Uncertainty in a date dampens interest in a mate. In the first study, 51 women and 50 men from a university in central Israel who identified as single and heterosexual, ranging in age from 19 to 31 years, were led to believe they would be participating in an online chat with another participant who was located in a different room.
Next, participants had their picture taken and were told it would be shown to the other person, who was in fact an insider, working with the scientists. Then the researchers showed the study participants a photograph of their purported chat partner.
In reality, all participants were shown the same picture of an opposite-sex individual. While studies one through four examined the uncertainty effect on single adults, studies five and six explored whether the effect of uncertainty could be generalized to the everyday lives of long-term partners.
Here romantic interest was substituted with perceived partner regard. Getty Images photo. The answer is clearβsexual desire thrives on reduced uncertainty. Do the findings put the debate finally to rest? What can Back to the Future teach us about US nuclear regulations? Historic Bermuda reshapes our understanding of colonial America.
