David Buss Answers Why Humans Have Sex

Tuesday, January 26 2:56 pm

Evolutionary psychologist David M. Buss, author of Why Women Have Sex, will lead a special Valentine’s Day edition of SciCafe on February 3 at the Museum. He recently answered some questions about the upcoming talk, discussing the deeper knowledge of human sexual psychology.

In 2007, you co-wrote Why Humans Have Sex. Why did you choose to focus on one gender in the follow-up, Why Women Have Sex: Understanding Sexual Motivations from Adventure to Revenge (and Everything in Between)?

Women’s sexual psychology is more complex than men’s. For example, men’s sexual orgasm tends to be predictable and reliable. For women, orgasm is profoundly affected by context, mood, circumstances, and how a partner looks, smells, and touches. Given the complexities of women’s sexual psychology, we concluded that women deserved a full book-length treatment.

During your research for Why Humans Have Sex, did you find the answers were significantly different for men and women? What are some of the differences?

Social status among peers, for example, is a stronger motivator of sex for men than for women. Although having sex to become emotionally close is a motivator for both men and women, it’s a stronger motivator for women. Also, because women’s sexuality is so highly prized and valued in men’s minds, women are often in a position of power when it comes to sex.

Is there scientific basis for love at first sight?

Love at first sight is a real phenomenon. Interestingly, men are more susceptible to love at first sight than are women. The reason is that physical appearance is substantially more important to men. Women place more importance on other qualities, such as emotional stability, intelligence, and personality, which take time to evaluate.

Which sense has the largest influence on mate selection?

For men, the visual sense is by far the most important in mate selection. Women use more of their senses. Smell, for example, is more important for women than it is for men. In fact, if a woman doesn’t like the way a man smells, it can be a sexual kill-switch, even if he has other desirable qualities

In your original study, you identified 237 distinct motivations for why humans have sex. Which reasons surprised you?

The most surprising reason is a rather nasty one: having sex in order to give someone else a sexually transmitted disease. I was also surprised by the “revenge” motivation. Some people have sex to get revenge on a friend who has “mate poached” their partner or to punish their own partner.

What can guests expect to take away from your discussion at the upcoming SciCafe?

A deeper knowledge of human sexual psychology and mating strategies.