The Associations That Sociosexual Orientation and Personality Traits Have with Men's Preferences for Different Genres...

Men's use of internet pornography has been widely studied; however, the frequency with which men use different genres of pornography, and the individual differences associated with the use of different genres of pornography, has received less attention. The aim of the present research was to determine whether men's sociosexual orientation and personality traits were associated with use of different genres of internet pornography. Across three studies, men were asked to self-report the frequency with which they have used each genre of pornography (Study 1; n = 126), presented with video thumbnails representing the various genres of pornography and asked to self-report their interest in using each genre (Study 2; n = 166), and given brief descriptions for each genre and asked to report their interest in using each genre (Study 3; n = 169). These associations were examined using men's self-reported sociosexual orientation, personality traits, and use of four broad genres of pornography. Results indicated that aspects of men's sociosexual orientation and personality were correlated with men's use of various genres of pornography. Regression analyses revealed that aspects of men's sociosexual orientation and personality were uniquely predictive of their use of group sex pornography (which depicts cues to high levels of sperm competition), as well as female-specific and paraphilic pornography. Discussion considers the potential evolutionary psychological implications of these findings, as well as limitations and directions for future studies of pornography use.