Papers by Diana Fleischman
PloS one, 2015
Sexual arousal is a motivational state that moves humans toward situations that inherently pose a... more Sexual arousal is a motivational state that moves humans toward situations that inherently pose a risk of disease transmission. Disgust is an emotion that adaptively moves humans away from such situations. Incongruent is the fact that sexual activity is elementary to human fitness yet involves strong disgust elicitors. Using an experimental paradigm, we investigated how these two states interact. Women (final N=76) were assigned to one of four conditions: rate disgust stimuli then watch a pornographic clip; watch a pornographic clip then rate disgust stimuli; rate fear stimuli then watch a pornographic clip; or watch a pornographic clip then rate fear stimuli. Women's genital sexual arousal was measured with vaginal photoplethysmography and their disgust and fear reactions were measured via self-report. We did not find that baseline disgust propensity predicted sexual arousal in women who were exposed to neutral stimuli before erotic content. In the Erotic-before-Disgust conditi...
Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 2014
Situations of potential agonistic conflict demand rapid and effective decision-making. The proces... more Situations of potential agonistic conflict demand rapid and effective decision-making. The process of threat assessment includes assessments of relative fighting capacity, assessments of the likelihood of attack, and assessments of the extent to which one′s assets are at risk. The dimensions of physical size and strength appear to serve as key parameters in a cognitive representation summarizing multiple constituents of threat assessment. Here, we examine the thesis that this same representation summarizes asset risk. The fitness costs of sexual assault are in part a function of conception risk, as pregnancy due to assault compromises female choice and imperils existing and subsequent male investment. Prior research indicates that women′s attitudes and behaviors vary systematically across the menstrual cycle in a manner that would have reduced the likelihood of sexual assault during periods of greatest fertility in ancestral women. If the envisioned size and strength of a potential antagonist is used to represent asset risk, and if the threat that sexual assault poses to a woman′s reproductive assets is in part a product of her fertility, then the conceptualized size and strength of a potential sexual assailant should be a function of conception risk. We find support for this prediction in a large sample of naturally-cycling women in urban Southern California, indicating that asset risk is summarized using the same representation as relative fighting capacity and likelihood of attack. Presumably, this elegant use of a single representation for multiple aspects of threat assessment facilitates rapid decisionmaking in agonistic contexts.
Abstract 1. Replies to comments on Evolutionary psychology: Controversies, questions, prospects, ... more Abstract 1. Replies to comments on Evolutionary psychology: Controversies, questions, prospects, and limitations (see record 2010-02208-001) by Confer et al. The purpose of which was to clarify the logic of evolutionary psychology and clear up some of the more common misunderstandings about it. In this response, we address the key points raised by the commentators.(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Progesterone's effects on the psychology of disease avoidance: Support for the compensatory behavioral prophylaxis hypothesis
In the human menstrual cycle, luteal phase immunomodulation prevents the maternal immune system f... more In the human menstrual cycle, luteal phase immunomodulation prevents the maternal immune system from attacking the half-foreign blastocyst should conception occur, thereby facilitating implantation and development. However, tolerance of the conceptus comes at the cost of increased vulnerability to infection.
Abstract Although a considerable body of research explores alterations in women's mating-relevant... more Abstract Although a considerable body of research explores alterations in women's mating-relevant preferences across the menstrual cycle, investigators have yet to examine the potential for the menstrual cycle to influence intergroup attitudes. We examined the effects of changes in conception risk across the menstrual cycle on intergroup bias and found that increased conception risk was positively associated with several measures of race bias.
Meet the parents: Parent-offspring convergence and divergence in mate preferences
The current study provides the first evolutionarily-informed direct comparison of actual parents'... more The current study provides the first evolutionarily-informed direct comparison of actual parents' and offspring's mate preferences. We compared students'(N= 300) average rankings of 13 traits for desirability in an ideal mate with their parents'(N= 238) rankings of the same traits for their offspring's ideal mate. Parents ranked religion higher than offspring, whereas offspring ranked physical attractiveness higher than parents. Parents preferred earning capacity and college graduate more in daughters' mates than sons' mates.
Abstract 1. Evolutionary psychology has emerged over the past 15 years as a major theoretical per... more Abstract 1. Evolutionary psychology has emerged over the past 15 years as a major theoretical perspective, generating an increasing volume of empirical studies and assuming a larger presence within psychological science. At the same time, it has generated critiques and remains controversial among some psychologists.
Sensor recorded changes in rates of hand washing with soap in response to the media reports of the H1N1 pandemic in Britain
by estradiol and progesterone. Preferences for facial masculinity in partnered naturally cycling ... more by estradiol and progesterone. Preferences for facial masculinity in partnered naturally cycling women, thought to be moderated by estrogen, are reversed in partnered women on the pill (Little, Jones, Penton-Voak, Burt, & Perrett, 2002).
Uploads
Papers by Diana Fleischman