TY - JOUR
T1 - "Heck with the flowers and candy-I just want sex!" Women's and men's agreement and disagreement about romance
AU - Harrison, Marissa A.
AU - Becker, Michael A.
AU - Janze, Michael F.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2014/7/1
Y1 - 2014/7/1
N2 - In the present study we sampled 208 college students in an attempt to explore participants' understanding of the definition of and attitudes toward romance. As a concise definition of romance is virtually absent in the literature, based on our analysis of scientific and layperson construal of romance, we define it as an orientation toward a partner whereby 1 expresses love, caring, and sexuality to facilitate and solidify commitment. Of interest to the authors, men's and women's definitions of romance were similar, and they placed equal importance on romance in a committed relationship. However, men considered themselves to be less romantic than did women, and men considered romance to a means to sexual access more than did women. This evidence suggests that men, acknowledging its importance, may be just "playing the game" of romance to gain sexual access. These results can be interpreted through an evolutionary psychological framework vis-à-vis the fundamental reproductive differences between the sexes.
AB - In the present study we sampled 208 college students in an attempt to explore participants' understanding of the definition of and attitudes toward romance. As a concise definition of romance is virtually absent in the literature, based on our analysis of scientific and layperson construal of romance, we define it as an orientation toward a partner whereby 1 expresses love, caring, and sexuality to facilitate and solidify commitment. Of interest to the authors, men's and women's definitions of romance were similar, and they placed equal importance on romance in a committed relationship. However, men considered themselves to be less romantic than did women, and men considered romance to a means to sexual access more than did women. This evidence suggests that men, acknowledging its importance, may be just "playing the game" of romance to gain sexual access. These results can be interpreted through an evolutionary psychological framework vis-à-vis the fundamental reproductive differences between the sexes.
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U2 - 10.1037/h0099846
DO - 10.1037/h0099846
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84964336824
SN - 2330-2925
VL - 8
SP - 186
EP - 196
JO - Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences
JF - Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences
IS - 3
ER -