scholarly journals Mate Availability and Sexual Disgust

Author(s):  
Courtney L. Crosby ◽  
Patrick K. Durkee ◽  
Anna G. B. Sedlacek ◽  
David M. Buss
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney L. Crosby ◽  
Patrick Durkee ◽  
Anna Sedlacek ◽  
David M. Buss

Objective: One of the factors that sexual disgust should be calibrated to is the size of the mating pool. Previous research provides evidence that low mate availability affects perceptions related to mate choice. However, methodological shortcomings leave the role of sexual disgust in facilitating mate selection unclear. We will examine whether perceptions of mate availability explain variance in levels of sexual disgust towards potential mates.Methods: Participants (N = 1,000) will rate how sexually disgusting they find 60 potential mates that have previously been rated on attractiveness by a separate group of raters. We will measure participants’ perceptions of mate availability in their local environment, self-perceived attractiveness and mate value, and relevant control variables (e.g., age, relationship status). Results: We will use linear mixed effect models to examine (1) the association between sexual disgust towards potential mates and perceived mate availability; (2) the sex difference in sexual disgust; (3) the association between targets’ attractiveness and raters’ sexual disgust; and (4) whether perceived mate availability moderates the association between sexual disgust and targets’ attractiveness. Conclusions: This study will test perceptions of mate availability as an input into the calibration of sexual disgust. The results will clarify the magnitude of mate availability perceptions on mate choice.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Karinen ◽  
Joshua M. Tybur ◽  
Reinout E. de Vries

A broad literature indicates that pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust sensitivity relate to, among other things, political attitudes, moral condemnation, and symptoms of psychopathology. As such, instruments measuring disgust sensitivity have been widely used across subfields of psychology. Yet, surprisingly little work has examined whether self-reports in disgust sensitivity reflect systematic trait variation. Here, we present the first study to examine self-other agreement in pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust sensitivity. Romantic partners (n1 = 290), friends (n2 = 212) and acquaintances (n3 = 140) rated each other on these three domains of disgust sensitivity and on the HEXACO personality dimensions. Correlations between dyad partners’ self- and other-ratings were calculated to estimate the magnitude of self-other agreement. We found self-other agreement in all domains of disgust sensitivity (r’s of .36, .46, and .66 for moral, pathogen, and sexual disgust sensitivity, respectively), with this agreement only slightly inferred from personality perceptions (percentages mediated by HEXACO were 15%, 7%, and 33% for pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust sensitivity, respectively). These results suggest that pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust sensitivity reflect systematic trait variation that is detectable by others and distinct from broader personality traits.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 147470492199833
Author(s):  
Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair ◽  
Trond Viggo Grøntvedt ◽  
Mons Bendixen

In several recent papers the sex difference in regret predicted by sexual strategies theory has been supported: men more than women report regret passing up short-term sexual opportunities (inaction regret), while women regret having had sexual encounters (action regret). However, the adaptive function of regret, to improve future behavioral choices, has not been tested. In this first longitudinal test of behavioral change following regret, we consider whether regret actually results in adaptive shifts of behavior: will men who regret passing up sex engage in more short-term sex following regret? Will women who regret short-term encounters either choose better quality partners, reduce number of one-night stands or shift their strategy to long-term relationships? Across two waves (NT1 = 399, 65.4% women and NT2 = 222, 66.2% women) students responded to questions about casual sex action regret and inaction regret, along with possible outcomes, intrapersonal traits, and concurrent contextual predictors. There was no clear evidence for the proposed functional shifts in sexual behavior. Casual sex regret was associated with respondent sex and stable individual differences, such as sociosexual attitudes, regret processing and metacognitions, but the effect of these predictors were not consistent across the two waves. Among the tested concurrent contextual predictors, sexual disgust was the most consistent across waves. Regret is considered a gauge of the value and quality of the short-term sexual encounter. However, tentatively we conclude that after this first test of function using longitudinal data, we find no evidence of a mating strategy shifting effect following sexual regret.


Behaviour ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 148 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masanori Kohda ◽  
Nobuhiro Ohnishi ◽  
Noboru Okuda ◽  
Tomohiro Takeyama ◽  
Omar Myint

AbstractFilial cannibalism, eating one's own viable offspring, is accepted as an adaptive response to trade-offs between current and future reproduction. Theoretical models predict that high mate availability may induce more filial cannibalism, but this prediction is rarely tested. To examine this prediction, we performed laboratory experiments using the nest breeding goby Rhinogobius flumineus. Subject males were allowed to mate with a gravid female and care for the broods. A separate gravid female housed in a small cage (stimulus-female) was shown to the subject males at one of three different points during the brood cycle: prior to spawning, within 1 day after spawning and 1 week after spawning. Empty cages were shown as a control. Males that were shown the stimulus-female before spawning cannibalised more eggs than control males. In contrast, males that were shown the stimulus-females after spawning cannibalised as few eggs as control males did. Additionally, males that were shown the stimulus-female prior to spawning did not court females more intensively than other males. Thus, we suggest that the presence of an additional mate, rather than energy expenditure associated with courtship directed toward an additional mate, can facilitate males to cannibalise their eggs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 105 (5) ◽  
pp. 481-507
Author(s):  
William Buse
Keyword(s):  

2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar Myint ◽  
Hajime Tsujimoto ◽  
Nobuhiro Ohnishi ◽  
Tomohiro Takeyama ◽  
Masanori Kohda

2019 ◽  
Vol 138 ◽  
pp. 333-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieran J. O'Shea ◽  
Lisa M. DeBruine ◽  
Benedict C. Jones

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laith Al-Shawaf ◽  
David M.G. Lewis ◽  
David M. Buss

Women have consistently higher levels of disgust than men. This sex difference is substantial in magnitude, highly replicable, emerges with diverse assessment methods, and affects a wide array of outcomes—including job selection, mate choice, food aversions, and psychological disorders. Despite the importance of this far-reaching sex difference, sound theoretical explanations have lagged behind the empirical discoveries. In this article, we focus on the evolutionary-functional level of analysis, outlining hypotheses capable of explaining why women have higher levels of disgust than men. We present four hypotheses for sexual disgust and six for pathogen disgust, along with testable predictions. Discussion focuses on additional new hypotheses and on future research capable of adjudicating among these competing, but not mutually exclusive, hypotheses.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document