News Release
January 2, 2002
For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian Weaver
(202) 783.2077 ext. 3022
bweaver@psychologicalscience.org
Shedding Light on Sexual Misunderstandings
Do men possess a "sixth sense" that calculates the risk of missing a sexual encounter? Are women's guarded perceptions that men have no desire for commitment true?
A fresh look at the misunderstandings between the sexes by David M. Buss, University of Texas-Austin, uncovers new insights into why men and women sometimes just don't get it when it comes to understanding each other's views on sex and romance. Buss's report appears in the December 2001 issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the American Psychological Society.
Buss uses two theories he developed to explain the different perceptions between the sexes -- Error Management Theory and Strategic Interference Theory. The theories explain how the biases and emotions of women and men may actually be adaptive behaviors.
He says that two basic errors are often at work in relationships -- inferring that a misdeed was done or overlooking a misdeed. For example, a spouse may falsely suspect a partner of sexual treachery, or fail to detect actual infidelity.
Buss applies Error Management Theory to explain cognitive biases that have evolved over time. These biases are, Buss wrote, not an irrationally focused lens used to view a situation or circumstance, but a functional adaptation. For example, men have developed a sexual overperception bias designed to minimize their chances of missing opportunities for sex. Women on the other hand are believed to have an opposite kind of bias toward men, a commitment-skepticism bias whereby men's actual level of commitment is underestimated to compensate for the possibility of being sexually deceived by men who feign commitment.
This mismatch of biases can lead to problems. For example, setting a low threshold for inferring infidelity means you increase your chances of detecting infidelity if it happens, but at the same time, you increase your rate of false accusations.
This or any similar scenario is bound to inspire a plethora of emotions that traditional theorists have labeled "negative." But according to Buss, the traditional notion that these "negative" emotions - anger, fear, and jealousy - only get in the way isn't so. He uses his Strategic Interference Theory to explain that these emotions are actually motivators that help a victim deal with a situation.
"They [these emotions] focus attention on the source of strategic interference, temporarily screening out other information less relevant to the adaptive problem," Buss wrote. The Strategic Interference Theory says that the traditionally "negative" emotions have a purpose. They:
- Focus attention on the source of strategic interference
- Prompt storage of relevant information in memory for subsequent retrieval.
- Motivate action to eliminate or reduce the interference and future recurrence of the interference.
"Because men and women have evolved somewhat different sexual strategies," Buss wrote, "the events that cause strategic interference are predicted to differ for the sexes. The events that trigger emotions such as anger, jealousy, and subjective distress should differ for the sexes."
For more information contact Buss at dbuss@psy.utexas.edu, or Brian Weaver at the APS (information above). For a copy of this article, or articles from other APS journals, visit the APS Media Center at www.psychologicalscience.org.
Current Directions in Psychological Science is a journal of the American Psychological Society and features articles by leading psychology researchers on important issues of broad public interest, ranging from how the brain works, to how social systems function, and everything in between. APS represents scientific psychology, promoting the "giving away" of psychology in the public interest.