Feeling Similar or Feeling Unique: How Men and Women Perceive their Own Sexual Behaviors

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Abstract
The present research examined gender differences in the perceived prevalence of extradyadic sex (Study 1, n = 184) and of unsafe sex (Study 2, n = 170). Two opposing hypotheses were examined: the justification hypothesis, predicting that the higher the involvement in extradyadic and unsafe sex, the higher the perceived prevalence of such behaviors would be, and the stigmatization hypothesis, predicting that the higher the level of involvement, the lower the perceived prevalence of such behaviors would be. Among men, evidence was found for the justification hypothesis, whereas among women, more evidence was found for the stigmatization hypothesis. In Study 3 (n = 574) and Study 4 (n = 637), conducted in samples representative of the general population, evidence was found that when making prevalence estimates, women thought primarily of other women and men of other men.