male attraction to a movement: lordosis behavior. In two studies (Study 1 N: 102, Study 2 N: 231), we presented men with animated female characters that varied in their lumbar curvature and back arching (i.e., lordosis behavior). Irrespective of mating context, men's attraction increased as lumbar curvature approached the hypothesized optimum. By contrast, men experienced greater attraction to lordosis behavior in short-term than long-term mating contexts. These findings support both the Lordosis Detection and Fetal Load Hypotheses. Discussion focuses on the meaning of human lordosis and the importance of dynamic stimuli in attractiveness research.

Keywords:  attractiveness; human mating; lordosis; lumbar curvature; mate preferences

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221115218
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2022 Dec 03. 1461672221139086

Stigma Toward Consensual Non-Monogamy: Thematic Analysis and Minority Stress.

Elizabeth A Mahar, Louis H Irving, Allison Derovanesian, Abigail Masterson, Gregory D Webster.

  Consensually non-monogamous (CNM) romantic and sexual relationships tend to be stigmatized. The present research examined this stigma across two studies. First, we qualitatively explored the specific ways that people in CNM relationships report experiencing stigma using thematic analysis and identified the following four themes: Expressions of discomfort/disapproval of CNM, Loss of resources/threatening behaviors, Character devaluation, and Relationship devaluation (Study 1; N = 372). Second, we examined the relationship between experienced stigma and psychological well-being for people in CNM relationships, using the framework of minority stress theory. We found that experienced stigma was positively associated with psychological distress and that this association was partially statistically mediated by anticipated stigma and internalized stigma (Study 2; N = 383). Overall, this research strives to achieve a better understanding of the processes and potential consequences of stigma toward CNM relationships and individuals.

Keywords:  consensual non-monogamy; discrimination; minority stress; romantic relationships; stigma

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221139086
J Eat Disord. 2022 Nov 28. 10(1): 186

Dating app usage and motivations for dating app usage are associated with increased disordered eating.

K Blake, J Portingale, S Giles, S Griffiths, I Krug.

  The centrality of physical appearance in dating app environments may constitute an appearance-related pressure that increases the likelihood of body dissatisfaction (BD) and disordered eating (DE), thus exacerbating the relationship between DE-predictive traits and DE itself. Although dating app use has been linked to BD and DE, prior research has also neglected the role of individuals' dating app use motivations and relevant traits in eating pathology. To address these gaps, the current study investigated whether dating app usage moderated the effects of appearance-based rejection sensitivity, fear of negative evaluation, emotion dysregulation, and perceived social rank on DE. We also examined the unique effects of individuals' dating app use motivations on DE. Participants (N = 690) completed baseline measures of demographic and trait variables including dating app usage. DE was positively associated with female gender, higher body mass index, a history of eating disorder (ED) diagnosis, appearance-based rejection sensitivity, and emotion dysregulation. There was a small, positive association between dating app usage and DE, indicating that dating app users were more likely to report DE symptoms, appearance-based rejection sensitivity, and emotion dysregulation. No investigated predictor was moderated by dating app usage, but four of the six measured motivations for using dating apps (love, self-worth, ease of communication, and thrill of excitement motivations) were associated with DE among the dating app user sample (casual sex and trendiness motivations were not). Given that DE behaviours can lead to EDs, the present findings suggest that lifetime dating app usage may increase socio-cultural appearance pressures that confer risk for DE.

Keywords:  Dating apps; Disordered eating; Emotion regulation; Rejection sensitivity; Social rank

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-022-00693-9
J Family Reprod Health. 2022 Jun;16(2): 106-115

Psychological Perceptions of Women With Sexual Arousal Disorder: A Qualitative Study in Iranian Culture.

Zohreh Halvaiepour, Hamid Reza Oreyzi, Mehdi Nosratabadi, Fariba Yazdkhasti.

  Objective: Psychological perceptions are concerned with how a person perceives and psychologically frames life with an illness. The current study sought to examine the psychological perceptions of women suffering from Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder in the setting of Isfahan, Iran. Materials and methods : The study was done according a qualitative design, and it was conducted in Isfahan, Iran, from July 2018 to February 2019. Twenty in-depth interviews were performed with 20 patients who were recruited on the purposeful method. The thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the data. The data were organized using MAXQDA software (version 12). Results: The following four themes were extracted: (i) Dysfunctional cognition, which includes five sub-themes: attention bias, belief bias, memory bias, perceptual bias, and cognitive distortion; and (ii) Relationship and partner factors, which include four sub-themes: psychological maltreatment, aggression, deception, and betrayal.; (iii) lack of life skills, which includes four sub-themes: poor problem-solving, poor sexual knowledge, poor understanding and intimate relationships, and immature defense mechanisms; and (iv) lack of motivation and genuine interest, which includes two sub-themes: forced marriage and lack of initial affection and attraction to the husband. Conclusion: Internal and interpersonal factors were shown to have a role in the creation of sexual arousal disorder in Iranian women, according to the study. As a result, designing scenarios for cognitive bias modification and educational programs for improving interpersonal skills would be beneficial.

Keywords:  Perception; Psychological Sexual Dysfunctions; Qualitative Research

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.18502/jfrh.v16i2.9478