Mate Availability and Sexual Disgust

Predictors and memory consequences of dating decisions in a dating app-analogue study

With the rise of dating apps, people have access to a vast pool of potential partners at their fingertips. The present study examined how various factors would predict an individual's dating decisions in a dating app-analogue study. Participants (N = 269) first completed some trait measures and then a mock-dating task in which they judged the attractiveness of a series of targets and then decided whether to match with the target or not. Their memories for the targets were tested on the second day. People who were more (vs. less) short-term oriented were more likely to match with short-term-oriented targets. Moral disgust and sexual disgust negatively predicted the matching with short-term-oriented targets. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find support that people with higher (vs. lower) pathogen disgust sensitivity would selectively match with more attractive targets. Exploratory analyses showed that people who were more (vs. less) short-term oriented, more (vs. less) sexually attractive, or had higher (v. lower) mate value, were more likely to match with targets they considered as attractive. Finally, people have better memories of the faces they chose to match than to not match. Implications for mating research and limitations are discussed.

Perceived Mate Scarcity Leads to Increased Willingness to Mate Poach

Mate poaching, where an individual attempts to attract a pair-bonded individual, is a risky mating tactic. Yet, it is surprisingly common. Although many studies have investigated individual differences in mate poaching, few have examined potentially relevant ecological factors, such as mate availability. In this study, 254 unmated North American adults were primed with either perceived mate scarcity or abundance, and subsequently completed measures of fear of being single, intrasexual competitiveness, and attitudes toward mate poaching. Results from a sequential mediation model revealed that men and women primed with mate scarcity held a more positive attitude toward mate poaching relative to those primed with mate abundance, and that this link was mediated by an induced fear of being single and intrasexual competitiveness. Our results suggest that mate poaching is a facultative adaptation of human mating psychology driven by intrasexual competitiveness that is activated in response to environments of low mate availability. It highlights the need for researchers to consider ecological cues when studying individual variation in mate poaching behavior.