Your political views might change temporarily just because your sex drive fluctuated that week.
April 14, 2026
Original Paper
When Desire Fluctuates, So Does Radicalism: A Four-Wave Longitudinal Study of Sociosexuality, Authoritarianism, Dominance, and Sexism
SSRN · 6570278
The Takeaway
A longitudinal study found that short-term mating desires correlate with shifts in authoritarian and sexist attitudes. It suggests that deeply held ideologies are not just stable logic, but are partially driven by biological reproductive cycles.
From the abstract
Reproductive interests have been proposed as an ultimate origin of ideological beliefs. In particular, individual differences in short-term mating strategies have been identified as explaining endorsement of authoritarian, dominance-oriented, and sexist ideologies. These connections have been examined cross-sectionally and experimentally, yet no studies to date have examined whether naturalistic fluctuations in short-term mating interest covary with ideological endorsement. To address this gap,