You have full access to this open access article. Yet, the role of sexual arousal as a source of intra-individual variation has been neglected. This research represents the first attempt to integrate sexual arousal into the human mate plasticity literature.
We argue that sexual arousal directly impacts the short-term mating motivation among men regardless of their personality, relationship status, and sociosexuality.
Experiment 3 replicated the findings of the first two experiments whilst also demonstrating that this effect was not moderated by personality i. Not all men are the same when it comes to their motivation to engage in short-term sexual relationships. Some individuals are more inclined towards short-term relationships e. What underlies these divergent mating preferences?
The specific mechanisms which facilitate intra-individual variation in mating strategy among men are relatively understudied Arnocky et al. For example, no research has directly studied the role of sexual arousal in the motivation to pursue short- and long-term mating opportunities. This is surprising given that in most species sexual arousal serves vital fitness-related functions in the signalling, coordination, and motivation to mate Metts et al. Thus, sexual arousal might simply support a current salient mating strategy.
For example, men pursuing a long-term mating strategy might show increased desire for sex with a committed partner when aroused.
