Justin J. Lehmiller

Justin J. Lehmiller
Indiana University Bloomington | IUB · The Kinsey Institute

PhD, Social Psychology

About

55
Publications
83,041
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
2,043
Citations
Additional affiliations
January 2018 - present
Indiana University Bloomington
Position
  • Research Associate
January 2015 - June 2018
Ball State University
Position
  • Managing Director
July 2011 - June 2014
Harvard University
Position
  • College Fellow

Publications

Publications (55)
Article
We explored the unique roles that body and genital image play in behavior-specific orgasm consistency, beyond overall sexual self-esteem. US adults (N = 599; 64% women) completed questionnaires online. Hierarchical regression analyses predicted orgasm consistency during receptive oral sex and penile-vaginal intercourse (PVI) with additional clitora...
Chapter
Full-text available
Evolutionary social science is having a renaissance. This volume showcases the empirical and theoretical advancements produced by the evolutionary study of romantic relationships. The editors assembled an international collection of contributors to trace how evolved psychological mechanisms shape strategic computation and behavior across the life s...
Article
Objectives Sexual imagery and fantasy are key aspects of human sexuality: they are associated with sexual arousal and are reflective of societal influences on sexuality. In addition, they are thought to play a role in sexual activation, desire and personal satisfaction. The current study aimed to depict the sexual imagery of Italian population usin...
Article
Objectives Sexual imagery and fantasy are key aspects of human sexuality: they are associated with sexual arousal and are reflective of societal influences on sexuality. In addition, they are thought to play a role in sexual activation, desire and personal satisfaction. The current study aimed to depict the sexual imagery of Italian population usin...
Article
Understanding sexual fantasies is central to understanding human sexuality. The current review synthesizes recent trends and findings in sexual fantasy research and points to several important conclusions. First, few sexual fantasies appear to be statistically unusual or rare. Second, while the bulk of sexual fantasy research to date has focused on...
Article
Full-text available
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting social distancing measures have caused widespread social and economic disruptions, resulting in spikes in unemployment and financial instability, along with drastic changes to people's ability to feel socially connected. Many of the changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic are risk factors for depressive...
Article
This chapter describes research on nonmonogamous practices in nonheterosexual relationships. Specifically, it explores (1) the prevalence of both consensual nonmonogamy (e.g., open relationships, polyamory) and nonconsensual nonmonogamy (i.e., infidelity) in this population, (2) factors that may explain why both types of nonmonogamy appear to be mo...
Preprint
Full-text available
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting social distancing measures have caused widespread social and economic disruptions, resulting in spikes in unemployment and financial instability, along with drastic changes to people's ability to feel socially connected. Many of the changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic are risk factors for depressive...
Article
Lifestyle changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had mostly negative consequences for individual, relationship, and sexual functioning. However, some individuals have reported increases in sexual desire and made new additions to their sex lives. Given that stress-provoking situations can sometimes make mortality more salient and heighten sexual de...
Article
Full-text available
Sugar dating is a form of dating typically characterized by wealthier, older men providing financial support to younger, less financially secure women in exchange for companionship and sexual intimacy. The goals of the current study were to (1) quantitatively assess the sexual practices of sugar dating women in their arrangements with sugar daddies...
Preprint
Full-text available
Humans maintain romantic relationships for sexual gratification, childcare assistance, intimate friendship, and a host of other interpersonal benefits. In monogamous relationships (i.e., exclusive courtship between two people) individuals agree that certain benefits of the relationship (i.e., sexual contact, material resources, emotional support) m...
Article
Full-text available
Emotional reactions to a partner’s extradyadic romantic interests are assumed to be negative and characterized by jealousy, an emotional state that arises over a perceived threat to one’s relationship. Yet, reactions may also be positive, and involve compersion, or taking joy in one’s partner’s pleasure in other sexual and relational encounters. Al...
Article
Full-text available
Mixed-gender threesomes (MGTs) are a type of consensually nonmonogamous sexual encounter involving three people of more than one gender. Little research has been conducted on MGTs, and what little work does exist is limited to college students, who may actually be less experienced with MGTs than older adults. The present study investigated attitude...
Preprint
Full-text available
Emotional reactions to a partner's extradyadic romantic interests are assumed to be negative and characterized by jealousy, an emotional state that arises over a perceived threat to one's relationship. Yet, reactions may also be positive, and involve compersion, or taking joy in one's partner's pleasure in other sexual and relational encounters. Al...
Article
Full-text available
The present research explored fantasies about consensual nonmonogamous relationships (CNMRs) and the factors that predict such fantasies in a large and diverse online sample (N = 822) of persons currently involved in monogamous relationships. Nearly one-third (32.6%) of participants reported that being in some type of sexually open relationship was...
Article
Recreational sex is a popular form of leisure that has been redefined by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. “Social distancing” rules have imposed limits on sex for leisure while also creating new opportunities. We discuss results from an online survey of 1,559 adults who were asked about the pandemic’s impact on their intimate lives. While nearl...
Article
Friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs) uniquely combine friendship with sexual activity but differ from romantic relationships in that they may be less likely to be exclusive or long lasting. A longitudinal analysis of the trajectory of FWBRs is presented, in which participants in FWBRs at Time 1 reported on their relationship outcomes at Time...
Article
Full-text available
Polyamory is the practice of having multiple emotionally close relationships that may or may not be sexual. Research concerning polyamory has just begun to determine how relationships among partners in polyamorous arrangements may vary. Most of the research assessing perceptions of polyamorous partners has focused on primary–secondary configuration...
Preprint
Full-text available
Polyamory is the practice of having multiple emotionally-close relationships that may or may not be sexual. Research concerning polyamory has just begun to determine how relationships among partners in polyamorous arrangements may vary. Most of the research assessing perceptions of polyamorous partners has focused on primary-secondary configuration...
Preprint
Full-text available
The literature on relationship secrecy suggests that secrecy may have detrimental and beneficial effects on romantic relationships, such as lower relationship satisfaction but higher sexual attraction. Like secrecy, relationship acceptance appears to have inconsistent effects as well; for instance, while a lack of relationship acceptance can be a b...
Book
What do Americans really want when it comes to sex? And is it possible for us to get what we want? Justin J. Lehmiller, one of the country's leading experts on human sexuality and author of the popular blog Sex and Psychology, has made it his career's ambition to answer these questions. He recently concluded the largest and most comprehensive scien...
Article
Full-text available
Research on polyamorous relationships has increased substantially over the past decade. This work has documented how polyamory is practiced and why individuals might pursue such arrangements. However, there is a lack of a systematic investigation of who is in polyamorous relationships and how they might differ from individuals in monogamous relatio...
Article
Full-text available
Cuckolding (also known as troilism) is a sexual interest in which one obtains sexual arousal from the experience of a romantic partner engaging in sexual activity with someone else. The present study investigated fantasies about and experiences with cuckolding in a large and diverse sample of predominately gay-identified men (N = 580). Compared to...
Book
The thoroughly revised and updated second edition of The Psychology of Human Sexuality explores the roles that biology, psychology, and the social and cultural context play in shaping human sexual behavior. The text presents the major theoretical perspectives on human sexuality, and details the vast diversity of sexual attitudes and behaviors tha...
Article
Full-text available
In consensually non-monogamous relationships there is an open agreement that one, both, or all individuals involved in a romantic relationship may also have other sexual and/or romantic partners. Research concerning consensual non-monogamy has grown recently but has just begun to determine how relationships amongst partners in consensually non-mono...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction: Although consensually nonmonogamous (CNM) relationships are presumed to be far riskier for partners' sexual health compared with monogamous relationships, the disparity between them may be smaller than assumed. A growing body of research finds that many partners who have made monogamy agreements cheat, and when they do, they are less...
Chapter
How do we choose a partner to initiate a relationship with, and what makes us stay in a given relationship over time? These questions are most often pursued by scholars with an emphasis on the internal thoughts, feelings, and motivations of individual decision-makers. Conversely, this volume highlights the importance of considering external influen...
Article
Full-text available
Diversity awareness has enormous benefits, and universities in the United States increasingly require students to complete diversity-related courses. Prior research has demonstrated that students' initial attitudes toward these courses affect their subsequent engagement, as well as the quality of their learning experience; however, very little rese...
Article
Full-text available
The present research examined the effect of social influence on White, heterosexual individuals’ attraction to targets of varying races (White vs. Black) in two college student samples from the United States (one that leaned politically liberal and one that leaned politically conservative). Using a within-subjects experimental design, participants...
Article
Full-text available
Several smartphone applications (apps) designed to help men who have sex with men (MSM) find casual sexual partners have appeared on the market recently. Apps of this nature have the potential to impact sexual health and behavior by providing constant access to a large supply of available partners. In this study, the sexual health history, behavior...
Article
The present research applied the investment model to the study of how gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) persons become committed to the broader community of sexual minorities. In addition, the present research examined the potential consequences associated with such commitment. In Study 1, satisfaction, investments, and alternatives ea...
Article
Full-text available
Although "friends with benefits" relationships (FWBRs) are common and have been the subject of significant media and research attention, relatively little is known about them, especially in terms of how they differ from other types of relationships. The present research sought to compare the sexual outcomes of FWBRs to those of traditional romantic...
Article
Full-text available
Perceiving one’s romantic relationship as socially marginalized (i.e., as lacking social approval and acceptance) has been linked to an array of worse relational outcomes, including a greater likelihood of breakup. The present research extended this line of work by examining whether individuals who perceive disapproval specifically because of their...
Article
Full-text available
The present research sought to explore the antecedents and consequences of commitment in the context of friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs). Data collected from an Internet sample of participants (all of whom currently had an FWBR) revealed that these relationships do indeed uniquely combine aspects of both sexual relationships and friendsh...
Article
Full-text available
Previous Investment Model research found that investments are a weaker predictor of relationship commitment for gay men compared with heterosexual men. The present study examined whether this effect is characteristic of investments in general or whether it is specific to certain types of investments. Results indicated that tangible investments sign...
Article
In three experiments, we explored the impact of a self-affirmation treatment on sexual prejudice (i.e., negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians). Studies 1 and 2 found that participants who were affirmed by valuing relationships with family and friends were significantly more prejudiced than participants who were affirmed by valuing other self-...
Article
Full-text available
This research explored differences in how men and women approach "friends with benefits" (FWB) relationships. Specifically, this study examined sex differences in reasons for beginning such involvements, commitment to the friendship versus sexual aspects of the relationship, and partners'; anticipated hopes for the future. To do so, an Internet sam...
Article
Full-text available
In this paper, we suggest that the Investment Model of Commitment, developed in social psychology, offers a solution to an important microfoundational issue in audience cost theory. Audience cost models are useful for thinking about the foreign policy behaviors of democratic and nondemocratic states. However, they often assume that citizens reliabl...
Article
Full-text available
Previous research on romantic secrecy found that hiding one's relationship from others predicted lower levels of relationship quality. The present research built on this work by exploring the potential consequences of relationship concealment on partners' commitment level and personal health. Study 1 found that greater secrecy was associated with r...
Article
Full-text available
This study analyzed a dataset in which approximately one-half of the sample (all U.S. college students) participated just prior to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the remainder participated in the weeks following the initial invasion. Results indicated that wartime participants increasingly valued power and superiority, scoring significantly hi...
Article
Full-text available
Little research has addressed age-gap romantic relationships (romantic involvements characterized by substantial age differences between partners). Drawing on evolutionary and socio-cultural perspectives, the present study examined normative beliefs and commitment processes among heterosexual women involved in age-gap and age-concordant relationshi...
Article
Full-text available
Online research has grown substantially over the last few years across many different academic disciplines, including those that emphasize the of study interpersonal relationships. As a result, the number of different data collection tools and outlets available for advertising such studies have grown and changed dramatically, and for researchers ne...
Article
Full-text available
Applying constructs from the investment model used traditionally to understand interpersonal commitment, the present investigation seeks to elucidate social cognitive antecedents of commitment to the war on terror waged by the United States. In Study 1, satisfaction with, investments in, and alternatives to the war on terror predict levels of commi...
Article
The present research examined how perceived marginalization of one’s romantic relationship is associated with level of future commitment to and stability of that involvement. Results from a 7-month longitudinal study of romantically involved individuals (N= 215) revealed that perceived social network marginalization at Time 1 predicted breakup stat...
Article
Full-text available
Although US citizens generally oppose the legal recognition of same-sex marriages more than civil unions, the reasons for this opposition remain unclear. In two experiments, we presented participants with one of two hypothetical state laws legally recognizing same-sex partnerships. The laws differed only in the label applied to those partnerships (...
Article
Both social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) are assumed to be general and relatively stable psychological orientations that individuals ‘carry with them’ from context to context, influencing responses to salient forms of intergroup inequality and domination. In two experimental studies we tested the relative stabil...
Article
Full-text available
Little research has examined the effects of prejudice and discrimination on people's romantic relationships. The authors explored whether belonging to a socially devalued relationship affects consequential relational phenomena. Within the framework of the Investment Model, the authors (a) tested the association between perceived relationship margin...
Article
Relatively little is known about secret romantic relationships, despite the fact that relationship status is one of the most common things people keep secret from others. The goal of the present series of studies was not only to provide descriptive information regarding secret relationships (e.g., the types of romantic involvements likely to be con...

Network

Cited By