Subjective and objective measures of attractiveness and their relation to sexual behavior and sexual attitudes in university students.

This study examined both self-rated and objectively measured attractiveness in relation to sexual behaviors and attitudes in an undergraduate sample (N=456). About a quarter of the variance in self-ratings of attractiveness was predicted from combining standard objective measures of attractiveness, including face photo ratings, body mass index, and chest-to-waist ratio for men, and face photo ratings, body mass index, and waist-to-hip ratio for women. Correlations were investigated among self-rated attractiveness, measured attractiveness, the residual component of self-rated attractiveness (controlling for measured attractiveness), and a number of sexual and related variables. Measured attractiveness correlated moderately with sexual behaviors but not with sociosexuality or sexual moral attitudes, indicating that higher levels of observable attractiveness may serve to increase opportunities for sex with multiple desirable partners without affecting interests in or moral acceptance of casual sex. Self-rated attractiveness correlated positively with sexual behaviors and with sociosexuality, but the correlation with sociosexuality was based entirely on residual factors beyond the objective measures of attractiveness. Other predictors of sexual behavior were discussed in terms of their variable roles in affecting interest in, opportunities for, and social costs of promiscuous sexual activity.

Gender, socioeconomic status, age, and jealousy: emotional responses to infidelity in a national sample.

The authors used a representative national sample (N = 777) to test the evolutionary hypothesis that men would be more bothered by sexual infidelity and women by emotional infidelity, the Jealousy as a Specific Innate Module (JSIM) effect. Our alternative conceptualization of jealousy suggests that there are distinct emotional components of jealousy that did not evolve differently by gender. The authors looked for effects of age, socioeconomic status (SES), and type of measure (continuous or dichotomous) on jealousy. The authors did not find age or SES effects. Forced-choice items provided support for our alternative view; both genders showed more anger and blame over sexual infidelity but more hurt feelings over emotional infidelity. Continuous measures indicated more emotional response to sexual than emotional infidelity among both genders.

Do high-status people really have fewer children? : Education, income, and fertility in the contemporary U.S.

Evolutionary discussions regarding the relationship between social status and fertility in the contemporary U.S. typically claim that the relationship is either negative or absent entirely. The published data on recent generations of Americans upon which such statements rest, however, are solid with respect to women but sparse and equivocal for men. In the current study, we investigate education and income in relation to age at first child, childlessness, and number of children for men and women in two samples-one of the general American population and one of graduates of an elite American university. We find that increased education is strongly associated with delayed childbearing in both sexes and is also moderately associated with decreased completed or near-completed fertility. Women in the general population with higher adult income have fewer children, but this relationship does not hold within all educational groups, including our sample with elite educations. Higher-income men, however, do not have fewer children in the general population and in fact have lower childlessness rates. Further, higher income in men is positively associated with fertility among our sample with elite educations as well as within the general population among those with college educations. Such findings undermine simple statements on the relationship between status and fertility.

Judgments of the fairness of using performance enhancing drugs.

Undergraduates (total N=185) were asked about performance-affecting drugs. Some drugs supposedly affected athletic performance, others memory, and other attention. Some improved performance for anyone who took them, others for the top 10% of performers, others for the bottom 10%, and finally, yet other drugs worked only on the bottom 10% who also showed physical abnormalities. Participants were asked about the fairness of allowing the drug to be used, about banning it, and about whether predictions of future performance based on testing with or without the drug were better. The study found that participants appreciated the "interaction effect," that they felt it was less unfair to allow the drug if it affected the bottom 10% than if it affected everyone, and they were more eager to have the drug banned if it affected everyone. Participants were least tolerant of drugs that affected athletic performance and most tolerant of those that affected attention.

Physical attractiveness and health in Western societies: a review.

Evidence from developed Western societies is reviewed for the claims that (a) physical attractiveness judgments are substantially based on body size and shape, symmetry, sex-typical hormonal markers, and other specific cues and (b) physical attractiveness and these cues substantially predict health. Among the cues that the authors review, only female waist-to-hip ratio and weight appear to predict both attractiveness and health in the claimed manner. Other posited cues--symmetry and sex-typical hormonal markers among them--failed to predict either attractiveness or health (or both) in either sex. The authors find that there is some indication that attractiveness has an overall relationship with health among women, but little indication that male attractiveness relates to male health.

Timing of puberty and sexuality in men and women.

We examined the relations among timing of puberty, timing of first experience of sexual arousal, strength of sex drive, and sexual attitudes and behaviors in 277 men (M age, 22.4 years) and women (M age, 21.8 years). Kinsey had suggested that earlier maturers have a stronger sex drive and, therefore, engage in a higher frequency of sexual behaviors (including same-sex contacts) than do later maturers. The purpose of this study was to test Kinsey's claim. Participants completed questionnaires on pubertal timing, timing of first experience of sexual arousal, sex drive in adulthood, sexual attitudes (e.g., sociosexuality or degree of comfort with casual sex), and sexual behaviors (e.g., lifetime number of sexual partners). Timing of puberty (i.e., emergence of secondary sex characteristics) was related to these variables for men but not for women. Timing of first sexual arousal was related to several aspects of adult sexuality in both sexes, but particularly in women. Earlier first sexual arousal was associated with having a higher sex drive, a less restricted sociosexual orientation, and with having had more sexual partners than was later first sexual arousal. Earlier first sexual arousal, but not timing of puberty, was related to sexual orientation for women only. We discuss classes of explanations for these results.

How are sociosexuality, sex drive, and lifetime number of sexual partners related?

In two studies (ns = 277 and 221), the authors examined the relationships among sex drive, sociosexuality, lifetime number of sex partners, and gender identity. They found that sex drive is highly and positively correlated with sociosexual orientation, and that both sex drive and sociosexual orientation are positively correlated with lifetime number of sex partners. However, partial correlations revealed that sociosexual orientation is an independent predictor of lifetime number of sex partners, whereas sex drive is not. The authors were also able to replicate and extend Mikach and Bailey's (1999) finding that gender identity is related to women's lifetime number of sex partners. More masculine women had more sex partners and had a less restricted sociosexual orientation than did less masculine women; less masculine men had a higher sex drive than did more masculine men. The findings are discussed with regard to theory and research on sex drive and sociosexuality.

Emotional responses to sexual and emotional infidelity: constants and differences across genders, samples, and methods.

In three studies (total N = 619), the authors tested an evolutionary hypothesis: Men are more bothered by sexual than emotional infidelity, whereas the reverse is true of women. More diverse samples (in age) and measures than is typical were used. In Study 1, the authors found across gender, sample, and method that sexual infidelity was associated with anger and blame, but emotional infidelity was associated with hurt feelings. The evolutionary effect was replicated with undergraduates but not with the nonstudent sample. In Study 2, narrative scenarios were used; it was found that nonstudent men and women were more hurt and upset by emotional infidelity but were made angrier by sexual infidelity. In Study 3, using Likert-type scales, scenarios, and a nonstudent sample, it was found that both genders were more upset, hurt, and angrier about sexual than emotional transgressions when rating one kind without hearing the opposite type. The implications for how emotional responses evolved are discussed.

Some evidence about character and mate selection.

The authors conducted four studies (total N = 292) about character and mate desirability. In Study 1, undergraduates judged stimuli for attractiveness-physically and as a casual or longterm date. The target was described as faithful, having cheated but stayed with mates, or having cheated and left. Contrary to the hypothesis, men and women were equally affected by both kinds of cheaters. Study 2 replicated Study 1 with nonstudent adults. In Study 3, undergraduates rated a stimulus on the same attractiveness variables. This target had $14 million from winning a lottery or selling a dot-com company. Women, but not men, found the dot-com creator to be more physically attractive than the lottery winner. In Study 4, undergraduates rated someone who sold a cookie-making company or profited from a lucky real estate transaction. Both men and women preferred the cookie-company seller on all three measures of attractiveness.

The Roles of Self-Esteem and Social Interaction in Embarrassment.

This experiment investigated the circumstances that lead to embarrassment. Two theories of embarrassment were tested, one based on social interaction, the other based on self-esteem. The predictions of these two theories were compared in a situation in which the theories make contrasting predictions, namely, one in which esteem-threatening feedback is delivered to a person under the guise of a pleasant but transparent pretext. Subjects (N= 90) reported feelings of embarrassment and of self-esteem that were most consistent with the interaction theory. The implications of these findings for other theories of social anxiety are discussed.