![[PDF]](/pb-assets/Icons/adobe-pdf-icon-1498649896243.png){kind=icon}
Abstract
A strong predisposition to engage in sexual intercourse likely evolved in humans because sex is crucial to reproduction. Given that meeting interpersonal preferences tends to promote positive relationship evaluations, sex within a relationship should be positively associated with relationship satisfaction. Nevertheless, prior research has been inconclusive in demonstrating such a link, with longitudinal and experimental studies showing no association between sexual frequency and relationship satisfaction. Crucially, though, all prior research has utilized explicit reports of satisfaction, which reflect deliberative processes that may override the more automatic implications of phylogenetically older evolved preferences. Accordingly, capturing the implications of sexual frequency for relationship evaluations may require implicit measurements that bypass deliberative reasoning. Consistent with this idea, one cross-sectional and one 3-year study of newlywed couples revealed a positive association between sexual frequency and automatic partner evaluations but not explicit satisfaction. These findings highlight the importance of automatic measurements to understanding interpersonal relationships.
References
|
Baumeister, R. F., Catanese, K. R., Vohs, K. D. (2001). Is there a gender difference in strength of sex drive? Theoretical views, conceptual distinctions, and a review of relevant evidence. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5, 242–273. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J., Erbaugh, J. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571. Google Scholar | Medline | |
|
Betsch, T., Plessner, H., Schwieren, C., Gütig, R. (2001). I like it but I don’t know why: A value-account approach to implicit attitude formation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 242–253. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Bodenmann, G., Ledermann, T., Bradbury, T. N. (2007). Stress, sex, and satisfaction in marriage. Personal Relationships, 14, 551–569. Google Scholar | ISI | |
|
Call, V., Sprecher, S., Schwartz, P. (1995). The incidence and frequency of marital sex in a national sample. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 639–652. Google Scholar | ISI | |
|
Carmichael, M. S., Humbert, R., Dixen, J., Palmisano, G., Greenleaf, W., Davidson, J. M. (1987). Plasma oxytocin increases in the human sexual response. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 64, 27–31. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
Cunningham, W. A., Preacher, K. J., Banaji, M. R. (2001). Implicit attitude measures: Consistency, stability, and convergent validity. Psychological Science, 12, 163–170. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Donnelly, D. A. (1993). Sexually inactive marriages. Journal of Sex Research, 30, 171–179. Google Scholar | ISI | |
|
Eastwick, P. W., Luchies, L. B., Finkel, E. J., Hunt, L. L. (2014). The predictive validity of ideal partner preferences: A review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 140, 623–665. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
Epstein, S. (1994). Integration of the cognitive and the psychodynamic unconscious. American Psychologist, 49, 709–724. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
Fazio, R. H., Jackson, J. R., Dunton, B. C., Williams, C. J. (1995). Variability in automatic activation as an unobtrusive measure of racial attitudes: A bona fide pipeline? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 1013–1027. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
Fazio, R. H., Olson, M. A. (2014). The MODE model: Attitude-behavior processes as a function of motivation and opportunity. In Sherman, J. W., Gawronski, B., Trope, Y. (Eds.), Dual-process theories of the social mind (pp. 155–171). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Finkel, E. J., Eastwick, P. W., Reis, H. T. (2015). Best research practices in psychology: Illustrating epistemological and pragmatic considerations with the case of relationship science. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108, 275–297. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
Goldberg, L. R. (1999). A broad-bandwidth, public-domain, personality inventory measuring the lower-level facets of several five-factor models. In Mervielde, I., Deary, I. J., De Fruyt, F., Ostendorf, F. (Eds.), Personality psychology in Europe (Vol. 7, pp. 7–28). Tilburg, The Netherlands: Tilburg University Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Grebe, N. M., Gangestad, S. W., Garver-Apgar, C. E., Thornhill, R. (2013). Women’s luteal-phase sexual proceptivity and the functions of extended sexuality. Psychological Science, 24, 2106–2110. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Heiman, J. R., Long, J. S., Smith, S. N., Fisher, W. A., Sand, M. S., Rosen, R. C. (2011). Sexual satisfaction and relationship happiness in midlife and older couples in five countries. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40, 741–753. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
Hurlbert, D. F., Apt, C. (1994). Female sexual desire, response, and behavior. Behavior Modification, 18, 488–504. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Jones, C. R., Olson, M. A., Fazio, R. H. (2010). Evaluative conditioning: The “how” question. In Zanna, M. P., Olson, J. M. (Eds.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 43, pp. 205–255). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Loewenstein, G., Krishnamurti, T., Kopsic, J., McDonald, D. (2015). Does increased sexual frequency enhance happiness? Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 116, 206–218. Google Scholar | ISI | |
|
Lorenz, T. K., Demas, G. E., Heiman, J. R. (2015). Interaction of menstrual cycle phase and sexual activity predicts mucosal and systemic humoral immunity in healthy women. Physiology & Behavior, 152, 92–98. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
McNulty, J. K., Baker, L. R., Olson, M. A. (2014). Implicit self-evaluations predict changes in implicit partner evaluations. Psychological Science, 25, 1649–1657. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
McNulty, J. K., Olson, M. A. (2015). Integrating automatic processes into theories of relationships. Current Opinion in Psychology, 1, 107–112. Google Scholar | ISI | |
|
McNulty, J. K., Olson, M. A., Meltzer, A. L., Shaffer, M. J. (2013). Though they may be unaware, newlyweds implicitly know whether their marriage will be satisfying. Science, 342, 1119–1120. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
McNulty, J. K., Wenner, C. A., Fisher, T. D. (2016). Longitudinal associations among relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and frequency of sex in early marriage. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45, 85–97. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
Meltzer, A. L., McNulty, J. K., Jackson, G., Karney, B. R. (2014a). Men still value physical attractiveness in a long-term mate more than women: Rejoinder to Eastwick, Neff, Finkel, Luchies, and Hunt (2014). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 435–440. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
Meltzer, A. L., McNulty, J. K., Jackson, G. L., Karney, B. R. (2014b). Sex differences in the implications of partner physical attractiveness for the trajectory of marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 418–428. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
Muise, A., Schimmack, U., Impett, E. A. (2016). Sexual frequency predicts greater well-being, but more is not always better. Social Psychological & Personality Science, 7, 295–302. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Murray, S. L., Holmes, J. G., Pinkus, R. T. (2010). A smart unconscious? Procedural origins of automatic partner attitudes in marriage. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 650–656. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
Norton, R. (1983). Measuring marital quality: A critical look at the dependent variable. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 45, 141–151. Google Scholar | ISI | |
|
Olson, M. A., Fazio, R. H. (2001). Implicit attitude formation through classical conditioning. Psychological Science, 12, 413–417. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Olson, M. A., Fazio, R. H. (2003). Relations between implicit measures of prejudice: What are we measuring? Psychological Science, 14, 636–639. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Olson, M. A., Fazio, R. H. (2006). Reducing automatically activated racial prejudice through implicit evaluative conditioning. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 421–433. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J., Tannenbaum, P. H. (1957). The measurement of meaning. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Raudenbush, S. W., Bryk, A. S., Cheong, Y. F., Congdon, R. T., du Toit, M. (2013). HLM for Windows (Version 7.01) [Computer software]. Lincolnwood, IL: Scientific Software International. Google Scholar | |
|
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Sbarra, D. A., Hazan, C. (2008). Coregulation, dysregulation, self-regulation: An integrative analysis and empirical agenda for understanding adult attachment, separation, loss, and recovery. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 12, 141–167. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Schmitt, D. P. (2005). Sociosexuality from Argentina to Zimbabwe: A 48-nation study of sex, culture, and strategies of human mating. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 28, 247–275. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
Schoenfeld, E. A., Loving, T. J., Pope, M. T., Huston, T. L., Štulhofer, A. (2016). Does sex really matter? Examining the connections between spouses’ nonsexual behaviors, sexual frequency, sexual satisfaction, and marital satisfaction. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s10508-015-0672-4 Google Scholar | Medline | ISI | |
|
Schumm, W. R., Paff-Bergen, L. A., Hatch, R. C., Obiorah, F. C., Copeland, J. M., Meens, L. D., Bugaighis, M. A. (1986). Concurrent and discriminant validity of the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 48, 381–387. Google Scholar | ISI | |
|
Shackelford, T. K., Buss, D. M. (1997). Marital satisfaction in evolutionary psychological perspective. In Sternberg, R. J., Hojjat, M. (Eds.), Satisfaction in close relationships (pp. 7–25). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Young, L. J., Wang, Z. (2004). The neurobiology of pair bonding. Nature Neuroscience, 7, 1048–1054. Google Scholar | Medline | ISI |
