Tuesday, February 24, 2015

A Theory-Consistent Three-Way?

There are two sentences here I never thought I'd see in an academic paper.  "Genital salience" and "A theory-consistent three-way."  Academics is a lot fun, folks!

Sex-linked mating strategies diverge with a manipulation of genital salience 

Adam Fetterman, Nicole Kruger & Michael Robinson
 Motivation and Emotion, February 2015, Pages 99-103

Abstract: Trivers (Sexual selection and the descent of man, Aldine-Atherton, Chicago, pp 136–179, 1972) proposed that evolutionary factors should favor divergent mating strategies for males versus females. Such differences may be less pronounced among human beings than other animals and social norms and sex roles are also pertinent influences. The present experiment (N = 133 college undergraduates, 74 female) sought to bypass some of these other influences. Participants were randomly assigned to a condition designed to increase attention to the genital region (a downward pointing arrow) or not (an upward pointing arrow). They then reported on their interest in short-term (e.g., a one-night stand) and long-term (e.g., a potential marital partner) mating opportunities. A theory-consistent three-way interaction occurred such that the genital salience manipulation primed a shorter-term reproductive strategy among men and a longer-term reproductive strategy among women. The results provide unique support for evolution-linked ideas about sex differences in the form of a role for bodily attention.

3 comments:

Simon Spero said...

Thank you sir, may I have anova?

- Fifty Degrees Of Freedom.

Angus said...

+10000

Road to Surf Bum said...

Guess I can stop wondering why my down arrow t-shirt hasn't been working with the ladies.