Sex differences when searching for a mate: A process‐tracing approach

Saad, Gad; Eba, Aliza; Sejean, Richard

doi:10.1002/bdm.620

Cited by 32 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…This is an evolutionarily crucial quest that yields pronounced sex differences in search behavior because of the differential costs and benefits associated with making a mate choice across the two sexes. Saad, Eba, and Sejean (2009) investigated sex differences in information search prior to choosing or rejecting prospective mates. Women rejected mates more quickly (processed less attribute information) but acquired more information when making a final mate choice (sampled a greater number of suitors).…”

Section: Conclusion: the Benefits Of Darwinizing Consumer Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary consumption

Saad

2013

J Consum Psychol

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An overview of the field of evolutionary consumption is provided. Brief summaries of disciplines within the evolutionary behavioral sciences that preceded evolutionary psychology (EP) are first offered. This is followed by a discussion of important EP principles including the domain‐specificity of the human mind, and the difference between ultimate and proximate scientific explanations. The evolutionary bases of memory, attitude formation/change, emotions, perception (our five senses), personality, and decision making are addressed next, along with specific links to consumer research. Next, I demonstrate how numerous consumer acts could be classified into one of four basal Darwinian modules: survival, reproduction (mating), kin selection, and reciprocal altruism. The paper continues with an exploration of the evolutionary roots of cultural products (e.g., song lyrics) and Darwinian happiness (along with the evolutionary etiology of maladaptive phenomena such as pathological gambling and compulsive buying). I conclude with a discussion of key epistemological benefits of Darwinizing consumer research including greater consilience, increased interdisciplinarity, and an ethos of methodological pluralism.

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Section: Conclusion: the Benefits Of Darwinizing Consumer Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary consumption

Saad

2013

J Consum Psychol

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“…The mating preferences and decisions are hypothesized to be strategic products of selection pressures (Buss & Schmitt, 1993; Kenrick, Groth, Trost, & Sadalla, 1993; Trivers, 1972). Because women invest more in offspring than do men (Trivers, 1972), females have evolved preferences for stable, long‐term relationships in order to gain economic resources and protection for offspring; yet men have evolved a powerful desire for short‐term sexual access to a large number of women, presumably to maximize the chances of reproduction (Bailey, Gaulin, Agyei, & Gladue, 1994; Saad, Eba, & Sejean, 2009; Symons, 1979). The finding that mammalian males have a strong urge toward seeking variety in their sexual partners has a term called “the Coolidge effect” (Bermant, 1976).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fickle men, faithful women: Effects of mating cues on men's and women's variety‐seeking behavior in consumption

2015

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Attitudes about commitment can affect consumers' variety‐seeking behavior. In the mating domain, short‐term mating cues tend to activate an uncommitment mind‐set in men and lead them to seek greater variety in romantic relationships; whereas long‐term mating cues tend to activate a commitment mind‐set in women and lead them to seek less variety. In this research, we explore whether short‐term and long‐term mating cues can likewise affect variety‐seeking behavior in the product consumption domain through their influence on commitment attitude. In three experiments, we demonstrate that men's variety‐seeking behavior increases in the presence of short‐term but not long‐term mating cues; conversely, women's variety‐seeking behavior decreases in the presence of long‐term but not short‐term mating cues. These effects are caused by attitude toward commitment induced by mating cues. Past research concerning this topic has focused on one gender and on short‐term mating cues only, but in this paper we provide a more complete picture—and a more coherent theory—of how, via influencing commitment attitude, mating cues affect variety‐seeking behavior differently in men than in women.

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“…The latter finding may be related to the gender-related personality differences, considering that women are higher in communion, which is associated with greater partner communication. As to other safe sex practices, past research reveals that compared to men, women tend to be more discriminating at choosing sex partners, place more value on delayed protected sex than immediate sexual gratification, and have fewer total sex partners (Buss & Schmitt, 1993;Johnson & Bruner, 2013;Lawyer, Williams, Prihodova, Rollins, & Lester, 2010;Nagurney & Bagwell, 2009;Saad, Eba, & Sejean, 2009). Partial support was achieved for our second set of hypotheses concerning relationshipstatus differences in the personality traits and safe sex practices.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting safe sex practices from gender-related interpersonal variables

Oberle

Nagurney

Jones

2016

Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine

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This study investigated whether safe sex practices, including condom use and partner communication, may be predicted from the interpersonal traits of agency, unmitigated agency, communion, and unmitigated communion. Participants were 375 college students (77% women, 23% men), who completed an online questionnaire assessing the variables of interest. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that high-agency individuals employed greater safe sex practices (p = .001) and had greater communication with their partners about safe sex (p < .001) than low-agency individuals, whereas high-unmitigated agency individuals employed fewer safe sex practices (p = .009) and used condoms less often (p = .017) than low-unmitigated agency individuals. Furthermore, high-communion individuals had better partner communication about safe sex (p = .013) than low-communion individuals. These findings are consistent with past research showing the positive impact of agency and communion, as well as negative impact of unmitigated agency, on risky health behaviors. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Sex differences when searching for a mate: A process‐tracing approach

Cited by 32 publications

References 59 publications

Evolutionary consumption

Evolutionary consumption

Fickle men, faithful women: Effects of mating cues on men's and women's variety‐seeking behavior in consumption

Predicting safe sex practices from gender-related interpersonal variables

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