To match or not to match
One-Way Mirrors in Online Dating: A Randomized Field Experiment
Ravi Bapna et al.
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
The growing popularity of online dating websites is altering one of the most fundamental human activities: finding a date or a marriage partner. Online dating platforms offer new capabilities, such as extensive search, big data–based mate recommendations, and varying levels of anonymity, whose parallels do not exist in the physical world. Yet little is known about the causal effects of these new features. In this study we examine the impact of a particular anonymity feature, which is unique to online environments, on matching outcomes. This feature allows users to browse profiles of other users anonymously, by being able to check out a potential mate’s profile while not leaving any visible online record of the visit. Although this feature may decrease search costs and allow users to search without inhibition, it also eliminates “weak signals” of interest for their potential mates that may play an important role in establishing successful communication. We run a randomized field experiment on a major North American online dating website, where 50,000 of 100,000 randomly selected new users are gifted the ability to anonymously view profiles of other users. Compared with the control group, the users treated with anonymity become disinhibited, in that they view more profiles and are more likely to view same-sex and interracial mates. However, based on our analysis, we demonstrate causally that weak signaling is a key mechanism in achieving higher levels of matching outcomes. Anonymous users, who lose the ability to leave a weak signal, end up having fewer matches compared with their nonanonymous counterparts. This effect of anonymity is particularly strong for women, who tend not to make the first move and instead rely on the counterparty to initiate the communication. Further, the reduction in quantity of matches by anonymous users is not compensated by a corresponding increase in quality of matches.
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Women’s reproductive success and the preference for Dark Triad in men’s faces
Urszula Marcinkowska, Minna Lyons & Samuli Helle
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Women’s preference for male partners that signal either genetic or parenting advantages for their progeny are predicted to be favoured by natural selection. However, currently there are few studies on how such mate preferences are associated with women’s reproductive success. We examined whether preferences for the Dark Triad personality traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) in men’s faces were related to reproductive success in contemporary women. Because out of three Dark Triad features narcissism is most clearly associated with social success and physical and psychological health benefits in men, we predicted that women’s preference for narcissism could be most strongly related to their reproductive success. In line with this, we found that women with preference for high narcissistic men’s faces gave birth to more offspring while controlling for their age, sexual openness (sociosexuality) and self-rated health. Moreover, women with strong preference for Machiavellian male faces reported fewer offspring than their same-aged peers with weak preference, whereas preference for psychopathic men’s faces was unrelated to women’s current number of offspring. These findings suggest that in modern society, women’s preference for some of the Dark Triad traits in men may be related to their reproductive success.
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The ‘Chasing Amy’ Bias in Past Sexual Experiences: Men Can Change, Women Cannot
Daniel Jones
Sexuality & Culture, March 2016, Pages 24-37
Abstract:
An extensive sexual history may deter individuals from committing to a potential romantic partner. However, the reasons for this deterrence may differ between men and women, such that women focus on practical concerns over suitability whereas men focus on reputation. Thus, individuals with extensive sexual histories, who are currently monogamous, should be more acceptable to women than they are to men. Two studies supported this hypothesis. Study 1 found that women rated male targets with a sexually experienced past with increased desirability for a long-term relationship if they reported recent shifts towards monogamy. In contrast, men rated sexually experienced female targets, with a recent shift towards monogamy, as least desirable. Study 2 extended the understanding of this effect by demonstrating that one time sexual experiences (i.e., threesome) had no effect on women’s judgments of currently monogamous men, but continued to negatively affect men’s judgments of currently monogamous women. In sum, women seem accepting of lifestyle changes in men, whereas men fixate on women’s previous experiences in spite of shifts towards monogamy.
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The Role of Facial and Body Hair Distribution in Women’s Judgments of Men’s Sexual Attractiveness
Barnaby Dixson & Markus Rantala
Archives of Sexual Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Facial and body hair are some of the most visually conspicuous and sexually dimorphic of all men’s secondary sexual traits. Both are androgen dependent, requiring the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone via the enzyme 5α reductase 2 for their expression. While previous studies on the attractiveness of facial and body hair are equivocal, none have accounted as to how natural variation in their distribution may influence male sexual attractiveness. In the present study, we quantified men’s facial and body hair distribution as either very light, light, medium, or heavy using natural photographs. We also tested whether women’s fertility influenced their preferences for beards and body hair by comparing preferences among heterosexual women grouped according their fertility (high fertility, low fertility, and contraceptive use). Results showed that men with more evenly and continuously distributed facial hair from the lower jaw connecting to the mustache and covering the cheeks were judged as more sexually attractive than individuals with more patchy facial hair. Men with body hair were less attractive than when clean shaven, with the exception of images depicting some hair around the areolae, pectoral region, and the sternum that were significantly more attractive than clean-shaven bodies. However, there was no effect of fertility on women’s preferences for men’s beard or body hair distribution. These results suggest that the distribution of facial and body hair influences male attractiveness to women, possibly as an indication of masculine development and the synthesis of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone via 5α reductase.
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Gendered jocks or equal players? Athletic affiliation and hooking up among college students
Rachel Allison
Sociological Spectrum, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous research has found sex-specific effects of athletic participation on young adult sexuality, with male athletes reporting increased sexual activity and female athletes reporting lower levels of sexual activity relative to non-athlete peers. Yet research has not examined sexual activity by athletic affiliation beyond quantity, nor considered the normative landscape of non-relational college sexual culture. The current paper examines the relationships between sex, athletic affiliation, and hooking up among students at 14 U.S. universities with Division I and II athletics programs. Findings show that, controlling for demographics and background characteristics, 1) male and female athletes participate in hooking up at higher rates than non-athletes, and 2) male athletes have less male dominated hookups in terms of sexual initiation. Results are discussed in terms of the increasing value similarity of men and women's collegiate sports programs.
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Consensual Victim–Perpetrator Intercourse after Nonconsensual Sex: The Impact of Prior Relationship
Megan Sawatsky, Samantha Dawson & Martin Lalumière
Journal of Sex Research, Winter 2016, Pages 194-203
Abstract:
Some female victims of nonconsensual sex subsequently have consensual sexual intercourse with the perpetrator and are more likely to do so if intercourse occurred during the nonconsensual sex than if it did not. Some evolutionary psychologists have postulated that there is something significant about nonconsensual intercourse that causes women to subsequently have a sexual relationship with the perpetrator (e.g., risk of pregnancy). In this study, we investigated a parsimonious explanation that has previously been overlooked: Intercourse is more likely during nonconsensual sex when the victim and perpetrator have previously had a sexual relationship; thus, subsequent consensual intercourse may simply be a continuation of that prior relationship. A sample of 945 women completed an Internet-based survey, of whom 41% had experienced nonconsensual sex since age 14. As expected, victims who had intercourse with perpetrators prior to the nonconsensual sex event were significantly more likely than other victims to experience nonconsensual intercourse and to engage in subsequent consensual intercourse with the perpetrator. When considering only the small subsample of victims who never had a prior romantic or sexual relationship with the perpetrator, the odds of subsequent consensual intercourse were still significantly greater following nonconsensual sex with intercourse versus without intercourse.
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Interracial attraction among college men: The influence of ideologies, familiarity, and similarity
James Brooks & Helen Neville
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, forthcoming
Abstract:
The current study integrated constructs from the fields of relationship science (i.e., similarity and familiarity) and intergroup research (i.e., racial ideologies, particularly color-blind racial ideology and multiculturalism) to explore interracial romantic attraction. Using a person-perception design, 124 Black (n = 62) and White (n =62) heterosexual college men indicated their romantic attraction to the dating profiles of three Black and three White women. Results from analyses consistent with a linear mixed-model approach supported most of the hypotheses, including participants in general were more attracted to women of the same race and that greater endorsement of multicultural ideological beliefs was associated with increased interracial attraction. For White men, greater endorsement of color-blind racial ideology was predictive of a decrease in interracial romantic attraction as hypothesized. Contrary to the hypotheses, increased interracial contact for Black men was associated with an increase in same race attraction. Results are discussed in the context of existing literature, and important next steps are also discussed.