First base
Assortative Mating on Ideology Could Operate Through Olfactory Cues
Rose McDermott, Dustin Tingley & Peter Hatemi
American Journal of Political Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Mates appear to assort on political attitudes more than any other social, behavioral, or physical trait, besides religion. Yet the process by which ideologically similar mates end up together remains ambiguous. Mates do not appear to consciously select one another based on ideology, nor does similarity result from convergence. Recently, several lines of inquiry have converged on the finding that olfactory processes have an important role in both political ideology and mate selection. Here we integrate extant studies of attraction, ideology, and olfaction and explore the possibility that assortation on political attitudes may result, in part, from greater attraction to the scent of those with shared ideology. We conduct a study in which individuals evaluated the body odor of unknown others, observing that individuals are more attracted to their ideological concomitants.
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Abigail Weitzman & Dalton Conley
NBER Working Paper, August 2014
Abstract:
Studies of online dating suggest that physical attraction is a key factor in early relationship formation, but say little about the role of attractiveness in longer-term relationships. Meanwhile, assortative coupling and exchange models widely employed in demographic research overlook the powerful sorting function of initial and sustained physical attraction. This article observes the effects of one physical characteristic of men — height — on various relationship outcomes in longer-term relationships, including spouses’ attributes, marriage entry and stability, and the division of household labor. Drawing on two different cohorts from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the authors show that (1) height-coupling norms have changed little over the last three decades, (2) short, average, and tall men’s spouses are qualitatively different from one another (3) short men marry and divorce at lower rates than others and (4) both men’s height relative to other men and their height relative to their spouse are related to the within-couple distribution of household labor and earnings. These findings depict an enduring height hierarchy among men on in the spousal marriage market. Further, they indicate that at least one physical characteristic commonly associated with physical attraction influences the formation, functioning, and stability of longer-term relationships.
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The Effects of Sexually–Explicit Literature on Sexual Behaviors and Desires of Women
Maria Reese-Weber & Dawn McBride
Psychology of Popular Media Culture, forthcoming
Abstract:
To test 3 prominent theories of media influence, the present study examined the impact of reading the Fifty Shades of Grey novels on young women’s sexual self-esteem, sexual behaviors, and desires. College women (N = 258) completed surveys on sexual self-esteem, sexual behaviors, and desires. Participants were separated into those who had read Fifty Shades (Read; n = 91) and those who had not (Not-Read; n = 167). Those who had not read the books were asked to read the books and report their sexual self-esteem, sexual behaviors, and sexual desires at follow-up (Experimental group; n = 49). Results showed that the Read group reported higher sexual desires than the Not-Read group, supporting the gratification theory. Contrary to recent news media claims, increases in sexual behaviors were not found for the Experimental group. Instead, sexual behaviors decreased, particularly for those who had low character identification, which is contrary to cultivation and media practice theories.
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Affective and Cognitive Determinants of Women's Sexual Response to Erotica
Sandra Vilarinho et al.
Journal of Sexual Medicine, forthcoming
Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the contribution of self-reported thoughts and affect to the prediction of women's subjective and genital responses to erotica.
Methods: Twenty-eight sexually functional women (mean age = 32, SD = 6.29) were presented with sexually explicit and nonexplicit romantic films. Genital responses, subjective sexual arousal, state affect, and self-reported thoughts were assessed.
Results: Correlations between subjective and physiological sexual arousal were low (r = −0.05, P > 0.05). Self-reported thoughts and affect were significant predictors of subjective sexual arousal. The strongest single predictor of subjective arousal was sexual arousal thoughts (e.g., “I'm getting excited”) (β = 0.63, P < 0.01). None of the cognitive or affective variables predicted women's genital responses.
Conclusions: Overall, results support the role of cognitive (self-reported thoughts) and affective dimensions in women's subjective sexual arousal to erotica and, consistent with previous findings, suggest that subjective and physiological sexual arousal may be impacted by different processes.
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Sexual Activity with Romantic and Nonromantic Partners and Psychosocial Adjustment in Young Adults
Wyndol Furman & Charlene Collibee
Archives of Sexual Behavior, October 2014, Pages 1327-1341
Abstract:
The present study examined whether positive or negative links occur between psychosocial adjustment and sexual activity with four types of partners — romantic partners, friends, acquaintances, and friends with benefits. We examined longitudinal associations and concurrent between-person and within-person associations. A representative sample of 185 participants (93 males, 92 females), their friends, and mothers completed questionnaires when the participants were 2.5, 4, and 5.5 years out of high school. Regardless of the type of partner, more frequent sexual activity relative to the sexual activity of other young adults was associated with more substance use and risky sexual behavior (i.e., between-person effects). Similarly, for all types of nonromantic partners, more frequrent sexual activity relative to one’s own typical sexual activity was associated with more substance use and risky sexual behavior (i.e., within-person effects). Differences in frequency of sexual activity with friends and acquaintances were associated with greater internalizing and externalizing symptoms as well as lower self-esteem. Follow-up analyses revealed the associations were particularly strong for friends with benefits. Women’s sexual activity frequency with a nonromantic partner was more commonly associated with poorer psychosocial adjustment than such activity by men. More frequent sexual activity with a romantic partner was associated with higher self-esteem and lower internalizing symptoms. Few long-term effects were found for any type of sexual activity. The findings underscore the importance of examining relationship context and illustrate the value of using multiple analytic strategies for identifying the precise nature of associations.
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Valentina Cartei, Rod Bond & David Reby
Hormones and Behavior, September 2014, Pages 569–576
Abstract:
Men’s voices contain acoustic cues to body size and hormonal status, which have been found to affect women's ratings of speaker size, masculinity and attractiveness. However, the extent to which these voice parameters mediate the relationship between speakers' fitness-related features and listener’s judgments of their masculinity has not yet been investigated. We audio-recorded 37 adult heterosexual males performing a range of speech tasks and asked 20 adult heterosexual female listeners to rate speakers' masculinity on the basis of their voices only. We then used a two-level (speaker within listener) path analysis to examine the relationships between the physical (testosterone, height), acoustic (fundamental frequency or F0, and resonances or ΔF) and perceptual dimensions (listeners’ ratings) of speakers’ masculinity. Overall, results revealed that male speakers who were taller and had higher salivary testosterone levels also had lower F0 and ΔF, and were in turn rated as more masculine. The relationship between testosterone and perceived masculinity was essentially mediated by F0, while that of height and perceived masculinity was partially mediated by both F0 and ΔF. These observations confirm that women listeners attend to sexually dimorphic voice cues to assess the masculinity of unseen male speakers. In turn, variation in these voice features correlate with speakers’ variation in stature and hormonal status, highlighting the interdependence of these physiological, acoustic and perceptual dimensions.
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Sexual Subjectivity among Adolescent Girls: Social Disadvantage and Young Adult Outcomes
Simon Cheng et al.
Social Forces, forthcoming
Abstract:
A risk framework characterizing teenage sexual activities as dangerous, especially for girls, has dominated research on teenage sexuality. Consequently, girls' sexual subjectivity has been virtually unexamined by large-scale quantitative research. We use the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine teenage girls' expectations of pleasure during intercourse and sexual self-efficacy, reflecting two key components of sexual subjectivity. Our findings indicate that youth from less socioeconomically privileged families report lower expectations than their privileged peers. There are also racial/ethnic disparities: Black-white differences can be explained by class, religion, and regional sexual education variation, but Latina and Asian girls display disadvantages even after controlling for these factors. Using a life-course approach, we show that dimensions of sexual subjectivity offer wide-reaching benefits in young adulthood, spanning multiple domains — including future sexual health, mental and physical health, and socioeconomic standing. We address the implications of our findings for the reproduction of inequality and conceptualizations of sexual risk and well-being.
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Piotr Sorokowski et al.
PLoS ONE, August 2014
Abstract:
The issue of cultural universality of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) attractiveness in women is currently under debate. We tested men's preferences for female WHR in traditional society of Tsimane'(Native Amazonians) of the Bolivian rainforest (N = 66). Previous studies showed preferences for high WHR in traditional populations, but they did not control for the women's body mass.We used a method of stimulus creation that enabled us to overcome this problem. We found that WHR lower than the average WHR in the population is preferred independent of cultural conditions. Our participants preferred the silhouettes of low WHR, but high body mass index (BMI), which might suggest that previous results could be an artifact related to employed stimuli. We found also that preferences for female BMI are changeable and depend on environmental conditions and probably acculturation (distance from the city). Interestingly, the Tsimane' men did not associate female WHR with age, health, physical strength or fertility. This suggests that men do not have to be aware of the benefits associated with certain body proportions - an issue that requires further investigation.
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Nicholas Pound et al.
Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, 7 October 2014
Abstract:
The idea that symmetry in facial traits is associated with attractiveness because it reliably indicates good physiological health, particularly to potential sexual partners, has generated an extensive literature on the evolution of human mate choice. However, large-scale tests of this hypothesis using direct or longitudinal assessments of physiological health are lacking. Here, we investigate relationships between facial fluctuating asymmetry (FA) and detailed individual health histories in a sample (n = 4732) derived from a large longitudinal study (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children) in South West England. Facial FA was assessed using geometric morphometric analysis of facial landmark configurations derived from three-dimensional facial scans taken at 15 years of age. Facial FA was not associated with longitudinal measures of childhood health. However, there was a very small negative association between facial FA and IQ that remained significant after correcting for a positive allometric relationship between FA and face size. Overall, this study does not support the idea that facial symmetry acts as a reliable cue to physiological health. Consequently, if preferences for facial symmetry do represent an evolved adaptation, then they probably function not to provide marginal fitness benefits by choosing between relatively healthy individuals on the basis of small differences in FA, but rather evolved to motivate avoidance of markers of substantial developmental disturbance and significant pathology.