Does Sociosexual Orientation Mediate the Relationship Between Attachment Style and Sexual Overperception Bias in Men?

A well-known phenomenon in our society is that men tend to overperceive sexual attraction from women, which is called the sexual overperception bias. There has been an increasing focus in research to investigate the mechanisms of this bias and to identify the individual differences in men that could contribute to this misperception. Prior research suggests that sexual overperception bias is related to attachment style, with anxious men showing higher overperception, and avoidant men showing less overperception. It has also been suggested that men’s sociosexual orientation contributes to the amount of misperception. Thus, this study aimed to investigate whether men’s sociosexual orientation mediates the relationship between attachment style and sexual overperception bias. Thirteen (n = 13) male participants watched brief video clips of actors of the opposite sex, thinking they were having a webcam interaction with them. The participants were asked to rate their attraction towards and...Show moreA well-known phenomenon in our society is that men tend to overperceive sexual attraction from women, which is called the sexual overperception bias. There has been an increasing focus in research to investigate the mechanisms of this bias and to identify the individual differences in men that could contribute to this misperception. Prior research suggests that sexual overperception bias is related to attachment style, with anxious men showing higher overperception, and avoidant men showing less overperception. It has also been suggested that men’s sociosexual orientation contributes to the amount of misperception. Thus, this study aimed to investigate whether men’s sociosexual orientation mediates the relationship between attachment style and sexual overperception bias. Thirteen (n = 13) male participants watched brief video clips of actors of the opposite sex, thinking they were having a webcam interaction with them. The participants were asked to rate their attraction towards and the perceived attractiveness from the actors. Furthermore, they completed questionnaires which were used to predict attachment style and sociosexual orientation. Contrary to the hypothesis, the results showed that sociosexual orientation did not significantly mediate the relationship between attachment style and sexual overperception bias. This might have partly been caused by a small sample size. The findings and limitations were discussed and implications for future research suggested.Show less

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Does Sociosexual Orientation Mediate the Relationship Between Attachment Style and Sexual Overperception Bias in Men?