Intimately connected: The importance of partner responsiveness for experiencing sexual desire

Gurit E. Birnbaum, Harry T. Reis, Moran Mizrahi, Yaniv Kanat-Maymon, Omri Sass, Chen Granovski-Milner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

94 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sexual desire tends to subside gradually over time, with many couples failing to maintain desire in their long-term relationships. Three studies employed complementary methodologies to examine whether partner responsiveness, an intimacy-building behavior, could instill desire for one's partner. In Study 1, participants were led to believe that they would interact online with their partner. In reality, they interacted with either a responsive or an unresponsive confederate. In Study 2, participants interacted face-to-face with their partner, and judges coded their displays of responsiveness and sexual desire. Study 3 used a daily experiences methodology to examine the mechanisms underlying the responsiveness- desire linkage. Overall, responsiveness was associated with increased desire, but more strongly in women. Feeling special and perceived partner mate value explained the responsiveness- desire link, suggesting that responsive partners were seen as making one feel valued as well as better potential mates for anyone and thus as more sexually desirable.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)530-546
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of Personality and Social Psychology
Volume111
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Oct 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Psychological Association.

Funding

This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant 86/10 awarded to Gurit E. Birnbaum) and by the Binational Science Foundation (Grant 2011381 awarded to Gurit E. Birnbaum and Harry T. Reis). We thank Noam Segal, Reut Bivas, May Recanati, Romi Orr, Or Dvir, Amit Ben-Zvi, Efrat Na'aman, Sapir Damti, Shiran Halavi, Adi Harel, Noa Hoss, Sivan Got, Michal Gazit, Adi Manvich, Yulia Bogdanov, Yuval Gilad, Zach Gerber, Maya Trajtenberg, Gal Lazarovich, Lital Liberty, and Shir Kogan for their assistance in the collection and coding of the data.

FundersFunder number
United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation2011381
Israel Science Foundation86/10

    Keywords

    • Gender differences
    • Mate value
    • Responsiveness
    • Romantic relationships
    • Sexual desire

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