The Role of Emotion Projection, Sexual Desire, and Self-Rated Attractiveness in the Sexual Overperception Bias

Iliana Samara; Tom S. Roth; Mariska E. Kret

doi:10.1007/s10508-021-02017-5

The Role of Emotion Projection, Sexual Desire, and Self-Rated Attractiveness in the Sexual Overperception Bias

Iliana Samara^*, Tom S. Roth, Mariska E. Kret

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

A consistent finding in the literature is that men overperceive sexual interest in women (i.e., sexual overperception bias). Several potential mechanisms have been proposed for this bias, including projecting one’s own interest onto a given partner, sexual desire, and self-rated attractiveness. Here, we examined the influence of these factors in attraction detection accuracy during speed-dates. Sixty-seven participants (34 women) split in four groups went on a total of 10 speed-dates with all opposite-sex members of their group, resulting in 277 dates. The results showed that attraction detection accuracy was reliably predicted by projection of own interest in combination with participant sex. Specifically, men were more accurate than women in detecting attraction when they were not interested in their partner compared to when they were interested. These results are discussed in the wider context of arousal influencing detection of partner attraction.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2507-2516
Number of pages	10
Journal	Archives of Sexual Behavior
Volume	50
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02017-5
Publication status	Published - Aug 2021
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The study was funded by a Netherlands Science Foundation 016.VIDI.185.036, ERC 2020 (H2020 European Research Council) Program for Research and Innovation Grant (#804582), and Templeton World Charity Foundation (the Diverse Intelligences Possibilities Fund) grants awarded to MEK.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Funding

The study was funded by a Netherlands Science Foundation 016.VIDI.185.036, ERC 2020 (H2020 European Research Council) Program for Research and Innovation Grant (#804582), and Templeton World Charity Foundation (the Diverse Intelligences Possibilities Fund) grants awarded to MEK.

Keywords

Attraction
Error Management Theory
Sexual overperception bias
Social perception
Speed-dating

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10.1007/s10508-021-02017-5Licence: CC BY

s10508-021-02017-5Final published version, 853 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "The Role of Emotion Projection, Sexual Desire, and Self-Rated Attractiveness in the Sexual Overperception Bias",

abstract = "A consistent finding in the literature is that men overperceive sexual interest in women (i.e., sexual overperception bias). Several potential mechanisms have been proposed for this bias, including projecting one{\textquoteright}s own interest onto a given partner, sexual desire, and self-rated attractiveness. Here, we examined the influence of these factors in attraction detection accuracy during speed-dates. Sixty-seven participants (34 women) split in four groups went on a total of 10 speed-dates with all opposite-sex members of their group, resulting in 277 dates. The results showed that attraction detection accuracy was reliably predicted by projection of own interest in combination with participant sex. Specifically, men were more accurate than women in detecting attraction when they were not interested in their partner compared to when they were interested. These results are discussed in the wider context of arousal influencing detection of partner attraction.",

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note = "Funding Information: The study was funded by a Netherlands Science Foundation 016.VIDI.185.036, ERC 2020 (H2020 European Research Council) Program for Research and Innovation Grant (#804582), and Templeton World Charity Foundation (the Diverse Intelligences Possibilities Fund) grants awarded to MEK. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, The Author(s).",

year = "2021",

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doi = "10.1007/s10508-021-02017-5",

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AB - A consistent finding in the literature is that men overperceive sexual interest in women (i.e., sexual overperception bias). Several potential mechanisms have been proposed for this bias, including projecting one’s own interest onto a given partner, sexual desire, and self-rated attractiveness. Here, we examined the influence of these factors in attraction detection accuracy during speed-dates. Sixty-seven participants (34 women) split in four groups went on a total of 10 speed-dates with all opposite-sex members of their group, resulting in 277 dates. The results showed that attraction detection accuracy was reliably predicted by projection of own interest in combination with participant sex. Specifically, men were more accurate than women in detecting attraction when they were not interested in their partner compared to when they were interested. These results are discussed in the wider context of arousal influencing detection of partner attraction.

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The Role of Emotion Projection, Sexual Desire, and Self-Rated Attractiveness in the Sexual Overperception Bias

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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