Playing the Field: The Effect of Fertility on Women’s Desire for Variety

While considerable past research has examined variety seeking in consumer choice (e.g., Kahn 1995), the current research is the first to examine whether women’s desire for variety is influenced by a universal biological factor – the monthly ovulatory cycle. The ovulatory cycle spans, on average, 28 days, during which a woman can become pregnant on about one week – the ovulatory phase of the cycle. Although most women do not know when they are ovulating, research has shown that ovulation can non-consciously alter women’s psychology and decision-making. For example, near ovulation women have more fantasies about other men that are especially different from their current partner (Sheldon et al. 2006) and have more extramarital affairs (Bellis and Baker 1990). Ovulating women are particularly attracted to men other than their current partner who display markers of genetic fitness (e.g., symmetry, masculinity, social dominance; Durante et al. 2012; Garver-Apgar et al. 2006). These findings suggest that the hormonal fluctuations associated with ovulation may increase women’s openness to variety – at least in men. Here, we explore whether this ovulatory-induced shift in preference for different men translates to the marketplace.