bims-chumac 2022-05-15 papers

Issue of 2022–05–15
five papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society

J Pers. 2022 May 14.

The long and short of mistress relationships: Sex-differentiated mate preferences reflect a compromise of mating ideals.

Bryan K C Choy, Norman P Li, Kenneth Tan.

OBJECTIVE: Evolved mate preferences have taken center stage in evolutionary psychology research, yet this literature has been fairly muted on mate preferences for extrapair partners. Here, we examined the mate preferences for mistress relationships (the traits that men prioritize in a mistress and mistresses prioritize in their male partners) and compared these preferences to those of short- and long-term relationships.
METHOD: In two studies (N Study 1a = 104, N Study 1b = 191), we derived dimensions of mate preferences through exploratory factor analyses. In subsequent studies (N Study 2 = 219, N Study 3 = 101) we employed a budget allocation paradigm, where participants designed their ideal mates for different relationship types (short-term, long-term, mistress relationships).
RESULTS: Whereas men focused on fulfilling short-term mating ideals (by prioritizing physical attractiveness) in a mistress relationship, women focused on fulfilling longer-term (but also some short-term) mating ideals (prioritizing both physical attractiveness and social status) for a mistress relationship CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that mistress relationships reflect a compromise of men's and women's (conflicting) mating ideals and contribute to an understanding of relationships that are neither completely short- nor long-term in nature.

Keywords: evolutionary psychology; infidelity; mate preferences; mistresses; sex differences

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12734

Arch Sex Behav. 2022 May 12.

Widespread Promiscuity and Cheap Weddings: Can "Low-Value" Sexual Relationships Make Certain Individuals More Sexually Conservative?

Francesca R Luberti, Khandis R Blake, Robert C Brooks.

Attitudes toward sexual relationships can have evolutionary underpinnings because these attitudes often serve, or at least reflect, the attitude holder's mating self-interest. Sexually restricted individuals, for example, hold conservative attitudes toward same-sex and opposite-sex sexual relationships because conservative attitudes benefit their mating strategies (e.g., monogamy). Certain mating market cues, however, can shift attitudes. In two experiments recruiting Americans and Australians (total N = 1298), we took a data-driven approach to test whether experimental manipulations of (1) promiscuity among either homosexuals (gays and lesbians) or heterosexuals and (2) the financial amount that either homosexuals (gays and lesbians) or heterosexuals invest in weddings would shift attitudes toward same-sex marriage, dating, and romantic spending. In Experiment 1, we did not replicate previous findings that homosexual promiscuity affects attitudes to same-sex marriage, nor did we find any effects of priming heterosexual promiscuity. However, priming participants with the notion that either homosexuals or heterosexuals were highly promiscuous increased support for traditional relationship norms among sexually restricted Australian (but not American) men. This effect was smaller when we controlled for participant sexual orientation, because primes of high homosexual or heterosexual promiscuity increased support for these traditional norms in exclusively heterosexual Australians, but decreased support in non-heterosexual Australians. Experiment 2 found that American and Australian men's opposition to same-sex marriage increased when they were led to believe that either homosexual or heterosexual weddings were cheap, even when controlling for participant sexual orientation. Overall, results provide some support for the argument that mating market cues affect attitudes toward sexual relationships.

Keywords: Mating market; Same-sex marriage; Sex differences; Sexual norms; Sociosexual orientation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02216-0

Brain Behav. 2022 May 12. e2561

Comparisons make faces more attractive: An ERP study.

Shangfeng Han, Jie Hu, Jie Gao, Jiayu Fan, Xinyun Xu, Pengfei Xu, Yuejia Luo.

Facial attractiveness judgment largely depends on the characteristics of the facial structure and the personality of the observer. However, little is known about the influence of contextual variations on facial attractiveness. In this electroencephalogram study, participants judged the attractiveness of faces presented individually or in pairs with either a higher-attractive face (HAF) or lower-attractive face (LAF). The attractiveness judgment rating of the target face was significantly higher when presented in pairs with HAFs or LAFs than when presented individually and was accompanied by a larger late positive complex. These results suggest that contextual faces enhance the attractiveness judgment of target faces. Microstate analyses revealed that the global field power (GFP) of state 3 was significantly correlated with the attractiveness judgment in the HAF condition whereas the GFP of state 2 was significantly correlated with the attractiveness judgment in the LAF condition. Interestingly, the GFP of state 2 mediated the relationship between narcissism and facial attractiveness judgment in the context of LAFs. Source location analyses showed that states 3 and 2 activated the superior and middle frontal gyrus, which are involved in emotion processing. Our findings suggest that facial attractiveness can be enhanced by contextual comparison with other faces, subject to personality of the observer.

Keywords: EEG; emotion; facial attractiveness; microstate; narcissism

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2561

Artif Life. 2022 May 12. 1-16

Uncanny Beauty: Aesthetics of Companionship, Love, and Sex Robots.

Paolo Euron.

In the last few years there has been a lively debate on humanoid robots interacting with humans in fields where human appearance and likeness may be essential. The debate has been bolstered by advancing AI technologies as well as increasing economic interest and public attention. The feasibility, inevitability, or ethical opportunity of companionship, love, and sex robots has been discussed. I propose a philosophical and cultural approach, applying the strategies of aesthetics and literary theory to the field of artificial beings, in order to understand reasons, use, limits, and possibilities expressed by the technology applied to companionship, love, and sex robots in the contemporary cultural and social context. In dealing with aesthetics, I will state how cognitive, biological, and ethical aspects are involved, how beauty is relatable to a robot's physical appearance, and how the aesthetics of artificial beings may offer new existential experiences.

Keywords: Aesthetics; artificial life; beauty; robots; sex; sexbots

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/artl_a_00361

Arch Sex Behav. 2022 May 13.

Castration for Pleasure: Exploring Extreme Castration Ideations in Fiction.

Elisabetta E L Piccolo, Thomas W Johnson, Richard J Wassersug.

The Eunuch Archive (EA) is an online community which includes individuals who read and write sexual fantasies with themes related to castration and eunuchs. Here we analyzed the 100 stories rated highest by EA readers among the >8800 currently posted. Our goal was to gain insights into commonalities within, and specifics of, castration sexual fantasies. Simply stated, we want to know what the authors (and readers) fantasize about and why. The most popular EA stories link sexual gratification and romantic partnership with genital abuse. They are characterized by the absence of consent for genital ablations and multiple SM-related paraphilias. Many stories feature attraction to, and ablation of, the genitals of pubescent or adolescent males. Some EA members have acted on their interests and been voluntarily castrated. Others wish to be. The most popular stories in the EA collection typically link the sacrifice via SM abuse to securing a permanent sexual partnership. The idea of sacrificing one's genitals to build dyadic adhesion has been noted before in individuals with extreme castration ideations. Here we identify the common features of sexualized fantasies that are popular among individuals with exceptional interest in castration.

Keywords: BDSM; Castration; Genital abuse; Paraphilia; Sexual fantasy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02295-7