Sexual arousal has a powerful effect on men’s short-term mating motivation, and that this effect is independent of intrasexual differences in personality, relationship status, and sociosexuality

In the Heat of the Short-Term Moment: Evidence that Heightened Sexual Arousal Increases Short-Term Mating Motivation Among Men. Arnaud Wisman & Andrew G. Thomas. Evolutionary Psychological Science, Nov 19 2022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-022-00347-8

Abstract: Individual differences in men’s short-term mating interest are well studied, both at state and trait levels. Yet, the role of sexual arousal as a source of intra-individual variation has been neglected. This research represents the first attempt to integrate sexual arousal into the human mate plasticity literature. We argue that sexual arousal directly impacts the short-term mating motivation among men regardless of their personality, relationship status, and sociosexuality. Across four experiments, we found that heightened sexual arousal consistently increased men’s short-term mating motivation relative to participants in neutral and arousing control groups. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that sexual arousal increased participants’ general short-term mating motivation and their preference for a short-term relationship over a long-term one. Experiment 3 replicated the findings of the first two experiments whilst also demonstrating that this effect was not moderated by personality (i.e., Dark Triad, Big Five) or relationship status. Heightened sexual arousal also led to decreased “state” long-term mating motivation. Finally, Experiment 4 showed that sexual arousal increased the participants’ preference for a short-term relationship over a long-term one, an effect that was not moderated by sociosexuality. Together, the results suggest that sexual arousal has a powerful effect on men’s short-term mating motivation, and that this effect is independent of intrasexual differences in personality, relationship status, and sociosexuality.

General Discussion

The present studies provide support for the novel hypothesis that sexual arousal increases a short-term mating motivation among men. All four experiments showed that brief exposure to sexual stimuli increased men’s desire for short-term mating across a variety of measures. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that this robust effect was not moderated by intrasexual differences in Big Five and Dark Triad personality traits or sociosexuality. Finally, across all experiments, it was found that relationship status did not moderate arousal-linked changes in short-term mating motivation. Taken together, the results of our four experiments suggest strong support for the idea that sexually aroused men show an increase in state desire for short-term mating, independent of a variety of dispositional traits and relationship status.

This research is among the first to highlight that sexual arousal may play a central role in human mating plasticity and strategy activation. Several studies have shown that short- and long-term mating motivations change in response to evolutionary relevant cues such as sex ratio (Arnocky et al., 2016), pathogen prevalence (Al-Shawaf et al., 2019), resource availability, and the need for parental care (Thomas & Stewart-Williams, 2018). However, none of these studies take into account the role of sexual arousal in mating strategy plasticity. Indeed, in these studies, participants are asked to make hypothetical mating decisions, or report on their desire to have uncommitted sex, in a clinical and detached manner rather than “in the heat of the moment”, as real-world mating decisions are often made. In this research, we have shown that merely sexual arousal alone is enough to enhance the short-term mating motivation of men. This has marked implications for the mating plasticity literature. For instance, based on previous research, it is tempting to conclude that some cues, such as resource abundance, have only a small effect on male mating psychology (e.g., d = 0.41 from Thomas & Stewart-Williams, 2018). However, these effects are observed completely divorced from sexual arousal. It is feasible that the effects of these cues may become enhanced when in a state of sexual arousal—that arousal effectively “greases the groove” of mating plasticity which in turn could lead to a stronger effect. This is, of course, an idea which needs to be tested.

Limitations and Future Directions

The current findings are consistent with a wide range of studies (Ariely & Loewenstein, 2006; Baumeister et al., 2001; Pfaus, 1999) that show indirect support for the thesis that sexual arousal can increase men’s motivation to engage in behaviour and cognitions associated with short-term mating motivation. Typically, in previous studies, participants were primed with a sexual and/or short-term mating context. Importantly, the current studies are the first to show that sexual arousal has a direct effect on men’s short-term mating motivation. However, they did not address specifically if priming a sexual context is qualitatively different from experiencing the physiological effects of sexual arousal. Moreover, our research relied on “subjective” self-report measurements of sexual arousal. Although future research could examine both subjective and physiological sexual arousal (e.g., Ciardha et al., 2018; Janssen et al., 2007), it is important to note that ample studies show that, at least among men, there is a strong association between (subjective) self-report sexual arousal and physiological sexual arousal (for a broad overview, Chivers et al., 2010). In a related vein, sexual arousal was manipulated exclusively by exposing participants to visual sexual stimuli. In view of this, we cannot exclude the possibility that our findings are specific to sexual arousal induced by visual sexual stimuli. We consider the latter unlikely because there is evidence that other forms of induced sexual arousal can increase cognitions and behaviours associated with short-term mating motivation (Ariely & Loewenstein, 2006). For instance, as previously discussed, sexual arousal induced by masturbation motivated men to show a greater willingness to engage in unprotected sex with strangers (Ariely & Loewenstein, 2006). Nevertheless, future research may wish to address whether the effect of sexual arousal on men’s short-term mating motivation varies depending on the method of arousal.

In addition, we have shown that relationship status did not moderate our findings. However, our research did not take into account the length and the quality of participants’ relationships (Schmitt et al., 2001a, b). It is possible that these factors play a role in men’s short-term mating motivation—the effect of arousal could be context-dependent in a similar fashion to ovulatory shifts in women’s extra-pair interest which can depend on factors such as relationship length and perceived partner quality (Haselton & Gangestad, 2006; Pillsworth et al., 2004). Thus, relationship satisfaction, length, partner quality, and frequency of intercourse represent key factors of interest for future research.

Finally, although we have shown that a wide range of personality variables do not moderate men’s short-term mating motivation when sexually aroused, it is possible that other individual differences (Figueredo et al., 2005), environmental cues (Wisman & Shrira, 2020), and/or cultural differences (Schmitt, 2003) that we did not account for play a role in mate choice and motivation.

If sexual arousal increases short-term mating motivation, and this occurs regardless of relationship status, then an obvious next step is to consider how sexual arousal affects relationship stability. It is clear that we do not live in a world where temporary increases in the preferences for short-term mating, driven by sexual arousal or otherwise, cause men to reflexively forgo their current relationships in search for uncommitted sex. Divorce rates would be much higher than we see in Western society, presuming marriages would even come to fruition in such a world. Instead, sexual arousal may form a single, but important, link in a causal chain towards infidelity. Evolutionary psychology points to the context-dependent nature of some psychological mechanisms. For example, people experience less relationship satisfaction when their partner fails to meet their ideals, but only when better alternatives exist (Conroy-Beam et al., 2016). Future research would benefit from examining the impact of arousal-linked increases in short-term mating desire on their thoughts towards their current relationships—such as the willingness to cheat or dissolve a relationship—and the contextual factors that mitigate against these thoughts.