Social–Sexual Interactions? Meta-Analyses of Sex Differences in Perceptions of Flirtatiousness, Seductiveness, and Promiscuousness

Abstract

Scholars have assessed the degree to which heterosexual men and women make differential judgments of flirtatiousness, seductiveness, and promiscuousness during cross-sex interactions. Findings from extant research suggest that men decode verbal and nonverbal communication cues differently than do women, and this difference results in men's tendency to rate individuals more highly in levels of these social–sexual constructs than do women. This paper reports the results of three meta-analyses that provided estimates of the magnitude of the sex differences in perceptions of flirtatiousness, seductiveness, and promiscuousness and argues that these results are consistent with error management theory. Sex of target and mode of observation interacted to impact observed sex differences. Sex differences were strongest for female targets when research participants were observers of face-to-face interactions (average r=.32), whereas sex differences in evaluations of flirtatiousness, seductiveness, and promiscuousness were strongest for participants who were rating male targets in face-to-face interactions (average r=.36). The implications of these results are discussed.

Keywords:

• Meta-analysis
• Social–Sexual Interactions
• Abbey Sex Differences
• Error Management Theory

Acknowledgement

A previous version of this manuscript was presented to the Interpersonal Communication Division of the National Communication Association in Chicago, 2007. We would like to thank Mike Allen and the three anonymous reviewers for their assistance with this manuscript.

Notes

1. Typically, the types of measures used to assess perceptions of flirtatiousness, seductiveness, and promiscuousness would have been included in a moderator analysis. Unfortunately, this was the only study that used measures for these social–sexual constructs that were not Abbey's (1982) measures.

2. Other moderators were considered. Analyses using these moderators could not be conducted because there was little variability between studies. For example, the composition of the dyad (same sex/opposite sex) was coded. Abbey et al. (1987), however, were the only researchers who reported effects for flirtatiousness, seductiveness, and promiscuousness using same sex (female-female) dyads. Although these effects are included in the current meta-analyses (see Table 1 for Abbey et al., 1987 (2) and (3)), a moderator analysis could not be conducted using this variable.

3. The frequency weighted average correlation between sex and perceptions of sexuality (calculated by combining the observed effects for flirtatiousness, seductiveness, and promiscuousness) was r=.15, P(.10 ≤ ρ≤.19)=.95, k=28, N=3631.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Betty H. La France

Betty H. La France (PhD, Michigan State University) is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University

David D. Henningsen

David D. Henningsen (PhD, University of Wisconsin) is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University

Aubrey Oates

Aubrey Oates is a graduate student

Christina M. Shaw

Christina Shaw is a doctoral student