Seduction or Perception? Exploring Methodological Limitations in Research on the Sexual Overperception Bias

Men tend to overestimate women’s sexual interest; this tendency was termed the sexual overperception bias and it is typically explained in the framework of evolutionary psychology. Its presence varies with the presence of other variables like mate value, attitudes towards women, or attractiveness of the target. Sexual overperception is a risk factor for sexual coercion and therefore deserves special attention in research. Previous research has mainly worked with undergraduate students as participants. Considering that other evolutionary biases were found to change across the lifespan, this tendency in research was hypothesized to bias the results. A meta-analysis was conducted, revealing an average of 23.06 years as the average participant age across studies on the topic. This points to the presence of a research bias. Implications of this finding and further methodological limitations of previous research are discussed. Recommendations for future research are made. For increased external validity of research findings, replication attempts of previous studies are necessary to conduct with samples conforming to the general population in terms of demographics (among which age is an important factor). In addition, specific participant characteristics should be tested separately for correlations with the sexual overperception bias. This could lead to new insights relevant to current scientific debates in the field of psychology, as well as the identification of subgroups of individuals who are at higher risk of committing sexual coercion, revealing potential for targeted interventions.