Cocktails not required
Behavioral New World
April 1, 2024
Cocktails not required
The phrase “sexual overperception bias” (SOP) pretty much explains itself. It is the tendency to perceive another’s sexual interest in oneself as being greater than it actually is. And how many of you are surprised to hear that it is more prominent in men than women? In fact, women seem to frequently suffer from the opposite: sexual underperception bias.[1]
Why does (male) sexual overperception occur? A plausible explanation comes from evolutionary biology. Because it is less costly for men to pass along their genes (in that they cannot get pregnant), they will be subconsciously more attentive to the possibility of sex. This continues to be the case even in environments where there is no clear imperative to procreate, as is the case in most major industrialized countries. It is also interesting to note that in the most gender-equal countries, such as Norway, we see similar levels of SOP to countries that are not so equal on this front.[2]
So why does SOP persist? From a genetic legacy point of view, a man can make two types of mistakes—he can miss an opportunity to pass along his genes or he can be overly optimistic and get turned down. Evolutionarily, the first type of mistake is more costly than the second. So the behavior persists unless countermeasures are taken (see below).
SOP can be seen as a special case of self-serving bias (link) in men. Overconfidence (link) might play a role, as might confirmation bias (link). Biases sometimes overlap. They may reinforce each other (e.g., recency bias (future newsletter) and availability bias (link)) or work at cross purposes (e.g., overconfidence and negativity bias (link)).
Why is SOP important? An obvious case is the workplace, where this bias can lead to making women feel uncomfortable or harassed. The #MeToo movement suggests that SOP-related sexual harassment continues, despite some progress. It is easy to imagine how SOP can lead to frustrations (or worse) on the dating scene.
What can be done about it? As always, awareness is the first step. Women: don’t underestimate your attractiveness. Men, if you care at all about the opposite sex, and I sincerely hope you do, try to step back—are you interpreting the situation correctly? I also suggest that you take a screenshot of the photo at the top of this newsletter, print it out, and put it in a photo sleeve of your wallet. Don’t be that guy, to paraphrase a few songs, who thinks he miraculously gets better looking every beer.
Daniel Kahneman, grandfather of behavioral economics, died on March 27. His book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, describes his substantial body of work. His long-time collaboration with Amos Tversky is described in Michael Lewis’s excellent (as always) book, The Undoing Project.
[1] https://tinyurl.com/2wj3st2m
[2] Bendixen M. Evidence of systematic bias in sexual over- and underperception of naturally occurring events: a direct replication of Haselton (2003) in a more gender-equal culture. Evol Psychol. 2014 Nov 17;12(5):1004-21. doi: 10.1177/147470491401200510. PMID: 25402231; PMCID: PMC10434406.