تهدید بیماری های عفونی و پیامدهای آن برای نگرش جنسی

A study (n = 411) investigated the relationship between chronic individual differences in germ aversion and sociosexual attitudes (short-term mating orientation, long-term mating orientation, and anticipated future sexual promiscuity), and also tested whether the magnitudes of these relations differ depending on the temporary perceptual salience of disease threat. Results revealed person-by-situation interactions. When the threat of disease was temporarily salient, germ aversion correlated negatively with short-term mating orientation and with future sexual promiscuity, and correlated positively with long-term mating orientation; these effects were either weaker or nonexistent under control conditions. These effects emerged most clearly among women.

Attitudes towards casual sex differ greatly between individuals. Surveys have found that while a large proportion of men and women label themselves as comfortable monogamists, another significant proportion are comfortable having casual sex with many different partners (e.g. Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, & Michaels, 1994). These attitudes are emblematic of a distinction between restricted and unrestricted sociosexual attitudes, or between long-term and short-term mating styles ( Jackson and Kirkpatrick, 2007 and Simpson and Gangestad, 1991). Individual differences in long-term versus short-term mating styles have many implications. For instance, individuals who are dispositionally inclined toward a short-term mating style (i.e., are more inclined toward casual sex and multiple sexual partners) place higher priority on physical attractiveness when choosing a mate and exhibit reduced commitment to ongoing romantic relationships ( Simpson & Gangestad, 1991). Most research exploring the influences on sexual attitudes has focused on variables that are typically predictive of stable individual differences, such as differences in genetics and early life experiences (Garcia et al., 2010 and Newcomer and Udry, 1987). Although long-term and short-term mating styles are relatively stable across time, and can be empirically assessed as trait-like individual differences (Jackson and Kirkpatrick, 2007 and Simpson and Gangestad, 1991), these dispositions can also vary across time and circumstances (Haselton and Gangestad, 2006, Pfeiffer et al., 1972 and Pillsworth and Haselton, 2006). These findings suggest that attitudes regarding long- and short-term mating are predicted not only by enduring individual differences, but also by temporary contextual cues. In this article, we report results from an investigation testing whether long-term and short-term mating styles—including attitudes pertaining to sexual promiscuity—might be influenced by the perceived threat of infectious disease. These results address three questions: (1) Are these mating styles predicted by chronic individual differences in perceived vulnerability to disease? (2) Do these effects differ depending on the temporary salience of disease transmission? (3) Do these effects differ between men and women?