Elizabeth Rice Allgeier

Feigning sexual desire: Consenting to unwanted sexual activity in heterosexual dating relationships

The prevalence rates of unwanted sexual activity indicate that a substantial proportion of both men and women are at risk for experiencing unwanted (nonconsensual) sexual activity. However, little is known about the extent to which men and women consent to unwanted sexual activity, such as when a person indicates willingness to engage in a sexual activity at a time when he or she experiences no sexual desire. In the current study, 80 male and 80 female U.S. college students involved in committed dating relationships kept diaries of their sexual interactions for two weeks. More than one third (38%) of the participants reported consenting to unwanted sexual activity during this period. The most common motives for engaging in this behavior were to satisfy a partners needs, to promote intimacy, and to avoid relationship tension. Most participants reported positive outcomes associated with these motives. The results indicate that previous estimates of the prevalence of unwanted (nonconsensual) sexual experien...

Gender differences in mate selection criteria: Sociobiological or socioeconomic explanation?☆

Abstract Past research has demonstrated clear gender differences in reported mate selection criteria. Compared to women, men place more importance on physical attractiveness and women place more importance than men do on the earning capacity of a potential mate. These gender differences have been explained using both sociobiological propositions and differences in the relative economic power of men and women. The present study tested the structural powerlessness hypothesis as an explanation for womens greater emphasis on the earning capacity of a potential spouse. Samples of college students (N = 997) and community members (N = 282) were asked to report expected personal income and to rate the importance of listed characteristics in a potential mate. Consistent with past research, men placed more emphasis on the item Good Looks , whereas women placed more importance on the item Good Financial Prospect . Contrary to the structural powerless model, womens expected income was positively related to ratings of the importance of a potential mates earning capacity in the college sample and was unrelated to womens ratings of the item Good Financial Prospect in the community sample. Findings are discussed in terms of both evolutionary psychology and gender differences in access to financial resources.

Gender differences in sexual jealousy: Adaptionist or social learning explanation?

Abstract It has often been speculated, and some evidence suggests, that men and women differ in the elicitation of jealousy: Men appear to be more likely than women to become upset over threats to sexual exclusivity; whereas women are more likely than men to react negatively to potential loss of partner time and attention. Both adaptionist and traditional social learning theories have been used to explain these apparent gender differences. In the present article we outline both explanations and review the relevant psychological literature on gender differences in the elicitation of jealousy. We propose that the difference in mens and womens psychological mechanisms for elicitation of jealousy is best characterized (at least in this culture) as a greater sensitivity among men to cues indicative of possible sexual infidelity rather than greater emotional upset in response to the occurence of extradyadic sex on the part of ones mate. We also provide data testing a traditional social learning explanation for the elicitation of jealousy. Results of a survey administered to college students ( N = 223) demonstrate the subtle nature of gender differences in the elicitation of jealousy within this culture. Men and women were most likely to differ (in the hypothesized directions) when items pertained to concern over a partners potential extradyadic sex rather than to reactions to sexual infidelity that is suspected to have already occurred. Although men reported placing more value on sexual activity within dating relationships and women reported placing more value on emotional intimacy, these ratings of relationship rewards did not explain the gender differences in reported jealousy. Results failed to support a traditional social learning explanation of jealousy and are discussed with regard to evolutionary theory and directions for future research.

The effect of question preface on response rates to a telephone survey of sexual experience

Given the heavy reliance on self-report measures in research on sexuality, issues surrounding nonresponse rates are of particular importance. Phone interviews were conducted with 400 adults living in a midsized midwestern city. Rates of nonresponse and reported sexual experience were analyzed as a function of the type of preface statement provided for four questions related to sexual behavior. One preface was general; the other referred to public concern over AIDS. On questions regarding number of sexual partners in the past year and involvement in extramarital sex, women who were given the AIDS preface were significantly more likely to answer the questions than were women who received the general preface. However, for both men and women, reported rates of sexual experience did not differ as a function of the preface statement. Differences between responders and nonresponders were explored. Men were more likely to respond to the sexual items. Education, age, marital status, and religious affiliation were unrelated to rates of response to the sexual questions. For men, responders to the sexuality items reported greater yearly incomes than did nonresponders. Some differences in reported sexual behavior were also found between responders and nonresponders; nonresponders consistently reported less sexual experience. Implications for research on sexuality and future investigation of factors affecting response to sexual items are discussed.

Young Adults' Reactions of Jealousy and Perceived Threat Based on the Characteristics of a Hypothetical Rival

We predicted that mens and womens jealousy and perceived threat from an interloper would vary as a function of the resources that a mates extradyadic partner possessed. We found that mens jealousy did not vary as a function of the material resources possessed by a mates extradyadic partner, although their reported level of threat did. Conversely, womens jealousy varied as a function of the reproductive resources that an extradyadic partner possessed, whereas their feelings of threat did not. The results of this study provide support for the contention that men and women make distinctions between jealousy and perceived threat to a primary relationship posed by a rival.

Over-Confidence and under-Performance: Men's Perceived Accuracy and Actual Performance in a Course

The confidence and actual performance of 121 undergraduates in general social psychological knowledge was examined in an applied setting on a pretest measure and first examination score. Men indicated higher confidence in their performance on the pretest measure than women. Men overestimated and women underestimated their performance, although mens and womens scores were not different. However, women scored higher than men on the class examination. The results are discussed in terms of how they differ from those of laboratory experiments.

Sexual attitudes as correlates of sexual details in human figure drawing

The hypothesis that sexual attitudes, as measured by the Sexual Opinion Survey, are related to the explicitness with which nude figures are drawn was examined. The presence or absence of various sexual and nonsexual anatomical features, as well as length and width measurements, were assessed in the drawing of nudes by 17 male and 23 female undergraduates. Individuals with relatively positive sexual attitudes (erotophiles), as compared with individuals with relatively negative attitudes (erotophobes), were more likely to include such details as a glans, a urinary meatus, and chest hair on male figures and pubic hair and nipples on female figures. Positive sexual attitudes were also associated with drawing figures with longer and wider penises, breasts, testicles, and mons. Relationships between sexual attitudes and the drawing of nonsexual body parts were generally not significant. The results are discussed in terms of the pervasive generality of sexual attitudes in influencing quite varied sex-related behaviors.

Books: Genes & Gender V: Women at Work: Socialization Toward InequalityVromanGeorgine M., BurnhamDorothy, and GordonSusan G. (Eds.). Staten Island: Gordian Press, 1988, 244 pp.

These two books both represent revised sets of papers initially delivered at meetings convened in 1985 to explore women and work. Genes & gender V: Women at work: Socialization toward inequality is the outgrowth of a conference on the role of genetic determinism in women’s vocational options by the Genes and Gender Collective at Hunter College. There are 14 chapters divided into 4 main parts, with a discussion chapter at the end of each part. Part 1 is entitled “The Brain and Genetic Determinism.” The authors in this section were successful in recapitulating a number of important lessons relevant to biases in the collection and interpretation of neuropsychological data. The high point of Part I is “Gender Similarities and Differences in Brain Lateralization,” by Loraine K. Obler and Loriana M. Novoa. The historical claim that one gender is more suited to certain tasks than the other because of gender differences in brain lateralization makes the issue of laterality highly germaine to a discussion of gender and work. Obler and Novoa’s chapter presents a cohesive and comprehensible interpretation of the issue of laterality and its political implications. They demonstrate how biases in data analysis and literature reporting can present a distorted view of the issue of whether gender differences in laterality exist. In “The Role of Experience in Cognitive Performance and Brain Development,” Petersen and Hood take the position that gender differences in cognitive performance may be products of differential socialization. Although these speculations are plausible, the authors do not adequately address the possibility that genetic predisposition may play a role in certain activities. In a less than convincing denial of their own socially deterministic position, they assert, on the one hand, that their view combines nature and nurture; on the other, they speculate that “the ultimate