STUDY: The sexual overperception bias: Evidence of a systematic bias in men from a survey of naturally occurring events

ABSTRACT:  According to error management theory (Haselton & Buss, 2000), natural selection will often produce adaptively biased systems of judgment, even when these systems produce more errors than alternative designs. In a study of naturally occurring events, evidence of one such bias in men—the sexual overperception bias—was documented. Women (n=102) and men (n=114) reported past experiences in which a member of the opposite sex erroneously inferred their sexual interest. Women reported significantly more false-positive errors committed by men than false-negative errors. Men reported roughly equal numbers of false-positive and false-negative errors committed by women, suggesting no bias in women’s sexual inferences. Several within-sex predictors of misperceptions were identified; for example, individuals high in self-perceived mate value reported more false-positive inferences by others than did individuals lower in mate value.

TRANSLATION. “She totally wants me.”

MARGIN OF ERROR: That other guy. The one who’s all, “I know she’s always calling and bringing me muffins and offering to drive me to the airport and all, but I’m pretty sure she thinks of me only as a friend.”