Young men and women’s implicit attitudes towards consensually nonmonogamous relationships

ABSTRACT

Recent research has revealed some inconsistencies in the traditionally negative attitudes towards consensual nonmonogamy (CNM; sexually and/or emotionally nonexclusive romantic relationships), with some adults reporting fairly neutral attitudes. These inconsistencies may be related to the effects of socially desirable responding when adopting self-report (e.g. explicit) measures. Thus, the current study assessed young men and women’s implicit attitudes towards CNM (using the Implicit Association Test) in order to bypass issues associated with social desirability bias. The results from 204 college students (81 men, 123 women) revealed that, despite reporting neutral explicit attitudes towards CNM, young men and women demonstrated a strong automatic preference for monogamy (mean D score = 0.71; SD = 0.32). Furthermore, the relationship between explicit and implicit attitudes was clarified by assessing the extent to which participants were likely to engage in socially desirable responding. Implicit and explicit attitudes towards CNM were more closely related among those less likely to evidence social desirability bias as compared to those who were more likely to fall prey to this bias. These findings highlight the importance of assessing implicit attitudes and provide evidence of the strong social stigma surrounding CNM.

KEYWORDS:

• Consensual nonmonogamy
• implicit attitudes
• gender differences
• social desirability

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the help of Devon Egan, Jeramiah Gruendemann, Jocelyn Hart, Danica Kulibert, Paige Schreifels, Matt Raymond, Sarah Stefaniak and Rebecca Tolfa through the entire research process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ashley E. Thompson

Ashley E. Thompson is a social and quantitative psychologist and is currently an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her primary program of research is designed to investigate attitudes and judgments relating to romantic and sexual relationships, the onset and maintenance of these relationships, and the role of gender in romantic and sexual experiences.

Aaron J. Bagley

Aaron J. Bagley received his Master of Science in Psychology (Cognitive and Affective Emphasis) from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. His has research interests in the areas of romantic relationships, motivation and engagement intensity, and childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Elle A. Moore

Elle A. Moore is a second-year graduate student in the Masters of Science in Psychological Research (Cognitive and Affective Emphasis) program at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Elle’s research interests focus primarily on romantic relationships, gender, and sexuality studies.