Pornography, Relationship Alternatives, and Intimate Extradyadic Behavior

    Authors

    A. M. Gwinn; N. M. Lambert; F. D. Fincham;J. K. Maner

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Soc. Psychol. Personal Sci.

    Keywords

    pornography; dating; relationships; alternatives; infidelity; INVESTMENT MODEL; RELATIONSHIP MAINTENANCE; ATTRACTIVE ALTERNATIVES; INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY; COMMITMENT; SATISFACTION; INATTENTION; INFIDELITY; COGNITION; SCALE; Psychology, Social

    Abstract

    Two studies tested the hypothesis that exposure to pornography among romantically committed individuals would increase the likelihood of intimate extradyadic behavior and that this effect would be mediated by heightened perceptions of romantic alternatives. Study 1 (n = 74) found that participants primed with sexually explicit material reported having higher quality romantic alternatives. Study 2 (n = 291) showed that initial pornography consumption predicted intimate extradyadic behavior 12 weeks later even after controlling for initial extradyadic behavior, sociosexuality, relationship length, baseline relationship satisfaction, social desirability, and participant gender and race. The relationship between pornography and intimate extradyadic behavior was mediated by perceptions of the quality of romantic alternatives. These results suggest that sexually explicit material can provoke intimate extradyadic behavior via its effect on perceptions of alternative partners.

    Journal Title

    Social Psychological and Personality Science

    Volume

    4

    Issue/Number

    6

    Publication Date

    1-1-2013

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    699

    Last Page

    704

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000336436900009

    ISSN

    1948-5506

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