Elastic analysis procedures: an incurable (but preventable) problem in the fertility effect literature. Comment on Gildersleeve, Haselton, and Fales (2014).

Running Head : Elastic Analysis Procedures Elastic Analysis Procedures - - An Incurable ( but Preventable ) Problem in the Fertility Effect

Gildersleeve, Haselton, and Fales (2014) present a meta-analysis of the effects of fertility on mate preferences in women. Research in this area has categorized fertility using a great variety of methods, chiefly based on self-reported cycle length and time since last menses. We argue that this literature is particularly prone to hidden experimenter degrees of freedom. Studies vary greatly in t...

Elusiveness of menstrual cycle effects on mate preferences: comment on Gildersleeve, Haselton, and Fales (2014).

This comment uses meta-analytic techniques to reconcile the apparent conflict between Gildersleeve, Haselton, and Fales's (2014) conclusion of "robust" effects of menstrual cycles on women's preferences for men of purported genetic quality and Wood, Kressel, Joshi, and Louie's (2014) assessment that the few, limited effects in this literature appear to be research artifacts. Despite these diver...

Meta-analyses and p-curves support robust cycle shifts in women's mate preferences: reply to Wood and Carden (2014) and Harris, Pashler, and Mickes (2014).

Two meta-analyses evaluated shifts across the ovulatory cycle in women's mate preferences but reported very different findings. In this journal, we reported robust evidence for the pattern of cycle shifts predicted by the ovulatory shift hypothesis (Gildersleeve, Haselton, & Fales, 2014). However, Wood, Kressel, Joshi, and Louie (2014) claimed an absence of compelling support for this hypothesi...

Psychological Bulletin Do Women’s Mate Preferences Change Across the Ovulatory Cycle? A Meta-Analytic Review

Exposure to perceived male rivals raises men's testosterone on fertile relative to nonfertile days of their partner's ovulatory cycle.

The challenge hypothesis posits that male testosterone levels increase in the presence of fertile females to facilitate mating and increase further in the presence of male rivals to facilitate male-male competition. This hypothesis has been supported in a number of nonhuman animal species. We conducted an experiment to test the challenge hypothesis in men. Thirty-four men were randomly assigned...