bims-chumac Biomed News
on Context effects on human mate choice
Issue of 2021–03–14
six papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society
  1. Living Life as the Bachelor/ette: Contributions of Diverse Television Genres to Adolescents' Acceptance of Gendered Sexual Scripts.
  2. Putting the Dyad into the Sexual Response Discussion: A Latent Class Analysis Using Ratings of Self and Partner.
  3. Predicted reproductive longevity and women's facial attractiveness.
  4. Informal Help-Seeking Process Regarding Romantic Issues and Dating Violence: a Qualitative Study.
  5. Neural profiles of observing acceptance and rejection decisions in human mate choice copying.
  6. Contact-implicit preference relationships: Two large sample tests.
  1. J Sex Res. 2021 Mar 08. 1-13
    Living Life as the Bachelor/ette: Contributions of Diverse Television Genres to Adolescents' Acceptance of Gendered Sexual Scripts.
    L Monique Ward, Petal Grower, Lauren A Reed.
      Gendered sexual scripts (GSS) reflect stereotypes about the gender-specific behaviors expected in romantic and sexual relationships. Television may be a powerful contributor to these scripts for adolescents because of its stereotypical portrayals and prominence in their lives. However, although television use is a consistent predictor of adults' GSS, few studies have tested these relations among adolescents, especially U.S. adolescents, and most report null results. Across two studies, we sought to decipher these patterns, investigating whether U.S. adolescents' regular exposure to diverse TV genres predicted their acceptance of GSS. In Study 1, we surveyed 574 adolescents aged 13-18, testing whether their viewing of three TV genres (scripted programming, reality TV, music videos) was associated with their support of GSS, as measured by four scales. In study 2, we surveyed a national sample of 398 adolescents, testing whether their viewing of four TV genres was associated with their support of GSS. For both studies, viewing of reality TV was associated with stronger support of each measure of GSS; there were few contributions of other genres. Gender moderated one interaction in each study, demonstrating stronger contributions for girls. Implications are discussed for media literacy programs and for teen dating abuse.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2021.1891519
  2. J Sex Res. 2021 Mar 11. 1-17
    Putting the Dyad into the Sexual Response Discussion: A Latent Class Analysis Using Ratings of Self and Partner.
    Dean M Busby, Nathan D Leonhardt, Veronica Hanna-Walker, Chelom E Leavitt.
      In this study we explored the sexual response process in couple relationships. With a U.S. sample of 383 mixed-sex couples we found seven different classes of couple sexual response using Dyadic Latent Class Growth Analysis for ratings of self and partner about their most recent sexual experience. These classes ranged from synchronous High Arousal (31.6%) and Medium Arousal (27.7%) groups, to a few classes where one partner had a quick arousal process and the other partner had very low levels of arousal. Couples in these classes were differentiated on their levels of accuracy in understanding what their partner was experiencing, as one class had couples where men experienced higher arousal than women in the first part of the experience, but the male partner was aware of the discrepancy (Equifinality, 6.8%, i.e. couples start at different levels of arousal but end up at the same place), and another where men experienced higher arousal than women throughout the experience, but men inaccurately thought their partner also experienced higher arousal (Inaccurate Split, 7.3%). The seven classes had significantly different values on variables measuring the quality of the specific sexual experience. These classes also significantly differed on a variety of measures assessing the overall sexual relationship and the relationship as a whole. These findings counter the argument that the sexual response cycle is uniform for most couples.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2021.1891189
  3. PLoS One. 2021 ;16(3): e0248344
    Predicted reproductive longevity and women's facial attractiveness.
    Agnieszka Żelaźniewicz, Judyta Nowak-Kornicka, Klaudia Zbyrowska, Bogusław Pawłowski.
      Physical attractiveness has been shown to reflect women's current fecundity level, allowing a man to choose a potentially more fertile partner in mate choice context. However, women vary not only in terms of fecundity level at reproductive age but also in reproductive longevity, both influencing a couple's long-term reproductive success. Thus, men should choose their potential partner not only based on cues of current fecundity but also on cues of reproductive longevity, and both may be reflected in women's appearance. In this study, we investigated if a woman's facial attractiveness at reproductive age reflects anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) level, a hormone predictor of age at menopause, similarly as it reflects current fecundity level, estimated with estradiol level (E2). Face photographs of 183 healthy women (Mage = 28.49, SDage = 2.38), recruited between 2nd - 4th day of the menstrual cycle, were assessed by men in terms of attractiveness. Women's health status was evaluated based on C-reactive protein level and biochemical blood test. Serum AMH and E2 were measured. The results showed that facial attractiveness was negatively correlated with AMH level, a hormone indicator of expected age at menopause, and positively with E2, indicator of current fecundity level, also when controlled for potential covariates (testosterone, BMI, age). This might result from biological trade-off between high fecundity and the length of reproductive lifespan in women and greater adaptive importance of high fecundity at reproductive age compared to the length of reproductive lifespan.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248344
  4. J Child Adolesc Trauma. 2021 Mar;14(1): 41-50
    Informal Help-Seeking Process Regarding Romantic Issues and Dating Violence: a Qualitative Study.
    Mylène Fernet, Laura Désilets, Martine Hébert, Marie-Marthe Cousineau.
      The present study focused on the informal help-seeking process, facilitators and barriers in the context of romantic relationship difficulties and dating violence (DV). This study also aimed to describe gender specificities involved in the help-seeking process. Data analysis was performed relying on the help-seeking and change model developed for intimate partner violence (American Journal of Community Psychology, 36, 71-84, 2005). A direct content analysis was conducted on semi-structured interviews of 80 youths. All participants reported having experienced at least one romantic relationship difficulty and half of them reported at least one experience of DV victimization in their current romantic relationship. Motives to seek support and help were mentioned by the participants, namely the need to be advised on how to solve their difficulties, to express their emotions and vent about their feelings, to obtain an external point of view, to be listened to and comforted, and to be validated on their interpretation of the situation. When experiencing difficulties, participants chose confidants according to the following qualities: share bond of trust, similar experiences, mutual help and reciprocity, relevant experiences in dating relationships, and a context of respect and non-judgment. Reluctance to ask for help was expressed by participants, namely discomfort about sharing intimate information or revealing feelings to a friend or family member, lack of support, and fear of being judged or vulnerable. Findings highlight the strategic role of peers and the importance of offering them tools to intervene as first responders in DV situations.
    Keywords:  Adolescents; Dating violence; Emerging adults; Informal help-seeking; Romantic issues
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-019-00289-7
  5. Neuroimage. 2021 Mar 03. pii: S1053-8119(21)00206-8. [Epub ahead of print] 117929
    Neural profiles of observing acceptance and rejection decisions in human mate choice copying.
    Jin-Ying Zhuang, Jiajia Xie, Peng Li, Mingxia Fan, Stefan Bode.
      Mate choice copying refers to an agent copying the choice for a potential sexual/romantic partner made by a relevant model and has been observed across many species. This study investigated the neural profiles of two copying strategies in humans - acceptance and rejection copying - using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Female participants observed female models accepting, rejecting, or being undecided about (control), males as potential romantic partners before and after rating their own willingness to choose the same males. We found that observing acceptance shifted participants' own choices towards acceptance, while observing rejection shifted participants' choices towards rejection. A network of motivation-, conflict- and reinforcement learning related brain regions was activated for observing the models' decisions. The rostral anterior cingulate gyrus (rACCg) and the caudate in particular were activated more strongly when observing acceptance. Activation in the inferior parietal lobe directly scaled with the magnitude of changes in choices after observing acceptance, while activation in the rACCg also scaled with changes after observing rejection. These findings point to partly dissociable neural profiles for copying strategies that might be linked to different contributions of incentive-driven and vicarious motivation, potentially reflecting the presence or absence of internalised reward experiences.
    Keywords:  anterior cingulate cortex (ACC); mate choice copying; motivation; observational learning; reinforcement learning; vicarious motivation
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117929
  6. J Soc Psychol. 2021 Mar 06. 1-5
    Contact-implicit preference relationships: Two large sample tests.
    Christopher L Aberson.
      This work examines relationships between friendships and implicit preferences across two large samples. There is considerable evidence in the contact literature suggesting that friendships relate to more favorable attitudes toward outgroups, however, most evidence reflects explicit self-report measures. Using samples of 235,543 participants who completed the Disability IAT and 533,220 participants who completed the Sexuality IAT on the Project Implicit website, results indicate that participants reporting either a disabled friend or close acquaintance demonstrated weaker implicit preferences for abled over disabled people. Similarly, those with gay friends demonstrated weaker implicit preference for "straight" over gay. The size of these relationships were considerably smaller than found for explicit evaluations. These effect size estimates should be useful to researchers studying contact-implicit preference relationships as it informs power analyses and sample size planning decisions.
    Keywords:  IAT; Intergroup contact; implicit preferences; large datasets; prejudice
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2021.1889945
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