Coolidge effect

Coolidge effect

The Coolidge effect is a natural desire for sexual variety and new experiences, particularly in males, which leads to a tendency to seek out new sexual partners once they have become sexually satiated with a current partner. This behavior is thought to be a manifestation of a reproductive promiscuity strategy.From: Introduction to Psychosexual Medicine [2019], A Cluster Analysis on Sexual Boredom Profiles in A Community Sample of Men and Women [2022]

Internet Pornography: Addiction or Sexual Dysfunction?

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Published in Philipa A Brough, Margaret Denman, Introduction to Psychosexual Medicine, 2019

Catherine White

Thus the Coolidge effect was the illustration through animal studies of a natural desire for sexual variety and new experience. Demonstration in rats showed greater reward circuit activity with exposure to a new sexual partner. It was observed that male rats when faced repeatedly with the same female partner showed progressively longer ejaculation time, post-orgasmic sluggishness and early cessation of activity. This was seen to be in stark contrast to those male rats to whom a different female rat was presented after each ejaculation: the male continued until completely exhausted, urged on by repeated surges of dopamine (20).

A Cluster Analysis on Sexual Boredom Profiles in A Community Sample of Men and Women

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Published in The Journal of Sex Research, 2022

Leonor de Oliveira, Pedro Rosa, Joana Carvalho, Pedro Nobre

Previous research found that trait boredom and sexual boredom were more prevalent in men when compared to women (e.g., Polly et al., 1993; Tunariu & Reavey, 2007; Watt & Ewing, 1996), and that younger men presented higher levels of sexual boredom (Watt & Ewing, 1996). Explanations for sexual boredom in men are often framed within evolutionary psychology (e.g., Buss & Schmitt, 1993). This view argues that sexual boredom in men would be a manifestation of their reproductive promiscuity strategy known as the “Coolidge effect”, that is, the tendency to restore mating behavior with a novel female once they have reached sexual satiation with another female (see Dewsbury, 1981). No explanation for sexual boredom in women is offered within this framework that we are aware of.

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