Articles — Understanding Sociosexuality & the SOI-R
In-depth, citation-backed guides on sociosexual orientation — what it is, how the validated SOI-R measures it, and what decades of research reveal about desire, attraction, jealousy, and commitment.
Sociosexuality and Monogamy
Can a high scorer be happily monogamous? Separating orientation from choice.
When Partners Have Mismatched Sociosexuality
How couples navigate differing orientations toward casual versus committed sex.
Sociosexual Compatibility in Couples
Why matched orientations can ease a relationship and mismatches create friction.
Sociosexuality and Mate Poaching
The conceptual link between unrestricted orientation and attempts to attract already-partnered people.
Sociosexuality and Dating Apps
How sociosexual orientation shapes the way people use modern dating apps.
Sociosexuality and Long-Term Commitment
Can unrestricted people sustain committed relationships? What orientation does and does not predict.
Sociosexuality and Jealousy
How restricted and unrestricted people tend to experience and express jealousy differently.
Sociosexuality and Infidelity: What the Research Really Says
Unrestricted orientation is associated with — but does not determine — infidelity. Here is the nuance.
Sociosexuality and Relationship Satisfaction
Does sociosexual orientation predict how happy people are in committed relationships?
Sociosexuality and Life History Theory
How fast and slow life-history strategies map onto restricted and unrestricted orientations.
Sociosexuality and Impulsivity
How impulsivity and sensation-seeking overlap with unrestricted orientation.
Sociosexuality and Self-Esteem
Does confidence relate to sociosexual orientation? What the research suggests.
Sociosexuality and the Dark Triad
How narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy relate to unrestricted sociosexuality — and the limits of that link.
Sociosexuality and Openness to Experience
How openness relates to attitudes about uncommitted sex.
Sociosexuality and Extraversion
Why more extraverted people sometimes score more unrestricted, and why it is not a rule.
Sociosexuality and the Big Five Traits
How sociosexual orientation tends to relate to extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness.
Why Men and Women Differ in Sociosexuality
The leading explanations — evolutionary and social — for the average sex difference.
Sociosexuality and Gender Equality
A counterintuitive cross-cultural pattern: where the sexes are more equal, sociosexuality patterns can shift.
Sociosexuality Across Cultures
What a 48-nation study suggested about how culture shapes sociosexual orientation.
How Much Do Men and Women Overlap in Sociosexuality?
The average sex difference is real but the overlap is large — here is what that means for any individual.
Curious where you fall?
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