Men think in more sexual terms than women

Jun 8 2006

In the latest issue of Psychology of Women Quarterly, researchers find that men rate themselves and the women they just interacted with higher on sexual traits, such as flirtatiousness, than women rate men.

The authors find that after a five-minute conversation with a stranger of the opposite gender, men were more likely to interpret ambiguous or friendly behavior as indicating sexual interest. "The findings suggest that men generally think in more sexual terms than women," the authors explain.

Within their brief conversation, partners introduced themselves and talked about college experiences. There was no significant difference in how men, compared to women, rated their conversation partners on agreeableness or extroversion. Nor was their evidence of sexual chemistry, as partners did not share a tendency to find each other attractive or desire a future interaction.

If women found their male partner as more partner physically attractive and saw him as more agreeable, they rated the partner higher on sexual traits. Men's ratings of women were also associated with physical attractiveness but unrelated to whether he saw her as agreeable or felt the conversation was enjoyable.