Unrestricted Sociosexuality: Need for Variety

> Relative to restricted women, unrestricted women perceived greater sexual benefits (e.g., having a partner willing to experiment sexually, obtaining greater arousal, being appreciated sexually, experiencing the novelty of a new partner)

Simpson, J. A., Wilson, C. L., & Winterheld, H. A. (2004). Sociosexuality and Romantic Relationships. In J. H. Harvey, A. Wenzel, & S. Sprecher (Eds.), The handbook of sexuality in close relationships (pp. 87–112). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

> High SOI women, compared with low SOI women, view as highly beneficial having a sexual partner who is willing to experiment sexually, experiencing orgasms with the sexual partner, becoming more aroused, being more sexually appreciated and delighting in the novelty of a new sex partner.

Greiling, H., & Buss, D. M. (2000). Women's sexual strategies: The hidden dimension of extra-pair mating. Personality and Individual Differences, 28(5), 929–963. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(99)00151-8

> Not surprisingly, an unrestricted SO has been associated with a greater willingness to engage in infidelity when using either self-report (Barta & Kiene, 2005; Ostovich & Sabini, 2004) or behavioral measures (Seal, Agostinelli, & Hannett, 1994). Previous studies have shown that those with an unrestricted SO are generally less committed to their romantic partners (Jones 1998; Simpson & Gangestad, 1991), and low commitment is often a predictor of infidelity (Drigotas, Safstrom, & Gentilia, 1999). Similarly, those with an unrestricted SO are often looking for new, attractive partners (Simpson, Wilson, & Winterheld, 2004).

Mattingly, B. A., Clark, E. M., Weidler, D. J., Bullock, M., Hackathorn, J., & Blankmeyer, K. (2011). Sociosexual orientation, commitment, and infidelity: a mediation analysis. The Journal of Social Psychology, 151(3), 222–226. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224540903536162

> In the sexual quality area, where the association with the number of sexual partners is the strongest, the negative association may be a result of multiple partners and sexual experiences raising expectations that undermine the current sexual quality in marriage. Rather than providing more meaningful experience, understanding, and eventually higher levels of quality in the sexuality area, having multiple sexual partners appears to be associated with poorer sexual quality in marriage. It may be that once someone has been sexual with a number of people the need for variety increases.

Busby, D. M., Willoughby, B. J., & Carroll, J. S. (2013). Sowing wild oats: Valuable experience or a field full of weeds? Personal Relationships, 20(4), 706–718. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12009

> Some individuals may be unrestricted because they simply enjoy engaging in novel sex with different partners. Although desire for sexual diversity is more prevalent among men (Buss, 1985; DeLamater, 1987; Symons, 1979), some women apparently do engage in uncommitted sex to satisfy needs for sexual diversity (Kinsey et al., 1953).

Simpson, J. A., & Gangestad, S. W. (1991). Individual differences in sociosexuality: Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(6), 870–883. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.60.6.870

> As global sociosexuality is defined as the willingness to engage in uncommitted sex, other obvious correlates are the desire for sexual variety (Schmitt, 2005a, 2005b) and the lifetime number of sexual partners (Ostovich & Sabini, 2004; Simpson & Gangestad, 1991). (pg.1117)

> The behavior component, reflecting the quantity of past short-term sexual encounters, shows strong and unique links to the diversity of past romantic and sexual relationships, as well as the occurrence of sexual infidelity… Our results also confirmed the prediction that men and women who had more experience with short-term relationships in the past (i.e., those with high Behavior facet scores) were more likely to have multiple sexual partners and unstable relationships in the future. The behaviorally expressed level of sociosexuality thus seems to be a fairly stable personal characteristic… Within sex, sociosexual desire was related to general sex drive, desire for sexual variety, and sensation seeking. (pg.1131)

Penke, L., & Asendorpf, J. B. (2008). Beyond global sociosexual orientations: a more differentiated look at sociosexuality and its effects on courtship and romantic relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1113–1135. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.95.5.1113