Sex Differences in the Motivation for Viewing Sexually Arousing Images

Sexual motivation strongly influences our mate choices and dating behaviors and can be triggered by merely viewing sexually arousing visual images, such as erotic pictures and movies. Previous studies suggested that men, more than women, tend to search for sexual cues that signal promiscuity in short-term mates. However, it remains to be tested whether the sex differences in the motivation to view sexual cues can be observed by using robust and well-controlled behavioral measures. To this end, we employed a pay-per-view key-pressing task. Japanese self-identified heterosexual male and female participants viewed images of men, women, or couples with two levels of sexual arousal (sexual vs. less sexual). Participants could alter the viewing time of a presented image according to their willingness to keep viewing it. The male participants were eager to view the sexual female images the most, whereas the female participants were more strongly motivated to view the less sexual images of couples. Such sex differences may reflect differentiated reproductive strategies between men and women; men’s motivation toward promiscuity and women’s motivation toward long-term relationships.