Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Email: aszymkow-sudziarska swps. The fact that men and women experience sexual attraction toward their opposite-sex friends has been evidenced in various studies.
It has also been shown that there is a close parallel between preferences for opposite-sex friends and mate preferences, i. Although this mating activation hypothesis has been validated to an extent, there is hardly any research that points to moderating factors which would define the boundary conditions for these effects.
We present two studies that involved heterosexual participants who were in a committed relationship and at the same time had a heterosexual opposite-sex friend. Results mostly support the mating activation hypothesis. The results reaffirm previous evidence indicating that perceptions of opposite-sex friends can be viewed as a manifestation of evolved human mating strategies.
Keywords: opposite-sex friends, sexual interest, mate-switching, back-up mates, evolutionary psychology. On the one hand, opposite-sex friends can be our great companions allowing for a substantial level of intimacy Monseur, In this context, the evolved desires and strategies which are automatically activated when being around a genetically unrelated member of the opposite sex should also be salient in OSFs.
The idea that mating psychology may drive OSF preferences has been advanced by Lewis et al. Having these results replicated, the authors also pointed to the importance of the interaction between sex, personality characteristics, and relationship status in shaping OSF preferences Lewis et al.
