HoldsUp

Rob Henderson

Rob Henderson holds a PhD in psychology. He focuses on evolutionary psychology topics, including attraction, dating dynamics, and relationship behavior. There are no publications listed for him in the provided record.

12 claims checked on air: 1 context 7 supported 4 unverified

What they said on air - supported

0:18:15supportedmoderateThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

Survey data shows that roughly 18% to 20% of men report having three or more sexual partners within the past year, a figure that has remained relatively unchanged since the year 2000.

"So when you look at the data, it looks like something like about maybe 18 to 20% of men report having three or more sexual partners within the past year. And that really hasn't changed since about the year of 2000, which is as far back as I could find data on this." (said at 0:18:15)

Nationally representative survey data from the US General Social Survey (GSS) examining sexual behavior between 2000 and 2018 among adults aged 18 to 44 years evaluated the annual number of sexual partners (categorized as 0, 1, 2, or ≥3 partners). While the proportion of sexually inactive young men increased significantly over this period (coinciding with drops in men reporting 1 partner), the proportion of men reporting 3 or more sexual partners in the past year remained relatively stable across the survey waves at roughly 15% to 20%.

0:18:33supportedmoderateThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

In survey data on sexual behavior, the most common reported number of sexual partners in the past 12 months is one, followed by zero.

"The most common response to the question of how many partners have you had in the past 12 months is one followed by zero." (said at 0:18:33)

Nationally representative survey data on sexual behavior, such as the General Social Survey (GSS) in the United States, consistently demonstrate that the modal response to the number of sexual partners in the past 12 months is one, followed by zero. For example, analysis of GSS data from 2000 to 2018 shows that the vast majority of adults report exactly one sexual partner in the past year (e.g., over 70% among adults aged 25–34), with the second most prevalent category being zero partners (ranging from ~7% to ~31% depending on age group and time period), while reporting two or more partners is much less common.

0:33:40supportedhighThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

Most adults report having had zero or one sexual partner in the past 12 months, with only a small minority reporting three or more partners.

"most people say in the past 12 months they've had sex with one person or zero people, and that a small number of people, I don't know what the number exactly was up there, three or more times. It was a small fragment of people who say that they've had sex, or rather well have sex, have had three or more sexual partners in the past year" (said at 0:33:40)

Nationally representative survey data from the U.S. General Social Survey (GSS) and related population surveys demonstrate that the vast majority of adults report having zero or one sexual partner in the past 12 months, with only a small minority reporting multiple (e.g., three or more) partners. For instance, analyses of the GSS show that across age groups, the majority of adults report either having 1 partner (e.g., 72.7%–79.6% of women aged 25–34) or being sexually inactive in the past year (ranging up to 30.9% among young men).

1:32:16supportedlowThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

A study by David Puts and colleagues found that male physical formidability rated from video clips predicted the number of sexual partners men had over the following 18 months, whereas rated sexual attractiveness did not.

"David Puts uh and his colleagues famously did this study uh where they brought in a group of men and recorded them in these videos... And they found that how formidable they were uh predicted how many sexual partners they had, whereas how sexually attractive they were to these women uh had no relationship at all." (said at 1:32:16)

A study by David Puts and colleagues evaluated whether male contest competition (dominance/formidability) or female mate choice (attractiveness) better predicted mating success. Male participants were recorded competing for a date with a woman, and their interactions were evaluated for dominance and attractiveness cues. Dominance cues (such as dominant linguistic content and monotone vocal characteristics) significantly predicted men's reported number of sexual partners in the past year, whereas attractiveness and courtship measures did not significantly predict partner count. Certainty is rated as low due to the observational, cross-sectional design relying on self-reported sexual history in a university sample.

1:36:10supportedmoderateThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

Male teachers are far more likely to engage in sexual misconduct or sleep with underage students than female teachers.

"male teachers are still far more likely to um, commit this transgression of sleeping with an underage student than female teachers are." (said at 1:36:10)

Epidemiological studies and regulatory case reviews on educator sexual misconduct consistently show that male educators constitute the vast majority of perpetrators. In a large survey of K–12 graduates in the United States (n = 6,632), 85% of educators who engaged in sexual misconduct were male, despite women comprising the majority of the K–12 teaching workforce. Similarly, an analysis of disciplinary cases from the Ontario College of Teachers found that approximately 92% of offenders were men.

1:39:17supportedmoderateThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

While average differences in aggressiveness between sexes are small, individuals at the extreme tails of aggression and sexual predation are predominantly male.

"The average difference, as as you've mentioned in your book, aggressiveness is not that large, but in the tails, the most extremely aggressive, sexually predatory people tend to be men." (said at 1:39:17)

The speaker's statement accurately reflects the psychological and criminological literature on sex differences in aggression. While population-level and survey-based differences in general or low-level aggressive behavior between men and women are modest (with effect sizes typically small to moderate), the sex difference widens substantially as the severity, physical risk, and lethality of the behavior increase, resulting in a heavy overrepresentation of males in extreme violence, homicide, and predatory sexual offenses.

2:03:02supportedlowThe New Science Of Female Attraction - Psychology Roundtable

Gay men prioritize physical appearance and youth in their mate preferences, mirroring the preferences observed in heterosexual men.

"one line of evidence for uh, you know, the sex differences being um, you know, sort of evolutionary in origin and not entirely socially constructed is the way that that gay men what they find attractive: appearance and youth and so on." (said at 2:03:02)

Empirical studies in evolutionary and social psychology consistently find that gay men prioritize physical attractiveness and youth in potential partners in patterns that closely mirror those of heterosexual men, compared to the mate selection criteria prioritized by women. Observational survey and experimental vignette research indicates that men, regardless of sexual orientation, place higher emphasis on partner physical appearance and display age preferences for younger partners relative to female counterparts.

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