Making the Right First Impression: Sexual Priming Encourages Attitude Change and Self-Presentation Lies during Encounters with Potential Partners

Making the Right First Impression: Sexual Priming Encourages Attitude Change and Self-Presentation Lies during Encounters with Potential Partners. Gurit E Birnbaum, Mor Iluz, Harry Reis. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 86 (2020) 103904. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2019.103904

Abstract: Recent studies have shown that activation of the sexual system encourages enactment of relationship-initiating behaviors (Birnbaum et al., 2017). In four studies, we expand on this work to explore whether people are more inclined to lie to impress a potential partner following sexual priming. In all studies, participants were exposed to sexual stimuli (versus non-sexual stimuli) and then interacted with an opposite-sex stranger. In Study 1, unacquainted participants resolved a dilemma while each represented opposing positions. In Study 2, participants rated their preferences, and after viewing a confederate's preferences, re-rated them in a profile shown to the confederate. In Studies 3 and 4, participants reported their number of lifetime sexual partners in anonymous questionnaires and during a chat (Study 3) or while completing an online profile (Study 4). Results indicated that following sexual priming, participants were more likely to conform to the stranger's views (Studies 1 and 2) and reported fewer sexual partners during actual and potential online interactions than in the questionnaires (Study 3). Although the results of Study 4 did not replicate the findings of Study 3, they were directionally consistent with them. Overall, the findings suggest that sexual priming motivates impression management even when it involves lying.

6. General discussion

In a world of seemingly abundant mating opportunities, competing
for a partner has become a challenging endeavor. In this climate, people
do the best they can to attract desirable partners. Investing effort in
making the right impression plays a key role in the success of their
pursuit. When considering the impression they wish to leave on prospective
partners, people are simultaneously motivated by the competing
desires of being wanted for whom they truly are and of putting
forward their best face (Ellison et al., 2006; Toma et al., 2008). The
present research set out to examine when the latter motivation would
prevail, pushing people to impress a potential partner even at the cost
of engaging in deceptive self-presentation.
In four studies, we showed that following activation of the sexual
system, people were more likely to enhance their efforts to create a
favorable impression and deceptively change their self-presentation in
an attempt to appear more desirable to prospective mates. Study 1 indicated
that compared to participants in the control condition, participants
in the sexual activation condition were more likely to outwardly
express agreement with a contrary opinion advocated by an oppositesex
participant. Study 2 showed that subliminal sexual priming led
participants to conform to a potential partner's preferences in various
life domains. Studies 3 and 4 revealed that following sexual priming,
participants were more likely to lie to a potential mate about their
number of lifetime sexual partners.
Past studies have already shown that activation of the sexual system
motivates people to use strategies that help them initiate a relationship
with potential mates, such as disclosing personal information or providing
help (Birnbaum et al., 2017; Birnbaum et al., 2019). The present
research extends these studies by demonstrating the dark side of relationship
initiation (or a human foible that reveals itself during this
process) and pointing out when it is likely to surface. Scholars and lay
persons alike have long recognized that relationship-initiating strategies
include enactment of behaviors that aim not only to genuinely
support long-term bonding (e.g., provision of responsiveness and help;
Birnbaum, Ein-Dor, Reis, & Segal, 2014; Birnbaum et al., 2019) but also
to deliberately mislead prospective partners (e.g., Rowatt et al., 1998;
Toma et al., 2008). Our research speaks to one important psychological
circumstance under which certain self-presentational goals may become
more pronounced. Specifically, exposure to sexual cues, which activates
the sexual system and induces sexual arousal, may render people more
determined in their pursuit of desirable mates, encouraging them to
present a shiny façade, even though presenting a distorted view of self
may eventually thwart their goal of establishing a trustworthy intimate
relationship.
As our research indicates, this principle appears to hold true for
both men and women. Previous studies have found that men are more
likely than women to take the lead in sexual and relationship initiation
(Birnbaum & Laser-Brandt, 2002; Diamond, 2013; O'Sullivan & Byers,
1992). The present findings suggest that activation of the sexual system
motivates human beings to connect, regardless of gender. It does so by
inspiring interest in potential partners and motivating men and women
to impress prospective partners. To be sure, missing desirable mating
opportunities is costly for men and women alike, in the sense that when
such opportunities arise, both genders, and not only men, tend to use
deceptive self-presentational strategies (Lo et al., 2013; Rowatt et al.,
1999).
It remains unclear, however, whether deceptive self-presentation in
this context is motivated by short-term relationship goals or by selfpresentational
pressures per se, as both may be more salient under
sexual activation. Indeed, when sexually aroused, some people may
present themselves deceitfully to potential mates in order to obtain
casual sexual favors (Ariely & Loewenstein, 2006). Others, in contrast,
may wish to build a meaningful relationship but are induced by their
insecurities or perceived competition in the dating scene to present a
false façade. Indeed, people themselves may not be able to distinguish
short-term (sexual) and long-term (relationship initiation) goals in their
initial phases of attraction (Eastwick, Keneski, Morgan, McDonald, &
Huang, 2018).
Another limitation of the present research is that the evidence for
the proposed effect of sexual priming on explicit lying about previous
sexual partners is not strong, given that we found a non-significant
interaction in Study 4, which was better-powered than Study 3. It is
possible that conforming to a potential partner's views while being
sexually aroused (as indicated in Studies 1 and 2) is morally less problematic
than explicitly lying to a potential partner, especially in the
case of violating one's own earlier statements (Batson, Thompson,
Seuferling, Whitney, & Strongman, 1999). It is also possible that Study
4 yielded weaker results than Study 3 due to less experimental realism –
recall that Study 4 was conducted entirely online, whereas participants
in Study 3 were present in a lab session. We also did not determine
whether participants were aware of their deception or whether this was
an unconscious move to be closer to a potential partner and did not
assess the motives behind engaging in deceptive self-presentation. Future
studies should investigate how these distinctive motives affect the
unfolding over time of interactions that are based on deceptive communication
and whether they may evolve into meaningful relationships.
Further research should explore whether people also tend to see
what they want to see while being sexually aroused and thus are less
likely to detect inauthenticity in potential partners.
In conclusion, activation of the sexual system may initiate a process
of endeavoring to become more attractive to a stranger, a process that
may eventually build an emotionally and sexually satisfying connection
between previously unacquainted people (Birnbaum, 2018; (Birnbaum
and Finkel, 2015) Birnbaum et al., 2019; Birnbaum & Reis, 2019). In
everyday life, the attractiveness of a potential partner or the sexy ambience
of a first date may lead people to disclose personal information
about themselves in order to initiate a potential relationship with a
desired mate (Birnbaum et al., 2017). Our research suggests that the
content of this disclosure is less likely to reflect the true self following
sexual activation, as sexual arousal may make people more focused on
saying what needs to be said to create a positive impression while being
less cognizant of the potential long-term costs of this tendency. Our
research also underscores the dual potential of the sexual system for
eliciting behavior that may simultaneously facilitate relationship initiation
while at the same time undermining their authenticity. Whether
sexual arousal heightens perceptions of a prospective partner's mate
value, creates a state of urgency, or instills a sense partner scarcity is a
question for future research.